It’s time for Babywise Friendly Blogging Network’s Tips and Tricks Thursday! This month we are talking about “Intentional Home Layouts” and I am going to be sharing why over the past year we have intentionally decreased the number of toys in our home.

I dislike clutter in my home. The easiest way I have found to keep an uncluttered home is to decrease the number of toys we have in our home! It simplifies life all the way around. Less toys means less mess. Less toys means my children actually play with all the toys we own. It truly does cut down on the clutter in a home.

The number of toys in our home has decreased so much that we recently decided to give up our playroom so that all three of our children can have their own bedroom while they are all still so young. (I totally see our girls wanting to room share in the future!) That was an easy decision to make because over the past year we have gotten rid of so many toys, we really did not need a playroom for toy storage.

So, our playroom became our homeschool room. The homeschool room became Little Bug’s bedroom. And Sarge got Little Bug’s old bedroom right next to Sweet Pea’s bedroom.

We have three main spaces in our home dedicated to toy storage instead of having a playroom.

Sweet Pea’s bedroom – tea set, musical instruments, doctor kit, magna doodle, baby doll accessories, pots & pans

The top shelf of Sweet Pea’s closet has our Little People toys: farm, zoo, Noah’s Ark, Manger Scene, playground.

Little Bug’s bedroom – play kitchen/food, plastic animals, baby dolls & accessories, puppets, princess dolls, My Little Pony, books on CD.

Living Room - dress up clothes in the basket by the TV and books under the coffee table & end table

Puzzles sit in this basket on the kitchen counter. Our painting supplies are stored in a kitchen drawer. Playdoh is stored in a basket in our laundry room.

The Homeschool Room does have more “stuff” but it is all organized neatly so it does not look cluttered. This includes our games and the majority of our home library.

As I have gone through our toys and gotten rid of over half of them, I have intentionally only kept toys that allow for imaginative play. If a toy does not have educational value or if it just serves one purpose (leaving no room for creativity), I have most likely given it away.

A year ago it felt like our home was being overtaken by toys! The toys were everywhere and they were driving me crazy because of the clutter and the girls were too overwhelmed at clean up time since we had too many toys to clean up!

If your house feels cluttered and you have kids with lots and lots of toys, start with the toys! Take the time to evaluate what toys you have and what toys you could get rid of.

Less toys makes the house less cluttered and it also helps children to actually see what they do have and play with it!

Be sure to check out what the other Babywise Friendly Bloggers are posting about today by clicking on the links in my side bar. Also, check our our Babywise Pinterest Board!

- Elaine