Thursday 27 February 2014

The Wilko Effect

I was sent some items* by Wilko to review.... some of them were toy boxes.

They arrived today, Thursday. It just so happened Aaron had an early night because he had nursery 9-1 and then in the afternoon we went swimming - he's used to an hour in the pool, but we were in the water for 90 minutes!

Suffice to say he was asleep by 19:45. As bedtime is normally 21:30 this was a welcome bonus.

Rather than put my feet up, I could not wait to tuck in and use the new toy boxes.

The robot is 3 boxes stacked together on top of each other and the blue empty box you see on the left, is tucked out of sight (right next to the sofa at the end of the arrow) in the picture on the right.

Aaron trashes my sitting room everyday, but now that I have toy boxes tidying up is easy.

Normally I put all his cars in rows etc... but now I can just box things away which is quicker. Setting up the system from scratch took me just 2 hours tonight and that was with a few wine and tea breaks.

Now I know how I want it, I reckon it will be a quick 15 minutes each night which I hope to involve him in before he goes to bed. Quite happy with the before and after effect :-)


Yes, I have cars under my coffee table. It is not a zen way to live. It is not minimalist but it works for me - they are just his large Lightning McQueen ones, all of the little ones are now in the Robot :-)



Saturday, the 1st day of March (the month that sees the clocks "spring forward") saw the sun and an incredibly deep blue sky. We were not going to waste it and headed off (by bus) to our favourite not so local park. Aaron would not be parted with his new lunch bag and carried it, man bag style everywhere he went, as below. What was incredibly cute was that he helped himself to drink from the bottle whenever he wanted and always slotted it back in correctly:

For the purposes of this honest review we were sent:

  • The Robot fabric toy box which is made up of 3 stackable boxes and retails at fifteen pounds.
  • Rocket Foldable Blue Storage Box, which has replaced our round metal Cars tin, which has a crack with sharp dangerous edges. I have found it hard putting it in recycling but it is an accident waiting to happen. What is superb though is the cars tin was full to bursting (hence the break in it) whereas the blue replacement from Wilko.com is only half to two-thirds full. As every declutterer knows, when setting up solutions, you ought to have room to grow...
  • Rocket Storage Bag - which I have opted to use as a laundry bag for Aaron's dirty laundry. The cute rope handles make carrying it to the washing machine easy!
  • Football lunch bag! Aaron simply adores this and currently will not be parted from it when out!
  • Monster Wheels - Aaron has played with these non-stop since their arrival.  They don't look like on the web site but we both love them, as does his best mate. We had trouble getting them to share on Friday during a play date.
  • And finally, Wilko.com were kind enough to throw something in for Mamma! It's a bargain at £1.27 and is Wilko's own Mango Body Butter which is indeed buttery and makes my skin feel GREAT!


24 comments:

  1. Brilliant, storage is the way to go with those little toys.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I like the robot idea and having 3 boxes to it is fab.

    ReplyDelete
  3. What an improvement it has made for you. Great storage boxes, I had twins, girl and boy toys in my living room, so storage had to be found fast, but mine were boring blue and red crates. These look fab.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love decluttering :) Glad you found a good storage solution. I'm about to do similar with my kitchen cupboards!

    ReplyDelete
  5. We desperately need more storage! you always need more and more with kids x

    ReplyDelete
  6. What a difference the storage boxes have made! I know when my boy was little, my living room was a bomb site for most of the day, with everything piled into the corner after he was in bed!

    I recently posted: Gone Crabbing [Review + Giveaway]

    ReplyDelete
  7. I really need to get soe good storage boxes, the only problem we have it that the twins love to empty them and then either sit in them or put them on their heads! But we really need some toy organisation and your looks great!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love the robot storage. It is always so nice to be able to put the toys out of sight at the end of the day and have a chance to relax.

    ReplyDelete
  9. this is amazing think i will have to invest in stoage for my little girls toys she as so many doesnt really play with them though but dont wanna throw them incase she decides she does want to play. at the moment her toys are in carbored boxes . lol i was trying to be savvy n save money but think i need to invest in some , thank you for posting xx

    ReplyDelete
  10. Great storage! I really need to invest in some, as my living room looks like your before picture!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love those toy boxes and what a difference it has made to your living room!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I don't think you can ever have enough storage. I'm sad we don't live near a Wilko's any more, they have fab stuff!

    ReplyDelete
  13. What a great idea those storage boxes are just brilliant. They must made such a difference especially given how easy it is for the toy mess to spread!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Just love how tidy you got that room! I could use some inspiration right now. :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. You can never have too much storage and I love at how much of a difference they made!

    ReplyDelete
  16. What a great idea with a the storage and what a different and hey who wouldn't love to have cars such as Lightening McQueen under their table - forget Zen ;) x

    ReplyDelete
  17. I love those storage boxes......I really need to get some more

    ReplyDelete
  18. What a great stuff! Very organized place ;) I love shopping at wilko, they always have something interesting for me!

    ReplyDelete
  19. I LOVE the robot storage, got to have a look around wilko for something like this for A's slowly growing toy collection :)

    ReplyDelete
  20. What a difference to the room, It'll make to so much easier to find all those cool toys too x

    ReplyDelete
  21. I love the toy storage, we could do with some of those.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I've been sorting out our house room by room and it's AMAZING the difference a bit of smart storage can make. Will be checking Wilkos out.

    ReplyDelete
  23. My living room looks like that at the end of the day too! I love that Robot stacking box storage system :) x

    ReplyDelete

Drop me a line, and I will visit you right back - as soon as I get chance. Thanks for your comment.