This year is my year to wage a war on clutter. I have written before that I am a fairly organized person. If you stopped by my house it would look tidy enough, most of the time, but if you were to go looking in my closets, drawers, or attic you would see the hidden clutter.
The “curse” of living in a big house, yes I know I am lucky to be so “cursed,” is that you don’t really run out of room. You just toss things into a box and stuff that box into the attic. The incentive to stop hanging onto things has to come from within.
I try to remind myself that I do not want to end up like the woman we bought the house from. She had fifty years worth of accumulation here. There was not a single room that was empty. She still had closets filled with things belonging to her children. Her children who were fifty years old! Her attic was filled with items she hadn’t laid eyes upon in twenty years.
And so I decided that this year it really is time to go through the boxes of things we have in the attic. Some of the boxes have been with us since college, still packed. Christmas decorations that we haven’t used in years. Clothing that is never going to be worn again. Old textbooks that smell musty and are out of date. Those things are easy to haul off to Goodwill.
Some of the things I am finding it harder to deal with. I have things saved for my kids. Things I think they would like to have: a special outfit, awards, ribbons, newspaper clippings etc. But I don’t have them in any organized fashion. I am unsure how exactly to organize them.
I am thinking one box for each kid, but what kind of box? I want something nicer than a cardboard box. A rubbermaid? Maybe smaller boxes inside a rubbermaid? I really have no idea.
So I am turning to all of you organized and crafty sorts out there… what do you use to store your children’s things? And what things are you saving?
Right now, I have file n stack boxes for my daughter’ school work. I am determined to keep one box per child, which means I have to throw stuff away. The problems: I have to be sneaky our the girl will fall into a hole in the floor to die. I will have to sift through 3 years of paper stuff. I am really lazy.
Since, I am not much help, I will tell you where my hidden clutter is, my file cabinet. My files are overflowing with papers that we really don’t need. The problem most of it will have to be shredded and that is not something I am looking forward to. *sigh* I guess it will have to be done someday, no day like tomorrow.
Comment by Wendy — January 13, 2008 @ 9:24 pm
A friend of mine – one with lots of kids (8 I think) but little room, had some space in her garage. The space under the shelves. So – she got trashcans – the big kind, with the lid you put by the curb? One per child. They were new (so, clean) with lids, which kept the elements out, and they were safe in case of flooding. One per kid, labeled. She and/or her kids kept the stuff in there. If there was too much, something had to be removed to be kept. But the trashcans are big enough to hold bulky things, like baby blankets. It worked for them.
Comment by Michele — January 14, 2008 @ 4:03 am
Just a cardboard box here, so far, but I hope to graduate one day to a big plastic bin someday, maybe filled with shoeboxes marked by year(s).
Ha, my husband and I have always wondered who gets to move into houses already filled with stuff, as we’d take everything we could move, ourselves. You could have sold that stuff on eBay, even the stuff that looked like complete junk! If you could be bothered, that is.
Comment by Brigitte — January 14, 2008 @ 7:53 am
Can you go to garage sales and/or cheaper antique shops and get a nice wooden box or trunk for each child? Steamer trunks are great, you have the space for one each and the will be big enough to hold everything as they grow up. I have a beautiful wooden box about 3ft x 1.5ft wide and about 1.5ft high, made in Kurdistan mid 19th Century, that was bought as a present for my 18th birthday. It is wonderfully carved and I keep all the important things in it, like school gradecards and a silver teapot that is an heirloom from my grandma (and that I can’t be bothered to keep polishing, hence it’s safely tucked away!). When I want to add something to it I have to take something out if I don’t have enough room. I recently removed a beautiful wooden crib mobile that I was given, and have put it in my daughter’s room.
You could use this year to find them each a really beautiful box/trunk each for their birthday, that way it is a useful present (ref. A Year Off) but that is a beautiful gift and unique to each child. And your storage problem will be solved
Seeing as you are really good at art, you could even find old blanket boxes in yard sales, and sand them down and repaint them with a unique pattern individual to the child? Something they can keep all their lives and hand on to their kids….
Comment by jen — January 14, 2008 @ 10:36 am
I should add that right now my kids have large tins with their special things (wristbands from their birth, special presents etc), which will then go into their boxes when they are bigger (and I find one I like for them). I started off with a lacquer box I was given when I was born, painted with my name in Japanese characters (I was born in Tokyo). So… you don’t have to start big, but perhaps get them something appropriate to their age now and find them a bigger box on a later (significant) birthday?
Comment by jen — January 14, 2008 @ 10:39 am
We have 4 children and have found a need to be supper organized also with their things. I reserve a box for each child from stuff from birth ( outfit they came home in newspaper from that day,cards they received, etc) then I have a box for each child for clothing they wore from birth to 1 year special outfits only. Someday soon I will make a quilt out of those pieces saved. I have reserved also a box for each one for art projects for each child from school or prek or church. Its best to find something that stacks well. If you go on the containerstore.com they have erasable reusable labels that have helped me stay organized but you can reuse as often as needed so its a good purchase. They have lots of neat things on this website you should check it out. Good luck organizing its a long process.
Comment by Christen — January 16, 2008 @ 10:47 am
One good idea is to take a picture of each item and put it into a scrapbook. For example art prodjects from school have them pick one item they really wan’t to hold onto and gather the rest together take a picture then off to the trash. With ribbons and such, store in a scrapbook. Creative Memories has so many options to help you. With outfits I took a picture of each one and made a special scrapbook page of them and then either donated them or stored them into a hope chest. Goodluck
Comment by Brooke — January 22, 2008 @ 4:15 pm
My friend kept one plastic bin per child that she put their schoolwork/awards/pictures of friends etc in. Her daughter is in 8th grade this year so they had a scrapbooking day. They had a very special time remembering times and friends she no longer keeps in contact with and because she had not seen the items for a while it was easy to pick out what she considered special to her and not just what my friend considered special. Once they were finished everything left over went into the trash so she could start filling the bin with this years items (to be scrapbooked prior to next school year) and then highschool items. My friend plans to continue this new tradition with her son.
Comment by Cara — February 6, 2008 @ 12:08 pm
Some of the kids have different dogs and pets where is all the shops to shop at when you get your points. We found the one in shop and the kittys home and the one to buy clothes but we can’t find some of the animals. Can you tell us where all the shops are located.
Comment by LISA — December 21, 2008 @ 1:56 am