The Toy Solution

I finished all the dance costumes and took them to class last Wednesday only to find out I had to make two more costumes. The teacher left one of the girls off my list and another Mom changed her mind about wanting a costume. I would have just told her it was too late but I was making the other so I though I might as well make two. I finished them both today. Now I only have one solo costume to sew by Thursday. That will be my project for the next two days.

The kids and I have really been working hard to get the house cleaned up this last week. We spent one day working in the garage, one day cleaning bathrooms and one day in the basement. There is still more work to be done, as always.

Every time I teach an organizing class I am asked how to keep toys organized. There isn’t some magical solution for toys. If you have too many toys then you have a mess. It doesn’t matter how creatively you store them or even how much room you have. Kids want every toy out all at once and they don’t want to pick them up if they can get away with it.

My 7 year old son has always been pretty good at keeping his room picked up so I haven’t worried a lot about his toys. You know the saga I have had with my 5 year old daughter. Every six months I go down and box up half of her things. I was trying to get to a manageable amount for her but nothing worked. No matter how few toys I let her keep, her room was always a mess.

Since we have put our house back on the market I have to be able to do a 10 minute tidy and have it looking respectable at any moment. I decided the only way that was going to happen was to box up every single toy the kids have. I know. It was a very drastic measure but it had to be done. I organized some toys into my large organizing bags that the kids can “check out” with their tickets. They get their tickets back as soon as the toys are picked up and put away. The rest of the toys went either to the thrift store or to storage.

I think they will happily survive. They’ll be playing outside all summer anyway. Any time indoors is spent on school work. The last two days have been wonderful. Kate loves her room now. All she has to do is make her bed and it looks beautiful.

This is going to be my new solution for the toy problem; box them up and I mean all of them. And don’t buy anymore junk!!! You would do anything for your children’s happiness wouldn’t you? Then do this because it will make them so much happier!