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You know that dreaded feeling when the kids go back to school and the papers start to flood in? Or on the last week of school when all.the.papers start coming home? It’s inevitable, overwhelming, and expected. Instead of being surprised, I choose to have a simple method for filing papers and artwork all year long. This keeps things from getting out of hand and it also gives us a plan. This isn’t the ‘right’ way to do things, it’s just how I figured it out – I hope it helps you to come up with a plan for paper too!
I have three kids – two in elementary school and one in middle school – this system has been in place for about 8 years and I can tell you that it works with one, two, and now three kids in school. You should also know that I was an art teacher for almost 10 years so I have a true love for kids’ artwork and my kids’ artwork is no different. This is how and what we save….
I have a couple rules in place for the kids’ papers (this is just what we do, feel free to come up with your own rules):
- KEEP anything with a handprint or fingerprints
- Limit the AMOUNT of what we keep – each kid gets a hanging file folder for each school year
- Go through papers that we keep TOGETHER – this ensures important pieces to both of us are kept.
Here are our 3 essentials for organizing kids’ papers + memorabilia:
Stackable Letter Tray
This is where we keep the daily stuff – if something needs to be filed, needs to be filled out, or needs attention but not today. The kids each have their own file and they are in charge of what’s in the file. I help them sort through it when it gets full or if I’m remembering a permission slip for a field trip and go looking for it. Looking for something similar? Find it here.
Why this works: This gives the in-process papers a home every day and keeps them off the counters, and out of the bottom of backpacks.
Covered File Box
Each kid gets a covered file box with 13 hanging file folders – one for each year, pre-k-12th grade. I bought red, yellow, and blue hanging file folders for the kids – they each have their own color. During the year we put special papers, things with handprints, grades, and other items that we want to keep. Usually during the first week of summer we go through the folder together and assess what we want to keep longer.
Why this works? This forces us to keep just a small selection of favorites and curate them throughout the year. Some day they might not want them but we look through them a couple times a year.
Portfolio
There’s always artwork that’s too big to put in our file boxes so each kid has an archival giant portfolio that hangs out under their bed or in their closet. This is for those precious large pictures and artwork.
Why this works? I’m sure in 10 years we won’t hold on to everything in this portfolio but for right now I like having it to look at and the kids enjoy going back through the years via their artwork.
My eBook, The Clutter Handbook has a whole section devoted to paper clutter if you found these tips helpful you’ll probably like my approach to clutter and paper clutter.
Kay H Says...
Something that works really well for me when I don’t want to keep something but have trouble throwing it out cause it’s just so cute, is to take a picture of it then throw it out. We have a school year memory book for each kid (I believe they’re by Hallmark) and the pocket provided for each year is a great place to put those photos in. We also print yearly memory books (family photo books for the digital age) and this is a good place to highlight special awards, projects or art work. There’s also the option of leaving the photo on the backup hard drive 😄 until ready to delete.
Jenn Says...
Love this idea 💡
Michelle Says...
Awesome ideas! I know this is a big struggle in my house. I’m defiantly going to try this!
Joanna Says...
Love this thanks! Wow I’ve done the same for my kids large artwork. Each kid has a large portfolio. I really thought about doing one of those art books where you take pics of each art piece. I decided against it as I would want to keep every piece, it’s more time consuming than I wanted and we like seeing the actual art. The nice thing about a portfolio and hanging folders, like you mentioned, is as the years go on we can continue to remove and declutter if needed. Thanks!
Leslie Says...
Love the in-box idea! We already do the file box but need something to do in the mean time.
Amanda Says...
Awesome! Hoping the hanging file folders will help my Pre-K hoarder whittle down some of her collection 🙂
Jackie Says...
I have held onto many precious pieces of art work the kids have created thru all of their years of school. It’s a real struggle to let go of them. However, in the making of memory pages for each of them, i am planning to use some of the large pieces as a scrapbook page in their book(s), cut to size of a 12 x 12. Then I can add a couple of things to the page of a picture of child with their Teacher for that year, etc. I felt it was a win-win for me. Then I would not be throwing out some of the artwork.
Tasi Says...
This horrible heat in our area this weekend made me decide to do this. Quick question: You say pre-K. If your family did daycare or Sunday school papers from the baby/toddler years, how did you handle that? My oldest is ready to graduate high school and my youngest is expected around August 2! I’m thinking of making her box already for the baby mementos and then clearing/organizing that before she goes to school and starting this box over again. Is this the sort of thing you have other ideas for in the e-book you mentioned?
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