Clutter Free Challenge Day 7: Toys

Hello friends!  It is day 7 of the 31 Days to a Clutter Free Life Challenge and today we are working the toy scene.  As you may know, my husband and I don't have any human children of our own; we have a Dingo baby.  However, we also have three nieces and two nephews... and consequently, a toy basket.

I had recently done a mini-purge and attempted to maintain order with a few tupperware containers and gallon-sized zip bags.  The toys behaved very well on their own and stayed in their respective places, but when the kids came over, chaos ensued.

I realized that my system wasn't working.  I had too many toys crammed into each container and too many toys free-ranging... I had made it too difficult for the kids to put the toys away.

The goal for today is to weed out toys that aren't in good condition or that don't actually get played with, and organize them by type in a functional way.

Here are the before photos:

The giant, over-flowing, toy basket.

That funky-looking monkey on the top is "Wink."  He was my childhood buddy and, as you can tell, he was loved.  I decided to keep him elsewhere because the kids don't play with him anymore.

Dingo Before.  She is supervising.

I know, the assortment is random.

This was my initial attempt at creating order.

I tried to pare the toys down to only the ones that were better quality and that I had seen them play with.

I used the gallon-sized zip bags with the sliders because I wanted to make it easy to get the toys out AND put them away.  I labeled each bag with a Sharpie.

I tried to refrain from stuffing too many items into one bag, even though I think fewer bags looks nicer.  Too many items makes the bags more difficult to fill and close.  I want to make it easy for the kids to put the toys away, because I want them to... put the toys away.

Here are the after photos:

Maracas, green airplanes, and felt fruit... a recipe for a party, I say!

I got this 56 gallon bin at Target for under $5.

Everything fit nicely, with enough room for the kids to find what they are looking for without taking everything else out to get to it.

Dingo After.  I'm not so sure about her supervising skills.

As I mentioned in my day 4 post I decided not to keep the toys in the living room, which is why I put them in a bin.  I put it in this attic-like storage space we have.  It will be easy to get the bin out when the kids come over, but will leave the living room clutter-free in the meantime.

What's your favorite toy storage solution?

Cheers,

Caitlin