Is it worth hiring an organizer for my playroom?

amother

Aqua

Wed, Jan 29 2020, 12:32 pm

I’ve been working on my playroom for the last 2 days already and I’m not nearly finished!
1-Throw a lot of things away.. it’s hard but it really helps with clutter
2- make a pile of perfectly good things that your kids are just not using to give away
3- if you have a garage or storage in the basement, bring lots of toys there and rotate every few months
4- call bulk pick up so you can quickly get rid of the half broken air hockey table and old bikes!
5- buy some new storage bins if you need
Set aside a few days for this project-
Even with an organizer, only you can decide what you want to keep or get rid of

zaq

Wed, Jan 29 2020, 2:09 pm

There’s no magic unless Mary Poppins is your nanny. If you’re not going to clean up every day and teach your kids to do the same, don’t bother with the organizer. Give the money to tzadakahinstead.

You need to do several things:

1. Purge the toy collection. Ruthlessly. At the very least, box up half to three quarters of them and store elsewhere. Tidying is one thing and organizing is another. If you have enough toys to need to “organize” them, you have too many.

Rotate every so often but never have more than half the collection available at the same time.

2. Teach your children to put ALL the toys away after every play session. Yes, before lunch, before going outside, before supper or bath. Think of this as chinuch: you’re building good habits that will stand them in good stead throughout life.

3. Make your “system” simple. Have a few bins and let the children put their toys in them any old way. You can try having one bin for dolls, one for balls and sports equipment, one for everything else, or one bin for each child, but don’t sweat it if the kids don’t comply. What’s important is not so much “organizing” toys, which may be an oxymoron anyway, so much as putting them away so the room is tidy. If you don’t have too many toys, it won’t matter if they’re mixed up a bit. “Cross contamination” is a problem only when you have too many toys to search through.

4. Remember the toys won’t put themselves away under their own power. The most sophisticated Pinterest-worthy “system” is useless if you or your children don’t use it. Three old pillowcases in the corner is a great system if they do.

Don’t fall into the trap of “it’s easier and quicker to do it myself.” Of course it is. And it will stay that way forever unless you put in the time and effort to train your kids now.