Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great weekend. If you follow me on Instagram and Pinterest you know that I’ve recently been posting a lot about spring. We had 50(ish) degree weather in Chicago last week so it’s been a nice change.

Speaking of change… my husband and I have been busy completing some unfinished projects around the house and have started to prep for the arrival of our third baby boy who will be here in May. Time is flying by!

One specific change that we’ve been working on is the playroom. We recently relocated it to a larger room in the house which gave us the perfect excuse to go through the toy pile-up and purge/donate. One goal that I have in this room is to not let it get overwhelming. Being in an open space in our house (it’s right by our main living area and doesn’t have any doors – it’s actually supposed to be a dining room but we have no use for one right now), it kind of forces us to keep it clean. I actually really like the accountability, haha.

Below are 5 Organization Tips that have helped us keep the boys’ playroom clean and organized.

1. Use storage cubes for their most-used toys & only keep what fits in them
2. Use larger storage baskets for “bulk” toys
3. Keep games/puzzles out-of-reach
4. Put an activity table in the middle of the room
5. Avoid clutter

1. Storage Cubes

There’s a reason that every parent uses these – they’re functional! And they’re the perfect toddler-height. We had these storage cubes in our old playroom. We decided to buy bins for the bottom cubes and leave the top cubes open for the miscellaneous stuff. I wanted to organize this space in a way that would only allow us to keep a “limited” amount of toys. I say that lightly because we all know how quickly the stash adds up. But my goal for these bins is that we can only keep what fits. If it’s overflowing, it’s time to go through it.

Because we had 6 cubes to work with, we organized them based on the boys’ most-used toys:

• Legos & Blocks
• Balls
• Animals & People
• Music
• Cars
• Baby Toys (gotta be ready for the new babe)

The open cubes are designated to larger toys, books, and aesthetically pleasing objects – let’s be honest, we have to look at these rooms everyday! Might as well have a little something in there for us, haha.

2. Use Large Storage Options for “Bulk Toys”

2. We used large storage options to organize what I like to call the “bulk toys” – the stuff that takes up the most space and what our kids have a lot of. For us, that’s stuffed animals.

3. Keep Games & Puzzles Out-of-Reach

3. Nate built these three shelves to keep all of the games and puzzles out of the way. These are the toys that generally take the most time to clean up and make the room look the messiest… especially when your toddler dumps out every puzzle he can get his hands on. 🙂

This has been one of my favorite organizational changes to the playroom because now the kids have to ask to play with this stuff… and before they can make pick something new from the shelves, they have to clean up what they were just playing with. It really helps to not let the playroom get to that chaotic level where even you don’t know where to start picking up. Been there a million times… can’t tell you how much this has helped!

4. Put Your Activity Table in the Center of the Room

Another change that has oddly made a big difference is putting the activity table in the middle of the room. I didn’t realize how much of an impact this would make on keeping the space organized, but I swear it helps. It pushes their toy storage to the perimeter of the room and makes for a nice “home base” when they’re playing. I also think it has helped me keep in mind that I don’t want their playroom to get overcrowded. We have two bulkier toys that stay out by the table, but anything beyond that… we start to re-evaluate what they actually play with. I swear – the more toys my kids have, the less they play with them. How does that even work?

5. Avoid Clutter

Purge and donate as needed… or if you’re dedicated to rotating toys – go for it! Beyond the stuffed animal basket and fire truck on each side of the storage cubes, I didn’t want much on top of the storage unit. I had to put the dinosaur planters up there because they were too cute, but other than that, I’m trying to keep it pretty open. Plus, it makes for a great racetrack for the boys’ cars. 🙂