Tell me you toy storage tricks/ strategies, my house is drowning

[Anonymous]

Would love to hear how you keep your house from looking like a constant toy explosion. I have 2 boys and we have large oversize trucks everywhere; train tracks with big accessories like drawbridges, etc; and now a marble run (Q-BA Maze with all the little cubes). The large stuff doesn't fit in most bins. Help!

[Anonymous]

I limited the toys to one room. My husband was always very picky about things being in their place - except for toys. They didn't bother him at all - to him they were part of the kids. So, we kept all the toys in the family room, and I rotated toys between storage in the basement and the active toys in the family room. We only had the toys out that we were playing with that day.

[Anonymous]

Ikea, ikea, ikea. We keep all toys stored in the playroom only. They can take it out the playroom but must put it back when done. Check out kallax and stuva system at ikea.

[Anonymous]

Do you have a playroom you could keep all the toys contained in? Or a basement family room? I think a lot of the "toy explosion" has to do with how hard it is to get toys out and put them away because there isn't a good storage/play spot for them (for instance if you're carting the toys in from other rooms or toys are in multiple rooms and kids can't find parts)

[Anonymous]

We have a tiny house, so oversize toys are kept to a minimum.

Every few years, we donate all outgrown toys to make room for new ones.
It's difficult because my kids are 5 years apart, so toys tend to be long-lived in our house.

Bottom line is, don't have so many toys.

[Anonymous]

Ikea cabinets - waist height , large plastic containers- one for each shelf in cabinet (2 per). Large things (like castle) on top of cabinets.

[Anonymous]

Only allowed 2 of every item. Trains, cars, little people - limited to 10 -15 each. Once the limit was reached, that was it and we didn't buy or get anymore.

[Anonymous]

We rotate toys every couple weeks. I have a bookcase in one closet filled with the "out" toys, and an IKEA Expedit unit for the "in" toys. Plus the kids have a play kitchen that's out. The kids engage more with their toys when there's fewer of them, plus rotating out the ones that they're losing interest in keeps everything feeling new.

[Anonymous]

Throw shit out.

[Anonymous]

I have two Better Homes & Gardens 8 cube organizers (Ikea has something basically identical) - half the cubes are "display" cubes with a few big clunky things per cube and the other half have decorative cloth storage cubes that I dunk things in. Each cube is organized by theme - we have a dress up box, a blocks box, stuffed animal box, instruments & noise makers box, arts supplies box, etc. The biggest mess making items - like the blocks set that risks being dispersed and never collected together again or the paints - are on the top shelf out of reach.

Only one cube comes out to play with at a time. When the child get tired of one cube's activity and want to play with another, they have to first collect all the items from the first cube, put them back in the box, and put the box back in the cuby. Then I pull out the next. These rules are essential for household order and my mental health.

[Anonymous]

We have the Ikea Kallax shelf turned on its side so it is 4 cubes long by 2 high and you also have on top of it.

I prefer smaller containers than big bins for storing toys as big bins wind up with everything thrown into it.

Start thinking about it now - how do you want to store legos. You are not there yet but will need a plan.

[Anonymous]

Before birthdays and Christmas, we do a big purge of toys to make room for new toys. If old toys don't go, new toys don't come in.

[Anonymous]

Bins for the stuff that will fit into them. For the big stuff maybe try a 2 (or whatever) big things out a time limit. Put the rest in closet, garage, wherever. Once a week (or however often) they get to get to choose which two items will be out.

[Anonymous]

There's an article up today on Ohdeedoh (subsection of Apartment Therapy):

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/family

[Anonymous]

Throw more shit out