Guest Post: "Reigning in the Toy Clutter"

While washing dishes the other night, I smiled when I saw my Aloha surfboard behind the sink, and thought about my friend Taylor - who hosted the class I created said surfboard in. There are multiple people I can say that I've lived in 2 states with thanks to the military, but she is the winner so far with THREE! We met in my senior year of college (2008-2009) at Arizona State University. Her husband (fiancé at the time) decided to join the Navy and I married my Marine that fall. Eventually allowing us to live near each other both in Maryland and Hawaii. Crazy, right? She and I have very similar views on clutter and what gets to stay in our homes. Maybe in the future I'll do a post on how I organized little man's toys and books, but for today - I'm excited for you to read all about Taylor's toy storage solutions for her adorable little girl!

How do you handle the toy clutter?
Share your solutions with us in the comments!
-Tay

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My job as a regional rep for CeCe Caldwell’s Paints takes me around the Northwest and I’m often at my room in Lighthouse Antique Mall but I do most of my marketing work, order fulfillment and DearOlympia.com shipping from home.  My new Enchanted Northwest Soy Candle Line line demands more storage space and space is at a premium.  I refuse to take out a storage locker or cram my garage with unused stuff.  

Quick tangent: after we moved out of our military base housing in Hawaii (read: they decided to go ahead and demolish our house 3 months ahead of schedule), I promised myself that business stuff would no longer take over our living spaces.

 

In Hawaii, we literally had cases of paint lining our bedroom walls.  It’s mentally stressful to me to try to work in an abundance of clutter.  Cramming stuff in and out of shelves makes me irritable because when I have time to work alone, I want to max out that time on work and not on fighting pans and containers and shoving my daughter’s toys in every nook and cranny!

We recently purchased a foreclosure in WA and renovated it.  I didn’t want a huge house, just a livable one.  My philosophy is that you let the house size dictate your stuff, you don’t let your stuff dictate your house size.  

When we finally started to move stuff back into the house, I was like the “none shall pass” character from Monty Python.  Unless I needed to use it in the next two weeks, it didn’t come in!  We donated it or took it to the dump.  That was working well but as all parents know, Christmas can throw you. 

Adair was blessed to receive many gifts but the gifts had nowhere to go.  I decided to use an industrial shelf I already had for her toys downstairs.  I further decided that she would get rid of any toys that we couldn’t nicely fit on that shelving unit or in the tubs beside them.  She does have some shelves in her room for books and her tricycle and slide live outside.

I purchased some fabric and metal storage containers (under $75) from Target and got to work.  Craft supplies went in one container, legos in another, little figurines in another, etc.  When I was done she had some infant type toys that were large and bulky (you know the kind) that didn’t fit on the shelves.  We donated them to Salvation Army and now another child can enjoy them.  

One toy in, another toy out.  That is my policy.  I have had zero regrets so far. Adair is allowed to play with one container at a time which is good because her attention span is so short anyway.  Then we put it back in the container and put it back on the shelf.  I am hoping this puts her on a path of enjoying her stuff but not letting her stuff dictate her happiness or emotional state.

This is a key to my semi-sanity in working from home. The less to put away, the quicker I can put things back in cabinets, wipe down the counter and vacuum the floor. The fewer items we have, the easier it is for my husband and I to tag-team picking up the house because we both know where everything is and where everything goes.

My house is never as clean as I want it and I’m 100% okay with that.  It’s pretty much clutter free, though, not because of my organization skills but my ability to let go of items instead of constantly fretting over where and how to store things.  

~Taylor
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