Organization is tricky around here. It seems like there is always something to put away. I’m embarrassed to say that finding a ‘home’ for our stuff isn’t always easy. But I am excited to find just the right home for our things in this new house.

One thing we did figure out how to organize is the kids ‘stuff’…class pictures, art work, yearbooks, report cards and a movie stub or two.

I did some research….turns out there are tons of different options, some moms I talked to scanned all the ‘stuff’ and made folders on their computer. Some scrapbooked everything. Some just threw everything in a memory box and called it a day. Heck, some just threw it all away. No judging. Go you. That is so great. But all the solutions I found seemed too hard or too chaotic for me. I didn’t have the guts to throw everything away and I didn’t have the patience to scan everything . Let’s be honest, that just turned in to my ‘to scan’ pile and that’s as far as I would get – one more pile for me to deal with. No thank you.

I wanted to explore this memory box idea. I felt there was potential here. Maybe I could do a memory box, but with files? Like a file folder for each year, maybe? But with three kiddos that’s 3 boxes and where am I going to keep 3 boxes in this teeny house? Ugh. I was starting to get discouraged wanted to give up on the project. Yes, that’s my classic perfectionist rearing her ugly head. I’ve found that if I don’t actually complete a project then I didn’t actually fail *winning*. Yup, I have 26 knitting projects in the basement that support this theory.

Anyway

Those file folders got me thinking. Maybe a file cabinet is what I need? The lateral file cabinets seemed too much and I knew I wanted a drawer for each kiddo so it seemed the vertical cabinet was just what I needed. We were working on refinishing the basement at the same time as this brilliant idea (the word brilliant is just dripping with sarcasm) so I didn’t have much in the budget to spend. I ended up wandering around IKEA and found this perfect cabinet. I just wasn’t happy with plain white. But it was the perfect canvas. I wanted to spice it up. So, I spent the rest of the day with my kiddos and my Mod Podge, ribbon, card stock, and wrapping paper and we made this.

It’s perfect for us. Each drawer is for a kiddo and in each drawer are 18 file folders, one for each year. When they bring home their art, or after something has had its time on the fridge it goes straight in their drawer.  Squeal!  A successfully completed project? That’s cray.
Have you found a place for your kids art work and things you want to keep? What works for you?

almost done

we can all fit!

ta da!