Legos Organized- Check!

I am not sure what came over me this week. Maybe it was because I stepped on a Lego “guy” AGAIN (ouch!) or because I vaccuumed up yet another Lego brick. Or maybe it was spending 30 minutes looking for the right piece for the ambulance we were trying to put together. Whatever it was, it finally convinced me it was time to organize my sons’ Legos. I searched the web for simple suggestions for organization and storage, but most of the ideas I liked were either way to much for me to do (Lego table with built in bins) or too expensive. So, I went with the easy, not too expensive and sturdy option. I headed to the store and bought a bunch of plastic containers- you know the kind that have the plastic snaps on all four side (I was hoping these might be toddler proof- ha!). Then I spent about 2 hours sorting our huge container of Legos. I opted for the sort by color for the bricks and the other containers were labeled “wheels,” “guys” (as my boys call them), “lights,” “doors and windows,” “guy pieces” (like brooms, backpacks, handcuffs, binoculars etc) and the last was for all those random pieces which I simply called “extras.” Creative, huh? I have to say the sense of accomplishment I had when all the Legos were sorted fell just short of giving birth. I had done it! I had conquered the Lego mess. It felt great!

Then it was onto labeling the containers. After all that hard work, no simple label was going to do. So I spent another few hours searching, creating, printing, coloring, cutting and applying the labels to the containers. The result? If I do say so myself is quite wonderful and I am very proud of my accomplishment. My eldest son was also impressed and has done an incredible job of keeping the containers organized- he got that from me… My youngest was impressed as well. He quickly showed me, however, that the plastic snaps on the containers are not toddler proof as he opened the box containing all those hundreds of teeny-tiny lights, threw it across the room and said proudly, “Mama! Storm!”

So, here it is the final result! Maybe I should put this accomplishment on my FB timeline- what would I call it? “Conquered the Lego Mess- May 20, 2012. Ha! 🙂

I couldn’t stop there, of course, I was on a roll. I wanted a beautiful shelving unit to store the boxes, but again that is not in the budget so I opted for a green approach and one of my favorite things- cardboard boxes. We went to a local copy shop and took a bunch of boxes off their hands- you know the nice ones with handles and lids? We took them home and taped them together and created cardboard box shelves which work perfectly for storing the containers. We still need to get one more box to complete the shelf and then I am going to cover it with something a bit more attractive, but it works for now. It is sturdy, small and when we are done with it- it is totally recyclable. And, it does double duty as a great fire station as my toddler was quick to show me. Guess we will be going back for some more boxes…

Want to know how it is going?

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