As a mother to a lovely, young three-year-old princess, I now have the chance to relive my childhood, just a little, once more. I get to play princess, ponies, and barbies with my very own tiny best friend. I also have two other tiny boys, and, between the three of them, we have amassed quite a collection of awesome toys. With this amazing collection of toys, comes a lot of responsibility… keeping them all organized and away from tiny hands and mouths.
Luckily, I realized I had the perfect solution for storing tiny accessories AND recycling plastic food containers!
Oh my gosh, why didn’t I think of this a little sooner? I am happy to share how a little elbow grease can get you some really cool toy storage that is easy and functional.
DIY TOY STORAGE:
In our kitchen, we had some peanut butter, animal crackers, and chocolate almonds jars that were ready to be trashed. Instead, I gave the insides a good washing and peeled off the labels on the outside. After peeling the labels, the sides where the labels once were remained sticky and, well, gross.
Solution: a mixture of coconut oil and baking soda. #Win!
You’ll need to mix equal amounts of coconut oil and baking soda into a paste. After you peel off as much abel as you can, cover the area with the coco-soda paste. Let it sit for a few minutes, between 5 and 10. Then, just scrub it off with warm water and a washcloth until it’s nice and clean.
This paste really helps get the gooey stuff off. I used a butter knife to scrape it off and then washed with some soap and baking soda to get rid of the “oiliness” left behind. I promise it’s super simple and the hardest part really is initially peeling the label off. Perhaps it is because I was using my finger nubs— I mean my very, very short finger tips. (I spent the day biting my nails. I know, horrible and gross. Sorry!)
Final storage for our pony collection is this giant pink tub (from Target). We used our largest recycled container to hold the pony dolls. The choco-almond and smaller containers hold the tiny little accessories that make playing with our imagination so much more fun. Then, everything goes inside the giant pink tub so the castles, cars, larger ponies, etc. all stay neatly together.
It’s important to note that I have been wanting to reorganize our pony storage for a few days already. Previously, we held everything in the large pink tub. This was easy for the kiddos to get into and play, but it consequently also made it easy for them to spread everything (yes, everything!) all over the floor. With tiny toddlers and a crawling baby, that is a no-no! I can’t be in the room with them non-stop, so I need to make sure I have the tiny stuff contained.