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Mar 2009

Taming the gaming.

March 4, 2009 By 16 Comments
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i don’t know about you, but i am married to a video game loving man. he anxiously awaits the latest games as they come out and has even passed along this passion to our four year old. they enjoy playing together and it is simply apart of our family dynamic. now even though i embrace and appreciate this about the boys in my life, i’ll be honest that the mess it creates drives me absolutely nuts.gaming-1-of-2

this is why my friends, when we moved to our new place i knew something must be done. a trip to ikea was in order as it was, so i decided to check out their small baskets for storage. i came across these adorable boxes, 2 in a set for $6.99. um, score! grabbed me a few and made them useful. each gaming system has its own box. inside rests controllers, cords, batteries, and more. when one of “the boys” is done playing, they put the items back into the respective box(es).

what to do with all those games? boxes upon boxes littered our previous home. no matter how much i tried to keep them in some sort of order, they just took up so much space. i decided to simplify and put them in a cd case. similar to what i did with our dvds, however instead of recycling the cases we are storing them deep in a rarely used cabinet. why do you ask? well when the husband decides to exchange them for a newer and better game, he’ll need the original cases. i’d love to recycle these as well, but am happy enough to stuff them away and keep the cd case readily available.gaming-2-of-2

the good news? the husband approves! my guy is great, and puts up with all of my many organization adventures. so, in the end, a happy wife makes a happy home.

are you married to a gamer? how do you handle the utter chaos that can be made up of all the equipment?

About Angie


Angie is the founder and editor of The Creative Mama, who lives in the beautiful Bay Area, CA. She also blogs her own personal journey at angiewarren.com. When she isn't writing or taking photos, Angie can be found having tickle fights with her boys and frequenting the local Starbucks.

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  • http://andbabymakesfour-martinez.blogspot.com Freedom

    SOOOOO funny! I have those same boxes in green to store our DVD collection. My husband is NOT a gamer, PTL- but I do want a Wii. I can see how it would offer many a fun family night since everyone can play.

  • http://www.myexperimentallife.blogspot.com Rochelle

    I am married to a gamer and mother to a 7 yr old gamer. Luckily we only have the wii and a nintendo ds. So far it is not too bad. Found a cute divided basket at Target to hold games on one side and controllers on the other for the wii. The ds games are so tiny they fit in a mini Spiderman lunch box! My husband and i were just discussing last night ways to cut down my son’s playing time on school nights. If we let him he would play for hours. how do you handle that?

  • http://lifewithrece.blogspot.com Stephanie

    I need to figure out a good spot to store “Rock Star” equipment: guitar, drums, and microphone! That takes up a lot of space. Not to mention all the wires. DS is very attracted to them (not to mention the dog bowls, the trash can, the little speck of god knows what on the floor, the kitchen cabinets, underneath the stove when it is on, geesh…he keeps me busy).

  • angie

    freedom, you lucky thing you!! ;) we just recently got the wii, and have been having a lot of fun with it. definitely a family friendly game. love your idea for storing dvds in those boxes, aren’t they just so fun??

  • angie

    rochelle, your divided basket & spider man lunch pail ideas sound fabulous! we too are having issues with playing time. our 4 yr old will play 24/7 if we allowed it. since he isn’t in school yet we have tons of “time” on our hands. we allow him to play only after his afternoon quiet time (rip: naptime, sniff sniff). he usually plays until daddy gets home, they’ll play a level together, then he is done. i still sometimes feel this is too much playing time. i’d love to hear how other people handle this issue!

  • angie

    stephanie, oh the joys of the rock band equipment! we borrowed some from a friend for a few weeks last year and it drove me mad! instruments absolutely everywhere! i wish i had a magical answer, but am interested if any other “gaming families” have a solution? :)

  • http://wesselsfamily-mommyandwife.blogspot.com/ Julia

    Funny! Hi my name is Julia, and I am married to a gamer. :) We ended up just buying a low and very wide dresser to use as our entertainment center. It has 3 big drawers and 2 cabinets, one on each side. Everything, except the systems is hidden!

    However, my biggest battle is LEGOS! How in the world do you organize legos and keep every set separate. We are going to be run out of this house my tupperware bins each holding a different set.

  • angie

    julia, what a great idea for your storage! oh the legos. i do believe an ikea trip is in order – even if for inspiration!

  • http://theakohlhepp.blogspot.com Theadora

    (With hand raised high)…the male population at our house are gamers too!! However, my 3 year old dd is quite a champ at bowling on the wii!!! fortunately we have an extra “coat closet” where i have convienently hidden all the games!! Usually there are only one or two games out ( so they can beat the levels)…when boredom strikes they switch it out from the closet!! julia- as for legos, my ds is growing out of them, but i used the clear plastic shoeboxes, then whenever he recieved a new set , i would cut the label from the box (usually a picture) and stick it facing out on the inside of the box. Then he knew by the pictures which box to put them back into…later when he could read we wrote labels for each box…hope that helps! :)

  • http://familydavidson.blogspot.com Becky

    i’m married to a gamer. however during the school year he is too busy with school work to play. so right now its a summer and school break item. our entertainment center has cabinets i store it all in. it even has built in slots for dvds and video games. we just have the original xbox nothing else and it sits in a cubby next to the dvd player since thats all we have.

  • angie

    theadora, thanks for the great idea on the legos! i love that you cut out the label for easy organizing. fabulous!

  • http://www.alisgravenil.com heather

    I love it. I too am married to a gamer. If you can’t beat ‘em, keep ‘em organized, I guess. ;)

  • angie

    heather, good motto! :)

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  • http://www.staceywoodsphoto.com stacey woods

    We keep Parker’s games stored in baskets on the entertainment center shelves. Also, our coffee table has drawers perfect for hiding the controllers and all those corded things that are absolutely necessary for one game or another!

    Parker, who is 5, would play Wii, PSP, watch TV and play computer games 24/7 also. So as far as limiting “screen time”, here’s what we’ve done… he wakes up each morning with ZERO screen time. (Well, unless Chris and I desperately need an extra hour of sleep, lol!) He can EARN screen time by eating healthy meals (he’s super picky, so this is what we need to work on), by helping out with laundry and chores, and by playing with his baby sister ~ keeping her occupied and safe (in a child-proofed space of course) so Mama can work a few feet away. So far this summer, it’s worked like a CHARM. Every day he asks me what chores he can do to earn a few minutes’ worth. His “screen time” has been reduced considerably, and my house is staying neater too! Hope that helps someone else. :)

  • http://www.allisonsalatka.com Allison

    We keep our TV and xbox on an old toy chest on its side and pulled out a little from the wall, then all the cords AND rock band guitars go behind it (extra remotes etc and controllers go under it). They’re easy to get to but also out of the way enough that we’re not tripping over them and getting tangled in cords. I also keep something similar to the ikea boxes on a coffee table next to this set up. It hold the games we’re currently playing (I usually have 1 or 2 but my boyfriend fills the table with about 5 games minimum) that way we can easily put away games and get out the one we want without going to the shelf each time and it keeps the table clean. I’ve seen a couple tutorials on how to make a mini guitar stand out of pvc pipes but I wish I could find a good solution for the drum kit.