Toy Organization

Ever since Christmas, I have been struggling big time with how to store all the toys we have accumulated over the years.  The biggest challenge for me were the groups or sets of toys Natalie had.  The Barbies.  The set of mini princesses and all of their dresses.  Strawberry Shortcake and her friends.  You get the picture.  They needed to be contained and contained together.  I had tried a few different types of boxes but most required my help to open and close.  #fail

I couldn't contain my excitement when I saw Jen at IHeart Organinzing share her super cute (and simple) toy storage solutions here. 

The one that jumped out to me right away?

This gem of a post on playroom basket organizing!  How great are these baskets?  Genius idea to add a cute picture on the front to clearly indicate to your toddler which toys go into each basket.   And the frames?  What a great way to give the playroom a sophisticated, clean look.  Love it!

 

Now I'm not even going to lie.  I checked out her instructions and thought, yeah that isn't going to happen here.  Well, not now anyway.  I have dreams of creating an established playroom that has a more classy look.  Now?  Now, I go with an easier, less cute but just as effective version.

 

The very first thing we did was something we should have done a very long time ago.  We went thru all Natalie's toys and chose to keep it, give it to Chase or to donate it to a child that would love it more.  I was very impressed at how well Natalie did with this project.  She was very honest in her evaluation and truly only kept the toys that she enjoyed playing with. 

The downsizing allowed us to evaluate our storage needs.  Since I had already picked up four plastic baskets from the Dollar Store (that didn't work in the pantry like I had hoped) we picked the four types/groups of toys that would benefit most from our new storage solution.  For us it was the mini princesses, Barbies, My Little Ponies and a combination of Disney fairies and Strawberry Shortcake. 

Next I dug through my label sticks and found the Removable I.D. Labels.  Perfect for this project.

I did a Google image search for cute pictures that would clearly depict the toys that belonged in each crate.  After a little tweaking in the Microsoft Word doc, they printed out perfectly.  The added bonus?  Natalie was really excited to participate and place the stickers on each crate.  :)

 

 

The baskets fit perfectly under her bed and allow for easy access to play and to clean up. 



So far the new organization has been a success!  Natalie loves having the easy access and clear place for her stuff.  Mama loves that Natalie is excited and that the whole project cost $4.  :)

Any other toy storage solutions to share?  I still haven't figured out how to manage all the large plastic toys - the princess castle, Jake's pirate ship, etc.