What it is:
This week’s storage solution of the week are clean, unused pizza boxes to store kids’ school papers by year.
Where I got them:
I get mine at Pizza Hut simply by asking for a few large boxes as we are leaving the restaurant. I remember working at a pizza place during college and occasionally having someone ask for a clean box or two, which I thought was odd until the manager explained they used them to store their kids’ artwork. Once a mother, it all came back to me when a friend shared that this was her solution to storing her children’s school papers.
Why I love it:
The size is ideal. They are large enough for bigger works of art, but thin enough that I really have to purge excess and only store true keepsakes. Also, the size and shape makes them very easy to stack and store on shelves in our basement.
If you are great at purging as you go, I would suggest keeping your current year’s box in an easily accessible place and putting those treasured reports and tests right in. At the end of the year, simply seal it up and put it in a more permanent storage area!
For me, it’s much harder to decide on the fly. It’s also hard for my children to see their work go directly into the recycling bin! So, most things go into under-bed storage bins during the course of the year. Each child has their own bin to keep their work separate.
During the summer, we go through to decide what’s to keep and what to let go of. I have one child who would let go of nearly all of it, and another who gets very distraught because it is all special. So, involving them in this process makes it more tricky, but I feel it’s worth it. I like knowing what kinds of things they feel are special from the year, and I also think it’s a great lesson in purging and organizing.
Aby’s system of saving her kids’ schoolwork in binders is another great way to do it, and we’ve hard from many of you have tried and loved it.
Do you have another system that works for you? We’d love to hear about it in the comments!
Happy Organizing!
P.S. If you are interested in more ways to organize paper in your home or office, our Organize Your Paper Clutter is now available as a self-paced online class. Get started today!
I started using 12 by 12 plastic scrapbooking sleeves, like these: http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog/productdetail.jsp?CATID=cat2051&PRODID=prd35270
They expand up to about 3/4 inch or so, they are archival, and mine actually have a snap closure instead of the tie (mine were actually from michael’s instead of joann’s) So easy to just slide the papers in and even bigger construction paper fits nicely. And they were cheap!
I use the same under-the-bed box system you do, also sorting through it during the summer. It works for me because during the busy school year I don’t have to make big decisions- I know where to stash it for the time being. When no one’s looking I can take some things to the recycling bin during the summer. The big box works for those huge art projects that come home with little kids.
@Michelle, those sleeves are great! Do you manage to keep just one per child per school year? Very impressive!
@Michaela, I also have to slip some into recycling when no one is looking, especially with my youngest! 😉
I have started to take pictures of every single piece of artwork that comes in the door and then I plan on making a hard back book with the pictures of their artwork. I also have a bin with some stuff that I absolutely cannot throw away like mother’s day projects or Christmas projects. It saves me from saving every single thing and my kids know and ask for the picture to be taken. I think the books will make it nice to give to them once they are grown.
@Tabatha, I bet those books are wonderful! Great idea… thanks for sharing!
~Jen
I’ve been using Aby’s holding basket/binder approach since last schoolyear with great success. But the pizza box idea is really clever. I was at a packaging store this past week and saw that they sell solid white pizza boxes in case stopping by pizza place is inconvenient.
Thanks for sharing these great ideas!
Jane, that is awesome about the white pizza boxes. Thank you for telling us about that!
This post has promoted the application and revolution of recycle and reuse.This can be a way through which we can keep our surroundings clean.
For my 20 & 22 yo, I used a plastic file tote with hanging files for each grade. The hanging files will hold an assortment of items (such as graduation tassels) and will accommodate a good amount of material, while the size of the box limits the total amount of material per child. I plan to do the same for my 4 & 7 yo.
When I was a kid, the shoe boxes did some miracle! My mom provided it to us. But, I think pizza boxes is nice since it saves space even you pile up 5 boxes and we still recycle things.
it’s can be hard. Believe me I have 5 kids.