So my kids’ birthdays are November and December. We have *So* many toys come the end of Christmas, that the challenge to get them all organized somehow is almost overwhelming.
Not to mention that because of my job title (blogger, reviewer) I get several deliveries throughout the week.
Seriously. At least a few times a week one of the delivery services drives by – and my kids start drooling like Pavlov’s dog.
If Andrew see’s the big brown truck driving past us, he just *assumes* that its going to stop at our driveway. And when he passes us by – he lets out a big *sigh* or says ‘Aawwwwwww’ in total disappointment.
When they do show up though? It’s like Christmas.
Andrew runs to the window when he hears the brakes of the truck and the little ‘beep’ it lets out as the driver puts the truck into park. He jumps up and down; and as the delivery guy comes to the door, he’s charging down the stairs.
It is pretty cute…
The excitement continues as the packages come into the house. Instead we’re scrambling to open the package as fast as we can to figure out what it is.
The BEST part though? When it’s something for him, he is *SO* surprised and says something really adorable like, “Wow Mom! It’s just what I always WANTED!!!”
And the worst part for me… is figuring out what the heck am I going to do to make room for this super-awesome new toy?!
We’re working on organizing this toy room – but we’ve got overflow throughout the house too… I’d honestly say only about 1/4 of our toys have been placed in this room so far.
I’m highly considering starting the new rules in the house: “One Toy In – One Toy Out” sort of thing, where we donate or sell an older toy to make room for the new ones.
Our Toy Room(s); (i.e. the living room, the boys’ rooms, and the actual toy room) just cant take it anymore.
What do you do to control the clutter of toys?
Maybe once a month you guys can go through all the toys and each kid has to pick 3 that they are willing to donate? That would help “in with the new, out with the old”.
I like that idea!! stealing it 🙂
lots and lots of toy boxes!
I am a big believer in the one-in-one-out rule. I like Hanan’s suggestion of a once a month time
LOL i have to laugh because When i enter and win the contests i enter we all look for the ups or fed ex and we all are a little disappointed.my daughter especially looks for the brown truck.we have that problem with the toy clutter a little everywhere. it is really non winning issue however we go through toys that are broke and throw them away.
I do theocratic month decide what toys donate routine so our mess isn’t so bad although I do wish we had a play room 🙁 maybe at our next house
I donate the old ones that are not played with anymore.
Wow never thought of all that when my kids were little. We rotated them every six months and it was like getting a new toy. Didn’t have too many toys around. Poor kids!
Do you wonder if just having toys show up several times a week non gratis that this will have some negative affect on them. I am just wondering what the psychological affects of this, having a brown truck show up for no rhyme or reason and drop stuff off, will lead them to expect it. I am not trying to be negative I am just honestly curious.
We keep our daughter’s toys limited, and we “hide” the mess in a play tent she has LOL. She has so many toys she doesn’t play with, but we also don’t go and buy her something new every time we go shopping. I would suggest cleaning and then donating them and every time a new toy comes they have to donate one of their old ones.
You could always donate some toys my way! :p The toy room looks very nice! I hope to be able to make a toy room similar for my children… we need a bigger place first! Try to imagine five people living in a two bedroom… yea, doesn’t work out quite how we would like, but it works for now.
I have boxes of old toys in the garage that we are going to be going through to donate the ones that are still good. My kids have already outgrown so many of their toys. Your organization looks great.
I would say that if we would admit it we all have a room stacked full & don’t even really know what’s in it, I know I do. Keep telling myself, time to get rid of some stuff, but then I think of a reason to keep it. Guess I’m a rat pack.
We have clutter in our house too and I am still trying to figure out what to do with it all. I need to get rid of some items and then organize the rest. I just can’t decide the best way to get rid of stuff it would be nice to make some extra money getting rid of this stuff, but there are so many options like a yard sale, ebay, or craigslist.
I have the same problem with my grandsons,,but I dont let them open them,I wait until their gone because most of it gets put up for Birthday an Christmas gifts for my 8 grandchildren,,
One way to reduce toys is to give experiences, not toys. Zoo & museum visits, other outings.
I read some good ideas on the Step 2 blog. Most I have tried but there were an odd one or two. Great idea I never thought of placing an over the door shoe storage and using it for special items like favorites of action figures, cars etc Placing bright colored shelves on the walls, using see through bins for small items like crayons, matchbox cars etc My other suggestion would be to put a few boxes away and switch them every few months. They’ll enjoy them all over again.
Gladys P
I had one of the toy shelves with 8 different buckets. He could take each bucket out and play with them alone. I also donated a lot to the Salvation Armory.
I also believe in donating toys once the mess gets too big
How about a neighborhood toy exchange? Leave more than you take.
Storage bins really help. Luckily we have a really good storage room and I try to keep it very organized because it can get out of control FAST! That is so cute your kids get excited about the deliveries!
We do the half toys go upstairs and half downstairs. They when the toys are no longer in their age range, we give them away.
With 6 kids my problem was thinking we had to SAVE the toys for the next child. There is NO way you can do that! (we tried with some clothes and realized things go out of style or get ruined by simple time in storage). We also did the sell, donate, or throw piles but did it twice a year when I switched out the clothes for seasonal wear. It worked out nicely because we would do in the spring when the weather warmed (and usually had a garage sale or added to someone else’s in early summer) or in early fall (and that would clear some room and give us some ideas for Christmas). We once had a garage sale and did really WELL but had so much left I called a social worker neighbor who worked with young single moms, and we loaded up a truck and took it all to her! WE knew it was going directly to someone in need who would appreciate it so much!
Well! I hate to comment twice but I have no where else to comment that I haven’t already. And since this is one of the requirement in your giveaway, I guess I must. Love the ideas you have for your toy room trouble. It does reduce the amount of clutter that we can consue after years.
consume! Sorry!
I agree with Diane that if you want us to comment on non-giveaway posts, you need to post new ones more often. (I really need a new garage door opener)
I rotate toys for my daughter. It doesn’t help with the storage issue but it’ll control how many are out at any given time.
I like the one toy in one out rule, especially since some toys must have been out grown and they can be used by younger children while yours grows into other toys.
I love your toy room!
I really need to do something with my daughter’s toys they are in a plastic bin right now & it is not working out very good
My 14 year old sons birthday is Dec 29th & we always had the problem with to many toys coming in at once. I cant imagine having 2 children with end of the year birthdays! The only thing you can do is purge! Give some of the old toys away or it will just consume the room!
I had to laugh at your children getting excited about the delivery truck coming! My son (yes the 14 yr old!!lol) gets excited when I get a delivery. He will sit there and watch me open it hoping its for him! Its hilarious!
Thats a wonderful idea to donate one toy when a new one comes in, to give to those who don’t have and to also show your boys at a young age about giving and donating.
The organization problem I have is with mail, magazines, and papers!
love some of you ideas i will have to try them
My daughter is like that now, I don’t get much in the mail but I do try to take advantage of all the great freebies that the awesome bloggers tell us about so she gets so excited when the mail comes!
I love reading other peoples ideas when it comes to any kind of organizing. I would love to be able to make a sensible decision when it comes to a great toy room.
my toy room always looks like always to tired to clean it having lymes and keeping up with four boys is enough
I love the idea of one in- one out! It is such a great way to teach kids about giving to others and not excessive consumption of “things.”
Have you child select several at a time (weekly, monthly, whatever)and take them to Goodwill. Let him go in Goodwill and see how folks who don’t have much shop and then explain how his toys help people who need work/jobs have a good place to work and how his toys help kids who are not as blessed with such an abundance of toys to have good things with which to play.
We don’t have any extra rooms to utilize as a toy room. So family members know books only. We purchase the toys that we know we have room for and the boys have all the books they can read.
I like the Rubbermaid bins under the table!
Maureen
maureen.tenney@gmail.com
We have that problem too. My daughter and I have taken several totes of my grandsons toys to the attic. In about 6 months, we’ll change them out from what is in the house and he is all excited again and forgot about so many of them. Kind of like new toys all over again for him.
I like the idea of rotating toys
That is a lot of toys! And you seem to have a good system going. I take a lot of toys “out of circulation” and rotate them, especially sets with lots of little pieces, because it drives me insane to have all those little pieces mixed up. Good luck!
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