We have hundreds of Macaroni Mom Publishers all over the country and we love to come together to share articles, recipes, crafts, and ~ well ... everything! Here are some really great tips and ideas on how to control the neverending toy clutter. And yes, I am ashamed to say that the picture is of my daughters room after a day of playing. It is a daily struggle in our house so I am ready to de-clutter and organize. Do you have any toy clutter tips? Leave us a comment below~ we want to hear them! Charlotte
Tips and Tricks on Toy Clutter from Macaroni Kid Publishers!
"I have these drawers which are clear and plastic - horrible to look at but great for organizing. After we organized all of my sons toys, we opened each drawer and took a picture. We then printed out the picture and taped to the outside of the drawer. Now he know what should go where and since are are short on space, he even knows if he follows the picture he can get it all in. We did this for this shelves and bins too. They do sometimes get a little out of place, but we just play a game and try to match the picture again. When he gets lots of new toys (like around now) :) , we just replace the pictures to reflect his new toy collection." -Andrea Spaar
"I just confiscated all the small parts from my daughter's Christmas presents. She's 2-1/2 and still sticking EVERYTHING in her mouth. I put the parts for each toy in it's own snack-sized ziplock bag and then labeled that, but I'm afraid I'll lose the bags, so I'm going to get a clear plastic bin for all the too-small pieces so I can find them if she ever stops trying to eat all her toys (I'm worried she'll be 13 before she stops-- PLEASE tell me it will be sooner than that!)" -Laura Miller, Appleton, WI
"To organize my sons room, I use bins purchased at Ikea for under $2 each. I labeled each bin, Transformers, Batman, Star Wars, etc and separated all the toys. Of course everyone looked at me like I was crazy. However, when his friends come over to play it literally takes 5 minutes to clean up no matter how bad the mess is because everything has a home. Neat, and Organized now if only my bedroom was like that." -Geanine Petraglia
"I just bought a plastic bin to replace the cardboard box for my daughter's Mega Bloks-- she jumped on the box and destroyed it. I'm going to cut the label off the box and tape it to the bin so we can see what's in it and because the box shows a really cute way to set the blocks up." -Laura, Appleton, WI
"I ended up going out and buying clear plastic bins in varying sizes. Each type of toy gets its own bin that it all fits in. So all the LEGOS go in one, Thomas has his own, Cars, Barbies, Princess Dolls & castle... etc. The bins all go in our basement on a shelving unit. Each week the kids get to pick which bins they would like to have upstairs. Right now we have two bins of princesses and barbies for my daughter and LEGO, cars, and Thomas for my son. Every night all items get put back in their bins and placed on a shelf upstairs for the next day. We also have a kitchen and items to go with that out, the wheelies rampway, a key board, and a few ride on toys that stay out all the time. This system also lets me know what items do not get played with at all, so we can donate them or list on craigslist." -Christi McKeag, Ankeny, IA
