ZONE CLEANING - WEEK 4/ DAY 2

This week is all about kid areas.  What's your philosophy on toys and toy storage?  I am all about having toys all over the house, but I have a few ground rules that I like to loosely follow:

1. look for bigger toys at garage sales (play kitchen, etc.) or trade with friends
2. be able to conceal toys in furniture (dual purpose)
3. less is always more
4. toys get put away before bedtime - by the kids, not me
5. rotate toys out - if they aren't missed terribly, give to a friend or Goodwill

So today's space is the media cabinet (courtesy of Crate and Barrel Outlet).  It has slider doors and behind it we store toys and a couple blankets.  I love this system for toys.  In the baskets I have blocks, magnetic blocks, and animals - I found another basket in the basement so I'll be adding that to the left hand cabinet for small vehicles.  My before picture shows the whole cabinet emptied out, ready for its Zone Cleaning.

Before:

Here's what I did:

Step 1: Set timer for 15 minutes

Step 2: Empty shelves.

Step 3: Quickly sort into three groups (pack away/donate, relocate, and put back on shelves).

Step 4: Spray down shelves with Basic H2 (all-purpose formulation) and wipe clean with a rag (yes, it works beautifully on wood).

Step 5: Organize the space.....

Time's Up!  Put your "relocate" items away.

After: