Friday, December 26, 2014

Organizing and Simplifying after Christmas



I hope you and your family had a wonderful Christmas! I took a little time off from blogging over the Christmas season so I could focus on what really matters- our Savior and our family. Most of our family draws names or buys only for the children, which makes it a lot easier on your wallet. Still, our child was very blessed and well-gifted this Christmas. We celebrated Christmas seven times with various family members and one time with just the three of us.


Santa brought that pink Case tractor with the lights and sounds she saw at Tractor Supply and a pink stick horse that also makes noise. She is also currently obsessed with the movie "Frozen," like most little girls her age. She got Frozen dolls, books, puzzles, games, and pajamas.

All of those new toys meant we had to do some serious pairing down and cleaning out. First, we went through all those toy baskets in the playroom. We made sure no random items were in the baskets- all the baskets are categorized by item. All the Legos are in one basket, all the dishes are in one basket, and so on. Afterward, we picked out the toys she doesn't play with anymore and the toys that are too young for her. We donated some, we packed away some of them for future use, and we threw away broken toys.

Because she is three, she is too young to really understand why we should donate and pack away her old toys. As she gets older, I will involve her more in the process of choosing toys to donate and pack away.

To keep your playroom paired down and organized, I recommend the following tips:

1. Periodically sort through your child's toy bins and baskets.
*Do this to ensure that all the broken toys are being thrown out, and all toys are being put away in the right places.

2. Regularly throw away any broken toys, dried up or broken coloring utensils, used up coloring books, and toys that aren't working anymore.
*If they don't work, and can't be fixed, why keep them? They're just taking up space.

3. Pay attention to what your child plays with. If your little one hasn't touched "Mr. Potato Head" in three months, you can probably get rid of them.

4. Label your bins and baskets with a picture and the toy names, to encourage your kiddo to put the toys away in the right place.

It's good to be back, folks. Tune in for more regularly scheduled posts.

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