DIY Toy Bin Labels

Yesterday I posted about my Spring Cleaning Plan, and I received a lot of questions about my new storage bins.  I was going to post about them next week; however, given all the interest, I thought I would do it sooner rather than later.  :-)


I bought two storage units (with cloth baskets) at Costco.  (The units were $149 each... including the bins.)  Then, I sorted all the boys' toys into the 16 bins and took pictures of the contents of each bin. (We have bins for: hockey players, balls, kitchen stuff, art supplies, trucks, lego, hockey/pokemon cards, musical instruments, people, pirate stuff, hockey gear, Star Wars toys, cars, farm stuff, hockey jerseys, and dress up clothes.)


I had the pictures printed in (wallet size), and I cut some scrapbook paper just larger than the pictures.  I used double sided tape to attach the pictures to the cards, and I had the 16 labels laminated at an office supply store.


Then, I attached the labels to the bins using double sided mounting squares.


Now there is a place for everything in my boys' playroom.  They can easily find their toys, and they can easily put their toys away (in the right spots) when they are finished with them.

I am loving my bins and labels!  What is your playroom storage solution?


Gina Bell (aka East Coast Mommy)

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13 comments:

  1. Just curious as to how much the laminating costs? This project is sonething that would help us out a lot but i know the labels would never last in our house without lamination!

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    1. Laminating is about $2 for a full sheet. Another option would be to just use the pictures (without the scrapbook paper), and use the business card laminating sleeves that they sell at the dollar store. They aren't quite as sturdy, but they would be cheaper and work well.

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  2. I bought my own mini laminator at Walmart about a year ago and it has served me very well. Its under $30. The laminating film can be a little pricey depending on what size you get, but still, well worth it to be able to do it yourself at home.

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    1. Hmmmm.... sounds like I need a laminator. :-)

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  3. Right now I have a couple sets of clear storage drawers we use. The hard part is the Hot Wheels and large items that seem not to have a place yet. We had Hot Wheel boxes, but they aren't kid friendly for young kids I've learned.
    I love your set up!

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    1. I had plastic bins before this, but they didn't hold as much, and they got all cracked. I have two bins FULL of cars and trucks. I can definitely relate to your Hot Wheels issue. :-)

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  4. Great idea! And everything looks so tidy.

    Thank you for partying with the Wildly Original Crowd.
    <3 Christina at I Gotta Create!

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  5. Oh, talk about bringing peace and order to a play space! I love your organizers! Really super idea to photograph the contents for the labels! I'm pinning this to my Organizing with Kids board, Gina. Thanks for sharing!

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  6. cool that the bins came with the shelves! totally checking out costco now!

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  7. What a great idea! I think I need to do this, it would help the kids put things away. If you get a chance, please share this on my linky party: http://suburbsmama.blogspot.com/2013/05/sunday-linky-party-9.html

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  8. this is what we did in our preschool classrooms for accreditation. it's a great way to enable kids to be able to both find their things easily and clean up after themselves! thanks for sharing this with me!

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    1. It is working great for us. It has made clean up MUCH easier! Thanks for stopping by.

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