Throwing out children's work

[Villanelle1]

When I had 2 children I used to keep their pictures from nursery, work books from primary school etc. Now I have 4 children it seems too much. I'm wanting to have a good clear out. Do I throw away their school books etc or keep them?

Will you ever look at them again?

Toss. Or keep one per child for each year of school
Another idea is to take photos of their work before throwing it out- especially for artwork

Throw them out! You’ll have hundreds by the time they finish their schooling otherwise.

Bin them. You can keep digital photos of anything you think you/they’d like to see.

Keep for a bit but ends up being chucked or used as scrap paper.

We have a memory box large plastic tub with a lid for each child that we keep important bits in certificates reports etc.
We pick a couple of pieces of work at the end of the year, that they are proud of and they go in the box.

My mother kept everything. Most of it was thrown away without a second look.

Scrapbooks with your favourites for each of them over their schooling?

Scrapbooks seems a lot of work for something that will probably never be looked at, especially with four children!

I take photographs of the important ones or ones I've particularly loved and every so often I get them made into a photo book so they can be kept. I never ever "bin" their things though, as far as the DC are concerned their dad loved their drawing/model/lump of clay so much that he has taken it to work to decorate his office. In reality its hidden at the bottom of the recycling bin but it feels nicer to tell them the other story as they're only small.

For artwork, get a folder for each of them and keep anything that's especially good/lot of work went into it. About the top 5-10 percent.

We keep some bits.

My general view is that I don't keep a record of every Lego model so why would I keep every picture.

However, as a warning, my DS did once decide to take matters into his own hands. He decided to draw on the wall, so I couldn't recycle his picture. Stayed there for quite a while.

Throw it out!

Keep a small drawer or space free for drawings or stories that are interesting at home, flick through school books and just remove a few at a time. When the draw is full stick it in a plastic tub in loft. Mine are teen and 9yr and I have one full box and will probably stop now, but glad I kept a few things.

Bin 'em.

DM kept some of mine, presented them to me and now I have The Guilt trying to chuck them

One (smallish) box per child. Anything you really want to keep goes in there. If it gets full, then you have to get rid of some before putting new stuff in.

Take a photo, then use FreePrints or similar to have them sent to you or turned into an album. DD has been in nursery for one term and we already have 20+ pieces of "art".

My mum kept it all and then went to great trouble transporting it to me when we bought our own home. It was then binned. Save them the bother. Take pictures if in doubt.

Our school send home a file at the end of the year with everything neatly punched and filed. I would just bin them if I was collecting them throughout the year.

We keep special stuff, or things they're particularly proud of. All the rest goes straight in the recycling.

Bin them. On my first 2 I kept everything, it piled up quickly, then I had 3 more and started running out of places to store them. So I have 5 memory boxes and I have some pieces in each. I tried scanning them but tbh it wasn't the same and I didn't look at them.

On a side note my own mother and father kept EVERYTHING belonging to us and when they died and we were clearing out their house, the attic was jammed packed. It was nice looking at a few pieces but 3 days later and still clearing it out we got fed up, it took a few skips to clear it all. We didn't want any of it, no one ever looked at the stuff so it was a waste keeping it all.

I keep the good ones or anything else with photographs. I've acquired a lot of books and pictures over the years, with having three out of my four kids either in school or nursery so I can't keep everything.

I’ve kept some of the nicest/most special bits for each DC, plus all the Christmas decorations. It’s nice when they come out each year :)

Otherwise, bin/recycle the lot. No one has space for all that!

One (smallish) box per child. Anything you really want to keep goes in there. If it gets full, then you have to get rid of some before putting new stuff in.

This is my strategy. I keep anything which is specifically done for me or DH, like mother's day cards etc. And anything really good, or for special occasions. It is hard letting stuff go though. I don't have any of my old school books or work, and I wish I did have, but I'm trying not to project that on to my kids!

I declutter with a year delay. If you haven't got the space, you can't invent it, but I keep all the school work books of my 4. I like seeing mine, the ones from my grand-parents even, still kept too.

For art, project etc., they get completely forgotten quickly, so that goes every year. We have some "openable" frames in the kitchen where we display some "art" and add or change regularly.