Happy Labor Day! For some this is the end of summer while others are just taking a little break from their new school routine. Between last dips in the swimming pool to summer picnics and barbecues, I wish you a wonderful Labor Day.

As our family is taking a little break from our new school routine, I have closed the chapter on our summer fun. The fun remains, but we fit it in between school obligations and responsibilities.

In completing most of our backyard outings, we took a little time after dinner one evening to clean out and organize our outside toy chest. My decision came after rearranging the items twice to fit toys with broken pieces. Rather than fuss with the lid, I began unloading the chest.

Unloaded the Toy Chest

Our outside toy chest contains all our outside toys. Everything from baseball and soccer equipment, chalk, water guns, sand box shovels, Frisbees, and balls find their way into the toy chest.

Our too many unused and broken toys

With getting the toys in and out, my children have emptied containers, broken items, and out-grown some of the toys. As our summer came to an end, we unloaded the toy chest by dumping the contents into the yard.

Unloaded the outside toy chest

Sorted the Toys into Piles

After spraying out the chest, we sorted the items into two piles:

• Trash
• Keep

Trash and Keep Piles

We had lots of broken items, including swimming toys from our first baby pool – 5 years ago. Yep! We needed to clean out this chest.

Organized the Toys

After trashing the one section, we put similar items together from the keep pile. Our sections consisted of water toys, sand toys, soccer toys, baseball toys, etc. The sections were then placed back into the toy chest. By the time we finished the sun had set, so the picture is a little darker than the others. But we finished!

Project complete!

In using time wisely to organize our outside toy chest, our family unloaded, sorted, and organized the toys that will entertain my children into the fall season. Clearing out the chest rid our toy stash of unused, broken, and out-grown items. With an organized chest, we will find the wanted item without wasting time and energy searching among broken toys.

Before putting the summer items away, spend a little time clearing out for next summer. In using time wisely now, you will save storage space and energy at the start of next summer by keeping only the toys you need. Enjoy the rest of your summer and your Labor Day. Happy organizing!

Question: Where do you store your outside toys?