A Tote Tip for Getting Organized in 2012

This is about 1/10 of the number of totes we have!

As we start to put away all the new things that Santa and family members have given to our kids, I am always looking for ways to keep their toys organized, yet have them easily accessible when they want to play with them.  I actually purchase totes for each type of toy for the kids' rooms.  This has become a great way to keep things organized, but yet have all the pieces they need to play something all in one place.  Totes can become a very expensive investment, but I was given some advice by one of the associates at our local Wal-Mart.

I had been looking for totes to organize my scrapbooking paper.  There was only one left of the particular type I was looking for. When I asked an associate when they would be restocking the totes, she gave me the best advice.  She said that if you go to Wal-Mart.com, you can order totes by the case.  Not only can you get multiples of the same size, but they have never been opened.  This means that they won't be dusty and scraped up from sitting on the store shelves.  She also added that by purchasing them by the case, they are much cheaper than buying them in the store.

I raced home to see just what they had online.  I was quite excited that the online selection was of course much more diverse than in store.  On the particular item I was purchasing, I saved $1.50 per tote purchasing it online instead of in the store.  Even better, I used the "Site to Store" option, meaning as soon as they were in, Wal-Mart e-mailed me my pick up slip.  I drove to Wal-Mart and picked up my totes, which meant no shipping costs.  I used this method for the kids' toy totes too, which I bought by the case.  The particular type I purchased had six to a case.

In the end, I probably won't need to buy any more cases that include six of a particular size, but it is definitely a cost effective way to get started with your organization if you are looking to purchase totes.

How do you keep your kids' toys organized?

Make sure you check in tomorrow to see how I use my Cricut machine for come quick and easy labels for our totes!