Orgainization Help Needed

Hi C.,

I will pass on some advice recently given to me. Try taking digital photos of the artwork and special papers and make a photo album with them. That way you have everything in one place and not boxes and boxes of papers. You can label the photos as well so you know when they were made.

Good luck!
S.

An artist portfolio might be a good way to keep the artwork. I'm been meaning to look at them myself. I saw it in a mag once and thought that was a great idea.

I'm in the same boat with 2 boys (3 & 5). I have an "in" box for the daily papers that come home from Kindergarten and every Saturday, my oldest and I go thru it and choose one to keep, which ones go to Grammas', and which ones to toss. The ones we keep go in a plastic container "for now". The blankets and special items that aren't artwork are in a separate plastic container.

As far as help in organizing/decluttering, the absolute BEST site I've ever come across is http://www.flylady.net/ (I'm still a fluttering "Flybaby"). Another one is http://organizedhome.com/. For shopping, there is http://www.solutions.com/index.jsp and they have a LOT of fun stuff... Another helpful site is http://fengshui.about.com/od/clutter/p/clutterhub.htm.

I wish you all the best!

Hi C.!

I consider myself a very organized person, in fact my husband thinks I am way too organized. Anyway, the rubbermaid containers work great for blankets, clothes, etc. As far as artwork and school papers try using pizza boxes. They work out the best and are easy to stack on a shelf in a closet. I clean and line the inside with decorative paper. Then you can easily label the outside with age and/or grade.

We have a treasure chest (that is what we call it...it is really just a cardboard box right now) that we fill with important and special things for my daughter. When she gets older I will have a real chest made to put these things in there.

When I was growing up, my mother kept everything under the sun. Literally. When I moved out, I went through piled up boxes of EVERY piece of artwork/schoolwork from first grade on. (not kidding) There was a box for each year of school, on top of old awards I'd won, programs from EVERY choir/band concert, you get the idea. I hated it. I think I kept four things total out of those old, musty boxes. Mom never got any joy out of it, either, because you couldn't access any of it. They were stuffed away on an old shelf.

So I decided to start organizing my son's things early. He just started kindergarten, so I got a photo album JUST for him, and have select photos that I'm putting in it over the years. I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a decorative chest (they're always on sale, usually 30-50% off, I love it) to start a time capsule, of sorts. In it I placed his baby book, copy of his birth certificate, his baptism outfit, the photo album (when complete at age 18) will go in there, his growth chart, and since he LOVES drawing me pictures, I'm putting my favorites in there, too.

As he grows I intend to put in things like Blankie and Mr. Bear, prom photos, special acheivement awards, special events he and I go to together and my journal. I've begun writing a personal journal to pass on to my children once I'm gone. I'm hoping they will share these with each other when they are older, so they can see our memories from Mom and Dad's point of view. Eventually, I'd like to learn to do scrapbooking, but I feel this is enough for right now. :)

The most important thing for me in this is that, unlike my Mom, I get to relive all these memories everytime I open the lid to add something more. Plus, if I just want to look through it again, it's right there in my closet. I hope this helped a bit, and I hope you get as much joy out of doing this for your children as I am for mine. :)

Hi C.! I am actually in the process of starting an organizing business (I have been doing it for friends and family for awhile). I would suggest putting the keepsakes in a shadow box. These can be found wherever most frames are sold. I would also suggest that for the artwork and school papers that you keep 4 a month (1 per week). I would have the child help to decide which pieces get kept. Once you have decided then I would suggest a storage unit something like this (please see link) https://www.schoolfolio.com/products/all-in-one/index.php

I hope this helps! If you ever need more suggestions or one on one help please feel free to contact me @ ____@____.com

You know those little plastic resealable bags that onsies or sometimes other things come in? I kept those and put a few keepsakes in each one. At first I just put them in my son's closet...then when I had enough, I bought one of those Rubbermaid totes on sale for a few dollars. I put a piece of painter's tape (all we had around at the time) on the top and labeled it. Hope it helps.

I have 2 children, ages 12 and 5. I use totes. Not to large, but large enough to hold what I need/want. I have my son's first "blankie", all his hospital papers, some cards, ect. the paperwork, I keep in a folder. That way, you are limited to how much you can fit in the folder. If it is a large art project, I have taken a picture or two of my child holding the project, then I have the picture of it, but not the mess and clutter. The tote will hold all you precious items, without worrying about humidity, weather, etc. It will stay safe. You can also mark the tote with the child's name and anything else you want on it. GOOD LUCK!
M.

good luck! it seems the first one is easy-baby book and all and then you are suddenly 2 years behind just on pictures!!
at our mom to mom group last week, we had a great speaker. she is a busy mom with 4 boys and she was talking about the same thing. she now has 4 paper grocery bags for keepsakes and notes that she takes of important/funny/cute anecdotes. it made me laugh, but i can see how it would work better than my system of jamming stuff in random drawers where i can find room! i've yet to get going on it, though! ~~W.

There are a few suggestions I have heard, I haveb't decided yet axactly what I am doing, its all in the back of his closet in grocery bags, will have to do something someday, kuddos to you for actually getting it done
1)one woman suggested getting each child a pizza box for each year and whatever fits into that they can keep they store nice under a bed. I think that's a bit more than I would like to keep for all those years tho.
2) instead of keeping so much, tape all your childs art on the wall have him/her stand in front of it and take a picture then you can throw away most of it. When it came to cleaning out my old boxes from my parents house I took picture of things like trophies that I knew I wanted to remember but certainly would never use or display again.
3)Each month have your child/ren pick out two of his/her favorite works of art and you chooose one, at the end of the year they can shoose two of their favorites and you choose one out of the pile of favorites you collected from the previous year and thats all you keep.
Hope that gives you some ideas
KH

I am by no means "organized"! But I have found that the scrapbooks/photo albums of today are much more versatile! I have a regular 3-ring binder and I purchase the "filler pages" as I need them. Some are just for photos (the prize winning Pinewood Derby picture) and some for putting artwork into, great school reports also go in there. If you use the binders, you can purchase whatever color/design you want for each child while not be bound to one style of inside filler pages.

To laugh with my child is the greatest joy I have experienced!

I am in the same boat! What I did was buy a Rubbermaid container to put their stuff in at this point. I have it labeled KEEP FOR SHELBY and KEEP FOR SAVANNAH. It is clear so I can see whats in there.

To help wth a lot of the other clutter, I needed to organize it so I could go through it. I started going to my local grocery store at night when they were stocking and got boxes. That way I started organizing what was going in the rummage sale, what went to Goodwill, what got kept and what got thrown. I have a ways to go, but it has helped.

One other thing I found was a local FREECYCLE group (try searching yahoo groups). I have gotten rid of a lot of things that I just didn't need, didn't want to sell, but didn't want to throw away. I have found some good things there too!

C.,
If you are worried about a box or bag getting beat or or misplaced, a good solution is to go to a store like Marshalls. They have different sizes of decorated hatboxes and memory boxes. I got my daughter three (s,m,l) covered n ballerinas, one for clothes, one for art, etc. Then they stack nicely, and even if you leave them out in a corner of a room, they look pretty and decorative.

I use large shipping tubes for school papers, projects & such. You know the cardboard ones with the plastic ends. You can slide papers any size in and they dont have to be folded. Label the end with your child's name.You can even do them for each year if you save a lot. VERY easy storage either in the rafters of the basement or garage. Or in closets.Now that my children are older they do alot less artwork and special keepsake stuff.I make sure to save whatever I get. I also have had my VERY favorite pieces of artwork framed and I hang them on the wall right along side my other decor.

One of the best ideas I've seen for saving that special coming home from the hospital outfit-was to put it in a shadow box and hang it on the wall. I've done it with my first two and plan on it with my last. It's an everyday reminder of their first sweet days. Also, I have a small box for each of the girls for the little shoes, first hat, a tiny diaper I've kept for each of them, all the kind of stuff. As far as artwork goes, I've seen people suggest to take pictures of it, and get them put on a picture cd. Keep your favorites- otherwise I've seen to scan the artwork or school stuff and reduce them so you can fit several pieces on one piece of paper, if you use the back too you could really save space. The last bit of advice I've heard is to keep a folder for the year-or six months if that gets to be too much- and after that time period, go through everything keep the special/favorite things and toss the rest. Get a binder for each of the kids to put all of the "keepable" things in. You can divide it by grade so you'll know where everything is when it's time to go back and watch how the kids have grown. Good luck with the organizing process.

One thing my mom and dad had for us growing up is a cedar chest. They kept papers from school in them etc. Depending on where you get them....varies on price. You can easily find a beautiful on at an auction or buy one at a furniture store. My dad is big into antiques and I still have the cedar chest he bough me at an auction when I was 6. (im 29!). good luck!

C.,

When I was in the 1st grade I started saving things like this for myself, and added the things like my baby pictures that my mom had held on to and as you can imagine by the middle of high school I had quite the collection of "stuff" in a pretty beat up cardboard box. As a gift my dad bought me a rubber made trunk. I still use it, however, now it is pretty full. My daughter is 10 weeks old and I have already began saving stuff for her, when she is 12 or 13 I will give it to her for her to add pictures of friends and keepsakes of her own. So to answer your question the rubber made trunk has worked very well for me, the inside of it is not very organized but all of the stuff is in one place that I know is safe from water damage.

I have a 1 year old and so far what I've done was get a rubbermaid bin and kept all his firsts and really cute stuff that that was my favorates and papers i would get folders and lable them.

For my daughter's special clothing I have a rubbermaid tote so it's waterproof etc. For her babybook, hospital memorabila I have another box. With her first shoes I took tissue paper and stuffed it in her shoes to keep them from getting squished out of shape or anything.

As far as school papers, I have a plastic crate from target similar to a milk crate I throw every paper from school in there and have been since daycare and now were into kindergarten whenever I feel like it I go through and throw away junk but keep the stuff I like and write on the back her age and roughly a date so I can remember when. Someday maybe I'll make it into a book but for now with little time it's easier to just keep adding to the pile.

I also took a laundry line attached clothes clips and hung it down our hallway and I can clip her artwork to the 8-15 clips it decorates and it's better than just one picture on the fridge.

As far as the many many important papers, documents etc. I keep a folder in my file cabinet just for school where I have the important stuff including her immunization record so it's right there if I need it, I keep her confrence papers in there and I will add her report cards to it.