1.  The more toys a kid has, the less he or she will play with any of them. 

It's true.  Piles of toys equals chaos.  They can't tell what they have.  So, they play with one toy all the time.  Now that I have order, they play with a larger percentage of their toys, and it is a whole lot easier to tell which toys belong in the "say goodbye box".

 

2.  Sort, save and say goodbye.

Here is where to start:  Sort the toys into piles: one for keeping, one for saving, and one for saying goodbye.  The keep pile should be the toys that get played with most often.  The save pile should be very small... just those toys that bring you the best memories.  These should go in a memory tote and be stored away.  For me, it is a few books that I read to them daily as babies, a toy garage with cars and keys, and a Fisher Price barn.  These are the toys that I will save for my grandkids, God willing.  The say goodbye box is for donation or a yard sale, with the promise that they will get a new toy after the sale.

 

3.  New toy in; old toy out.

This one is easy:  a new toy comes into the house, and an old toy goes into the say goodbye box.

 

4.  Bag the Toys

I can't really take credit for this idea, but it works great for us so I will pass it on.  Obviously, you should only use this with children that are old enough to know that sticking bags over their heads is a bad idea.  Either make simple bags with a drawstring using scraps of fabric, or reuse the see-through bags with zippers that comforters, linens and curtains come in.  These are great for storing toys with multiple parts, such as building sets and Mr. Potato-Head type games.  The see through bags are especially nice because they can easily find the bag they want.

5.  Get rid of the fast food toys.                                                                                                                     These cause major clutter.  I bag them up and turn them into toy grab bags for the yard sale.  Try to find a way to recycle them rather than throwing them into the trash.

 

6.  A Place for Every Toy

Every toy should have a place to be stored, whether a large basket, shelf or bin.  I used the plastic name badge holders and my computer to print off a picture and the name.  So, balls get one space, musical instruments another.  The added benefit is that your child learns to read the word associated with each picture.

 

7.  One toy out, another in.

For my household, this one is the toughest, since I am the only one who subscribes to this theory.  Every one else is a clean-up-at-the-end-of-the-night subscriber.  I will continue to try to teach the get one out, put another away rule.  It just makes life simpler at the end of the day.

8.  Put it Away Every Night.

Since #5 fails so often, at the very least they need to put the toys away at the end of the night.  We all work together to get this done.  In general, this is a good practice to be employed by everyone.  I call it resetting the house for the next day.  Without this step, the toys will procreate during the night, leaving you with a bigger mess the next day.  The same applies to dirty dishes, laundry, papers, books, magazines, etc.

 

9. Have fun!

Last but not least, go easy on your kids.  Organization is important, but so is being a kid.  They will slip up, but most of the time it is not flat-out disobedience, but rather immaturity.  Don't make your house a place where the kids are afraid to play, for fear of disturbing perfection.  My house is never perfect.  It used to be a whole lot neater, but I've learned to let it go.  Soon enough I will have no toys to pick up or no glue to scrape off the table.  My house will be tidy again, and it will seem very, very empty.

So, go to it, tackle those toys.  Sort.  Organize.  Put them away.  Most of all, have fun playing with your kids!