Basking Ridge's Toy Tamer Organizes Stress-Free, Functional Playrooms

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — A disorganized play space can add a huge amount of stress not only on the parents but the children as well. Stepping on toys, crying over not being able to find toys, and finding spaces to add the new toys - it all piles up.

This is where Basking Ridge mom of three and Toy Tamer Evelyn Cucchiara steps in.

Cucchiara's custom playroom organizing business, The Toy Tamer, was launched from her own frustrations.

Having trouble finding a daycare for her son, Cucchiara started an at-home family day care where she raised her three sons and five other kids.

"It was me and eight kids and at the end of the day, toys were everywhere. I said, 'I can't deal with this'," Cucchiara told Patch.

Cucchiara decided to not just organize her space but do it in a way that it empowers kids to clean up after themselves.

"Organizers only sort and arrange in a way that makes sense to them, and they charge by the hour, so you have no idea what the job will cost. Closet companies only provide empty shelves that you have to fill up, and they charge upwards of $10,000 for the empty shelves. They're fitting what they do to you, not looking in depth at your particular playroom challenges. Their solutions provide order for the day, possibly the month, but don’t provide a system to sustain it," said Cucchiara.

Instead, Cucchiara comes out to homes and designs a custom solution for each individual's family's toy mess and puts in a system that works with a child's natural tendencies.

She uses what she calls The S.A.N.E. Method of Organizing. (S.A.N.E. = Sort, Arrange, Name and Empower.)

She completely sorts and organizes all the toys, and puts in the right shelving and bins, plus creates custom laminated labels for every toy so the kids are empowered to clean up on their own.

Cucchiara stresses the importance of picking the right or smaller bins so children can see what is in them without dumping them. She also not only labels the bins but puts photos on the front for children to associate with what goes inside.

She said her organizing system teaches Executive Functioning skills, independence and confidence.

"It empowers kids to be in charge of the system," said Cucchiara.

Due to her unique approach, Cucchiara says she travels all over the area to help cleanup playrooms including in Princeton, Long Island, Rhode Island.

"I love this business because we deal with fun," said Cucchiara. "It is life-changing. I love to make a playroom not only look good but have a function. Function trumps all."

Those interested in The Toy Tamer create a Custom Design Assessment where Cucchiara comes to a home in person to see their space problems and any other kid storage problems firsthand. Cost is disclosed which covers her purchasing all the supplies, delivering everything, assembling it all, organizing everything, and creating hanging laminated labels for each toy.

The entire transformation is completed within one day.

For more information visit thetoytamer.com or to see videos of how the process works click here.

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