How I deal with toys!

My submission for Works for me Wednesdays! Okay, I'm admitting first off that this does NOT work exactly as I had hoped. It does HELP though.

I bought some of the containers that are clear with lids. I bought pretty fabric open boxes. I bought shelving stuff for the closet. I got the kids organized (and no they can't seem to keep it exactly as we started).

We then, as a family, sat down and listed the 20 toys they would keep. 20 is MORE than enough for 2 boys. In our definition of a toy, Legos were 1 toy (no matter that there were thousands of the little blocks). Star Wars toys are another toy. Puzzles are a toy. Boardgames are a toy. Playdoh is a toy. All books are one toy.

Then, after they had selected their "toys" we organized them and gave every toy a spot. This means that now when I tell them to clean their room they *should* know where everything goes. More likely though, I will go into the room point to a toy and ask, "Where does this go? Does it have a home? Is it one of the 20 toys?" If they answer it is NOT one of the 20 toys they can choose to either KEEP it and get rid of another toy or throw it away. :)

One rule is that books and board games are NOT allowed to be selected for throwing away. :)

Here's some of our list:

1. Books
2. Board games
3. Puzzles
4. Playdoh
5. Legos
6. Playmobil
7. Cars (you know, matchbox and hot wheels...and they MUST fit in the ONE box)
8. Star Wars
9. Pirates
10. RC items like Robo Pet and RoboSapien
11. Computer games
12. Playstation and Ninentendo DS games
13. Shake and Go Speedway
14. Stuffed animals (other than the "lovies" they sleep with)
15. Balls to play with (that didn't make it to outside toys)
16. Leap Frog Math desk (I tossed Leapster in with this one)
17. Markers and crayons, and other art supplies
18. Mr. Potato Head (we have lots of Disney pieces to go with him)
19. Take apart cars (hard to describe)
20. K'nex