Oliveshoots
02-05-2008, 06:32 PM
I'm going to come back when I have the stomach for it and post a photo of what task lies ahead of me. It's this huge mountain of papers and cards and programs and certificates and ribbons.
I have gathered all of my papers/magazine articles/keepsake papers/greeting cards/letters from like, my whole life. They fill up one large plastic tub, and another large diaper box. At least I finally have them all in one place, and not scattered among shoeboxes like they were.
It does feel good that tonight I emptied 2 med. sized tubs (but refilled them with craft supplies, but at least that's a step towards organization) and got to throw away 2 milk boxes, one moldy basket :sick and 3 shoeboxes, just from conglomerating all this stuff.
So now, the challenge. WHAT do I keep, and WHAT do I get rid of??? I already know I'm keeping any and all letters from grandparents, and cards that have more than "Love, Grandma" in them. And any cards from family/friends that actually contain more than "Love, so and so". I'm shredding old bank info and bill info, and filing the rest in an accordion folder thingy. Also, I have these nifty 4 inch binders labelled "homemaking", "projects", "parenting", "finanaces", "family health" so anything that is useful and not out dated will be filed in those. (I'm using those mainly to organize all the magazine clippings I like to keep.) But beyond that. What do I keep????
THEN there's the tub of dc's papers/art/projects. It's going to be really hard to get rid of some of those, but as it is, they are 3 and 4 and we've overfilled an underbed tub. :jawdrop I can't imagine how bad it will be when they are in 5th grade. I know I'm keeping the drawings and doodles they did as babies (small scraps of paper, dated). And anything that shows their first attempts at drawing/writing names. But when it comes to all the cute projects and coloring pages from church and kids morning out, I just don't know what to keep. I really would like to scan them all and put them on CD, then toss anything that isn't scrapbook worthy (however, to me, they are all scrapbook worthy :shifty), but that would take a really long time. But maybe it's worth it, I don't know. Has anyone else ever scanned alot of their child's work onto a CD?
I also have this one lovely shoebox of little trinkets from my childhood. Like the ET wind-up toy. (Remember wind-up toys? The tiny ones?) Also have a Woodstock and a Pacman one. Two little mini-cabbage patch babies. Some plastic California raisins. This little "Lilliput" doll in a box. Stuff that I'm thinking, would anyone really pay money for these on Ebay? Would they be a cool "antique" for my kids to look at when they are teenagers? Collectible type stuff. At least it's just one shoe box, and I threw away about half of it tonight (the stuff that was icky, broken, hand-made, did not have a name on it, I couldn't remember when I made it, etc.)
So I made some pretty big steps (for me) tonight. But now I have to see it through, and I don't know what to keep or get rid of. I don't want to go all "Niecie" and get rid of everything, but I don't want to clutter up my closets with junk.
Sometimes I wish I had an attic. Like the ones you see in movies, where the mom and daughter go up there and there hangs the mom's old wedding dress, and a trunk of old toys and yearbooks and little trinkets from the mother's younger days. (Isn't that so cheesy of me? :giggle :heart) But in reality, where do I *keep* that stuff, until we get a house? (And even then, it may not have an attic ;).)
Any ideas and guidance is appreciated. I am trying really hard to get over my obssessive sentimentality, but at the same time, when my kids are my age and say "hey mom, do you have.......?" I don't want to be cvompletely empty handed.
I have gathered all of my papers/magazine articles/keepsake papers/greeting cards/letters from like, my whole life. They fill up one large plastic tub, and another large diaper box. At least I finally have them all in one place, and not scattered among shoeboxes like they were.
It does feel good that tonight I emptied 2 med. sized tubs (but refilled them with craft supplies, but at least that's a step towards organization) and got to throw away 2 milk boxes, one moldy basket :sick and 3 shoeboxes, just from conglomerating all this stuff.
So now, the challenge. WHAT do I keep, and WHAT do I get rid of??? I already know I'm keeping any and all letters from grandparents, and cards that have more than "Love, Grandma" in them. And any cards from family/friends that actually contain more than "Love, so and so". I'm shredding old bank info and bill info, and filing the rest in an accordion folder thingy. Also, I have these nifty 4 inch binders labelled "homemaking", "projects", "parenting", "finanaces", "family health" so anything that is useful and not out dated will be filed in those. (I'm using those mainly to organize all the magazine clippings I like to keep.) But beyond that. What do I keep????
THEN there's the tub of dc's papers/art/projects. It's going to be really hard to get rid of some of those, but as it is, they are 3 and 4 and we've overfilled an underbed tub. :jawdrop I can't imagine how bad it will be when they are in 5th grade. I know I'm keeping the drawings and doodles they did as babies (small scraps of paper, dated). And anything that shows their first attempts at drawing/writing names. But when it comes to all the cute projects and coloring pages from church and kids morning out, I just don't know what to keep. I really would like to scan them all and put them on CD, then toss anything that isn't scrapbook worthy (however, to me, they are all scrapbook worthy :shifty), but that would take a really long time. But maybe it's worth it, I don't know. Has anyone else ever scanned alot of their child's work onto a CD?
I also have this one lovely shoebox of little trinkets from my childhood. Like the ET wind-up toy. (Remember wind-up toys? The tiny ones?) Also have a Woodstock and a Pacman one. Two little mini-cabbage patch babies. Some plastic California raisins. This little "Lilliput" doll in a box. Stuff that I'm thinking, would anyone really pay money for these on Ebay? Would they be a cool "antique" for my kids to look at when they are teenagers? Collectible type stuff. At least it's just one shoe box, and I threw away about half of it tonight (the stuff that was icky, broken, hand-made, did not have a name on it, I couldn't remember when I made it, etc.)
So I made some pretty big steps (for me) tonight. But now I have to see it through, and I don't know what to keep or get rid of. I don't want to go all "Niecie" and get rid of everything, but I don't want to clutter up my closets with junk.
Sometimes I wish I had an attic. Like the ones you see in movies, where the mom and daughter go up there and there hangs the mom's old wedding dress, and a trunk of old toys and yearbooks and little trinkets from the mother's younger days. (Isn't that so cheesy of me? :giggle :heart) But in reality, where do I *keep* that stuff, until we get a house? (And even then, it may not have an attic ;).)
Any ideas and guidance is appreciated. I am trying really hard to get over my obssessive sentimentality, but at the same time, when my kids are my age and say "hey mom, do you have.......?" I don't want to be cvompletely empty handed.