Decluttering papers for kids is different from decluttering papers for adults. They don’t have the same kinds of papers and documents as adults do. They have fewer kinds. Typically the types of papers that kids have in their rooms are school related. In a way this makes it more difficult to declutter. Why? Papers that belong to kids hold sentimental values. For parents.
Another type of paper kids may collect in their rooms is cards and letters. The amount of cards they accumulate may not be as bad as the amount of letters that we, the parents, accumulated in our childhood, though. Children’s ways of communication these days are based online. I learned from my oldest daughter, who is 15, that teens these days don’t even give birthday cards! What? Inconceivable…
Anyways, in order to tidy up papers, there are 3 steps. Only THREE. You have to go through them. Ready?
REDUCE
GROUP
ORGANIZE IN A STORAGE
1. REDUCE
First and foremost, you have to get rid of papers. Purge, purge, purge. You can’t live with all the papers your kids bring home. Unwanted paper becomes a dead weight in your life. According to Marie Kondo, her policy for paper is basically “discard all” in her method. However, kids paper can be grouped as sentimental items. Therefore, it’s hard to do so. That being said, you have to reduce and I promise, everybody can.
It’s going to be tough because you’ll have to sit for a couple of hours to go through individual pieces of paper one by one. Make yourself a cup of coffee or tea. Make sure you have your kids involved in the process. They can help you. You’re probably going to have a tougher time parting from some papers of your kids than they do.
Tip For Discarding School Papers
If you are a type who hates to throw away paper, especially school related papers of your kids because they showcase their development, think about this. Do you still live with all the school papers and art work from your childhood? Most likely your answer is no. Even if you’ve kept them, you probably don’t have them with you. Then, where are they? Most likely those papers are stored in a storage at your parents. If you don’t live with the school and art work you did as a child, you probably don’t need it.
That being said, it’s definitely nice to keep some for your kids. It’s important that you become selective and keep only the best ones.
1. Select the ones you and your child love as you go through individual art creations with your kids.
2. Take photos of the ones that didn’t make the cut, but you’d like to keep them in your memory. Store them digitally.
3. Say goodbye to school notes and tests. Trust me, your kids are never going to flip through their school notes and old tests.
Tip For Discarding Letters/Cards
This is a tough one for kids and parents. If you have moved around, those cards from the past may connect dots or provide the feelings of belonging or love. It’s always fun to reread old cards. The reality, though, is that any of us hardly spend time to reread their old cards. The purpose of cards are fulfilled when recipients reads them. Therefore, kids should keep the ones that they’re not ready to say goodbye yet. Be selective.
2. GROUP YOUR PAPERS BY TYPES
Group items.
In my household, there are two kinds of papers for kids that I allow them to store.
1. School Art Work
2. Letters/Cards
If you need to store school work, such as class notes, essays, tests, and so forth, I understand. You should set a limit for the amount of paper you allow your child to keep.
3. ORGANIZE IN A STORAGE
As I mentioned above, we have two kinds of paper storage solutions for my children.
1. School Art Work
2. Letters & Cards
SCHOOL ART WORK
Each of my child has a box that they can store their art work. These boxes hold all the art work since preschool. A few bigger size ones are in my closet, but for the most part, they are all in these boxes. It’s nice because my kids go through them occasionally.
LETTERS
My children have one shoe box each. My 15-year-old daughter actually has created two more boxes on her own to store some letters and photo letter books that can’t fit in her shoe box. I let her. We move around so frequently that I can understand that the letters from her friends are her treasure.
That’s it!
The 3 steps you take to organize kids’ papers are simple. It’s totally doable as long as you have the tine and determination to do it.
You will feel amazing when it’s done. Any room looks so much more organized and manageable to clean once papers find their homes.
Other Papers For Kids
Following are typical papers that belong to kids, but their parents are normally in charge of storing them.
Medical records & yellow cards (vaccination records)
School reports
Personal documents such as birth certificates & passports
If you don’t have a filing cabinet, I recommend that you invest in one. Even a small one will do. Having a filing cabinet has helped us organize our papers in our house and every time we move. I can’t imagine living without one.
We don’t display those organization boxes. I just wanted to take photos of our organization boxes. Just for the fun of it. I found the metal boxes when we lived in Mumbai, India. I wrote about the stores.
If you ever have a chance to live in Mumbai, India…
Trunk Shopping ☆ Gujrat Trunk Depot Crawford Market
Trunk Shopping 2 ☆ Bags Emporium (Janata Trunk Depot) Mumbai
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