Is anyone raising kids who are older than 3 years in a 1 bedroom apartment?

How do you do it? Please help me!

There is just no room for any of her STUFF! She has too much stuff, but far less than most other children we know.

Our whole house has become dedicated to her. Because she does not have her own room, our room and the living room and dining room have essentially all become her play areas.

When she turned 2 we prematurely put away a lot of the "big" items (all the true baby stuff was already gone, but we added the laugh and learn house, the laugh and learn music table, megablocks, poppity dino, etc.) It is all stuffed in our garage making that unusable as well.

I'm starting to feel overwhelmed again and realize the holidays are coming up and we will get MORE. So I wanted to get rid of more stuff but everything is still so usable and I hated prematurely getting rid of the other stuff last time.

I'm thinking there has to be another solution. Any ideas?

Re: Is anyone raising kids who are older than 3 years in a 1 bedroom apartment?

guess im the only one!

Re: Is anyone raising kids who are older than 3 years in a 1 bedroom apartment?

Is anyone raising kids who are older than 3 years in a 1 bedroom apartment?

We do. We have a ton of storage, so that helps. We also got rid of A LOT. He had way too many toys that he never played with. We store things in stacking baskets as well.

For holidays I ask the grandparents for experiences as well-aquarium, zoo, farm, etc.

Is anyone raising kids who are older than 3 years in a 1 bedroom apartment?

I would just get rid of some things. Even if you plan to have another child, people will want to bit them things too so you will hardly be lacking for toys. At her age, I think you can get rid of the music table, mega blocks, etc. If you have grandparents that you visit you can ask if they want to take a few items. We did that with a bunch of the less plagued wroth items or outgrown things since dd had renewed interest in them seeing them there. We ate also like broken record around birthdays and holidays about not going overboard or getting big stuff. Dd still ends up with tons so who knows what it would be if we weren't!

Re: Is anyone raising kids who are older than 3 years in a 1 bedroom apartment?

IMO if you are using 3 rooms PLUS the garage to store all these toys, then there is way too much.

We lived in a 1 bedroom with DS until he was 4; DD was under a 1 when we moved out.

We kept the toys contained to one small area in the living room. I always requested gift certificates from family and friends when they asked what they could get him for his birthday or holidays. If they don't ask, then I would get rid of one old toy for every new toy that she gets.

As much as DS would have loved some of the common big toy items that kids his age had - like a train table, we just never got them for him. We did not have the space - he survived.

I would get rid of anything that she does not play with or has not looked at. Frankly, if the toys in the garage are not used because its impossible to get to them, then I would get rid of them. She hasn't missed them otherwise, she would have been asking for them.

I also don't keep duplicates or similar type toys. If she had 5 baby dolls I would get rid of 3.

Is anyone raising kids who are older than 3 years in a 1 bedroom apartment?

I currently have two kids in a two bedroom apartment but the second bedroom is seriously tiny. I can totally sympathize! In our complex we have a storage unit so I keep a lot of stuff there. I also make sure to get rid of unused toys frequently. Bins and baskets are also your friend. I have started using them for everything (even my stuff) and it helps so much.

I am trying to slowly get rid of any unnecessary items. We don't need four comforters for one bed. I don't need 6 set of towels or three sets of wine glasses when we don't even drink! It's a slow-going, stressful process but when I see space start to free up it makes me very happy!

Re: Is anyone raising kids who are older than 3 years in a 1 bedroom apartment?

We have our kids stuff in the living room.
We keep it sane by limiting stuff. We have a train table, a very small kitchen, two boxes of blocks, one box of princesses & one box of superheroes & pirates that both live under a castle where they "live". That is it.
When people ask about presents, we ask for books or crafts.

Is anyone raising kids who are older than 3 years in a 1 bedroom apartment?

I would get rid of some more stuff. We don't live in a 1 bedroom but in a very small house. Our living room has 2 storage ottomans and that's where the kids toys are. We have both kids in our 2nd bedroom and the rest of there stuff is in there.

I would look on pinterest for storage ideas too.

Is anyone raising kids who are older than 3 years in a 1 bedroom apartment?

Dd is only 15 months, but I refuse to keep toys out.

We have a small kids table with 2 chairs in our living room, and she does have a small kidkraft play kitchen that is in her room. Other than that, all toys fit in her closet. More specifically, they fit into the equivalent of 2 dresser drawers. One shelf of books, and we do have a basket of stuffed animals, and her fisher price elephant in the closet also. Toys are never left out. I rotate through old toys, but I never buy her toys unless it's a holiday.

Even if it is a holiday, we tend to do more books, experiences, etc. this year were doing a lot of art stuff for Xmas because that stuff gets used up.

Re: Is anyone raising kids who are older than 3 years in a 1 bedroom apartment?

I don't live in a 1 br but I can sympathize because there are toys EVERYWHERE in my house. It's out of control but I have trouble getting rid of them since they're in great condition & I want my younger ds to be able to use everything. It's rough. Luckily DH is better than I am at keeping things organized, so he is in charge of that lol. He got tons of those big clear plastic boxes & we store stuff in those in the living room mostly. What can you do. I try not to buy too much but it happens, plus the in-laws during holidays... oh boy, it's nice of them but we're running out of space.

Re: Is anyone raising kids who are older than 3 years in a 1 bedroom apartment?

We lived with 2 kids in a one bedroom apartment until they were almost 4 and 3. Our living room was a good size and that is where the toys went. There were no toys in the bedroom. We have the laugh and learn home and a train table and baskets of toys and books. We had a storage in the basement for things that they outgrew and didn't play with that often. the key is to minimize - I know easier said than done as now we are in a house and I feel the house is overrun with toys lol.

Is anyone raising kids who are older than 3 years in a 1 bedroom apartment?

I'd try and contain to one room. Possibly split dining room or living room so it's like a separate toy area. Keeping toys out is developmentally healthy. I have read that it is no good to put everything away. Maybe once you hone in on a separate area, you can build up. We have these blue folding tables from Walmart that came in a 2 pack and are adjustable with 2 heights. We keep four big open bins of toys on top of and beneath them. A few feet above that we have 2 shelves on the wall. I used to rotate the toys down so my kids could reach them. Now the shelves are more for castaway stuff, so I know it's time to throw out.

Re: Is anyone raising kids who are older than 3 years in a 1 bedroom apartment?