When do you throw your dcs craftworks away (if ever)? Trying to declutter.

[swanriver]

The house is full of junk models, artworks, shoe box gardens. When do I admit defeat and start chucking? There is more coming in all the time. Should I just put it in the loft and treasure it or be a bit more ruthless? Any opinions from mother with older children?

DCs are 11 and 13. We have a clearout every so often, but there are one or two bits we have kept.
We either take photos or in the case of pictures we have scanned some.

Buy some very large transparent storage boxes from Ikea and store the best artwork. Be ruthless from the start with the sketchings, drafts and prototypes...

Lots of the stuff that comes in daily has gone straight in the bin - but one thing you can do is post stuff to grannies, or get the kids to write a letter on the back of a picture (though I never have.)
If paintings are done on nice watercolour paper you can make boxes to put jewellery or other little presents in.
And photos are good - but I tend to pile things up in the loft for a couple of years then chuck most of it out.

Be ruthless (taking photos is good idea though) but never, ever do it when they are looking! Unless you like heart-rending sobs and feeling like the worst mother in the world just for putting their heap of junk model robot in the bin.