Warning this post is not suitable for perfect homemakers with perfect kids. The images you are about to see may be disturbing to most moms.
Welcome to our unfinished basement. Our basement that has been once, twice... now three times organized and has taken on different purposes (see post here). Our basement that used to be a home to some of our friends (see post here ) as they were saving money for an apartment. With them lived two cats... cats that later I discovered I am BIG time allergic to. Leaving me unable to venture down into my basement the whole nine months of my pregnancy for possibility of a horrible Asthma attack. After our friends moved out I decided to turn the basement into a playroom. Brilliant idea... except all this happened days after finding out I was expecting and then realizing I could not go down there. So as I said, I had not been down there in a long while but, obviously someone was going down into the basement... because this is NOT how I left it.
I put my mom detective skills to use and I found those responsible for this messy situation.
Their sentence... two days of clean up and a lecture first from mom and then from dad. They said they were really sorry for what they had done. Even the part when they ripped apart a Styrofoam cooler into tiny, tiny little pieces. You can see evidence of that in photo one and two.
I love plastic bis! I have toys sorted by kind or by what is fun to pair together in play. I came up with this system many years ago and it works really well. It helps a child play with a toy the way intended as well as keep them from getting overwhelmed by so many toys all at once. Also trading out the bins is like Christmas all over again. I used Word and printed out labels using different fonts. I then used packing tape to attach the labels I made with printer paper. The tape completely covers the paper keeping it protected.
I now store the bins behind a gate to remind the kids of our house rule. One toy out at a time. To get a new bin of toys everything must be cleaned up first.
A tidy play space helps encourage imagination! Not to mention keeps a child out of trouble with the authorities!
