Keep Your Children's Toys from Taking Over Your Life

Drowning in your children's toys? It seems that in our modern society, many of our issues are those of dealing with excess rather than deficiencies, and if you are having this problem regarding your children's playthings, here are some ideas on how to organize them for you.

First, you should schedule a block of time at least one hour in length when your children will not be around to rediscover all the toys you unearth. Start just after putting the kids to bed, during their nap (If you're lucky enough to have nappers!), while they are away on a playdate, or when another responsible person can care for them. If you're desperate to end the insanity of constantly stepping on hard, sharp-edged toys (Barbie shoes, anyone?), you could even set them up with a video in another room, but this isn't as foolproof.

As you're going through your children's toys, you will have a few different objectives. It is easier to keep these all in mind as you sort rather than making multiple passes. First, you will want to weed out any unsafe toys, whether they are broken, inappropriate for your child's age, or simply a bad toy design. It is helpful to have some sort of sealable containers to sort into so that you can seal them and put them out of your children's grasp should you be interrupted before you finish. Have one container for toys that you think you can repair yourself, one for toys to store, one for toys already sorted, and at least one for toys that you plan to get rid of. In this last category, you may want separate bins for toys to recycle, toys to give to charity, toys to swap with other families, toys to sell secondhand, toys to give to friends with younger children, and toys that simply have no other use but to be thrown away.

Perhaps the most important sanity-saving tip is this: as you are going through the toys, you will want to group them into sets and put each set in its own container as well. If you like, you can spring for purchased organizational containers such as plastic bins or wooden boxes, but plastic top-zip gallon baggies work just as well (excepting that they don't stack) and allow you to see contents at a glance. Again, the important point here is to have containers that seal to prevent the toy sets getting mixed and encourage only having a limited number of toys out at a time.

Once you complete the job, you will probably want to have a few tricks to keep things in order. If you have a toddler or baby who is too young to understand and follow a one-toy-out-at-a-time policy, you can keep the toys and contained sets in a place your child can't access and act as a clearinghouse. If you have storage room, a good solution is to store excess toys in storage bins and rotate toys every so often. After being absent for awhile, these toys will seem new and recapture your child's interest when they surface again. If you simply have too many toys for your available space, don't be afraid to sell, donate, or recycle those that won't fit; your sanity, time, and well-being are worth it. Also consider having a policy on toy quantity - when your child receives a new toy, an old one must go. Such a policy will encourage you to think more carefully before purchasing new toys and curbing this consumerism (What parent doesn't want to give their child things they want?) will likely save you money.

As any parent knows, a plan that looks good on paper doesn't always go off without any hitches, but even so, this toy management plan is sure to save you time and sanity and probably even some of your hard-earned cash. As your children see you maintain order, they will learn to keep things tidy as well. Encourage and help them in this; make it a game and sing songs as you go. Good luck!