Bye bye toys

If you have ever tried to give away or organize your kid's toys, today is your last day of cleaning up their messes. Drun roll please. This article will change you. I promise. One of my fav sentences is at the end of the article where Ruth says that her girls like not being overwhelmed by toys and it makes it easier to clean. Aha!! Read on...then get your black trash bags out and start filling it up. http://www.livingwellspendingless.com/2012/09/14/why-i-took-all-my-kids-toys-away-why-they-wont-get-them-back/

The ut oh bin

Tired of messy bedrooms?  Through with stepping on toys?  Me too. I found this idea on Pinterest and changed it just a bit to increase the pain. Simple idea. Grab an empty bin and walk around the house and fill that puppy up with everything on the floor. Put a little note on it.  Mine said this:

You left it out.  MOM picked it up. She’s got your stuff and you are out of LUCK. To get it back, you must do a CHORE and again it is yours, just like before. Hurry, don’t be a PILL, on Saturday it goes to GOODWILL!

My girls were pretty darn mad.  On Saturday morning I gave them 1/2 hour to clean and after that anything on the floor was going out the door. They moved fast. Absolute success. Let me know if you try this out!

bins baby

Forget shoe bins for shoes, how about for organizing your kiddie's toys. Especially those little tiny teenie toys that love to nestle sharply between my fourth toe and pinky toe.  In the morning.  Always.  Or late late late at night. I use clear shoe box size bins to organize:  markers, crayons, chalk, paint sets, littlest pet shop, legos, polly pockets, blocks, match box cars, Mc Donald's happy meal toys, hair ties, and whateva fits.  Use your large toy boxes for stuff animals and big toys otherwise you will find itty bitty toys hiding at the bottom. Label your bins with a sharpie or use some recycled kiddie art and create a label; this will ease toy clean up.  They come with lids and stack tidy on shelves.  View eco-friendly bins here and dollar store location finder here.

No toy garage

We just moved two months ago and I had the distinct pleasure of packing 10 BOXES of TOYS.  Gimme a break. I mean really.  So as I began to slowwwwwly unpack them, I realized AGAIN that all of these were unnecessary.  Especially as I witnessed them playing without them for days.  So I grabbed a black garbage bag (absolutely necessary to hide the toys headed for donation from those little I-don’t-miss-a-thing eyes). I decided that at least half of the toys from each box MUST leave the house.  In addition, I also created the No Toy Left Behind Act – no more bins of extra toys in the garage.  If there is no room in their bedroom for them, then there’s no space in the casa.  View places to donate toyshere.

Re-purposed Organization

I don't buy many boxes of wipes anymore since I have Belle 99% potty trained. Whew! But I've been stashing empty wipey boxes thinking I would find another use for them. Here are five ways I re- purposed them: 1. Hair ties and barrettes. 2. Puzzle pieces. If you have the bandwidth you could even take a picture of the puzzle when complete, print it and paste it on the outside of the box. I cannot claim to have ever done this but it sounds type A fabulous. 3. Toy jewelry box or itty bitty annoying toy parts. 4. Crayons and markers. 5. Cotton balls and ear sticks. Wanna buy a fashion forward, refillable and eco-friendly wipey box or case? Peek these out from Babies in Bows.

Get Creative

We purchased a doll house for my three old yesterday for Christmas. Well, we purchased two of them but one is going back. Janae wanted a Dora Doll House but that one is orange, plastic and kind of gaudy. The one we love is a pink and purple (her fav colors) and hand crafted wood with non-toxic paint Melissa and Doug house. Oh and did I mention the wood one is $40 cheaper on Amazon? So we are furnishing it with the Dora furniture and figures and will probably slap a big ole Dora sticker on the front of it. Toys R Us sells Wooderland, an eco-friendly line featuring non-toxic paints and rubber woods. Little more expensive but very cool.

Kiddie Swaps

Forget what you might be thinking. Kiddie Swaps are for parents to swap out unwanted, gently used kid stuff for some other kid's items. We have held four of these at my work and all have been relatively successful. We have one coming up at the end of July but we are letting people bring their children's stuff in over the next two weeks to an empty office set up with labeled boxes. All the unswapped items are going to a local charity for low income women and kids. Knowing this makes it all the more fun when I am sorting through two and half years worth of toys and clothes.

Kiddie Clutter

As some of you know, I am on a journey to clear my home of kiddie clutter. Easier said than done. The other day, I removed their bin of toys from our living room and our bedroom. I am officially reclaiming our adult space. I also "retired" a bin of their toys and placed them in my closet and will exchange them out in a month. Less toys, less mess for mommy to clean up. Less mess, and a happier mommy? Sure...