Frugal Family Organization

My little guy knows how to make a mess. Recently I've been trying extra hard to help him focus on putting his toys away after he is through with them. It's slow progress but he's been doing a great job consider he's not even 2 yet.

One of the things I've done since he was little was hide a few of his toys and rotate them out. I was amazed once I dumped out his toy box last week at how much stuff was actually in there and some of it was still hidden. I quickly understood why he was a little overwhelmed and didn't really play much with what was in there. He had WAY TOO MANY CHOICES.

So I broke out a box of ziplock bags and started sorting everything into categories. Similar items were grouped together. Now I had a group of music instruments rather than a random assortment of things all over the house.

I filled another plastic tub with items that were too big for ziplock containers.

I also happened to find some fabric cubes at the Dollar Tree and knew they were perfect to help us organize his things. So while the little man was napping I took pictures of all of his toys that I had grouped. Then I added a label to the pictures.

I printed them on cardstock and covered them in contact paper. Next I added a piece of velcro to fabric cubes and placed the opposite side on the laminated picture card.

My plan is to swap out toys every two weeks. Currently he only has 5 cubes of toys and one cube of books in the play room. I've already noticed that he plays with the toys he has more and there has been a lot less wondering around looking for something to do. Another perk is there is less to clean up now. I'm very thankful I put the work into this project I can see it .

P.S. You might have to remove the labels until it's time to pick up as they might seem like great toys. You just never know.