52 Weeks of Organizing - Week 16

Tackling the Toys

If you have kids, you know just how out of control the toys can become. Before organizing these toys, I had the storage ottoman plus a giant wicker basket (not pictured) for the toys, plus free standing larger toys. I decided enough was enough because toys were taking over the living room! There were so many toys that the parts didn't go with the right things, which means the toys weren't even serving their purpose. So, during nap time, I dumped all the toys out and got to work, putting pieces with the right toy and purging toys Ellie has grown out of or ones that were just driving me plain old crazy! The big wicker basket is now storing Ellie's stuffed animals in her room rather than storing the excess toys in the living room. The puzzles are now in a separate container (not in the living room), so that the pieces will actually stay with the right puzzle. A big box was sent downstairs for storage, and a few toys were brought downstairs to play with when we go down there. I was sick of hauling toys up and down the stairs whenever we went down there, so now a few of her bigger toys (play kitchen and bounce & ride turtle) are down there and our living room is less cluttered with toys. Now, all the medium toys fit in the storage ottoman (a $20 purchase from Canadian tire), and a few larger toys are parked neatly in the corner. This is now the toy limit, so when new toys come in, old toys will either go to storage or in the donate pile. The best part? When I sit on the couch, I can't even see the toys when they are put away in the corner! Love that!

*Linking up to 52 Weeks of Organizing*