Day 13
I love to have the kids a part of the family room. I mean they are “family”. But what I don’t love is when the kids use it as a play room and kick the parents out. There are kids toys all over and you walk around land mines, setting off musical alerts every time you cross the room! We need to balance the room to have the kids enjoy the space, but still look like adults live there too! This is where good shelving and cabinets come into play.
Baskets and bins are great for storing the kids toys. Limit the amount of toys to the space dedicated for them. Kids need limits and boundaries. Having dedicated storage for the kids toys and a place to actually put them away is key to keeping the room clean. Labels are key for helping kids participate in the clean up process. If you have kids that aren’t reading yet, use pictures for the labels. Laminating the labels are great to keep the abuse of little hands to a minimum. Kids will always bring additional items into the family room. Keep an outbox (basket, container) to put the items that don’t belong in the room in. This can be emptied out at the end of the day (OK maybe sometimes it will be every 3rd day, but at least you have a place to put it in until you get to put it away).
Gaming is big for kids, and it can be the dread of parents. Cords are all over, the cases to games are spread out, the disks are left where ever there is an open space, you know…How do you keep the gaming alive without wanting to kill it? I use baskets to separate each type of gaming unit accessories (like the Wii controller and numb-chucks in one, Playstation controllers and Rock Band accessories in others. I label them so there is no reason the kids won’t know where to put it back!
For CD’s, DVD’s, and game disks, I prefer a good storage case like the ones below. I find kids have a hard time taking the time to match up the disks with the cases, so just sliding it into a case is much easier.
If you like to keep the disks in the cases, there are so many options out there for storing them. Here are just a few from Target:
Now for old fashion games. If the boxes are in great shape, these stack well in a closet or cabinet. Be sure not to stack to high. I prefer no more than 3 that are similar in shape. Use racks to make use of space
These are the shelves I used in my closet for games…
If the board game boxes are in dire straights, these are amazing for storing them…
Giving everything a home to live in will help keep the clutter under control. There are so many ways to organize all your toys and games…what do you do to keep it under control? Where do you have issues? Let us know so we can learn and help!
About Gail Gray
