In With the New? ....but how to deal with the old???
In light of the new furniture coming tomorrow...
I've been doing some cleaning, sorting, rethinking about things. Rearranging in this here living room.... I'm sitting in here on the PVC lounger...blogging & wondering what to do with all of these TOYS!
This pic was taken last August. So, we still have all of these toys, and then some!
Gage has bins in his room....but they're all full now too.
So, what do all of you guys out there do for toy storage in common areas? We have plenty of toys in Gage's room, but we all like to play together & spend the majority of our time in the living room.
So---what do you guys do?
My thoughts: I'd like to go through the toys, sort out those which he is too big for, or just doesn't play with. For the ones he still loves, I'm thinking about getting some of THESE from Ikea:
For now, we have toys in various baskets sitting around. The baskets are fine, but it's "toys-toys-toys" when you walk into our house. And, he doesn't play with most of them!
Which brings me to my next question. What to do with all of these toys????
I want to have another baby...do I box them up & put them in the attic? Do I give them to someone else, and get new stuff for the next baby?
Advise away....
Labels: home decor
posted by Lainey-Paney @ 11:13 AM
16 Comments:
I would hold on to them if you want another one. I love the IKEA box. Really cute.
I also have the basket thing going on but I split his toys in half and only keep one basket out for a month at a time. That way, it is like he has new toys every month.
Like Zephra said... put some away, rotate boxes... store all infant and baby stuff .... give away anything that Gage simply didn't seem to enjoy... get ruthless with anything broken or boring and biff it!
Hi there! I've been reading your blog for a while and decided i would finally come out of hiding!! I really enjoy your blog...Gage is such a cutie and you are a fantastic Mommy!!
I have the same issue w/ toy storage in the living room and i found wood toy boxes for each boy that coordinate w/ our furniture...kinda like the ikea box! Great idea!
As far as keeping toys...i have found that my younger one gets just as many toys for birthdays, christmas, etc as my older one! So i kept just a few of my older one's favorites and donated the rest! Otherwise they end up having WAYYYY too many!! =)
Love the IKEA box but, have no kids so I am here to comment on your comment from my blog the other day... I'm freaking out! Now, I'm scared that I'll look awful in those sandals! My feet are not at all flat though. I don't look bad in other flat shoes/flipflops...
i boxed everything up and put it in the attic by age for codi and it's worked great.
i got something like this for our living room but in white to match our theme so they were hidden and it was wide enough to hold puzzles and what not
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2948676
also i just saw this and omg it would be perfect in gages room
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3086491
Misguided Mommy: Hey! That would be perfect in Gage's Room!!!!
We do the rotation bit. Toys are stored in crates and I rotate them every couple of months or so.
When Travis was little, I got rid of everything because we thought he'd be an only child...and I'm kicking myself now! Definitely save stuff you want to save...box it well and store it until the next one comes along!
I saved the best and my favorites in a SMALL box.. for the next baby. And usually one toy with a huge memorial went into their keepsake box.. like the first one my son ever picked out. except for those I agree.. we just buy buy buy and there are sooo many! after or right before (if i have time) every Christmas or birthday I go through and take out what they have out grown and just what they dont play with. The out grown obviously goes.. charity or churches are where mine go. And the dont use can either go the same route or put in the attic and switch whats down for whats up in a few months. All will get better use.
Well, in my humble opinion....=) I would save favorites, expensive, special toys for the next and get rid of the rest. Man, you could make a killing at a garage sale!! BTW, I LOVE that Elmo chair. I thought about getting Rachel one the other day at Babies R Us. Anyway, we have a playroom where most of Rachel's toys are but in her room, we just throw everything in the toybox that we got her for her birthday.
I go through the toys every 6 months and discard broken ones - then I spearate out the toys too young for each child and place those in a big bin that we keep in the crawl space.
We also have a one-in, one-out rule. Therefore any new toy means that an old toy needs to vacate the toybox. That toy is either put in storage for the next child, or donated to charity.
I also have 8 sets of bins that have 3 drawers each. I separated all our toys into these drawers and then took pictures of what was in wach drawer and taped it to the front. The kids can clean up really fast since everything has it's own spot.
Finally, I went through all the drawers and HALVED all items and put them in a spearate box that is kept in our office closet. Then, every 6-9 months I rotate the toys..that way the kids do not get board nor do they have an over-whelming selection.
This works for us.
Storage and management is key!!!
Good luck!
While I would always save some of the toys, I would also get the boys to help me choose which ones to give away to kids who didn't have any (or very few). That was quite a life lesson for them - it was surprising how generous they were.
Having gone through this 4 times already, I say give away all but your very favourite baby/toddler toys. It is just not worth hanging on to tons of stuff.
And I would only keep one small basket or box of kid stuff in the living room. I usually purge my living spaces of kid toys by the time they are two and then I have a basket I keep under a table to gather the accumulated kid stuff at the end of each day, so that it can be put back away.
I need to be able to sit in a room after the kids are in bed and not trip over their stuff!
I would save them. Toys are expensive!
I LOVE this box! Gotta get some.
I've always tried to stick with the idea of "one comes in, one must go out", but my Mom sends boxes of Dollar Store stuff for all of the kids and then I'm torn with the sentimentality of it all (you know, "wow, this is really junk, but my mom sent it..."). So as soon as you figure out how to handle it all, could you clue me in?
I don't know if it will go with your decor, but we bought one of those leather storage ottoman things -- the large ones they have at Target or Bed, Bath and Beyond. We also have a smaller round blue storage ottoman for his play room. They actually can hold a pretty good amount of his toys.
I would hold on to some of them for another baby, but not all. Remember, the other baby will be getting new stuff as well! :)
We are giving a bunch of the kids older stuff to Good Will - the stuff that just sits there and doesn't get played with. The stuff that has meaning we are keeping but boxing up and putting away if they don't play with it and saving for when we may have a child together.
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