It’s time to do a little spring cleaning and organizing, so start with your child’s playroom. This room can get totally disheveled and unorganized because well, kids love to play! There are toys all over the floor, uncapped markers on your favorite couch, and you can’t even see the carpet anymore. Plus, you’re probably sick of stepping on your son’s action figures every afternoon.

Tidy Those Toys

“I always tell my clients, less is more. Kids feel overwhelmed by too many toys. I recommend doing a purge twice a year,” Bernstein says. “Throw out any broken, junky toys, donate any toys your kids have outgrown or are no longer playing with, and then organize the remainder into like categories.”

Now, it’s time to really get organized. Bernstein says that the key to successful toy organization is appropriately containerizing like items.

Use clear plastic containers because kids can see all the contents inside unlike baskets and cloth containers
Calculate what size container similar toys need. Small toy cars may fit in a clear plastic shoebox, soft toys may need a clear plastic tub.
Label each container. For preschool kids, she recommends covering the car container with car stickers, the train container with train stickers, etc.

“I recently organized the playroom of a brother and sister. I used containers with purple handles for the girl`s toys and gray for the boy`s. I then stuck cute labels with their names on each container,” Bernstein says.

If a task seems overwhelming, she advises you avoid looking at the entire room and instead focus one on area at a time and break it up into smaller tasks. “Don`t be afraid to make some executive decisions to throw away or donate toys without permission of younger kids,” Bernstein says.

BDST: 1425 HRS, Sep-18, 2013
SIS/GCP