What Do You Store Toys In?

For my son, who is 8, we store his toys in plastic storage bins that are clear. We have some big ones for larger toys and things that he has a lot of (i.e. trucks) and smaller ones for other things. He keeps the organized (for the most part) in themes. Cars and trucks in one, Legos in one, Transformers in one, balls and other sports items in one, etc. They have worked relatively well for us. Sometimes they get disorganized. We store them under his bed and in a "toy closet" my husband built for him. He designed the shelves to fit the smaller tubs perfectly. There are some items, however, that just don't fit. We try to keep them put away as best as possible.

The living room:
http://www.babyage.com/nursery-and-furniture/todays-tot-s...

Her room:
http://www3.jcpenney.com/jcp/X6.aspx?GrpTyp=PRD&ItemI...

and

http://www.partycity.com/product/hot+pink+19in+round+plas...

Her playroom:
http://www.landofnod.com/family.aspx?c=106&f=957

The first thing I would suggest is go through the toys and get rid of some of them. I do that twice a year. Broken toys or ones with missing parts/pieces can be thrown away. Others can be sold, donated to a day care center or church, or given to Goodwill. You can get rid of toys the kids don't play with or store them and rotate the toys so the kids don't get bored.
If you're keeping some toys from the older kids for the baby to play with as she gets older, I'd store them one plastic container with a lid.

My son had large toys, things like a big dump truck and fire engine. I lined them up against the wall in his room or put them under the bed if they fit there. Other toys went in 2 plastic bins. One bin was for small toys (toy soldiers, legos and such). The other was for medium sized toys (GI Joe, transformers). This worked well for us, and he was able to help pick up his own toys.

I kept a small wicker basket in the living room and he was allowed to keep just a few toys in that. If toys started to overflow, they had to be taken back to his room or gotten rid off.

I use different sized bins for different categories of toys (Little People in one bin, instruments in another, etc.) For larger items, can you keep out just one or two at a time and store the others away in a closet or basement? It's overwhelming for them to have so much out at one time, but if you rotate the toys, it's like Christmas all over again each time you bring out something they haven't seen in a while.

We used rubbermaid storage bins, but the girls (I have 3 too) basically have run of the basement so I generally don't have to see the mess.

But if I had the toys in my family room, I'd get a shelf from IKEA that could double as a coffee table when laid flat and co-ordinating baskets. Whatever didn't fit in the baskets or in their rooms would go. Make the girls part of the sorting proccess too.

go through them and get rid of old toys (have a yard sale or take them to the good will). thats what i do. maybe git a rubbermaid tub and pack 1/2 of them away and every couple weeks switch them with what the baby has been playing with.

I use those rubbermaid bins or the generic ones from Target. They go on sale the week after new years. I get a bunch at a time in different sizes and one toy gets in each (most have tiny little pieces and this is a great way of keeping everything together). My boys are growing out of a lot of their toys, so we will be changing things up soon!

We have various items. I love the natural look of baskets so I have various sized ones that I've picked up at Salvation Army. A really big one in the corner holds the bigger toys but on the shelves we have smaller ones for musical instruments, baby toys, craft supplies etc. For the boys' legos etc. we put each set in a plastic bin with a lid I bought at the dollar store. I simply labeled them with a sharpie. It's the same for puzzles & games. It's really easy to see the contents that way. In their rooms we have big wicker laundry hampers I had bought at Ross for this purpose. Ross really has a lovely basket collection (at least my local one does.) I live in a University town so every year storage containers go on sale when students flock back to school so I stock up on them at that time. The big hamper I bought for my boys room (it's round and dark brown wicker) is over 4 years old and while the lid no longer exists it still looks nice. I paid less then $20 for it so I'd say it's paid for itself. Especially when it come to my little angles. o.O They're not easy on anything! The moses basket is a lovely idea for a storage container so it sounds like you already have a good start. Check the thrift stores for other containers that will coordinate with your life style and you should be set. I would not go to a high end store since the children will be playing with them a lot as they remove toys and then put them away again.

I have 2 wicker trunks (with attached lids) in my family room. One is angled in the corner so additional toys can go behind it but be out of sight. The rest of the toys are in the basement in bins. The toys get rotated up to the family room as needed but then other toys are put away in the basement. I don't like a lot of clutter and as I tell my kids you are only playing with one toy at a time so there is no reason for 15 toys to be out. Lol. I also have square rubber maid type bins in my garage. One contains all play doe stuff, another has legos, and another Lincoln logs. We also regularly clean out toys that are no longer played with and give them to Good Will. My 7 year old gets such joy out of knowing a less fortunate child can enjoy a toy she no longer plays with.

I use rubbermaid containers all sizes, and a few laundry baskets for the big stuff. When company comes they go in their closets & some go under their beds for quick clean up.

I asked this question a bit ago, and got some good answers. But I think that the only real solution is to have the really oversized toys out. I was in Bed Bath and Beyond and they were selling some multicolored laundry baskets for $2 each. I'm going to grab a few of those. At least then the toys can get chucked in and out of the way and they're big enough to hold some decent-sized stuff. Good luck.

Cube shelving with baskets.

At one point we used some heavy duty laundry baskets. The kids can see through the sides, they are not heavy, and there is no suffocation danger because they are vented. Also are very easy to move around the house and it's okay if things stick out the top. When they no longer work for that purpose, you can use them for the laundry. :)

We had a large bin for the toys ... we would get them out and put them up when he was done with them then when he was older it was easier for him to know where to put them on his own ... we would put a nice throw blanket over it when company came and no one knew the diff.

For small items, I used old baby wipe containers, the pen/pencil rectangular boxes, and since I work in an office the heavy duty cardboard boxes that we get envelopes in. The key is to having something that is the same size and shape so it will fit nicely on a shelf.

Invest is some type of shelving or cubby type unit.

I also had a wicker laundry basket that I would keep in the corner of the family room for some of the larger items.

We went to Ikea and bought two nice storage armoires. Best money we've spent. For a total of about $500 we've got LOTS of toy storage space in our downstairs. Buy something decent now because my son is almost 8 and there's no sign of streamlining yet!

In one room we have a bunk bed with only the bottom used for sleeping, so a lot of larger toys are stored on the top bunk.

hahahahaha, I feel you :D I went to the storage section at Walmart and bought this huge tub, it looks like a small boat seriously!! I can get almost all the toys in that and each night, well maybe every other night...., we run around and do a toy collection. So easy. I also have some smaller cubes and we use those as well, but my big plastic storage tub is a life saver. Best $15 I every spent! I found mine close to the area of ironing boards, vacuums etc. Good luck!!!

I get rid of toys regularly to keep them manageable. I have a box for older ones and baby ones. things like leggos/blocks... with lots of pieces are in a separate little box on a shelf on the wall.

gosh i had the same problem for years. at least before we moved to NY we had a basement, not we don't even have that. so, a mom showed me what she does, she had picked this thing up at ikea with 20 bins (pretty big and deep bins). totally does not go with the playroom decor but for 500 bucks i have my problem solved. they have it online too. the one i picked up is pink, but man it stores everything in it,plus mama hurricane goes once a month with a trash bag and gets rid of stuff that doesn't get played much with, but for the rest this dresser i guess i could call it with 20 bins has solved the problem (for the most part).