We also often keep items that reflect the life we think we might live in the future, such as boxes of china for as-yet-unscheduled fancy dinners, the weight bench that’s gathering dust in anticipation of our future exercise revolution, and the bins of baby clothes for grandchildren who probably won’t appear for a couple of decades. Often, we keep items that reflect the life we used to live for example, rustic camping equipment from that early-twenties backpacking phase, VHS tapes from childhood, or a variety of fancy stemware we thought we needed before we had kids and realized that keeping stemware around kids is like having a golden ticket to the ER. #3: Your stuff should reflect your life NOW My kids and I could both understand this. If the toys didn’t fit in there, they needed to find a new space in or out of my home. My 8-cube organizer was the limit of the amount of toys I wanted in the living room. #2: Set limitsĭecide how much space you want to dedicate to an item and stick to it. This is great if you set up a toy rotation or when your kids outgrow the current toy and move on to something else. (Even easier, just cut pictures directly from the toy packaging to put inside the tag.) My favorite part about using luggage tags is that you can easily swap out the pictures if you change the toys in the bin. I printed pictures of what should go in each bin, cut them to size, and slipped them inside the plastic. (I consider luggage tags to be the lazy mom’s Pinterest… And yes, I am that mom!) I recommend labeling with pictures, especially for your pre or early readers. ![]() Saying “Clean up your toys” isn’t as effective as saying “Put the blocks back in their bin.” Kids do not instinctively know where things go unless you make it clear for them. This is especially true if you expect a kid to be able to put it away. If you want to keep your stuff organized, it needs an obvious-as-possible home. ![]() My toy experiment demonstrates 3 tips you can use to declutter and organize your home this new year: #1: Assign homes I kept larger, bulkier toys (dollhouses and train track sets, etc.) in their rooms. I put in toys they played with regularly that lent themselves to bin storage (Legos, play food, wooden blocks, etc.). This cube shelf didn’t house the sum total of my kids’ toys. I assigned one cube for library books and DVDs, and the rest for toys. (Apparently my dad’s home improvement style runs strong in his daughter!) I purchased an 8-cube shelf (the kind you can buy at any big box store), which I assembled for the better part of a Saturday morning, complete with plenty of cursing and a bruised palm from smacking stubborn parts into place. Isn’t their play just as important as my cooking or writing?ĭon’t they deserve to live in a home that honors their kid-ness alongside our adult-ness? This led me to a whole new set of questions: At 6 years old, my kids were not yet ready or willing to spend time alone in their rooms while the rest of life went on in the main room. And it defines them in much the same way “real work” defines us grown-ups. What had happened to the trio who used to play independently while I cooked dinner or checked email? How had my 6-year-olds reverted to the habits years before, when I was basically their sole source of entertainment? Hadn’t we passed that stage?Īs I pondered these questions, the answer became quite clear: By removing my kids’ toys from the main part of the home, I had removed their purpose. They were on me, triple-teaming me while I made dinner, randomly asking “Mama, what can I do?”, and using the dreaded B-word…”I’m bored.” Yes, the Legos and dinos were out from underfoot, but my kids suddenly weren’t. I was so excited! I thought, Finally, I won’t step on Legos or have to share my living space with a herd of plastic dinosaurs!īut what I found was quite the opposite of what I’d imagined. ![]() To prepare for the work, we had to relocate everything to other parts of the house. Josh and I seized this opportunity to do something we’d been wanting to do for awhile–put all the kids’ toys in their bedrooms. I distinctly remember when the triplets were 6 years old and we had new floors put in our living room. When they were little, that meant I lived in a house with stuffed animals, markers, glue, Legos, tutus, and love. ![]() I may practice simple living, but that doesn’t mean I live in magazine-worthy home, full of neatly labeled bins and artfully arranged floral displays.
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