my little boogers - T, age 8 and C, age 7 - are WILD. part of it is typical boy, part of it is borderline autism/ADHD/never had much in the way of rules and order. I go to bed absolutely exhausted every. single. night. they came to us with TONS of stuff. I mean, car trunk crammed full and a couple trash bags on top of that. their previous foster home apparently did not share my views on material things.
actually, let me stop right here and make a disclaimer. I realize that to many, I probably seem extreme. probably even to my own mother - who, undeniably, instilled in me my love of order (and truthfully in my case a lot also comes from my legitimately clinically diagnosed OCD). but it shouldn't be news to anyone reading this that over the past couple of years, I've really come to appreciate and (attempt to) embrace more of a minimalistic lifestyle. so when we were trying to begin our family, I knew I wanted to continue that even with little ones. I did not want every single baby gadget. babies themselves don't require much - it's the parents who want it. I knew I wanted to do holidays and birthdays very simply. I would love to live in a tiny house, but my husband is too giant to do that, so I'm treating our modestly sized home as my own simple/tiny living experiment of sorts. we were more than comfortable being 2 people living in 1200 sq ft, and as we added more to our family, I planned to continue to simplify so we could continue to live comfortably. all that is to say: this is all my preference. it doesn't have to be yours. in fact, most people I know are completely opposite.
back to my story...the boys came with a bunch of junk. (oh, and keep in mind that I have pretty particular tastes in fashion and decor, too) and every other week they visit their bio mom, who sends them with BAGS of more junk (in addition to happy meals and candy...but that'll be a story for later). so how do I contain it all? I am so not interested in having plastic stuff sitting out in my living room. and after the boys moved in, we quickly learned that keeping toys in their shared bedroom was not an option. their bedroom not only needs to be super duper conducive to sleep - as it is still exciting for them to be sharing a room - but it also needs to be destruction-proof. other parents of special needs kids hear me on that one? we needed one place where we could have them go to safely throw the king of all fits (about every other day at the beginning, now we are at about once every two or three weeks). so how do I store toys not in their room, not out in the living area, and not in the playroom since we are using it as the master bedroom now? well, I had one little cabinet that's beside our bar, kind of in the living room. it connects through to the kitchen cabinets but it's kind of awkward. I used to store random things like batteries and a screwdriver and flashlights in there, and the boys were always "exploring" in it, picking up all the things little boys love but do NOT need access to. so anyway, I had that cabinet. and I needed to figure out how to make it work to fit their toys. so I purged.
I'll try to make this short and sweet and just go ahead and tell you what we've ended up with. in their toy cabinet are four boxes (there's a pic on IG): on the bottom shelf are two shoebox-esque boxes with each of their names. those are for toys they like to keep separate. on the top shelf are two taller boxes - one for Legos, and one for all the other toys. those are all the things they play with in the house. on our covered front porch we keep a basket filled with: remote control cars, playdoh, and random cigarette smoke smelling junk (like happy meal toys and other uses tiny things) they bring home (that I clear out little by little so they won't notice). around back we have a basketball goal, a pogo stick, two bikes, football, schoolyard-type ball, sidewalk chalk. and at the bottom of the stairs in our basement, right by the back door, we keep: some science experiment kits (partially used - I should probably go through those), paint supplies, and a huge art jar; these are things that need to be used outside, but not kept outside. so while their toy cabinet looks so neat and I love it, they are not deprived children. I typically MAKE them play outside for at least a few minutes every day, regardless of the weather. the front porch is awesome for this.
I've of course seen on Pinterest the idea of boxing up half or more of kids' toys and then rotating them in and out with the other toys, so they forget about them then get excited about them again. sorry, but that's just too much work for me. I do NOT want a house overrun with kid stuff, and I do NOT want to make more work for myself. the boys are responsible for cleaning up each area of stuff when they are done, and anything left out gets thrown away or donated. they've learned (and are still learning - like I'm at some point going to NOT be serious about it? HA) the hard way. but that's how I maintain my (sanity, and my) beautiful, simple, clutter-free-though-it's-small-and-full-of-crazy-people/dog home :)
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