Kids Clean Up Part 1: Organization

I think one challenge most parents face is getting kids to pick up their toys and keep them clean. My house is far from perfect and I do pick up toys several times a day, but over the years I have learned some tips that should be helpful. Since this is a fairly broad subject I decided to break up into two parts. I feel that before you make kids accountable for keeping their stuff picked up, they need to have places to put it. The old saying "A place for everything and everything in its place," says it all, but sometimes finding the right kinds of places to put the toys is the hard part. So for part one we are going to discuss organizing toys, tomorrow I will share ideas on how to get your kids to clean up without feeling like a constant nag. (Check out part 2 by clicking here.)
Years ago, I read somewhere a great tip about organizing, and that is not to buy containers until you go through everything first. If you have spent a bunch of money on containers or time making them you may keep things just to have something to put in the boxes. Also, by knowing what you need to store you know what size containers and what type of container will be the most helpful.  So first, sort through all the toys, books and other kid stuff. The first sorting is not necessarily finding places for things but deciding what to keep. If your kids are like mine they have way more toys than they actually play with. 
Depending on the ages and personalities of you kids you may or may not want them around when you do this. It could be a good opportunity to teach them how about blessing others with and that the less stuff to clean up the more time there is to play. (Both are what Flylady and Flylady Kelly teach.) My kids are such pack rats they had a hard time getting rid of stuff like Happy Meal toys that they played with in the car home then got thrown in the room, so this kind of stuff I got rid of when they weren't around. Toys that are expensive or special may need your child's input as far as what to do with to show respect and to teach giving and caring for our belongings. Some toys you may decide to pack up in totes and save for your grandchildren, and that is OK if you have the space and you don't pack up everything in storage, just the special stuff.

Art supplies

But wait, we are getting ahead of ourselves. When you go through the toys for the first time have 3 boxes or bags handy to divide the stuff into:
1. Stuff that is broken that can't or won't get fixed. (ultimately the trash)
2. Stuff to give away
2. Stuff to keep
 If box number two is difficult you can make it "stuff that has been out grown" then go back and decide what should be packed up and what could bless someone else.

Now that you have the toys, books, games and such that you are keeping it is time to organize it. How you do this and just what type of storage system you use is dependent on your house and the space you have, the types of toys you have and your taste preferences. Start by dividing the toys into groups. Try to put all toys that are similar together for example: all dolls, all cars/trucks, all blocks. Then the groups can be broken down further if necessary for example small matchbox type cars would be in a small box but larger push Tonka-style toys may be put in a large box/tote, on a shelf or in toy box.

Trucks

Once the toys are organized the biggest key is labeling the containers that way everyone knows what goes where and what is inside (if your containers are not transparent) so things don't get dumped while looking for a specific toy. If your kids are young and can't read yet, or even if they can, you can either take photos of what is inside each box, or draw or print out clip art of the types of toys and stick it to the container. (The pictures on this page are examples of things you could print out as lables) I like to label the side of the container and the lid if it has one. 

Dolls

Plastic containers, totes, baskets, fabric pins and so on are all great for organizing and storing toys but they can be expensive. This is a time to think outside the box (pun intended). Many household items can be recycled or repurposed to hold toys and such- just be creative. Egg cartons can hold lots of small things such as beads or art supplies. Other things that you may have laying around the house that would work for organizing toys are: baby wipe containers, margarine/cool whip containers, breath mint boxes, large diaper boxes, and plastic baby food containers. (Glass baby food jars aren't very safe to have for kids' toys, but Gerber now sells varieties of baby food in clear plastic boxes with lids that are excellent for storing small things.) For more inexpensive organizing ideas check out this article by By C.M. Vanderlinden on hubpages. 


Here are more resources and ideas:

• A great step by step tutorial for turning diaper boxes into fabric storage containers can be found on Saving Addiction
• Here is an article showing how to make your own collapsible fabric storage boxes.
• Tip Junkie shares five free patterns for storage containers that she has found.
• Family Fun has a whole bunch of crafts designed to help organize kids' rooms. You can find a list of all the projects here. 

Part 2- Getting Kids to clean up can be found here

*Special Thanks to Flylady, Flylady Kelly, Saving Addiction, Hub Pages and Tip Junkie*