our living room has so much crap in it, pnp, bouncer, playmat, bumbo, swing, toys. But she will outgrow all that stuff so we'll get the space back...kind of
I don't store kid stuff in our main living areas but it is basically always around. I don't really care. I don't see the point of pretending like I don't have kids. I do and they have stuff.
I can't say I worry about it, but we're pretty anti-stuff. I think we've done a good job keeping the baby clutter down. We try to avoid things that are just for convenience for us, while still making sure DS has fun toys where he can play and learn.
We keep the house really neat. The other day my mother came over and asked why it was so neat. We just are like that. It's what we prefer.
BUT - none of this applied when DS was 8 weeks old. We were still in survival mode. And we were barely clinging to the bottom end of "survival", too.
ETA: We have rooms where kid things are basically "off limits" with a few exceptions. Eg: No kid stuff in our bedroom, except we keep one specific toy in there for DS to play with every morning while we get ready for work. Or he can bring in a toy for the morning, but has to take it back out when he leaves. Same with the sitting area in the kitchen; he can bring in a toy if we're in there, but toys "live" in either his room or the den.
our living room has so much crap in it, pnp, bouncer, playmat, bumbo, swing, toys. But she will outgrow all that stuff so we'll get the space back...kind of
Want E to come over for an hour to show it what it can be like ;D
Post by kangaroo11 on Nov 15, 2012 15:08:24 GMT -5
DH is very anti-clutter and I do my best to avoid leaving too much crap around. I just don't want my life to be overrun by baby stuff that I'll either never use or that baby will hate.
Besides, we have a dog and anything that baby puts in his/her mouth will also go in dog mouth, so the less stuff, the better. LOL
I guess I just figure I have a kid and I want my life to be as easy as possible so it's great having a lot of gadgets around to soothe her and toys to entertain her.
This is exactly how I feel! I try to stay as organized as I can though but I'm not going to lie-the main rooms of my house is nothing but baby toys and I don't care. They love it and it's much easier to have everything they want to play with right there. At the end of the day it gets picked up and put away but we can always see it.
Post by ilikedonuts on Nov 15, 2012 15:12:52 GMT -5
Our house has been taken over and I love it. I couldn't imagine our house, yard, life any other way. I keep the house neat and clean, but in our house and yard its very obvious DD is an active toddler.
The baby will have a reallllly big closet in their bedroom. I hope to put things like the bouncer, bumbo, swing, etc., in there when it's not in use.
I'm not too concerned about the small stuff. But I don't want a ton of huge items in my living room.
We have an open floor plan downstairs, but the nook (section of the L in the open floor plan) where our living room is doesn't lend itself to more than a single swing or bouncer.
Post by kittycatlove on Nov 15, 2012 15:20:06 GMT -5
We pretty much live in our family room, so it has all of DS's toys. When he was a baby all the applicable baby stuff was there too. I figure we have a toddler and there is going to be toys. I grew up in a house that was lived in so it doesn't really bother me.
Post by karinothing on Nov 15, 2012 15:20:10 GMT -5
We have a small apt. There is no room for DS' toys in his bedroom. So in the living room they go. We generally haev the room divided by the couch so most of his toys stay in the behind the couch section (which you can't see when you walk into the living room) unless he is playing with them. Then it is an expolosion in a toy factory.
Honestly, I just gave up. I am not sitting with the baby in the bedroom while he plays. I want to be with the rest of the family. Thus the toys come into the living room. I may put them away at night but he wants the other stuff from wake up to bedtime. So there is no hope for me to keep the items put away.
I tried to run away from my clutter problem by moving to another continent. It took approximately 5-6 months before DD's toys and my papers/books (some work-related, but not all) had taken over the living room here.
We had the living room ceiling painted about a month ago and had to move all the clutter. Now the living room looks better, but DD's bedroom is ridiculous to keep on top of and my home office has a trail of paper and books from the door to my desk.
So, basically, I throw my hands up. If I can close the door on it, I guess that's better, but I will never be clutter-free.
We are not very neat either, so a fair amount of clutter I'd normal for us.
That said, the front room and our bedroom are off limits to toys, so there is some adult space.
Our den is decorated in "early preschool", so pretty much over run with toys shoved into cubbies.
Toys in bedrooms does not work for us. First they are a huge distraction at nap and bed time. Second, so many of their toys are shared at this point that they need to be in a common area.
Post by MadamePresident on Nov 15, 2012 15:27:45 GMT -5
I have a swing, bouncer, infant car seat and a boppy pillow in the living room. I try to keep the rest of the baby stuff in her room. I'm not a super neat person, but I don't want to be tripping over things. When she gets older and has more toys, the goal will be for most of them to be in her bedroom. For the record she has a HUGE bedroom, with plenty of room to play.
Post by rootbeerfloat on Nov 15, 2012 15:29:10 GMT -5
We spend most of our time downstairs, so the vast majority of the kids' toys are in the living room. I keep it picked up and organized because I'm anal, but it's still all there. I'm looking forward to the days when they'll barricade themselves in their rooms with all their crap
We spend most of our time downstairs, so the vast majority of the kids' toys are in the living room. I keep it picked up and organized because I'm anal, but it's still all there. I'm looking forward to the days when they'll barricade themselves in their rooms with all their crap
I think this is the thing. Right now he isn't old enough to just play in his room. He escapes to come find me lol. One day when he is old enough to play by himself without me watching him I think the baby/kid stuff won't be everywhere.
Post by badtzmaru22 on Nov 15, 2012 15:38:34 GMT -5
We are pretty organized, which helps, but the amount of crap has stayed the same, it's just changed from craft stuff/computer junk/dog stuff to way less of that stuff and more baby stuff. It honestly just makes me so happy to look around and see evidence of my baby everywhere- spare paci in my purse, baby hoodie in my car, etc.
It doesn't have to get overwhelming, but I don't need to hide it all away either.
I don't like clutter and we never allowed baby crap to totally take over.
This is us.
Everything (kid-related or adult-related) that isn't attractive has a place where it can be stored discreetly when not in use. I also try to buy attractive versions of stuff, like this:
We spend most of our time downstairs, so the vast majority of the kids' toys are in the living room. I keep it picked up and organized because I'm anal, but it's still all there. I'm looking forward to the days when they'll barricade themselves in their rooms with all their crap
Me too. We hardly spend time upstairs so all of DD's toys are in the living room and den. We also have a kid table/chairs in the dining room with her art supplies on it. She doesn't have a ton of stuff (compared to her friends, at least) but it's out for the world to see and our home certainly won't be gracing the pages of an interior design mag anytime soon. It'll get even more crazy when we get the swing, bouncer, jumperoo, etc. out for the upcoming baby.
It's just one phase in our lives, there will be plenty of time later to have a nice-looking house
We spend most of our time downstairs, so the vast majority of the kids' toys are in the living room. I keep it picked up and organized because I'm anal, but it's still all there. I'm looking forward to the days when they'll barricade themselves in their rooms with all their crap
Me too. We hardly spend time upstairs so all of DD's toys are in the living room and den. We also have a kid table/chairs in the dining room with her art supplies on it. She doesn't have a ton of stuff (compared to her friends, at least) but it's out for the world to see and our home certainly won't be gracing the pages of an interior design mag anytime soon. It'll get even more crazy when we get the swing, bouncer, jumperoo, etc. out for the upcoming baby.
It's just one phase in our lives, there will be plenty of time later to have a nice-looking house
Clutter makes me very uncomfortable. Itchy almost. When my house is cluttered I'm usually in a bad mood. Dd and dh are both tornados, so I'm constantly running around picking up after them. Right now dd is dragging everything out from under my bathroom sink. When she's done, ill run put it away while she starts in on something else. I have a bin in both my and dds room with a few toys for when I'm getting ready. The rest is in the living room and can almost all be stored in our built ins at night. When dd was a baby, I was quick to store any items she seemed on the verge of outgrowing. I'm the same way now about toys. I am also like Willis in that I own very few big plastic toys (damn laugh and learn table) and have coached my parents and ils in what won't get donated if they gift it
I don't care about anyone else's clutter. It's totally a neurosis for me, so I deal with it by having as little as possible.
Clutter stresses me out. So I keep all of their toys and the baby stuff in the playroom and their bedrooms. I also clean up after them multiple times a day.
It's not a big deal if you make the effort to put it all away.
I don't care. We have a baby; I'm not going to try to hide it. Meh.
This. I try to keep it at 1 big piece in each room (Jumperoo in the kitchen, PnP in the dining room) and so far I'm pretty good at putting away his toys b/c the dog will eat them. But I don't care if the Jumperoo is in someone's way in the kitchen. DS uses it way more often than guests see it, so meh (in Lisa Simpson's voice. "M-E-H. Meh").
I kinda gave up, but I really don't think the baby stuff has taken over. We store away big things (swing, bouncer, jumperoo) once they are out of use. Toys all get thrown into attractive baskets on the floor. So, a couple large items sitting out (like a learning table or walker) and a couple large baskets of toys doesn't make my house look like it was taken over by kid stuff.
It was driving me nuts to have all the baby clutter in our family room all the time. We have a first floor bedroom that we were using as a guest room office. We moved that to the basement and set the guest room up as a playroom. That way, after the kids got to bed, all the toys can get dumped in there and I can close the door.
Added bonus, inlaws aren't quiet as comfortable visiting all the time now that they have to sleep in the basement