I don't know how I feel like I don't have enough stuff but yet I have too much stuff in my storage rooms! Where do you all store your daycare things??? I do my daycare in my finished basement/family room. I am very adament about the area being able to easily conform back to a living space because I live in a small house and when we invite guests over we use the finished basement. My basement is about 75% daycare area, 15% bathroom and laundry/exercise room, and 5% storage rooms. I can't even walk into my storage rooms they are so PACKED with toys and equipment! I have baby equipment (bassinet, exersaucer, bouncy seats, bobby, floor toy mats) that even though I don't have an itty bitty right now I don't want to get rid of it. And I have toys for older kids that is stashed in there because I don't have anyone over 2 1/2 years old. Plus all my craft and art supplies, riding toys, special toys I only get out now and then, sensory containers, etc. UGH! I don't have a garage so I am at my wits end as to where to put all this stuff! It is over flowing in my exercise room and I would like to get back into an exercise routine but can't when my equipment is buried.

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I rented a storage unit outside of the house. I have no basement or garage so my storage space is limited to two small closets. Renting the storage space was the best thing I could have done. Anything in my way gets put in the unit, especially large toys, unused baby equipment, Christmas decorations, etc. Best money I've ever spent and it's a complete tax write off.

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I hear ya.

I actually got into rearranging stuff this morning, and my storage is part of that. I have stuff stored in part of the laundry room and two different closets.

My advice is to streamline your organizing with shelves and plastic boxes. Put the stuff you don't need (baby stuff) in the furthest back and most inconvenient area, as well as the stuff for older kids.

Look for "wasted" space like the backs of doors (great for art supplies).

Consider building a shed/workshop in your back yard for the baby stuff/big kid stuff/outdoor stuff.

Consider paring down to just one or two of the bigger items (riding toys, etc) or just keeping them outside full-time (that's what I do).

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You have to decide what you really want and get rid of a few things no matter how much room you have you will always find more stuff to fill that space with to. I can relate though. We just finished off another area of our home and before that I used to just thow everything in there and I had to empty it for finishing and now of course I am not going back to that again so I had to get rid of a few things and now the rule is if you get something new you have to get rid of something you already have. It has stopped me from buying alot of stuff that I don't really need. this prob didn't help much but just my thoughts

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Is there room under your stairs?
Also my mil has shelves over everything. Plus hangs things from the ceiling. Could you hang your saucers? Baby stuff?

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I like cupboards.

I have a small house, and my daycare is the whole main floor pretty much. But this is my family's living space and I am not willing to give that up.

I like pantries/cupboards so that there are doors to close at the end of the day. get some nice storage cupboards/pantries and use those to store things away

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No matter how much storage room you have.. within a few years you will suddenly realize that every inch of available wall space in your house is taken. I couldn't bring a flyswatter in here without having to rearrange two rooms.

(no i'm not a hoarder)

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HOARDER! jk.

I'm begging dh to next summer build an addition on the house. BEGGING and he's actually agreeing! lol. I want to be able to close the door at the end of the day and not worry about the daycare. PLUS I want to get lots of daycare stuff like kitchen sets, play food, shopping carts etc, but I have no where to put this stuff in my house. EVERY possible space is taken just like Nan said.

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I have half of our garage. I placed shelving units and old dressers in a huge U shape and have my things all stored by category. I have a table in the center of it for prep work. I'd go CRAZY wihtout adequate, unseen storage space. Literally. It would drive me up a wall

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My goal was to catergorize everything such as blocks, dolls, etc. But I have so many odds and ends of toys that I don't really know how to organize them. And even though I much appreciate my friends' toy donations, I have a lot of toys that are just dumb...either the pieces are missing or it's just a "put-batteries-in-and-push-buttons" type of toys, and singy/dancy battery operated stuffed animals (like the elmos). I think I just need to take a trip to goodwill.

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I took over my precious workout gym space in my garage with daycare stuff..

I cant even see the weight bench...

Boy I better clean that up before my back side grows...lol

I think you just need to keep whats most important and used and rid of those that you don't use at all or often..

I started putting a time limit on things. If I had not used it in months then away it went....

Had dust on it..goodbye.

OR if it was part of my curriculum, if it cant fit in the storage box for the theme, then away it went....

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Plastic boxes! Choose a size that works for your group and your shelving in the playroom (my sizes of choice are mainly plastic shoeboxes and the next size up...a sweater box maybe?). They hold a great amount of stuff for each toy and the size of my group. Some things--wooden blocks, legos, trains--are in HUGE plastic boxes because those are best with lots of pieces.

And don't be afraid to trim the excess. Some things are best with lots of pieces (legos, blocks, Mr. Potato Heads) but others are better with a moderate-to-minimal number of pieces (doll accessories, for example, or play food).

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I know the feeling... my wifes getting tired of all the baby stuff everywhere. Might need to find another house to keep it all

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Right now I have a whole medium-sized room with toys ALL OVER that are "extra" for now. It's horrible! We built shelving in two closets and whatever doesn't fit is going to go except for the big dollhouse which can sit in the garage until I rotate it.

We have a small 2 x 2 foot hallway closet and we put up 5 shelves for all the books. I might be able to fit more than books in their, but the top shelf is high up so I will have to put things I don't need often up there. I have enough room under the series of shelves for a 10 gallon rubbermaid tote which can store whatever I want in it. We also have a large 2 x 5 foot bedroom closet which we also put up 5 shelves in and I'll see tomorrow how much of my smaller items can fit in that closet. I mainly have too many blocks, manipulatives, wall decorations, puzzles, games, and barbies. I think when I get a toddler bed or crib setup I will use an under-the-bed storage for all the wall decorations and window clings.

Next spring I would like to build things in the garage to hang up items and shelves to store outside toys on. If I didn't have a garage I would definiately need a storage shed! I am a firm believer in getting rid of what you don't need. Unless it's something really special or unique then it should go if it's not used. This will be my first year seeing how much we actually use things and how well we use things.

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what if you get those 3-6 drawer carts. Choose an appropriate size. Barbies in one drawer, all the clothes/accessories/furniture in another drawer, puzzles in the other drawer, etc.

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