Do you like to keep anniversay cards? children's artwork? little momentos? I enjoy organization and I'm not a packrat, but I just can't seem to part with such items. You want to know why? My Mom saved many of my childhood "memories." For example, she kept nearly all of my Christmas lists. A few months ago we looked at a few of them and it was so much fun ... to see my handwriting and to recollect certain memories that I thought I had forgotten. We laughed a lot at some of the silly and cute things I wrote over the years and I'm so thankful my Mom saved it all!
After Anna was born I wanted to find a practical and simple way to organize such items. After perusing the internet, I came across this idea (sorry, the site's name escapes me). Honestly, I thought most people already had a manageable way to handle their "keepsakes," but then a few friends saw my boxes and later told me that they were so thankful for the idea. So, I thought I would share it with the rest of you.
I buy a small plastic tub at the beginning of each year.
I keep it in an easy accessible location.
I put every item I want to save in the box.
I don't save everything
I don't organize by person or subject.
So simple
Some things in my 2009 box?
Payton's first pair of shoes.
Anniversary card from John
Some of Anna's artwork
Encouraging card from a friend
A friend's pregnancy announcement (Andrea, that's you)
You might want to have John put those boxes in the attic, since you won't be perusing them for a while, and you could use that closet space.
ReplyDeleteI still love looking through the boxes of stuff my mom kept of mine. I already have stuff for Kate that I want to keep and using plastic boxes is a better idea than packing boxes like my mom used. Thanks for the idea.
ReplyDeleteoooohhh thanks for sharing! I LOVE it!!!!
ReplyDeleteGlad I'm on my second year! Thanks for the great idea!! The only thing I do differently is print off my year label on the computer... but that shows you what a sucker I am for things "looking" neat and organized :)
ReplyDeleteThat IS a great idea! I keep making piles...probably not the best idea.
ReplyDeleteI made the 2009 box!
ReplyDeleteWhen Grace got into Kindergarten, I went through the same thought and I used those hanging large ziplock bags for all of her artwork, journals and special school paperwork.
You could use your Christmas card photo for that year as your label or put it on the top of the box so you remember what you all looked like that year.
It nice your boxes are not too big!
ReplyDeleteA great idea.
I love this idea! I am SO not a packrat, so lean toward not saving things that I really ought. About how big is your plastic tub? Shoebox size? I think I will start this THIS year.
ReplyDeleteI do save some of the girls' school stuff already. We save what they think is notable/important throughout the school year in a drawer, then at the end of the year we go through the drawer, decide what's really important to keep, and save it in a large pizza box. These are large enough for bigger pieces of artwork, but fairly thin and stack nicely. And they are easy to label with a sharpie. The closet looks kind of funny, though, with almost a dozen pizza boxes stacked in it. :-)
Good idea Pam!
ReplyDeleteI need to be better about that. I save random things in random boxes. Time to get more organized.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea! I do something similar...each child has one large plastic bin that every keepsake goes in, but I like the idea of it being separated by year with the whole family's treasures!
ReplyDeleteThanks again for this idea. I did mine the other day when we had a snow day. I'll take a picture sometime soon. :)
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