My Method for Toy Control is Posted

I've been thinking a lot about toys lately. It would be hard not to, considering I'm tripping over them at every turn. A fellow blogger encouraged us to share our methods of toy control, so here goes.

First came The Toy Pirate. The Toy Pirate is the opposite of Santa. Sorry, I do not have a picture of him. He goes from house to house, picks up toys that are neglected or left out and deposits them with children who will appreciate them. The Toy Pirate comes in handy after a parental purge: "Mom, have you seen my __________?" "No, dear, the Toy Pirate probably took it and gave it to a child who would take care of it and remember where he put it." Now that they are older, the Toy Pirate usefulness is waning.

For some reason it is nothing short of a miracle for my three boys to own a toy for a year without its being lost, stolen, or destroyed. One of their favorite games is "Santa Claus," the object of which is to pack a sack, backpack, or pillowcase full of miscellaneous toys, choking hazards and trash, and to then dump it next to a child who is pretending to be sleeping. The results of this game are 1)pieces are separated from the mother toy, i.e. the kitchen utensils are no longer with the oven, 2)toys get lost, stepped on, or broken 3)there is a huge mess that they whine about cleaning up until 4)I bring out the Black Bag. (see picture above)

The Black Bag has saved my sanity on numerous occasions. I am naturally a bit claustrophobic, and toys and STUFF everywhere eats at my nerves. Every once in awhile, often in a state of frustration and anger, I get out my Heavy Duty Contractor Size Clean Up Bag and fill it up with all the toys, books, tapes, and clothes that are not where they are supposed to be, which could be a good half of the toys they own. It then gets stuffed into our attic. The original idea was to have the children buy back any toy they wanted, and if a toy was not purchased within a given time frame, it would be pitched. This did not work out because my children do not receive allowance, do not have paying jobs, and even if they did, by the time they earned enough to get their junk back they would be old enough to vote. So we changed plans. Now they are suppose to work to get the stuff back. Being basically lazy children, they only worked for a few things, and then would play with whichever of their toys were not confiscated. Which means the rest of the toys should really go in the...

Trash can. *Imagine a picture of a trashcan* But I often cannot go through with this plan. Somebody purchased all those toys for them, and I hate to throw away other people's money, but the shape their toys are in after being owned a short time precludes them from going to Goodwill.

It's not as though we don't have room for toys. If you look behind the Black Bag in the picture you'll see shelves with bins. There is 8 feet of those shelves in the loft, with plenty of bins, all of them EMPTY. Same for the shelf in their bedroom. Plus the built-in shelves in Grace's room. But the toys seem to jump out and never find their way back. Originally, I had a bin for hotwheels, one for animals, etc, but that is SO not happening here. Forget organization, I'd be content to have everything in a bin instead of on the floor.

So, Jill, I've been inspired. My big organization project for Christmas break is the toys and books. And if I have time left over, I might learn how to put the pictures where I want them.