TOYS

        I have been asked by several friends, "How do you organize your toys." Well here it is. The first picture is our basement. That big cabinet thing holds all the toys all the time. We have baskets that live up stairs in our entertainment center in the main living space. The goal is once a week we re-organize. We take all the baskets down to the basement. We put everything in containers of like kind. We all dislike this part of the process. Once the basement is picked up they each have their own designated basket. They go shopping! They also know that just because they picked it doesn't mean they get to not share up stairs. The baskets live in our IKEA entertainment center. It is just shelving that we mounted our TV to. It does make me kind of sad that we buy IKEA when my man is a finish carpenter...but you do what you gotta do or the budget. The bottom center of our shelves have doors that lock. We keep busy boxes, play doe, DVDs and other such things that I don't want the 3 having access to with out asking. 

This is the basement.  We play down here sometimes or the boys
go down by themselves if they choose not to have conflict.  Our craft
table is down there too.  Nothing fancy but it is space utilized and it
works for us. 

This is how I feel about this chore every time. Heads up it takes
us about and hour and 1/2.

     The shopping part is super fun and then when we go up stairs they play for a good 2 hours with their "new" toys! 
I would do things a little different if there was a budget for house hold items but there isn't in this season so I working with what I've got and am super thankful for it! Even if we had a room designated for a "Toy Room." I would still rotate because it forces me to keep things organized in like kind which helps with development in play. It also keeps the kids thankful for the same toys we have had for years.

End result

A main living area not completely taken over boy toys.