OK. So who bought all these toys? How in only 6 years, have we accumulated such a large collection of toys? We mostly stick to the holidays here with gift giving so why are there so many? I like to blame my parents and in-laws. I know where the true blame lies.
In less than two weeks, my husband is hosting a poker night for the spouses of my mom friends in our basement. I have ignored the growing mess for the ENTIRE winter and now, I must get busy. My sister said "Oh the guys won't notice the mess." They will if they trip over all of the toys while sipping their beer. We're not talking "Legos in with the Star Wars container." We are talking the entire Star Wars collection all over the floor, the toy box emptied and everything out of the original storage containers.
So, I am going to try to spend 15 minutes a day for the next week until I call uncle and just bust my butt down there (and beg my husband to help me hide the mess). I am posting this for two reasons.
One: To let other mothers know that they are not alone in their struggle against the toys.
Two: To make sure I hold myself to it and get it done. If I have 100 people dropping by on the web, I am more than likely to get it done.
You may be wondering why the kids aren't cleaning up their mess. I do have them help. I promise myself weekly that I will have them do more and clean up after themselves. But, I need to really organize and not just hide the stuff. I want to purge and sort. They will pull and save. That will not work for the cleaning and organizing I want to do.
Readers love to give advice, so let's hear it. Maybe that will help us all. I promise to start purging. I have a baby coming so I go from wanting to give it all away to make room to wanting to save it all "just in case." Any tips other than to give it away? I hear you. I do. I swear I do. And someday, I will. I promise.I would like to add that the pictures actually make it look neater than it does in real life. I don't know why but it does. Trust me when I say that there was cat puke everywhere and a dead mouse somewhere lurking behind the toys. I swear there was. It was a real mess and nearly a health hazard.
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11 comments:
For legos, go to www.box4blox.com... Great for sorting and storing!
First thing - do this when the kids are not there!! It is impossible to do with them around. Second - get three garbage bags - one for trash, one for Goodwill and one to save (it will be many years until the new baby wants to play with some of the toys). When one fills up, take it upsatirs, in the garage, wherever. Just make sure to remove it from the room or the kids will look into it and start pulling items out again. All your hard work for nothing.
You can do it!!
-CB
so good to know I am not alone!
~K
We do a "store" system. Half of their toys (or half-ish of them) go in a closet. Several months later we do a swap. Works for me ... they feel like they get new toys and I only have to look at HALF of their playthings laying all over my house at any one time.
We had da rule for a long time - it applied to Happy Meal toys, but can be easily altered - that every new toy which came in replaced an old one. Worked out pretty well.
I swore against writing about cleaning up until after Easter. However, I am tempted to take a picture of my basement for you at the moment. The irony is that the reason it is such a mess is that YOUR two little boys BEGGED me to pull out the pop up tubes when they were here.
Oh, okay, pulling them out wasn't really the problem. The real problem is that they haven't been here since LAST week and they are still out.
That is the problem, isn't it.
That, and the fact that it scares me to walk in the basement right now with an injured toe.
Oh, a few but to many. LOL
Health information
Humor & Fun World
You have seen my system. Every toy has it's own place and the kids know where each toy belongs. Call me if you want help. I love to sort!
budget bin was last week - told the boys they could have the money of any toy they sold. They each brought me 3 boxes of toys. Now some of the toys were there brothers toys - but they saw value in getting rid of things.
Yikes...have fun cleaning!
I have started purging with the kids' help. I tell them if they haven't played with it in over a month, it's gone. We find all the pieces that go with the toy and we put it in a box for goodwill. My daughter likes knowing her toys will go to a child who may not have any other toys.
Baby toys are also definitely out! Buddy is a toddler now and prefers older toys anyway. No need to keep those around.
Yard sale season is fast approaching so we've been preparing for the influx of more toys. It's never ending...
Good luck! I know it's not easy!
MommyWizdom
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