Whether your kid is a typical tidy firstborn, a wild middle child, or the baby of the fam, kids come with one certainty- stuff!
Right out of the gate, as new parents, we are floored by the amount of things that come with having kiddos. After the baby shower, we find ourselves stunned with the sheer amount of books, furniture, and random baby gear we are suddenly surrounded with.
Then we blink, and BAM! We find ourselves up to our eyeballs in toys and excess kid stuff.
Am I right? Come on, we can’t be the only ones! First and foremost. You are NOT alone!
Even the tidiest and most minimal of moms struggle in bringing peace to a playroom and to maintain that delicate balance of toy panic vs peaceful playroom.
So how do we start in bringing peace to a playroom?
It can feel paralyzing to even know where to begin. Toys these days range from thousands of seemingly microscopic little pieces to gigantic structures, taking up half the room.
It can also feel like a waste of time, as we often find ourselves up against our tiny opponents who clutch their My Little Pony collection with white knuckles.
Let’s dive into a few tips and tricks to obtain that peaceful play space.
There are a variety of ways to maintain a minimal state of mind when it comes to toys.
The first and hardest step is to weed out the overflow. Like our other blogs, we suggest taking it all out and sorting items into categories. These categories aide parents in gaining an understanding of what their kiddos truly have. This can also inspire parents to declutter and keep only a few of their child’s few favorites.
If your child is resisting getting rid of old toys, we recommend you do a few things.
Join forces with your little ones and downsize together?
- Make it a game. Whip out the stopwatch feature on your phone and see how fast they can gather all the toys they haven’t touched in months, and put them in the bag!
- Appeal to their hearts. Teach them to bless others and let them know that their old unused toys are going to a kiddo who doesn’t have very many things.
- Give them something to earn! Frozen yogurt date? Coins for their piggy bank? Let them think of this as a job and they will get their payment after.
Once you feel that you are no longer drowning in toys, now what? Christmas is around the corner. Birthdays are coming up. How do we keep it like this?
At An Organized Home OC, we have a few suggestions that have worked very well for maintaining your hard work after bringing peace to that playroom.
Here’s how we keep the peace:
- Use an ongoing amazon wishlist for your child, that family and friends can refer to. This gives you a little bit of control over what comes into your home. Keep it practical (think clothing, shoes, etc.)
- The “one in, one out” rule. Anytime your kiddo gets a new toy, they have to pick an old one to donate. This is a simple rule, that when followed closely, can help immensely in bringing peace to a playroom.
- Break the bad habits. We all know the drill… We take our kids to Target to grab toilet paper and what do they find? The latest toy or stuffed animal, and they cling to it for dear life. Your ears ring with their “pleaaaase”. Your will is weak. You say yes to avoid a “kid” breakdown. We’ve all been there! This habit can be a hard one to break but it’s the one habit that can come back to bite us later.
- Once a month, do a playroom walk through and toss the little sticky hands, random party favors, broken toys, disposable dollar section items, ripped books and the like.
It’s our humble opinion that kids play with more, the less they have.
Kids get so much more mileage out of the toys they have when you limit the amount of toys the have. It’s less wasteful, and we believe it brings your child less stress as well. Kids can often feel paralyzed when it’s time to pick a toy to play with, especially if it’s a wall filled with toys the size of Everest! Playrooms that are minimal and kept in shape, bring peace not only to parents, but to kids as well.
Once you feel that you’ve cut down on the toys and you’ve got a game plan for keeping things at a minimum- now is the time to get organized.
At An Organized Home OC, we love to use clear bins, tubs, and we adore color coded mesh zippies for all of the smaller, loose toys. We also love them for decanting games and puzzles, because those boxes take up too much space!
We love tackling playrooms, and if you are feeling less than confident or short on time- let us handle it! Give us a call at (714) 618-3744 or fill out our contact form and we will get back to you promptly.
We can’t wait to help make your playroom the most peaceful room in your home!
