storing toys

Okay, so it’s 1 June and last night I had a mini goals retreat which sounds far fancier than it actually was, but it was interesting.

And so I’ll share with you on Monday how all that went.

In the meanwhie, let’s talk some more about toys, or rather, toy organisation.

These are the things that really are working for us right now so I thought I’d share them with you.

1. Declutter regularly

I found that my kids don’t play that much with their toys when they can’t see it all or when there’s too much.

I kind of get it – I also don’t want to work when my desk is messy or when there’s too much paper/ stuff.

My kids know I have a few rules – I toss anything broken – and I keep going through their stuff to see if they’ve outgrown any toys.

I regularly check if they’re still playing with something otherwise it gets donated to the orphanage our church supports.

2. Use large, clear containers

We used to use other containers but I’ve settled on these types for now.

I like that the kids can see what’s in there without messing up other things they don’t want to play with, and that they’re easy to transport to another area of the sunroom or lounge by using the handles.

please note totally unstaged, unposed REAL pics

3. Label liberally

Seriously, the kids’ toys used to drive me up the wall because I’d have to repack everything every week until one day.

I suddenly thought, what if I know where everything goes and I think everyone else does, but they actually don’t (or don’t care!)?

So I went on a labelling spree.

Please notice nothing is “perfect” – I just grabbed some printables from a party pack I bought, wrote on them with my own handwriting (no font!) and stuck them to the boxes with wide clear packing tape.

And since then, everything stays 95% organised. All of us (me, Dion and the nanny) now know how to direct the kids to pack their toys away (we don’t do anything for them that they can do themselves)

I made tags for puzzles, blocks, cars, balls (which I store in a bin/ wastepaper basket) and small, miscellaneous things.