Table of Contents
Show of hands!
Do you agree that your kid’s playroom is the messiest room in your property or at home?
Wherever there are kids, there are plenty of toys for sure. When you see toys all over the house, you feel outnumbered! You suddenly feel like your house is covered in so much clutter.
Okay, first things first, we know you love your kids and you embrace the parenthood journey. One of the best ways to show your love for your kids is to buy them toys as a gift for Christmas or their birthdays. Your children are a great ball of energy and they love to play. But this doesn’t mean you let their toys dominate your whole house.
You start feeling stress when you see the clutter in your house. And these can take a toll on your emotional and mental health, which is not good for your family.
But don’t fret! Now we have it under control.
Here are some tips on how to keep your kids’ toys from taking over your home:
1. Keep specific areas off-limits for playing
Your children prefer a room that they want to play in and it’s different every day! Some children want to play in the bedroom, or sometimes they feel like it’s more fun to play in your home office or maybe in the kitchen. Set some boundaries with your children and prevent them from playing in certain areas. If you want them not to play in the kitchen because they might get hold of sharp objects, tell them to play in the living room instead. You can keep an eye on them while playing in the living room while you are cooking them a delicious meal.
2. Teach your kids how to organize
Organizing your children’s toys can be another tedious task for you. We know you have a lot on your plate so it’s better to start teaching your children about packing away their toys once they are done playing with it. According to feng shui, there are a lot of good ways to organize your stuff at home. You can get colorful storage boxes or baskets and teach your kids to sort out their toys according to sizes or colors. You can make a game out of it too! You can make organizing their toys a fun activity and reward them after.
3. Start decluttering one room at a time
Decluttering can be a relaxing and fulfilling activity for you as a parent. You can go through your kids’ old dolls, robots, or action figures, and get rid of the ones that they barely touch. When toys are starting to take over the house, try to get rid of half. This can be challenging because you can be sentimental about their old toys, but it will get rid of the things that your kids don’t use. Try doing this every 3 to 6 months and get rid of toys that are not being used.
4. Apply the one-in, two-out rule (or more)
You’re probably familiar with the one-in, one-out rule before. It means for every new item that comes into the house, get rid of one, two, or more stuff. However, with toys, trade isn’t always fair in terms of space. In other words, if you buy a big kitchen set or train set for young boys, then just start getting rid of a small stuffed animal that isn’t going to help with space.
Instead, donate/sell as much as you need to gain balance to the space lost by the newly acquired toys. With this strategy, you can use these opportunities to teach your kids about being neat and about giving to others (if you’re donating the toys).
5. Choose toys with a dual purpose
Some toys just occupy space, obnoxious and worst of all, useless. But other toys are big and useful and can double as storage! For example, a kid’s kitchen set is big, with a pretend oven and microwave, so you can use it for storing smaller toys such as chop-able vegetables, other wooden toys that are sliceable such as pizza, fruits, and pastries. Similarly, train tables can store train sets and playhouses can store doll supplies. There’s always some use to these huge toys that can help you have an organized playroom.
6. Enforce toy rotation
Tucking away at least half your child’s toys is a great way to keep your house looking like a toy store bonanza. The key is hiding them. The time between rotations is entirely up to you. If you want, you can just wait until your kids seem bored with the current toy until you pull out a new one. If they’re young enough, you can open the stashed bins and make them feel like opening gifts on Christmas.
With these tips, you are helping your kids learn how to be organized and be giving to others. Some kids take a while to grasp the idea of organizing but with consistency and firmness on the rules, your kids will surely adapt eventually.
