Note from the future: Unfortunately, it looks like Lindsay isn’t blogging anymore. I wish her the best in her other adventures, whatever they may be! For that reason, the pics are gone and the links are duds. Sorry!!
I’m excited to share another decluttering guest post this week! Don’t forget that you can send yours in still, large or small!
My name is Lindsay and I blog over at Real Home Love. I am a wife to my handsome man, Jimmy and a momma to our little boy Jimmy (JimJim) and our little girl Jada.
This is a picture of us all dressed up and clean.
I mention that because you can normally find us in our pajamas. So, the dressed and clean day was a good one.
Well, let’s get to it, shall we?
I am not one of those people who just knows how to be organized or it just comes naturally. (Is that how some people are?)
I have to work at it. It’s something I have to TRY really hard at.
We moved into this house almost a year ago and the move was the first time I got really serious about organizing, weeding out, and staying on top of the clutter.
But here we are almost a year in and I have been taking it a room at a time and am still not done.
Ok, so this isn’t the most inspiring organization story you’ve heard. But wait..
This is the latest decluttering project. Toy room sadness.
Do any of you love your children, but hate all the toy cluttering that’s happened since you’ve had your children?
Me too. They (the toys) take up so much room, they are super ugly, and there never seems to be a way to get them organized and staying that way.
Oh, and the kids only play with three out of the 1800 of them. Am I right or am I right?
Well, more than likely you are still better off than we were a few months ago when we started tackling this holy-bells-our-kids-think-its-ok-to-live-and-play-in-a-room-like-this project.
The curtains were my favorite. Oh, and the carpet. From 1979. No lie.
I refused to have fun in this room, but it didn’t seem to bother the rest of the fam all that much.
Ok, so we also totally renovated this room too. So, that always helps make a post organization look better, BUT here it is as of a week ago.
We moved all the toys to the side of the room. Oh, and donated over half of them. And oddly enough, the kids haven’t missed any of the toys that are now gone.
I didn’t buy anything to help with the organization. I had all of what you see here. And I bet if you are organizing a room, you probably have some baskets, bins or boxes you could use to organize as well? Maybe you could paint the ones you have to freshen them up or for a more cohesive look? To make them look like they belong together…
Anyways, it was important for me to keep the baskets and toys low to the ground so they are accessible to the kids.
So, let’s break this down…
The books are all in this metal bin. On the floor. Easy access.
The toys that are too big for me to hide in a cute basket are in the corner…
Big blocks reside in this box thing we got from Target a while back for $15.
And we had three baskets that happened to fit into this shelving unit I painted white.
I know that sounds a little too coincidental, but these baskets sat on the floor right next to this shelving unit for about a year before I thought about putting the baskets onto the shelves. So don’t you go being too impressed too soon now.
Here’s a before and after of what a little paint can do to make it look like things belong together…
And this shelving unit is a bit taller than our one and three year old so I just organized things according to how much they get used.
Construction equipment, trucks and cars on the bottom shelf because they get used a lot.
Miscellaneous toys (in one cloth storage box) and cars and trucks and such (in the other cloth storage box) because they sort of get used a lot and are still at an accessible height.
And stuffed animals in the top basket on the top shelf because they never get used or played with but we can’t exactly part with them. Says JimJim and Jada.And this little shelving unit was one I took out of Jada’s closet. It’s one of the plastic kinds that you can get from Wal Mart for not very much money.
And since this one was lower to the ground, and therefore accessible to the kids, I put all their puzzles and games in those drawers. You know, things that stimulate their brains that all of us moms want them to play with.
Easily accessible puzzles equals child prodigies. Maybe?
And that was that!
So, here are three things I learned from this major decluttering action:
1.) Weed OUT. And do it again.
I didn’t just weed through their toys and such one time. I went through it all THREE times. Donated at least 5 bags full of toys they don’t use or have outgrown. And they are playing down there more than ever! With fewer toys! (Doesn’t hurt that we jumped into the 2000’s with the decor though either).
2.) Repurpose what you have.
I started this project thinking I am definitely going to have to buy lots of storage bins, baskets and organizational stuff to make that room functional. But after I looked at what we already had, it all worked fine. And what didn’t look that great, was easy to change and match with a little paint.
3.) Don’t feel bad. Feel good.
I know the tendency as a mom to want to hold onto the first toy your kid slobbered on, but let’s be real…just…don’t. I go back and forth about keeping things they may want to play with and awww that toy was so special because it poked them in the eye when they were a newborn and…the excuses to keep things goes on and on. But take a picture of it if it really tugs at your heart strings and then donate it to let some other child slobber on it.
And let that kids mom hold onto it for the next ten years.
You’ll have the nicely organized toy room, with fewer toys and happier kids.
Less really is more, I guess.
Well, I hope that was helpful in some way. Thank you so much for having me, Dana and friends!
Have a good one, everyone!
Thanks so much to Lindsay from Real Home Love for sharing your project with us this week!
--Nony
Tamara D says
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for posting this blog! The playroom in our house is a constanst source of stress and frustration for me. I get in there and start working and then get frustrated and quit. Thank you for giving me a little hope this morning. 🙂
Lindsay says
Aw I am SO glad that it helped Tamara! I know EXACTLY how you feel because I felt the same way before all this! It feel so good to purge and get rid of MOST of the stuff in there because the kids now can actually enjoy a FEW toys instead of pick one up and throw it across the room X 500. Best of luck to you! You can do it!
Heather says
This was too funny! Loved the paint job on the walls too of course 🙂 Very down to earth and real! I’ve snuck several toys out the door myself; I finally had to just tell my son that we just had to donate them to other kids and he took it quite well.
Lindsay says
Thank you so much Heather! That is so sweet and encouraging. And that’s a great idea to talk to kids about donating! A win/win! Thanks for commenting!
Anne says
Lindsay, you are funny! What a sweet family, fabulous room makeover, and a great reminder that organizing doesn’t have to cost a lot…..just look at what you have.
Lindsay says
Thank you so much Anne! So thankful for such kind words! And yes it’s so true…it actually doesn’t have to cost a lot! That actually shocked me a little bit because those storage bins and drawers and such add up in a hurry! Thanks for commenting!
cathy says
I find that cleaning out my kids toys twice a year works well. Their birthdays are in June so I clean them out right before their birthdays and right before Christmas. It helps to make room for new stuff and it coincides with our local consignment sale. So not only do I weed things out but I get some money off of them too.
Lindsay says
That is SUCH a great idea to make a point to clean it all out twice a year, Cathy! And brilliant times to do that too! Thanks for sharing and for reading!:)
Robin at OurOwnFlavor says
Such a great example! I know this is an old post but I was browsing the site looking at inspiration for the weekend. I so appreciate all the stories to motivate me to keep trying! This weekend I’m tackling the kitchen and “back room” (aka junk room) and this was exactly what I needed!
On the subject of play rooms, I started to write a comment about why I now lock up my children’s toys but it was way too long so I moved it over to my blog: http://ourownflavor.wordpress.com/2014/11/14/why-i-keep-my-kids-toys-locked-up/
nikki says
Oh man, all the pictures are not displaying and the links to her blog are broken. Your oops page is funny!