Toys, toys, everywhere!

I should have known that this year’s Christmas would have left us feeling the same way as last year’s Christmas.  Little Bug doubled his toy “collection” through the generosity of Santa, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and numerous other gift givers.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  We are incredibly blessed to have generous family who lavishly spoil this first grandson/nephew.  But after the wrapping paper was gone, we were left with one thought: “What are we going to do with all of this stuff ???”

We don’t have a play room in our house.  In fact our house was small before Little Bug arrived.  It got even smaller when all of the stuff came with him!  I am not a neat person.  Ask my husband…there are piles all over that I need to sort.  But don’t picture a scene from Hoarders.  I’ve gotten neater since becoming a parent.  I think my brain needs it to cope with the innate disorganization that comes with having a little one.  So, when faced with the question of “What are we going to do with all of this stuff,” my answer was to organize the toys.  Big time.  Complete with matching bins, boxes, labels, and categorization.  Is it possible to create OCD in your child?  Maybe.  But my life feels a little more in order after completing this task.

My first task was to look at what toys he had and separate them into categories.  He sure does have a lot of stuffed animals.  And books.  And vehicles.  But I digress…

Next, we purchased additional storage to put in our one extra room in the house that was supposed to be our relaxing office/work room.  It’s now just a work and play room.  No relaxing with a toddler, right?!?  This added to the storage that was already in our living room, nursery, and hallway.

Now comes the overly organized part.  I labeled each bin of categorized toys.  I found these really great customizable luggage labels that I used on the bins.  I created my own labels to insert in Word using a business card template.  I think my husband thinks I’m nuts.  My sitter probably thinks I’m nuts.  But, boy, do I feel better!  Everything has a home now!

One other thing that I did was make sure that I used all the same neutral-colored basket/boxes.  That way, when I wanted to rotate the toys from one room to another, I could do so easily by trading out the boxes, rather than having to empty the contents to switch boxes and keep them matching each room.  Now, all the boxes match every room!

If you’d like to use these labels that I created for free, click Toy labels to download.