Tuesday, July 10, 2018

School Paper Organization Project

This post has been a loooooong time in the making.  As in - over 10 years.  Because if I'm being honest I've never really had a system for storing ANY of my kids "memory" items.  I'm not really sure whether I'm proud or embarrassed of this ;)

I've had the supplies to tackle this project for a couple of months, but have been putting it off.  Friday was the day of reckoning and by 10 am my front entry looked like this.  




My "system" up to this point was piling stuff up in our back hall, then throwing away the junky stuff and then throwing the "keep" pile in these two huge bins in our attic.  Keep in mind that these bins also housed a few baby mementos, some clothing items I wanted to keep and other various things.  Yeah - not the best system. 

I found these large clear file boxes on Amazon and also ordered a few packages of colored file folders and tabs.  (I ordered a set of 5 from Amazon and it was around $50... they're more expensive now so I've also linked them individually from WalMart below)


I took the folders and tabs and went ahead and created one for each of the kids years of school and then one for school pics and sports pics.



I have extra tabs and folders to add as needed. 

For sorting I was pretty ruthless.   If I didn't go "awwwww" when I looked at it I tossed it.  I tried to keep the best "original art" (i.e. not coloring pages), creative writing and those kinds of papers.

Here are some examples of the kinds of things I kept...




There were several binders and I removed the pages I wanted to keep and tossed the binders.



If there were large items I just folded them (I know!) and made it work.



Do y'all remember when Luke wrote this thank you note to an author/illustrator team who came to school and he mis-transcribed the word BOOK!?!!  I'm still forever thankful that the librarian brought me his note (instead of mailing it!) so I could have it forever ;)




This is four folders of Mason's schoolwork (toddler, pre-k, kinder and 1st grades).  The box looks SUPER full, but in reality it's not...



I also know that these early elementary years are going to be the most "work" heavy... already in 3rd grade Luke had significantly less than he has in previous years.

I also made folders for their sports and school pics...


While I was in organization mode I also went ahead and put all the various other "mementos" into a second box for each kid.  Jerseys from t-ball, hospital blankets/bracelets, first ballet slippers, those sorts of things.  My "goal" is to keep their mementos (school and otherwise) contained to these two boxes.  I'm sure as years go on I'll have to purge (or maybe add a third box - who knows!) but I definitely see this system working for us moving forward.



These boxes are going to be stored one one of the upper shelves in one of the closets in our master bedroom - I was going to keep them in the attic - but we have the space downstairs and it gets SO HOT in the attic and that makes me nervous with the photos stored inside. 

My plan for the school year is to have a bin in our back hall where all the work/art goes.  Ideally I'd go through it weekly and file the things that we decide to keep - but I have a feeling it will more likely happen monthly or quarterly :)  

One quick addition - SO many of y'all mentioned Artkive and Shutterfly books and all kinds of other options and while those options seem WONDERFUL I love having the tangible projects that their little hands actually made.  Having their handprints the exact size they were, having their actual journals, etc.  But if that's not super important to you then digital may be the way to go!

I'd love to know how you store your kids memories... and how you decide what to keep.  Share your thoughts and ideas in the comments so we can all learn from each other!

HAPPY Tuesday, friends!

PS - this post contained affiliate links... thank you so much for reading and supporting my blog!

23 comments :

  1. I really like this system. My question is how to organize photos?? I haven’t printed pics for 5 years (eek!)

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  2. This is AMAZING! Carter's stuff is all shoved in two cabinets in the kitchen.

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  3. Oh my word. Please come to my house. Stat.

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  4. I don't have kids yet so I'm filing this info away for a few years down the road, but what really cracked me up today was Luke's note telling the author he loved her boob. That is HILARIOUS!!!

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  5. I LOVE this! My girls are 29 and 24. I also kept LOTS of their school art, papers, report cards, momentos, etc.... I also just tossed everything I wanted to save into a bin (one for each daughter) but this is a great idea to do, especially since it bothered me to not organize it in the first place. It would also be fun to go through (and I now have plenty of time since they are married and I'm an empty nester). :)
    I love your blog for many reasons (I stopped following all but yours and a couple of others....some were just too materalistic), but your organization is a big love. I LOVE organization!!!
    Love your sweet family even though I've never personally met you. God has more than one way of bringing kindred hearts together. :)

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  6. I have the same bins and file folders just waiting on me to do the same project.
    It just makes me nervous to start. Eek.

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  7. This looks great! Each of our boys have a school memory book that has pockets for class pics, work, report cards, etc. and then they each have a tub like what you got we call their "special boxes." I have each child's coming home outfit, first Christmas outfit, first pair of shoes, Mickey ears and a few monogrammed items each in my hope chest and that's it. I want it all contained where it's easy to look at and not overwhelming. Deciding what to keep is tough but when it's contained, it's much easier to look back through and enjoy!

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  8. Just a word of caution to others - be sure you store these mementos up high. My kids are now in their 30's, and I had all their things in bins put away in my workshop. Everything was sealed in plastic tubs. We lost almost all those mementos - including all our Christmas decorations - during the flood of Hurricane Harvey. Never did the thought of a flood enter my mind when I was storing these items.

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  9. Thank you for this post! I am always on the struggle bus with organization. I am way too sentimental, but three kids create a TON of stuff. Time to get it together!

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  10. I need to do this so badly!!!! Love those bins you found!

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  11. Dying over the BOOK letter hahaha great tips!!

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  12. Oh I love this post so much! So nice that you took the time to organize and save things, but also PURGE. When your kids are getting married and moving into their own homes, they are going to be so thankful for these memories but also really glad you didn't over-save. But really, so cool that you've kept some fun things for them to look back on. My son is only 9 months old and I already feel behind on organizing photos and memories! ahhh!!

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  13. I use this same system, and I take pics of all items (including those I like but immediately toss) to create an Artkive album. Then I'm double covered. I have hard copies of the most meaningful things, but I can be more picky since I can always refer to the digital book.

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  14. What a great idea! This is just another reason I love your blog, I just ordered the storage bins and file folders for my kids art work! Thanks!

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  15. I wish I had been more diligent in keeping things organized and cleared out from time to time. I'm afraid I may have tossed some pretty great stuff, but I love your idea and you're inspiring me to do this in my house. I have a friend recently who received her childhood box from her mom as a baby shower gift. Her father has passed away, and one of the items was him holding her as a baby. We all ugly cried! Thanks for the great ideas!

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  16. I do the exact same thing for my kids artwork and school work. I just need to go back through my bins and edit it a bit. My kids are a bit older than yours (going into 9th, 7th, and 4th), and I have saved way too much!

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  17. I love those bins! I started out with cute milk crate style bins (no lids) with file folders but we quickly out grew them through elementary school and also realized it isn't a long term storage option since there's no lid. I love the idea of one for files and another for misc. items. I will be ordering these soon. Thank you for these tips!

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  18. I did this exact same thing about a year ago and it has been a game changer for me! I actually file things that I want to keep immediately, otherwise there is no telling where they will end up! I even keep my kids' school yearbooks in the correct year's folder (they don't have hardback yearbooks yet), along with their school pictures and sports team pictures. I didn't even think to make a folder for the toddler and Pre-K years, I will have to do that ASAP!

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  19. I really need to spend a little time each day working on a project like this too. I have so much stuff, papers, art work, and notebooks to organize. This was a very helpful post. Thanks.

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  20. Gosssssh!!! Wanna come back to NC for a visit & organize mine!?! 😂

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  21. With 4 children I had 4 STEAMER TRUNKS filled with "their" memories. When the time came to move and downsize, I invite each of the kiddos to go through and keep the memories they wanted. Then my daughter, profoundly I might add, says," These are not my memories, they're yours. And I realized that all those handprints and cute sayings were the things that I wanted to remember. A lot of thought went into cleaning out those trunks as I realized she was right!

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  22. We kind of do the same! I store my kids art/things in a bin in each of their closet. I just throw it all in there. Then every summer I go through the box and toss what isn't super sentimental and save the rest. This way it's in their room, in their box and somewhat organized until i'm ready to tackle it.

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  23. Looks great :) I have a box of stuff but currently all this year's stuff is sitting on top ready to organize :)

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