1. Put a basket in each room. Have all toys you want in the room fit only in the basket so kids know their limits and cleanup is a breeze!
2. Go to IKEA and purchase a large shelving unit with lots of cubbies ( Ikea makes one with 16 cubbies or even more). Put the shelving unit in the playroom or family room and fill cubbies with toys and accessories.
3. On each cubby, take a picture of the toys ( cars, blocks, barbies) to help guide little kids on where they should be putting the toys back.
4. PURGE!!! Less is more. Evaluate which toys your kids really need, want, or play with. Get rid of toys that are unloved and taking up space.
5. Use baby wipe boxes to organize small toys in each area and for storage. These are perfect for little cars, game pieces, rattles, or other small toys.
6. Designate specific areas in your home that are toy friendly and others that are TOY FREE ZONES. Perhaps your den or a living room is toy free and other areas are play zones. Set boundaries and stick to them.
7. At the end of the day, allow your kids 5 minutes to pick up any toys they still want the next day. Anything that is left out goes in a "GiveAway box". ACTUALLY DO IT to show the kids you are serious. Once a week before you take the box to a donation center, allow the kids to earn back or pick one toy.
8. If your home has extra storage, rotate toys. Don't put them all out at once. Use large Rubbermaid bins or storage shelves to store great toys. Once a month rotate out new toys. Your kids will not get sick of their toys and feel like they have new stuff all the time.
9. Once your kids realize they have toys in storage, if they ask for a toy from storage have a "one toy in, one toy out" policy. Have them pick a toy to trade so you don't have too many things out at once.
10. 7 minute clean-up each day. 5 minutes is too short, 10 minutes is too long. Set the timer in the kitchen and EVERYONE, moms, dads, and everyone spends 7 minutes cleaning up different areas of the house before bedtime, perhaps right after dinner. Stay focused, give encouragement, and teach your kids the importance of putting things back in their place.
11. Clean toys before you put them away so they are clean and ready to go.
12. When they receive large quanitities of toys at once ( birthdays and Christmas), consider holding back a few toys right away and getting out at another time of the year OR let them have all their new toys but pyt away some old ones for awhile to control the clutter.
13. Use small, heavy duty zip bags ( robeeze containers, shams or curtain containers, pillow cases, etc) to store toys in toy boxes or storage.
14. Use canvase totebags to haul toys and store in car. Put the bag next to you and distribute toys throughout your short or long trips to kids in the car. use a seperate bag for books.
15. Sort through all your books in your home and seperate holiday, season, birthday, special event books. Put these aside. Get out themed books seperately at different times of the year to highlight them along with what you are doing.
16. To encourage the importance of early literacy and love of books, don't just put books on shelves. Pick some special books you want to highlight that week or month and put in baskets in rooms near the toys. Offer to read special books just as often as you offer to play. Rotate books often.
17. Have your kids help you evaluate your toy situation. Work WITH them! Explain how blessed they are and how other children don't have the same things. Use times before Christmas and Birthdays to purge and make room for new or right after events to see how much space you need to make room for.
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