Toys, Toys, Toys

Simplify and reduce are two of my favorite words. I'm always looking for ways to simplify around the house and reduce the clutter and stuff. That being said, there is one area where this rarely happens - the kids' play area.

Their toys seem to multiply over night and they tend to get out of control very quickly. I find that the more stuff they have and the more cluttered their play area is, the less they actually play. Cluttered toys means that they have to dig through lots of stuff (making messes in the process) to find whatever they are looking for. Chances are they forget what they were looking for before they find it.

I've been wanting to tackle this area for a long, long time now. But it's been a little too easy to procrastinate. It took about 4 hours, but I felt so good when I was done. And the kids were so happy to actually be able to play with their toys and not just make a mess with them.
This is what I started with. See how everything is just piled in spots and nothing is organized or easily accessible?
I am convinced the best way to tackle any big project like this is to just dump it all and start over from scratch.Gracie was a fantastic helper during the dumping process.And here is the finished product. Ahh...so much better! Everything is organized and rearranged. I know how much I like a new perspective in my areas, I figured the kids would like the same.95% of the toys down in this area are for the younger kids. Isabelle has her very own cabinet where she keeps her games and craft supplies. Alex, Olivia and Gracie each got a drawer of their own to hold their favorite, personal toys.Toy food and kitchen utensils were previously everywhere. I collected them all together and put them in a Kroger reusable shopping bag. It fit perfectly in the toy refrigerator.Plus, this makes pretend "Krogering" (which is Olivia's favorite thing to do) that much easier.I also moved some of the toys to a shelf in the kids' closet. I'd really like to rotate toys and only have half of them in the play area at any given time, but we just don't have the storage space to do that. This is close enough though.

Stop by 5 Minutes For Mom for more tackles, Lara's blog for more Talk About Tuesday, Mommy Community for Tuesday Toot and Blissfully Domestic for more I Am Blissfully Domestic.