How do you control kids STUFF?

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Forum -> Household Management

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amother

Fuchsia

Wed, Aug 24 2016, 12:19 am

I have 5 kids ages 1 to 9. The 4 in school are constantly bringing home: arts and crafts, papers, newsletters, booklets, tickets, prizes and did I mention papers? How do I keep on top of it all? Mad

flowerpower

Wed, Aug 24 2016, 12:25 am

I go through it each day. I throw out newsletters motzei shabbos. If the art project has a photo of the kid, I save the picture part if its cute and store in a bin. I save weekly arts and crafts until after shabbos. Each kid has a prize bin. The prize goes in there unless it's stupid or broken. The papers go in the trash unless it's important.

Wed, Aug 24 2016, 12:25 am

Each child has their own "junk drawer" that's big enough for lots of junk. Whatever fits in there, fine. I don't care. Once it starts popping, the child gets to clear "old, unwanted" stuff. Repeat cycle.

amother

Fuchsia

Wed, Aug 24 2016, 9:53 am

Yes my kids have prize bins but exploding by now... they want to keep every a&c they make... I guess my problem is that they're junk collectors. I feel guilty throwing their things out.

ora_43

Wed, Aug 24 2016, 12:48 pm

Take a picture of it with them, then throw it away.

Or if you really can't throw it away even then, put it aside and wait a couple months. After a few weeks have gone by with nobody knowing or caring where the art project is (and with a nice, non-cluttered space to live in) it should be easier to throw it away.

amother

Powderblue

Wed, Aug 24 2016, 1:28 pm

I got a sheetfed scanner (ScanSnap) for this reason... I run it through the scanner and then it's easy enough to throw out. Digital clutter doesn't bother me as much Smile

asd3

Wed, Aug 24 2016, 5:00 pm

I throw the projects out after a couple days when they have no more interest in them

saw50st8

Wed, Aug 24 2016, 8:34 pm

we have a stack of 4 bins where each kid dumps their stuff. When I get to it, I sort through what I want to save or toss. I don't like throwing my kids stuff out right away because they feel like I'm destroying their precious stuff! As long as it fits in the bin, I don't care too much. At the end of the school year, I sort through what we are keeping long term and what we are tossing.

amother

Natural

Wed, Aug 24 2016, 8:55 pm

Yeah, I also let my kids have a junk drawer but I call it a kit, and I give them a container or can and they play with their prizes and trade...

. for their projects, I hang som and switch to new ones while throwing the older ones out. But mu daughter wants to save everything so when she doesn't notice, I throw out some of her projects she saved.

. the worst was when she saw her painting from mommy camp in the recycling, she cried to me asking why I threw it out.

. but usually they forget about it and don't find it in recycling.its hard to keep being on top of everything making sure to keep throwing out the old things. I wish I can just throw everything out right away, bit it means too much to my kids.

Skippy!!

Wed, Aug 24 2016, 11:26 pm

They each have a drawer for their junk - they have to throw out things in order to make room for new stuff. I have one wall in the house that they could hang up arts and crafts.
I save certificates and pictures.

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