Your Questions Answered: What do I do with kids’ art, awards, etc?

This is the first video in this new series of me answering YOUR questions. I have things I enjoy talking about, but I want to be sure I’m answering the questions you are asking.

This is a question I have received many time: What do I do with all the things my kids make and the awards they receive?

If you have kids, it is likely that most of the clutter in your home comes from them or pertains to them. Kids just produce a lot of stuff! That sweet little boy writes you a note saying he loves you. That is something you want to keep for sure! But what do we do with all of it and how much do we keep?

The first tip I have is to create a place for each thing to go. Keep a rule that things must be confined to this area. You aren’t going to go buy a bigger box or move things to a bigger shelf. This is the space you are using.

(This is HIS shelf in HIS room, so he has chosen what is important to him.)

So let’s start with all those awards, the trophies and metals. Let’s face it. These days kids get a metal for everything. If you’re on the baseball team, here’s a trophy. If you took art class, here’s a ribbon. These are the kinds of things we tend to not keep unless they hold a special value to my child. Now, my son won 3rd place in a chess tournament when he was around 9 and we for sure kept that trophy on his shelf. He has on shelf in his room that all of these things are kept on. We do periodically go through this and make sure these things are still valuable to him. I allow him to make most of the decisions here.

Next we have all of the things the kids bring home from school, story time at the library, and kids’ church. These are such sweet things, but if we keep it all we would need to rent a storage unit. I have a file box for each kid. There is a folder for each year of school starting with K-3. You can start at whatever age works for you. (You can grab a similar file box HERE.) My daugther used to bring home a stack of papers every week from K-3. She was learning to write her letters and painting and drawing and it was all so precious! But there was a lot of it! So I took each of these stacks and chose only one or two that I knew I would look back on in years to come and be thankful I kept them. I put these in the folder for that grade. If this folder starts getting too full just go through and pull out things that you can let go of.

Finally, lets talk about those cards and notes your kids give to you. Each member of our family has a small memory box in our closets. One for each of us. (You can grab a similar memory box HERE.) This is the max I will allow myself to keep of sentimental items that my family or friends give me, the ticket stubs to the Broadway show I finally got to go to, and the handprint painting my son gave me for Mother’s Day. I am very choosey on what I put in these boxes for each person in our family. We only keep things that really mean a lot to us. If the box starts getting too full, it’s time to go through it.

Some pieces of art work hang on the fridge for the week and we enjoy them and then replace it with the next painting. Some are extra special and they go in the box.

I hope these tips help you to create a system to keep the most important things.

If you are interested in seeing my video on all things sentimental you can watch that HERE.

I would love to answer your question! Leave your questions in the comments below and my next video might be answering your question!

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