Kids Clutter Control!.

My cousin at Pretty Organized Palace, and her friend -Wendy at The Shabby Nest are having a linky party on The Shabby Nest for kids' storage ideas, and I said I wanted in. My one good idea came from a book by Deniece Schofield called: Confessions of a Happily Organized Family . Her idea (that I stole) is this: put all the toys in ONE PLACE. Brilliant. I mean how many rooms do you have to clean toys out of every day? Plus, there are all the "ownership" fights: "that's mine!". She says give the kids a little ownership time, while the toy is new, then it goes in the common toy room. So anyway that's what we did, and they're all downstairs!


We've got a lot of different storage options, mostly based on old furniture from my in-laws. This was a buffet before I got to it. I didn't need a buffet, I DID need something to hold Barbies and Dress-ups!

As you can see, this used to be a hutch, but I really needed something to hold a huge, (ugly) doll house, and Disney videos. So, a little paint and new hardware off of ebay, and.....

The most important thing I discovered for kids storage was LABELS. I got tired of the excuse "but I don't know where it goes...." really quick. For younger kids this was trickier, but using my fabulous artist skills (you should see my Liger!) I just drew a picture of the type of toy underneath the name. Labels are also good for friends' parents who try to help clean up before their kids leave. I hate that when I can't figure out HOW to clean up. Makes me wonder how my kids are supposed to. I had a hard time finding these bracket thingies, mainly because I didn't know what they were called, finally I reallized they are just holders for my labels, uh "label holders". Duh. Here's a good link to buy some. I'm serious, it took me days to find them online. Mental block or something.




For the older girls they do have their "special specials" that are mainly momentos and not toys. We limit them to an old cedar chest that was my grandmas (notice the SAME color of paint --I just bought a gallon and went to town).....




...and these cool under-bed storage containers. These were really a find (just at Wal-mart, I don't mean they were HARD to find), because I don't know about you, but my kids always store things under their bed ANYWAY, and this way most of that dead zone is gone. Not as much room for stinky socks and candy wrappers. OK, that's all of the kids clutter control I'm willing to show you. I actually have a whole other set of ugly tupperwares for game stuff, but you don't need to see that. ...nobody really needs to see that. Someday, I will save my money for some artsy baskets like in my master closet. Yeah right. My hard-earned money for kids clutter control. Maybe my mother-in-law will get rid of more furniture soon!

Tweet