In 2011, we had two little girls and under 20 toys.
We now have three little girls and four small fabric bins for toys:
Here's a close-up of one of the bins. I took photos of the contents and made simple labels so that the girls (and guests) can know where things go.
To keep everything well-organized and easy to pick up after playtime, we bought a ClosetMaid 9-Cube Organizer in Alder (watch Target for sales!) and put it in the girls' closet. Three of the drawers are "open" for oversized books and an inflatable globe.
The bottom two drawers are for shoes - one bin for our 6-year-old, one bin for our 3-year-old.
If we get new toys as gifts or handmedowns from neighbors (thank you, friends!), we quickly decide which of their current toys will be given to other children or passed along to a non-profit. Our unofficial rule is that the toys have to fit in the bins.
Note that we also have a wooden toy kitchen, a half-dozen dress-up costumes that hang on the other side of the closet, and separate areas in our house for children's books and arts & crafts. More on that in a future post.
How do you organize the toys in your home? Which toys do your kids play with the most?
Target does have some super affordable storage options. I love what you've done with the cube; adding photos was a brilliant idea! Also, I can so appreciate your unspoken rule about the toys needing to fit in the bins. Great way to keep clutter at a minimum and, of course, live simply as I know you value doing!
Great system!
I saw those in Target last week and definitely have one in mind for the girl's room in the future. We keep toys in wicker baskets on the floor, but we are in the stage of either dumping the whole thing (Noah) or pulling out all the toys one by one and then playing in the basket (girls). I do think we have too many toys, but I'm so sentimental I don't want to get rid of the ones that came from certain people even if the boys don't play with them anymore! We really don't have more than would probably fit in 6 of those bins, but it feels overwhelming to me when they never get picked up!