Purging the Clutter Monster: Games

Today's challenge was to purge games. We keep games in two places: the playroom and in our hall closet. The playroom shelves have recently been purged since we had a neighborhood yard sale a few weeks ago and we already have a great storage solution for puzzles, but our closet needed some attention. I took everything out, checked to make sure that all the game pieces were accounted for, and then repositioned them neatly.

 I'm sure some of our games will be purged in the future, but my son is just getting into them and most are under a year old. Ideally, I'd like for the games to move down to the playroom, but right now we seem to end up playing with these favorites in our main living area frequently, so they are more accessible in the hall closet. While I wasn't able to purge many games, I was able to purge a few winter coats while tidying up the games, so I'll call that a success.

The Bin System: Organizing My Child's Messy Room

My three year old's room is always a mess. It doesn't matter if I spend two hours or two days straightening everything up into their assigned baskets and on their assigned shelves. If he is allowed to play for fifteen minutes, my hard work is instantly undone. I don't know if I should scream, laugh, or cry.

I came across this post yesterday and found it to be an interesting perspective:

 

While I can't imagine tossing all of my son's toys, the idea of living a simpler life (with less items to create less mess) is appealing. Instead of sending his treasured items to the curb, I've decided to try an out of sight out of mind approach that I hope will help control the clutter. I'm calling this idea "The Bin Project."

 

I've gathered bins (with lids) in various sizes and each bin will house a different type of toy. For example, all of his Disney Cars will be kept in a bin, all of his Trash Pack figures will share a bin, Jake and the Neverland Pirates toys will call another bin home, etc. We already sort the toys by type, so this part isn't exactly new. The difference will be in how the toys are accessed and the frequency in which toys will be available.

Once the bins are assigned and filled (and labeled in the near future) they will be placed on a storage rack in our basement storage room. Two bins can be "checked out" at a time and taken into my son's bedroom. He can keep the bins in his room for as long as he wants, but if he wants a different bin, he must first place everything back in his bins and exchange one of his bins for a different bin on the storage rack. I'm also thinking that there needs to be some sort of limit on how often bins can be exchanged, but I haven't worked that out yet.

Here is the progress that has been made so far today:

 



These items are ready to be transferred to the basement into the toy storage area. It will undoubtedly take me a few more days to sort through the rest of his items and start our new Bin System, but I'll be sure to write about the progress (and pitfalls) along the way.

Storage Solution: Puzzles!

  Puzzles are HUGE at our house. My little guy loves to sit by himself and work through them and I love that he can work quietly and independently and give me a little break. The great thing about puzzles is that they are cheap entertainment and you can find some really cute ones at the Dollar Store. The bad thing is that puzzle pieces are small, their pieces can be easily lost, and they come in tiny boxes of various shapes that are a nightmare to store.

 

 

  I found these great zipper pencil pouches at Big Lots in the school supply aisle for $1 each and their uses are truly endless. Each pouch has a durable plastic window on the front so you can easily see what is stored inside. When I was trying to figure out a better storage solution for our crazy mess of puzzles, I decide that these pouches would provide the perfect solution. First, I cut the front of each puzzle box and placed it in the front of the pouch and then stored the puzzle pieces behind the cardboard picture. Each puzzle is contained in its own little pouch and multiple pouches fit in a storage bin neatly tucked away until next time. 

Playroom Tour!

Anyone who knows my child, knows he has way too many toys. This is the product of being both an only child and an only grandchild on my side of the family. I strive to keep an orderly home, but with baskets of toys spilling out into our living room, it was nearly impossible. Thankfully, we had room to grow and I was able to utilize some space in our basement to create the perfect playroom.

 

The best part about this project is that it didn't break the bank. I reused some tall bookcases that we've had forever, making sure to anchor them to the wall so they can't be pulled over by little hands. I believe I originally purchased them at a Walmart, years ago. They have adjustable shelves so I was able to modify the shelving to fit everything.

 

 

In addition to housing my little one's ever-growing toy collection, I was able to place all of our family games on the upper shelves which opened up some space in our hall closet. My mom found these utility bins by Martha Stewart on clearance at Kmart and they were the perfect color. I love when I can use baskets or bins to hide things away. I plan on making a cute tag label for each bin, but haven't gotten around to it yet. The second shelf down from the top holds bins containing painting supplies, Play-doh, and a few more games. I like that this shelf is out of reach for little hands.

 

 The bottom three shelves house toys that can be easily accessed. The bins are packed with like items. For example, one bin has Viewmaster viewers and reels, one has puzzles, one has busy books and grab and go activities for the car, one is full of Fisher Price Little People, and one is home to Mickey Mouse and Friends figures.

Next to the bookshelf, is a handy easel that I purchased at Ikea with a roll of butcher paper attached. We move it outside to finger paint, but keep it inside to use with chalk, water colors, markers and crayons. I love the little paint containers from Melissa and Doug that control how much paint can be put on brushes and they fit perfectly in the easel tray.

 Next to the easel, I placed a chunky legged table from Ikea with matching stools. I works great working on arts and crafts or playing board games. While shopping at Ikea, I also added this giant canopy leaf. I didn't have a real plan for it at the time, but the color matched and it found a place in the corner of the room. To brighten up the space and help set it off from the rest of the room, I used two colorful floor rugs also from Ikea. I had these from my days teaching elementary school and am SO glad I didn't leave them behind for my replacement. They are super durable and fun to boot. I mounted a magnetic white board on the wall at child height so we can work with magnetic letters and shapes. Later, we'll break out the dry erase markers, but he isn't quite there yet.

 Crayons, markers, chalk, colored pencils, Play-doh, and all things crafty that I don't necessarily want my little guy to have unlimited access to are stored in this handy wall-mounted storage shelf. Coloring and activity books are stored in magazine holders on to of and next to the piano. The festive Mickey Mouse and Friends "London" letters were created for my guy's second birthday and they found a home above the storage shelf and add some additional color to the room. I also keep a CD player handy in this space and lots of kid friendly music and read-aloud story book CDs in this area too.

I hope you enjoyed your tour of our Playroom!