Deja-vu

The boys have a toy room all to themselves. How Fun!! I thought it would be wonderful to have all the toys contained in one area. We moved all the boys downstairs this summer and turned their old room into the toy room. Their actual rooms only have a handful of toys and stay relatively clean. The toy room? Well, that is another story. I thought having all the toys in one room would be great because I wouldn't have to search for toys under beds or dressers or in closet or under sheets to organize everything. And the kids wouldn't have to trip over their furniture to play. However, lately I am WORN OUT with picking it up. This is how our toy room should look...organized, put together,clean, plenty of floor space....

This is how our toy room looks like most of the time.....

You know, these pictures are really not even that bad. Most of the time ALL the bins are empty and scattered and mixed up.

The problem is that I fight and struggle and yell about getting help with cleaning it up. The boys are always blaming each other for the mess. It is becoming a daily battle. No matter what method I use to get help (and I've used most of them), it is always a fight.

What am I doing wrong???? The first thought... they have too many toys. But it really isn't that many. I've seen families with MUCH more. Next thought...am I too organized? I get a little anal about how the kids pick the toys up. Maybe I am expecting too much for them to put the cars with the cars and the hero toys with the hero toys. I've tried enforcing the one bin at a time rule, but the kids like to mix the toys. They have great imaginations.

Ugh, I really am frustrated with the battle. I guess this would fall into the 'part of being a mom' category, but there has to be a better way. When do I just give it all to DI?