For the umpteenth time today, I have either stubbed my toe, tripped, fallen down or slid on one my kids’ toys. They are everywhere! I’m already clumbsy as it is and accident-prone so the fact that the family room floor is strewn with toys, along with the rest of the house, doesn’t help.
No, I’m one of the few modern moms that does NOT have a 'Playroom'. An area or room of the house designated specifically for all the kids' stuff that I never really had much of growing up. I was lucky enough to have a couple of Barbie dolls and played with dirt to pass the time.
Nowadays, kids have way too much stuff. And if you don’t have a playroom, it can take over the entire house. I realize that I have to get moving and finish our un-finished basement so I can create one. But in the meantime, I have to somehow prevent myself from spraining an ankle or breaking a leg on these toys, or I call them, ‘accidents-waiting-to-happen'. I’ve already bruised the arch of my foot stepping on a wooden block and broken a pinky toenail tripping over a ride-on toy.
My house is a toy store!
I’m a fairly organized person; I like things in their place. But how can I possibly organize my house so that the clutter stays out of my path and not in the middle of the hallway?
There are toys in practically every room – the kitchen, family room, living room, bedrooms, home office and even that ghastly un-finished basement. I use storage boxes and bins to store them. No fancy organizing shelves. No stacking units with cute little labels for “animals” and “puzzles”. At clean-up time, the boys just throw everything back into a standard, old-fashioned toy box.
This works for my home because I don’t have a playroom. So anywhere the kids happen to be, there are toys to play with. Because they’re not stored in just one place, it’s nice because we can move from upstairs to downstairs for a change in scenery. I also don’t like to keep the bins and boxes overloaded with toys so I put some away for a while and bring them back later – it’s like Christmas all over again!
I also love using bamboo baskets of different sizes to store smaller toys like dinky cars. They also look nice and go with my home décor. I like to recycle - I save the plastic containers organic baby greens are sold in. They are great for storing arts and craft supplies, paints, crayons, or blocks and puzzles and small toys pieces. If you want to take it to the next level, use your printer to make your own labels and voila – quick organization!
My husband just finished a whole whack of outdoor summer projects. Come September, I have to somehow find a way to bribe him into finally building that playroom. Maybe a wooden block strategically placed in his path would do just the trick.
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