What kid’s schoolwork should you keep?

Knowing what papers and school work to keep and what to toss can sometimes be difficult. If you take time now to establish criteria and standards for what to hold on to, it will help you manage all of the paperwork and also help you feel like you are honoring your kid’s amazingness. All while not filling an entire room full of the papers they bring home. Here are a few suggestions that will help you determine what you should really keep.

Start with a bin

If you start with a plan and a specific container, it will help you put a limit on what can be saved. When your container becomes too full, it is a cue that you need to go through and be more picky about what you will keep. Using file folders within the bin will also help you keep everything more organized and easy to retrieve when you want to take a stroll down memory lane.

Ask yourself a set of questions

Create a set of questions to ask yourself whenever a new piece of artwork or a report card comes into the house. Here are a few questions you might consider:

• Is this a good example of my child’s work?

• Do I like it (or is it special to the child)?

• Is it something that I'll regret not keeping?

• Have I already saved other examples of this type of school work/artwork?

• Is there a special memory attached to the paper/artwork?

Deal with paper right away

Don’t wait until you have years worth of paperwork stacked up to decide what you want to keep. Make it a habit to go through paperwork a few times a year to determine what is worth keeping and then add it to your storage container immediately.

Also, take a look at this handy flowchart from “Life with Less Mess” to help you make some keepsake decisions!

Happy Sprucing!