Do you keep everything that comes home from school?

I have been packing to move house and I am finding that I have *HEAPS* of stuff that DD brought home all through prep last year - and there is already a significant pile building up for this year.

I feel really bad throwing anything out - especially all her work books that came home at the end of the year. But there really is so many of them - if I keep everything that comes home by the time she graduates I'm going to need to hire storage!!

I would really love to know what others do in this situation - I haven't really thought about it until now because I was happy for it to just have a shelf on the bookcase and keep piling up.

Do you keep everything?
If you do, how do you store it?
If not, how do you decide what to cull?
And do you display what you do keep, or hide it away in storage anyway?

Nope! I have kept things like mother's day cards, projects they scored highly on and a few pieces of artwork I liked but not everything.

Nope, I chuck it into recycling. Unless there are heaps of spare pages in which case I let them use the paper for drawing/writing. If the kids are really attached to their work then I give it to them to store in their room. They rarely take me up on this offer.

We don't keep work books but keep pictures, posters, things they have made. With two kids it was getting insane. Things usually go up on te fridge until something new comes home then what we take off goes in a box we have for that stuff(a large packing box)

No we don't keep everything. Pictures etc that can be placed on the fridge are done so for a week or two and then replaced with the newer ones. When I take them off they all go into a large tub that we clear out once every 4-5 months. DD can then pick a set number of things to keep (which stay at the bottom of the tub until next clear out) and I pick a couple which go into her memory box. Same goes with DS.

As for workbooks etc that come home at the end of the year, truthfully I only keep them for a year or so until they are replaced by the newer ones. In kindy and pre-primary DD and DS came home with a large "portfolio" of all their best work done in class and I have kept those and do intend on keeping them. They are stored at the top of their wardrobes laid flat so other things can go on top.

I've heard of parents that keep just a few special things and they scan alot of drawings and paintings and keep them in a file on the computer.

I bought a big plastic tub for each child and they put things including workbooks into that, as they want to put more in, they have to take some out to make room! Neat way to keep it, it's so difficult hauling it all around messy everywhere. Some things I know I can toss without them noticing, but other things like their workbooks and stores and drawings we keep a sample from each year.

My bestie uses her kids paintings as wrapping paper. I love it when I get given a gift that has been wrapped in their artwork. I think I will do the same when DS is old enough.

Thanks for sharing ladies.

I really like the idea of choosing a few things that I want to keep and then leaving the rest up to DD - maybe giving her a limit of what she can keep. Honestly, for some reason I hadn't actually thought of asking her if she wants to keep any of it lol she probably doesn't care much at all!!

THats the great things about the box, you can only keep what can fit in there!! My girls would keep everything if I let them.... NOOOOO don't throw away that ripped piece of paper it REALLY special! Argh

I keep all the mothers/father's day things they make and toss the rest - I used to keep it all when DS1 started school but we just don't have the room to keep enough work for 4 kids! Plus our school does a 'worksample' portfolio every year where they get the kids to do 'worksamples' of the different things they do over the course of the year which covers all the KLA's so at the end of the year they bring home a nice and tidy A4 display folder full of all their best work which I get to keep and that works much better. So now I just toss everything as it comes home - paintings I usually put on the fridge for a bit and then toss when the next one comes home.

we aren't up to school years yet, but i also use all paintings for wrapping paper (alwasy get great comments about it). We give a lot oaway to grandparents/uncles/aunties so they have a treasure or two... throw the rubbishy stuff and memory book the rest.
mum kept some of our old writing books and the stories in there are hilarious... occasionally we'll rediscover them and read them to all the family, can barely get through them without dying of laughter! My brother had a very morbid imagination, to say the least lol. i plan on keeping the best bits like their stories etc but will turf the rest... probably... maybe lol. :)

I have a box for each and keep a semester's worth and then toss it and start again. Anything that they are especially proud of is kept in a different box and at the end of the year we go through it together and decide what is kept. Most of DD's stuff last year got tossed when she brought home her portfolio from school. Any special projects like father's day, mother's day etc are kept forever.

I got caught last year when I threw out a few things and DD asked for them to show somebody. She got so upset when I said I'd thrown it away.

Just wondering if you guys have thought of scanning things into your computer and keeping the memory that way? You can still keep a few of the significant things but the stuff you scan you can throw out or give away.

Another thing to do for school years is at the end of the school year, each child gets a display folder, they normally have 20 clear pocket sleeves in them and dont take up much room. You get to fill it up with writing sample, awards from the year, artworks, birthday and Christmas cards.

I used to, but with 3 at school now there is just way to much. I have kept their first books that they brought home and ditched the rest. I keep them though if there is significant blank paper remaining in them, so they can use it for scrap paper to draw with at home.

Nope keep good stuff on the fridge for a week, then it gets ruined and joins everything in the bin, if i kept everything every child did id need a storage unit


Sent from my iphone, so may not make sense

Just a thought about this ... At my cousins' 21sts my aunt decorated the hall that they hired with all their childhood paintings and drawings and projects etc that she had kept. It looked amazing.

There are some really great suggestions in here - thanks so much. I showed DD the pile of stuff and yep, she wants to keep every single thing lol - there goes my easy way out lol.

Might pick up a box to keep up the top of her wardrobe with the stuff - I love the idea of a folder for each year too.

Thanks again!


**Sent from my phone using Tapatalk.

I know some people that keep artworks etc on the fridge till the next peice came home but before throwing it out they took a digital picture of it and kept each child's things saved in their own file. That way they can look back on all thier prices of artwork when they are older. I think this is a great idea. And I rekon the artwork would last a lot longer in digital than in real life!

I keep the portfolio.

Yup we keep all in a tub in the cupboard the cull at end of year....
This year DD1 has started prep and DD2 toddler group, we bought several plastic display folders, we put in the stuff we definitely want to keep and the rest goes into new tub in cupboard for sorting at years end! We do the same foe both

i have the pics jamie did at daycare and thats about it thats only because they put it in a folder for me lol
i dont know wat i will do when they go to school