Situation: This long and narrow room had ample floor to ceiling and wall to wall cabinets but the toys were constantly out and underfoot. The challenge was that the younger child could access the older child’s toys and had not learned how to put them back into tubs. At the same time, she was quite young and only beginning to learn how to put things away for herself. Add too many toys into the equation and this room became a constant challenge and source of stress for mom.

Solution: Purge and sort through excess toys and donate to charity. Organize the toys by type and activity into plastic bins with lids that could not be easily opened by the youngest. Place her toys low and at her level and her older sister’s up and out of the way on the higher shelves. With snap lids that were not quickly opened, the young one could not easily dive in and dump all of the toys while no one was looking.  It was also easier to supervise her and keep her focused on one type of activity at a time. The older child now had her games and toys up where she could get to them as she wanted and knew how to put her toys away when she was done playing.