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Amber’s Home and Office Organizing Blog index

Tough Toy Questions Answered

 Organizing a toy room one toy at a time

This was a recent toy
transformation the homeowner and I worked on together. With such a dramatic
positive change,  questions and curiosity are bound to follow. Here is how we did
it and here are common questions I get asked about the process.  

 

• Where do you start? The first pile we come
  across, closet to the exit door of the space. If you start in the middle you’ll end
  up blocking yourself in with bags or boxes of stuff. This way as things leave you
  take them right out your cleared exit area.

• What do
  you with the stuff? No charity or friend appreciates broken toys or toys
  with missing pieces. So through out the session there is a missing piece pile we
  collect to add to toys as we find them. Complete toy sets get donated or given
  away. Anything else is thrown out. At the end, if the missing pieces haven’t
  found their home with the toy they belong, they are pitched.
  

• When should I go through toys? The ideal
  time to go through toys is right before a birthday or Christmas. So right now, in
  the fall would be a great time to tackle this project.  
  

• Why bother? Don’t kids just mess things up again? 
  Of course kids are kids, they will continue to play and pull out toys.
  However, the overall amount of toys is reduced, making clean up time easier.
  The second benefit is that each toy is accounted for, allowing mom to know
  exactly what the kids have to play with when it’s raining outside or they’re
  bored. A lot of what you see in this picture, the homeowner didn’t know they
  had. Now they have options for craft time or play dates. 
  

• How long did it take you? Five and a half
  hours. We did touch every single toy and did organize it all. The homeowner did
  a great job at decision making so that made it possible to complete in such a
  short amount of time.

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