Urge to Purge

I am caught up in the after Christmas urge to purge.  I figure the less stuff there is, the less chaos.  But most days (all days, really!) my living room looks like this:

The pattern of scattered toys may vary, but this is pretty accurate.  I just went quickly through the room and stuck things back where they should go.  Since it was mostly toys, this did not take too long (good cardio, too!)  And- ahhhhhhh!  The carpet makes a rare appearance:

There are several random pieces of little furniture tucked here and there.  That is much thanks to Luke the Climber who gets into places he should not (i.e. near fireplace or exercise machine!). 

And Sean's room- even scarier:

The thing is, he plays with everything- if he can get to it.  And most of the toys are pretty good quality.  I usually purge the junk we acquire regulary.  I just did a quick pick up and clean out this time.  I went through and pulled out a few things that might be duplicate in function and/or junk. 

The labled bins really do work for us.  Sean is usually good about putting things up (with some parental encouragement).  The problem is, he likes to mix and match what he plays with so it all ususally ends up getting pulled out!  At least his imagination is getting a good work out!

I am still working on getting a lot of the toys organized in the basement.  I envision a toy library set up.  They will be able to "check out" some of the lesser used toys and bring them upstairs.  I might go full on with a check out system if I can figure one out that would actually be educational value.  Otherwise, they will just pick out a toy and bring it up for a while.  I am itching to get in the basement and work on this project- maybe this weekend!