Toy Organization

So just a couple weeks ago I had a play date with a friend, and I saw her great idea of how to organize her toys. She puts like toys with like, in smaller tote containers that then can stack and then labels them. What a great way for kids to learn how to sort and a great way to keep all those toys organized. I decided that I was going to do the same with my daughters' toys as well.

 Let me just say I love organizing. Now, I'm not the best at it, but I do love to organize things. That being said when I walk down the organizing isle in any store, I always find something that I would like to buy. There are all kinds of totes and organizing bins that you can buy, and oh what fun! Well, now that I'm staying home, even a tote that is on sale adds up, especially when I enjoy buying them and would buy multiple.

 So I started to write a list of how I would split up the toys to see how many totes I would need. As I was writing the list, I thought, I wonder if I have anything I could use in our house. Then I remembered, I have a bunch of gallon sized ice cream buckets in the basement that I have saved for a rainy day. I ended up using 7 of them for toys; Doll clothes, Doll accessories, Little Peoples, Doctor Kit, Dress up accessories and more. I simply labeled the tops with masking tape. I also took a photo of the toys and taped that to the top as well. This way, my 2 year old will be able to associate the words with the picture.

 So now I don't have to buy totes, but can still be organized! Now, toys like balls, blocks and puzzles, I might buy totes for, but there are 7 that I'm not buying. So the point of this post, is that you can still be organized without having to buy the organization totes. Some other containers that are great at storing toys or other items include, coffee containers, tin cans diaper or wipe boxes, and even glass jars. So next time you want to be a little more organized, but don't want or can't spend the money on nice totes, look around and see what you have around the house.

You can even take it a step further and spray paint the containers to match your decor, or tape on some fun paper.  I plan to sew a cute curtain to cover the crate that they are stored in.  Then one day I might beautify the containers themselves. 

I hope this post was helpful, what are ways you stay organized?