My 10 Favorite Products for Toy Organization
September 6, 2007 by Julie Bonner
Filed under Home & Living
A Tame Those Toys Thursday Post
Keeping kids’ toys organized can really be such a pain. Now, before I show you my favorite products, let me just say that it doesn’t matter what products you buy. If you don’t first have some key principles in place with your kids and their toys, you will always have an out of control mess on your hands. Here are a few things to follow:
1. Put back what you are playing with before you get something else out.
2. Go through their toys before big present events like birthdays and Christmas and help them choose toys to donate to kids in need.
3. One toy in, one toy out rule.
4. Have either a room or a space in their room designated for toy storage.
Following a few key principles like those will help keep their toys from taking over the entire house. Now on to my favorite toy storage!
My 10 Favorite Products for Toy Organization
(Click on each picture for a larger view.)
1. 5.4 Quart Plastic Shoe Box – Clear by Iris
2. ClosetMaid 9-Cube Organizer
6. Iris Under Bed Storage Drawer
8. Eight Bin Toy Organizer and Shelf-Color Natural
Nice post; some new ideas I had not thought of before. I love our hammock — Cedar’s room would be chaos without it. And we have some of those shelves with bins but he needs a bit more. That hanging deal; the kid stuff organizer looks perfect for shoes maybe (if the pockets are big enough).
I LOVE the toy trolleys! Must. Order.
@Jennifer – I love those hammocks too. I’m beginning to think my kids will never grow out of the stuffed animal stage and I’m okay with that. As long as they don’t take over our house. I’m beginning to wonder if they are planning a take over. They sometimes look very suspicious.
@Stephanie – I know. I love those too! I haven’t ordered any, but I am re-doing my daughter’s room for her birthday and I think I am going to get a few. They would be perfect for some of her stuff.
My friend has the closet maid cubes with the fabric drawers. She has one in each bedroom and she really likes them. I don’t think they would work for our family though.
Right now I’m looking for some storage containers to go under my daughter’s bed. They need to be around 9 inches tall because there is a 10 1/2 inch opening. I found some cute baskets at Target, but they were $20 each. No thanks!!! I may have to go with clear plastic bins, but I was hoping for something cuter.
BTW, I think they have some of the toy trolleys at Target. You might want to compare prices.
@Karen – I found some baskets at Wal-Mart for about $8 that fit under my daughter’s bed perfectly. I measured before I went so I knew they would fit. They also have handles on them. I love them! I’ll take a picture when my husband brings back the digital camera. He’s holding it hostage at his work. He has to like take pictures of houses for people or something, lol!
I’ll have to look for those toy trolleys at Target. I haven’t seen them before and I practically live there.
If they do have them I know they’ll be cheaper. Thanks!
When I was younger, I only put my toys inside a box or carton…or sometimes a plastic box…
Toys for kids: I remember my toys just being thrown on the closet floor. lol!
Bought the toy trolleys. Great find!
Also bought some mesh toy bags to keep toys sorted within the trolleys (KidsKlutterKatchers.com) because dumping of toy bins turns out to be simply too fun for kids to resist and too time-consuming for mom to re-organize.
Also picked up a used train table off craigslist that didn’t come with under-table storage. Solution: the clear shoe bins you list above fit perfectly (and it’s actually a bonus that they’re not obnoxiously bright primary colors that clash with the rest of our furniture.)