Toys, Toys, Toys

Organizing

Feb 17

If you’re anything like me, you don’t love having toys all over the place even if your kids do. So what do you do at the end of the day? Stuff them into a closet, hope everything fits and VOILA, out of sight out of mind….until you can no longer shut the door. I was somewhat lucky because as you can see, I had a system at one point; however, clearly that didn’t last. I finally had to admit defeat.

Before You Begin

Take everything (ugh, yes everything) out and organize them into piles. I started with the boardgames mainly because the legos (again - ugh) would be the most daunting task. Did my 10 and 12 year old boys play Chutes and Ladders? No, the did not. Donate. Would we ever make our own markers? Over my dead body. Did I finally have to admit defeat and realize they both hate STEAM? Sadly, yes. Donate.

Tools You’ll Need

Trash bags: there will be many broken toys, balls of slime covered in carpet fibers, or in my case, a half-eaten candy bar from 2010.
Bins and baskets: prepare for multiple Michael’s trips
Label Maker: given
Anger Management: for when your husband insists that we may all want to make markers this winter

Step one: Comb it out

Thoroughly go through each box: it is easy to say “oh! that’s a craft box, next”, but as looking at the contents more closely, you may find half broken popsicle sticks, dried up glue, or a cat toy even though your cat died 5 years ago.
Create a new system: you may find that you have, in my case, 15 bottles of non-dried up glue which should probably be in their own bin. This means that your craft box will diminish considerably.
Assess needs vs. emotion: Even though you have fond memories of him saying “I want my ga-go-gai”, do you really need to keep your son’s pacifier?

Step two: Consult with the “team”

Though it’s tempting to get rid of things YOU want to get rid of, you will need to get their input - trust me I learned that the hard way
Brush up on your negotiating/manipulation skills - they may not realize that we have three unopened Draw your Own Comic Book kits so we likely just need to keep one
Don’t assume the team is just your kids. Your husband may have a slight hoarding problem when it comes to the legos you threw out and become furious when he finds them in the donate pile - trust me I learned that the hard way

Step three: Put it all together

This is an obvious step but goddamn it feels good. Plus, believe it or not, it has stayed like this for over two months and will continue to dammit. Until Christmas…which is when you get to do this all over again. Enjoy!