Welcome to this month’s Coffee & Questions segment here on The Purpose Show! The Coffee & Questions segment is a time when I sit down with 2-4 questions from you. You guys ask questions in many different places – email, Instagram Messages, Instagram Comments, Facebook, all of that. I have my team help me pull a few select questions and I answer them once a month. This is a time where I always physically have a cup of coffee with me because it feels super fun. It feels like I am sitting down with my friends, having coffee, and just…chatting. That’s what I want my show to feel like, especially this segment. If you asked a question, this is a time where I may answer it. So, sit down, cozy up, get a cup of coffee, and let’s chat!
In This Episode, Allie Discusses:
How to store your kids toys without dedicating a whole space to a toy room.
Ways to help minimize overwhelming your sink (and yourself) with piles of dishes.
Practical tips for simplifying outdoor toys.
Mentioned in this Episode:
The Supermom Vault is a library of inspiration I created for you. It holds replays of my very best online workshops that aren’t available anywhere else, tons of really actionable pdf’s that are downloadable with just one click, more than 20 audio and video trainings from me, and professionally designed printables for your home to keep you focused and inspired. If you want more than just the podcast and are looking for more actionable ways to help you get started when it comes to minimalism and simplifying your motherhood, then the Supermom Vault is for you!
Hi beautiful friend! Welcome to this month’s Coffee & Questions segment here on The Purpose Show! The Coffee & Questions segment is a time when I sit down with 2-4 questions from you. You guys ask questions in many different places – email, Instagram Messages, Instagram Comments, Facebook, all of that. I have my team help me pull a few select questions and I answer them once a month. This is a time where I always physically have a cup of coffee with me because it feels super fun. It feels like I am sitting down with my friends, having coffee, and just…chatting. That’s what I want my show to feel like, especially this segment. If you asked a question, this is a time where I may answer it. So, sit down, cozy up, get a cup of coffee, and let’s chat!
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Question #1: How can I store my kids toys without a toy room? Okay, so this is a good question. I actually don’t like the idea of having a room just for toys because I think it just begs for excess. You’ve dedicated an entire room in your house for something that can actually inhibit your kids’ creative play and it doesn’t really leave a lot of room for being intentional in purging things that are not really loved, really being used, and really serving your kids’ childhood. So, I prefer to not have a toy room. I know it’s really common, especially here in America, to have a toy room or a dedicated space as a play area. I would suggest if your kids have a shared room, put a toy chest in there.
My three boys share a room. The two older boys are in a bunk bed and then on the other wall Emmett is in his own little twin bed. They have one toy chest in their room at the foot of Emmett’s bed. It’s just a regular, medium-sized toy box from Ikea and all their toys go in there. That’s where the toys are kept. They can get the toys out, bring their swords out and play Ninjas in the living room or whatever. When we’re cleaning up, that’s where they go.
You could also do a smaller bin in each of their individual rooms. We have a lot of common toys where they don’t really belong to one particular person and they’re just “our toys” and everyone plays with whatever. And so, the one toy chest works really well for us. But if your kids all have their own room then you could do a smaller bin for each of them and they can put their toys in there.
You could also do a toy chest in a common area like behind the couch in the living room. And that’s where all the toys go. You could do a basket by your stairs if you have a two-story house and that’s where the toys go. You have a few different options but definitely don’t feel like, “it’s a lack of space and it kind of sucks that you don’t have a toy room” because I actually really, really love the idea of not having an entire room in my house dedicated to toys. Like I said, it just begs for lots of excess because there’s room for it.
Question #2: Can you help with dishes overwhelm with kids? There are just so many dishes. Yes. Another great question. First of all, I want to give you guys permission to use paper plates in seasons of insane overwhelm. If you’re moving, if you’re starting a business, if there’s sickness that’s been plaguing your house for weeks. If you have a new baby, if you’re pregnant and exhausted. If your husband started a new job and he’s traveling a lot more than you’re used to and you have to adjust to that. Use paper plates in seasons of crazy overwhelm. I use paper plates when we are launching a new course in the business or if we are going through an intentional time of chaos.
There was a point really recently where the kids had baseball three nights a week. Bella had horse lessons two days a week. We were in the thick of finishing up our homeschool year. I was launching a new course. It was insane and you can bet your bottom that I went to Costco and got the giant pack of paper plates and temporary plasticware – forks and spoons and stuff – and used all of that and gave myself permission to make my life a little bit easier.
But in the long run, this is where you’ve got to have less dishes. You think about it, why do you need more than one type of dish per person? Why? Because friends come over? Well, that’s fine. Then have spare dishes, but keep them in a different place because what’s going to happen is if you have tons of dishes in your regular cupboards, your family is going to pull a fresh, clean dish out way before they ever rinse a dish that’s ready to be cleaned and reused. You don’t need more than one dish per person living in your house.
Since this question is about kids’ dishes, get whatever set of plastic plates and bowls that you want for your kids and just have one plate and one bowl per kid. That’s it. If they want something else for the next meal, the dishes need to be rinsed off and then it’s ready to be reused.
If you have less dishes, you have less to wash. It makes your life so much easier and it makes it impossible to get that giant pile of dishes at the end of the day waiting for you to wash them.
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Hey friend! It’s Allie! Have you heard of the Supermom Vault yet?
The Supermom Vault is a library of inspiration I created for you. It holds replays of my very best online workshops that aren’t available anywhere else, tons of really actionable pdf’s that are downloadable with just one click, more than 20 audio and video trainings from me, and professionally designed printables for your home to keep you focused and inspired.
The Supermom Vault is only $39.00 and is available at alliecasazza.com/allcourses.
Check it out! It’s a really good simple start.
Want more inspiration than just the podcast? Do you wish there were more episodes? Want more details? Do you want videos? Do you want pdf’s? Do you want to download things and get your hands on something to really get you started when it comes to minimalism and simplifying your motherhood?
This is definitely the place to go!
Check it out! Alliecasazza.com/allcourses.
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Question #3: How can I simplify outdoor toys? I love that my kids want to spend time playing outside, but the stuff gets out of control and messy and then my yard looks terrible. Okay. I totally understand this. I’ve talked before about how we have less toys and we encourage our kids to play creatively and be outside. One of the biggest reasons that we moved back to southern California after our time in the midwest is because we really realized the value of living in a climate where the kids can play outside all the time.
So, in terms of the outdoor toys, first of all have only what they use and love. Go through those outdoor toys with your kids. Is there a random baseball and a broken bat? Get rid of all that. Another example, is there random baseballs and nothing to play with them, like you don’t have baseball gloves or a baseball bat? Why do you have baseballs, then? Get rid of the baseballs.
Take into account what do you have? Why do you have those things? What are they using? What do they love? Notice for a couple days, what do they play with all the time? Get rid of everything else. Have only what they really use and really love.
Next, get a large outdoor storage bin to keep everything in. They have these at Lowe’s, Home Depot, Costco, Sam’s Club. I think I’ve seen a couple at Target, but I noticed the industrial-type stores and big box stores that have big items have the really large ones.
We have a black outdoor bin that I got at Lowe’s. It’s weatherproof and it’s got the little extra locks on each side, so bad weather or no rodents or anything can get in there. We keep things like the baseball bats, gloves and balls in there. The kids have a soccer ball that they kick around. There is a bubble machine they like to turn on so they can play with that when they’re in the backyard. Just outdoor toys go in there. Not bikes and scooters and stuff, but outdoor toys can go in there.
That way there’s a location that you can fit everything in when it’s clean up time. Don’t let your kids just play and leave everything out. Set up a rule in your house where it’s like, “Okay guys, we’re done playing. You’ve got to pick up and put the things in the bin.
You have somewhere for things to belong and that’s the key. You have to decide how much space things are going to take up by getting something that you’re going to keep it in. So that’s where the bin comes in.
By getting an outdoor bin for toys to go in, you’re deciding this is how much space our outdoor toys are going to take up. Then when your stuff exceeds that amount of space, instead of buying more storage, get rid of stuff so that new outdoor bin becomes the deciding factor of how much stuff you allow your kids to have for playing outside.
We have a pretty big one – the largest outdoor bin you can get – and there’s just lots of fun toys in there. It’s all stuff that my kids use all the time, every week. But if our stuff exceeds that bin and it becomes not a big enough space to host our outdoor stuff, then I’m not going to go and buy another bin or buy a bigger bin. I’m going to get rid of stuff.
A lot of the time it helps to have the amount of space you’re willing to give to something be the deciding factor in how much of that thing you have. It’s really helpful to look at it that way.
Also, a quick side note about bikes, scooters and things like that. There are giant hooks that you can also get at Lowe’s or Home Depot. You can hang them in the garage and stack multiple bikes and scooters onto those hooks, especially if they’re little kid bikes and scooters. They fit better.
We used to have our bikes and scooters on the side of the house and that was fine. But it wasn’t covered in our new house, so when it would rain, which is rare here, the bikes would get rusted.
I didn’t really want them in the garage because you guys might already know our garage is a really functional space. It’s not a normal garage. It’s Brian’s gym and then he’s got his drum set. He plays worship at our church so he has his drum set here, like a music studio. Then behind that the garage is pushed back and there’s a faux brick wall we’ve built, and this is my office. So our garage is a really functional space.
We got these big hooks at Lowe’s and we put them on the wall, so now the bikes and scooters hang on a wall in the garage and they’re out of the way. They’re up off the floor. They are protected from the weather. The kids can get them down because they’re not super high up. The helmets hang off of the bike handles.
It’s super functional, really easy, and really out of the way. I can link to the hooks that I’m talking about in the show notes.
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This was an episode of The Purpose Show. Did you know there is an exclusive community created solely for the purpose of continuing discussions surrounding The Purpose Show episodes? And to get you to actually take action and make positive changes on the things that you learn here? Go be a part of it. To join go to facebook.com/groups/purposefulmamas.
Thank you so much for tuning in. If you are ready to uplevel and really take action on the things I talk about on my show, and get step-by-step help from me, head to alliecasazza.com. There are free downloads, courses, classes, and ways to learn more about what the next step might look like for you and to focus on whatever you might need help with in whatever season you are in right now.
I am always rooting for you, friend!
See ya next time!
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