If you are a parent and caregiver who finds themselves drowning in artwork, homework, and paperwork by the end of the school year, this episode is for you. We know how overwhelming it can be to keep up with the constant influx of keepsake papers, awards, drawings, and progress reports that come into our homes. Whether you're navigating a traditional school setting or homeschooling, we've got you covered. So lets get ready to tackle that paper mountain! !
In this episode we talk about:
- Practical tips and strategies to help you maintain your sanity and create a system that works for you
- Involving your child in the decluttering process
- Utilizing technology to preserve special moments
- Reclaim your space and create a meaningful collection of your child's artwork and memories
Mentioned in this Episode:
Episode 1: 7 Steps to Organizing (almost) Anything
https://theorganizedflamingo.com/7-steps-to-organizing/
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The Organized & Productive podcast is brought to you by The Organized Flamingo and hosted by Stephanie Y. Deininger! For those of you who love the thought of organizing & being more productive, but don’t know where to start or constantly up against hurdles that don’t let you advance the way you want to, this podcast is for you!
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Review the Transcript:
If you're a parent or caregiver, you know how easily it is to become overwhelmed by the amount and vault, big volume of keepsake papers, awards, drawings and progress reports that come into your house right every every year for especially during the school year. So this episode today is dedicated to all of you who are about to start the more traditional school year calendar, which is usually either August or September here in the US. And this episode is all about how to maintain how to set yourself up for success. So that at the end of the year, you are not drowning in the artwork that comes into your household from school, or maybe you homeschool, and you do your own, you know, artwork at home and whatnot. Whatever the reason, or however it is that you create all this artwork and homework for your children, let's make sure that at the end of the year, you are not overwhelmed by the amount of paper that gets piled up. So let's get ready for the start of another school year. Welcome to the organized and productive podcast with organized Flamingo. I am your host, Stephanie, a professional organizer and productivity expert, ready to explore the right organizing and productivity solutions for you. Yeah, well, then let's go. When you've been doing organizing and organizing other people's space, for as long as I have, there are certain things that tend to accumulate very quickly without the person realizing they're accumulating. And I talked about it in one of our past episodes where I talked about our mid year check in and some of the trouble spots that we're seeing for this year, the some of the trouble spots that are accumulating or are becoming hurdles for people that are keeping them from getting organized, you know, difficult spots. But there are some legacy parts of your life like or just continuous parts of your life that always tend to accumulate, and you don't even realize it sometimes. And one of those things, one of those physical things is paper, and more specifically, artwork and homework and children's paper, because the abundance of paper that comes into the household is quite fast. I mean, you probably end up getting, you know, especially children's smaller children. But even older kids that have homework, you know, you end up having to utilize 510 15 pieces of paper, or artwork type of items every day. And imagine that times if you go five days a week, that is accumulating so fast, and then you go for a month, and then that times the nine months that you probably are in school, or in a school session, that is a lot of paper. And that's just for one child. So once in a while I like to talk about those problem. Things like paper that you sometimes don't realize are accumulating and you just it by the time you realize you have so much it becomes overwhelming. So that's why I'm devoting this entire episode to organizing your students is or children's artwork that is coming in or like paper and homework. And we actually group artwork and homework as one, you as the caregiver and parent will, you know, understand which is which depending on their their school year and whatnot, but we're kind of lumping it all together basically any type of piece of paper or item that comes into your house that was given to you by the school because of whatever reason this includes Certificates of Achievement and All those little knickknacks that tend to pile up in the form of paper. Okay, so my first and foremost tip is always to have a plan. And we always talk about this in the seven steps of organizing almost anything that step one should always come first when you're ready to tackle any organizing project. And that is the assessed step which just really means come up with the plan in a reason and your why, like, why are you doing this. So when you are setting yourself up for the organizing system for the school year for the paper, just have a reason as to why you're doing this is it because you don't want to accumulate you know, at the end of the year I your reasoning could be I don't want to accumulate too much paper or at the end of the school year, I get very overwhelmed by the amount of paperwork that I did not go through that I end up freezing and not doing anything about it. And I don't want to go through that again. So that is your WHY for others of you it could just be a want to keep up with my my child's items so that I can make a memory book and not be so far behind. So pick your why as to why you're you're creating this new system for yourself, and then we'll go from there. In general school paperwork is meant for educational purposes, right? So your student created artwork or homework in order to showcase their work or their town. And then the teacher probably is giving you the artwork and or the schoolwork or the certificate because they, they don't want to throw it away for you. They want you to choose and they want the student to choose what to keep and what not to keep. And that way you can also see progress. And speaking of progress, there was actually about six reasons, most common reasons why people want to keep paper, especially homework and all that. And I'm going to, I'm going to lay them out for you here because this could help your your why when you're writing down, like why do I want to keep all this stuff. So I'm gonna name the six most common reasons why people like to keep sentimental mementos, like children's artwork, and homework. And hopefully this will help like your why. So the first reason is usually just sentimental value. artwork and homework papers often hold that sentimental value for parents and caregivers. They represent their child's creative expressions and efforts and academic achievements, which parents will cherish. And, of course, that makes it hard to let go. It's that sentimental growth for the child like literally, the second reason is celebrating the achievements and building that self esteem. So a lot of times parents and caregivers, they'll keep artwork and homework because it serves as a tangible evidence of a child's accomplishment. So parents may keep them to celebrate that child's progress or efforts and success in the school. And that of course, in return makes it like a sentimental moment. The third reason is showing support and encouragement. So when you hold on to kids artwork and homework, it could be a way for parents to demonstrate their support and encouragement for their children's learning journey. And it shows that parents value their child's academic efforts and creativity. And that is really important right to have a tangible item that shows that you are supporting and encouraging the student. The fourth reason is the future nostalgia and your family legacy which is very popular. Really what it means is parents may keep these items as a way to reminiscence about their child's early years, when they grow older, it probably is something that maybe their parents did, or they wish that their parents would have done or caregivers would have done. And looking back at the artwork and papers can evoke that nostalgia and sense of pride in the child's development as well. So it's really that, hey,
I want to hold on to something tangible, that I can look look at in future years. The fifth is the showcasing growth, which is a little bit like the other two points that we made earlier, which are about celebrating achievements and building self esteem. But keeping a collection of a child's artwork and paper allows the caregiver and parents to witness or actually like witness and see their child's growth and progress over time. And it becomes a visual representation of their developmental milestones. So this is where the, you know, when you have folders for every year comes into play, like you can see the growth maybe in their artwork and their homework and their math and their reading. So you can physically see or like specially this comes into play with when they first start, like kindergarten are starting to read are starting to write. And you can see the progression of how they write their name and their letters and things like that. And one of the other reasons that we have found people keep these items is for conversation starters, some people will keep these items to have a meaningful conversation with their child about their experiences, their feelings and thoughts related to school and creativity. Now remember, these are reasons that we have found are true based on our experience, and interviews and discussions with clients. When we ask them, Why are you keeping this because we do this exercise with them like well, you know, when we before we start decluttering and just throwing away their their sentimental items, especially with children's artwork and stuff. We do ask them okay, well, why is it that you want to do this? Why? Why are you ready to declutter and let go of the sentimental items now after all of these years? And usually, it'll be one of these six reasons. And we'll ask them, Why did you keep it to begin with, and they'll say, you know, I just wanted to have something tangible of my child's accomplishment, especially, you know, think of the spelling bee and the test and the math test, especially if there was like a progression where they weren't doing really well. And then they did, or maybe the student is a stellar student, and this particular subject matter and they just wanted to showcase their awesome grades and in that test, or whatever it may be, so they really wanted to hold on to that memory and to show them or maybe their children or whatever it may be like the future generations, how awesome their child was. And so this these are all reasons based on what are the most you know, the feedback has been with people that we interview and work with. And also when I talk to teachers, teachers and teacher friends, they'll say the same thing. You know, usually parents will keep or will ask for their children's homework and paperwork for one of these reasons. So that's why these have been like the most popular, but you may have your own reason sense as to why you're keeping it. Just be honest with yourself is the one thing that I would recommend highly like, why is it that in the previous years you've been wanting to keep all this homework? Why is it this a problem to throw away? At the end of the year? Why is it so hard to throw it away? Or why is it overwhelming for you, if this is your first year of doing it, then just start to think about maybe other things you've accumulated, that are related or similar. Maybe you're a collector of other things. And that will be your example. Or that will be kind of the what you're looking to compare with. And that will serve you as you're okay, your starting point, like Okay, the reason I usually collect mementos and sentimental items like this, is because of this. And this is what I would like to feel at the end of the year or not feel. So this is all part of the assess, though, the why you're keeping these items. And then now I'm going to give you some tips and practical tips on how to sustain it for the school year. So here we go. Okay, so
if you're new, there is a seven steps of organizing almost anything series out there right before this episode. And there is one that outlines all of the seven steps. So there's an episode for that. And then each step has its own episode as well. And you can binge listen to all those are short episodes, and very straight to the point. But the reason I mentioned that for this episode is because that is going to serve as a really good base for this exercise and to help you set yourself up for setting up a system for your paper and artwork for your child and and for the new school years. So if you haven't listened to that, I'll put it in the show notes. But basically, if you're an aesthetically visual, like an aesthetic or visual person, I would start with the contain, or the design that designating a home step. And that's usually steps four and five, four, and five. And so start with one of those. So if for you, that's important for you, you are going to pick that as your boundary first. And then you will declutter, or you will then use that as your base for the year. So for some of you, there are some really cool boxes out there and bins or chests or file boxes that are really decorative and really pretty and very nice. And they you know, you can put your child's name in the front, and it has folders for every single one of their years. And that is an aesthetically pleasing or visual type of organizing, you have now chosen the container you want to keep it within. And that is going to be your boundary. And so you are going to start with that step. For those of you that are choosing this type of step or this type of system first, where you choose the container first and go from there, it makes it really easy because you have a starting point and you have a boundary, right. So there you go, you have your bin, there are some really cool ones. Like I said, you can make your own at home as well, where you have like a carry case type of tote, file cabinets, type of tote, and then you have folders inside for every single one of the year. And then you know that you want to keep you know, maybe 1020 30 pieces of paper for the year, and then that becomes your base. And for those, I love that because you already have something to start with. But here's the thing, if you're not a visually stimulated person, like that doesn't do anything for you, that actually restricts you and you feel like it actually will backtrack on you because then you will feel like you're limited, and then you'll freeze and then he won't do anything about it. So only choose that type of system. If it doesn't overwhelm you, if it does overwhelm you that for you, I would start with more of a traditional inbox like a different boxes for different reasons. And there's actually usually two that I would recommend, you know, the typical like in tray, the inbox type of tray that you would see in an office. That's the type of tray that I would start with for you. And the two inboxes that I would use, just to keep it super simple. I mean, you can have like 20. But honestly, the more subcategories you have, the more overwhelming you'll become. So usually, I like to do too, especially if you're kind of newer to organizing and you don't have a system yet and then from after you start with these two, and then you can start adjusting it to how your brain is picking up these habits. But the two is one is it's the paperwork that is already done, the one that they already did in class, the homework that they already finished and it is in the past. So it's completed, it's done. And then the other inbox is for work in progress. So that means homework, any projects that are upcoming, it's not maybe a project that hasn't been completed yet. So it's things to come. So there's two the past and then the like the now and it's unfinished. You can also label it as finished unfinished. Past and Present Future something to that effect, but keeping it simple because what's going to happen is for the finished paperwork, that way you have like a closing point. You know that that whole pile, you need to go through and pick through that pile, and you're not mixing and matching, and getting overwhelmed. So that's why I would just pick two. And then eventually, as you start to figure out what works for you, and what doesn't, you can start doing some subcategories. But those are the two that I would start with. Okay. So if you are following through our seven steps of organizing anything, almost anything, we've already done the assess step, and then we've done the steps two through five, right? It's kind of depending on what your primary goal is, and you'll start with, you know, either you'll contain or declutter, or sorta like, it depends on what your end goal is. So now let's go to the steps six or seven, which is the maintain, which is the evaluate and maintain. And this is really the fun part. Because once you design or you figure out what container and what system works for you, at the beginning of the year, like okay, you don't even have to inboxes this is how it's going to work, then you pick timelines that work for you to go through the, through those inboxes or through those boxes that you need to declutter. So for some people, you know, half the half a year mark, like the holiday year mark seems to be the easiest, or the beginning of the year, because usually you're out of school people are, you know, you're kind of at home. And that's a good time to just do like a little real valuate or declutter session for the first half of the year, it's just such a easy alert, because it's a brand new year coming, everybody's into like, New Year, New Year type of thing, right. So it's a good reminder, it's easy, it's easy to remember, but you choose your own timeline. For some people, it's every month, because you just don't want to wait that long, especially if you have multiple children that you're taking care of. And then it just becomes a lot more, the work piles up. So for some people, it's more a monthly basis. And then for others, it's a quarterly basis. So you just kind of have to pick at that point, when you think you realistically will have time to go through these piles in your boundary so that you can kind of clean it out. And it doesn't accumulate and it doesn't become overwhelming at the end of the year. Another reason that I would strongly suggest that you do monthly or no more than six month check ins with your piles is because when you wait until the end of the year, not only are you know you're kind of exhausted, or just everybody's a little bit checked out, right, like it's the end of the year, you're kind of over it and dad and you're ready to move on. But some of these memories are not going to be as fresh for you. So if you have a student's paperwork or artwork from beginning of the school year, and you're going through your pile at the end of the year, you're not really going to even remember if that was important to you or not, or why or the year or like any of that. So it just becomes more meaningful when you're doing it live or just more recently, when the memory is there for you. So I just wouldn't wait until the end of the year. Unless you are okay with forgetting, you know the, the memory that is behind that item if you're okay with that. And you can be honest with yourself about that, then hey, do it once a year and then just get rid of everything. But assuming if you're listening to this episode, that is not you. And so I would just recommend that you do it in shorter in the Maintain step in shorter intervals. So you don't forget, what are the other benefits of doing regular check ins is also being able to do this with your children. And this is a really good opportunity to help them have good organizing skills and habits and to help them decide what they want to keep and have them be part of the process. Because once they're ready to graduate or you're ready to pass on all this artwork to them, they're going to be a little they're going to remember they're going to be probably a little bit more attached and more prideful of the of the contributions that they made, because they were part of the journey. So this is a really good opportunity for you to have like a bonding moment or a teaching moment to with your children and to help them help you figure out what to keep and it's not just on you and your responsibility. Okay, and speaking of things that you might not remember, at the end of the year, one of the things that I would recommend is attaching a note to each paper to signal while you're keeping it like this is for the ones you're keeping it so this is once you go through the paperwork, you know every month or through your inbox or your box like once every six months, attach a little note like a quick little note that says why it is that you're keeping it. This will help you remember in the long run, why it is that you've been kept it but also exercise that part of your brain that associates the emotion to the physical things. It'll give you a why a stronger why? Because sometimes we don't even though why we keep things and this will help you exercise and do it much faster going forward. So when you start practicing this early on, it allows you to later like make those quick decisions like okay, You know, when your decluttering and putting it into like as as a trash or to keep pile, your brain will do it much faster and it will be so caught up in the emotion, because you've been practicing this all year long. So this is a great opportunity to attach a note to each piece of paper, it could be a sticky note, it could be like it just something quick. And maybe in the back of the paper that says, This made me really proud, or this moment was very special, because etc. So give the item a reason, give the I attach a story to the item so that you start to exercise that part of your brain. Okay, and so now to give you some tips on some other ways that I would recommend that you start to think about at the beginning of the year, to organize your items and things like for instance, if you think that you are more of a digital person, start taking pictures of the artwork, and then creating an album on your phone or maybe your computer. So take a picture when it comes in, it's almost like scanning it, it's just much faster, I feel like taking a picture is just much faster than scanning it for people. But take a picture, put it in a folder. And then at the end of the year, make an album. But instead of waiting until the end of the year to go through all the all the paperwork and all the artwork and remember, you know what, what was special to you what was not. And instead of doing that, set yourself up for success now,
set your set a folder on your phone, label it, you know, whatever the year is artwork. And then every time you have something that was impressive to you that was special to the child that you want to remember, take a picture of the front the back and then just throw it away immediately. Let it go recycle it immediately. But now you have an album that you're accumulating and you're producing and at the end of the year, that could be like a really cute, memorable physical book that you can print out and then call it a day. So set your all set yourself up for success now, so you don't have to think about it later. Another thing that I would suggest that you do there is these great companies out there if you just do a search for archiving, photo, artwork, children's artwork, they will do it for you. So you can do similar practice to what I just talked about. So every like month, you send them a box of your children's artwork, and then papers that you want to keep. And then they will scan it for you and create a box for you. So you can have someone else do it for you. If you'd rather go that route. There is also professional organizers out there that specialize in archiving paper and photos like this. So you can also do a search for a local or your preferred organizer, the desk that we at the organized Flamingo, do not we outsource that and we are happy to provide you with our recommendations, the people we work with. But just know that organizers that are organizers out there that's do specialize in this, and they can help you do both. It can help you maybe declutter, set yourself up for success going forward and also archive the pictures and photos of artwork that are really special to you. Okay, so that's our episode for today. And just remember, you know, while keeping kids artwork and homework papers can be a sentimental and positive practice, it's essential to kind of find that balance and avoid excessive clutter. And that's really what this whole exercise is about. It's what I mentioned at the beginning of the episode, that paper, and these memorabilia type of items tend to be the one culprit that accumulates really fast, because like I said before, if you're if you're even using five, and sometimes there's way more, but five pieces of paper that are coming home every day from your children's homework, and artwork, that's five, and then maybe times the five days that they're going to school, you do the math, that's 25 times, you know, a month and then times the nine months that they're going to school. And like I said that's like the minimum that is going to accumulate and then that that times, however many years they've been in school, by the time that they you know, finish school, that's a lot of paper per child, and that's the minimum. So that is why it's so important to just keep check on these culprits that tend to accumulate very, very fast. That's it for now and if you are starting a brand new school year, best of luck to you, your students, and as always happy organizing. Thank you for listening to the organized and productive podcast with the organized Flamingo. If you enjoyed today's episode, I would love it if you'd leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast player. It helps with letting people know that we're here are full show notes and resources head on over to the organized flamingo.com/podcast Happy organizing.