Bring some order to your children’s toyland

Children come along, their toys follow, and a once-organized home soon becomes a disheveled embarrassment.

Laura Stack, a mother of three who advises buttoned-down business types on how to improve productivity, realized the scope of the problem when the corporate talk often detoured to Barbies, Roboraptors and Matchbox cars.

She decided that in addition to teaching people about taming the paper tiger at work, she would teach them how to handle the toy tsunami at home.

The toys-everywhere issue, experts say, is because of three things: parents overindulge; parents have not instituted an organizational system; and parents haven’t maintained the system.

Here are recommendations for reclaiming a toy-littered home:

Organize

Toys need to be put away every day, says Rachel Willes, 37, a Gilbert, Ariz., mother of four.

Willes follows many suggestions from Stack of ProductivityPro.com and another organizational expert, Sherry L. Drolet of Gilbert, who’s with H.I.S. Home Services. Those include purging, creating storage spaces and establishing a toy pickup routine.

Sort and purge

Sort the toys, placing Barbie with her accessories or Mr. Potato Head with his body parts. Group large toys with large toys. Then get ruthless.

Collect toys that aren’t used or no longer are age-appropriate and give them to charity. Purge twice a year - before Christmas and before a child’s birthday.

Bins and shelves

Most experts recommend a lidless bin-and-shelf combo. Label the bins and shelves so it’s clear what goes where. For younger kids, attach pictures.

Establish a kid zone

This earns cheers and jeers. Some moms like having a corner of the family room or kitchen dedicated to child’s play, allowing parents to spend time together. Cleanup can be faster because children don’t have to cart their toys to another room.

Rachel Willes isn’t sold.

“It’s way too easy for the kids to get out every toy they own if it’s right in their face, and before you know it, you’ve bought an all-day pass to Clutter World,” she says.

Maintain the system

The house may look neater, but things will return to the way they were unless toy-clutter maintenance is established. Here are ways to implement a routine:

Toy in, toy out. When a new toy comes in, another toy goes out. Set cleanup rules. An organizational system must come with cleanup rules. At 2, children are old enough to help parents put away their toys.