I have spent some time this summer trying to declutter my house. I have a long way to go, but I have made progress. As I gear up for school and try to clean more and organize more and put things away I am coming across many ( and I mean many) little (and I mean little) creations. Take one creative daughter and times it by 3 and you have a lot of things lying around. Sometimes it is hard not to cringe when my precious child brings something to me that they made and say, “here Mommy, this is for you.” They all have their storage bins for their special toys and keepsakes. What I want to know is just how many keepsakes are we required to keep. Is the little 25 cent toy qualify as a keepsake? We have a lot of craft items in the house and they receive wonderful craft gifts from friends and family. I have learned to allow them to make and do. I just haven’t figured out where to keep all the creations and how long to keep them. What do you do in your home. Do you have homemade things pile up until they topple over?
For a good read on a similar topic go to The Learning Never Stops.
Susan
My “rule” for keeping things is that if it is extraordinary or the first time they do something, then I save it. For example, school work. They brought home pages and pages of work everyday that I found adorable but if it wasn’t extraordinary, then I didn’t save it. If there is a funny story behind it, I save it and write that on the back. (Like Ash upset one day that we didn’t end up doing something, slips me a piece of paper on the couch of a sad face, a circle and a line through it. “This is how people feel when things are cancelled.” I had to save that one.) I have a bin per kid and I throw things in there in my closet. It’s tough, but I try to think of the long run. I am definitely a tosser, though, I’ll admit that I save a LOT less than most people.
I really feel for you
What we did with our daughter was packed stuff away and stored it out of sight for 3 years, then we went through it.
Anything she said “oooo I remember that” we kept everything else we gave away or threw away.
Hope that helps you out
We’re still in the drawings-are-a-rare-treat stage, so I can’t really relate. I do, however, toss all the Sunday School papers!
I most like to save the items that the kids have made just for me and just because– i.e. without any prompting.
Maybe you can sit down once or twice a year and have each of your girls go through “their box” with you? That way you can save what is special to them… and what they will remember.