are you overwhelmed by school papers? what to keep and what to trash? every weekday, my sweet children walk through the door after school. i am thrilled to see their bright LITTLE faces. i look forward to spending the evening with them. and i wish their backpacks and all the papers inside would go away.
do you feel this way? don’t get me wrong. i love to sit and listen as they explain their artwork and worksheets. but when the explanations are over, what to do with all that paper?
in my last post on tackling paper clutter, i discussed how to organize school papers so they are at least off your counter. but when your temporary system gets full {as is the case most months}, you need a long-term solution. until now, none of my long-term school paper storage solutions have been successful. it’s not hard to see why, with these half effort attempts:
- leaving the papers in a pile on my desk to go through later.
- sliding them under the couch to stay flat and safe.
- stashing them in random, mismatched bins i promised myself i would eventually label.
- hiding them in my desk drawer for a future date when i’d have tons of time to sort through them.
- putting them on the basement stairs in hopes that someone else would bring them down and organize them for me.
do you see a theme here? later. i always have this hope that at some later date, i will magically have hours and hours to organize all the things that drive me crazy. but here’s a secret i have to keep retelling myself. there is never time. you just have to sit down, amidst the crazy-busy of an otherwise disorganized day, and do it.
after two years of scooting our school papers around, i finally put the solution i’ve had in my head into motion. in a matter of hours, i created an organized place for all of our school papers, all the way up through high school! sound amazing? it is, and you can totally do this.
friend. this is what our school papers looked like before! i don’t even know where to start with this picture. i consider myself an organized person and this is what our papers looked like, after they left our cute kitchen filing system. if you are thinking to yourself, our papers are too disorganized to even begin to organize them, just refer to this picture and know that you are not alone.
if you’re overwhelmed with where to start, i’ve got you covered. to come up with my new system, i first asked myself 5 quick questions. these 5 questions are my favorite ones to consider when i need to streamline something for my household or my life. at notice the LITTLE things, we are ALL ABOUT uncovering the joy in our day-to-day tasks. that’s because small joys add up to one big HAPPY, GRATEFUL feeling, even when it comes to things like organizing school papers! taking the first step to become more organized frees up space to do more of the things you love! grab your copy of 5 questions to consider here and get excited about revamping some of your family’s routines.
step one
get all your school papers out.
this step is messy but necessary. grab all the papers from all the random places you’ve been storing them and spread them out.
step two
sort your papers into categories that work for you.
i decided to organize all papers into grade level categories. my categories are super easy:
- pre-k
- kindergarten
- 1st grade
- 2nd grade
- 3rd grade
- 4th grade
- 5th grade
- 6th-8th grade
- 9th-12th grade
i asked my neighbor about the older grades, since we’re not there yet. she recommended combining grades starting at 6th grade. she said the papers she saves at that level are far fewer than in the younger grades.
some of the solutions i researched made separate files for each grade level. for example: 1st grade awards, 1st grade report cards, 1st grade academic papers, 1st grade artwork, etc. i did not do this because i know myself. for me, more sorting into categories means i won’t do it. i will pile the papers in front of the files when i am in a hurry, which is always.
tossing all papers into one container by grade level is something i have time for in an average week. this is the perfect example of choosing a system that works for you. if a system is cute, and looks good on pinterest, but you won’t use it, it’s not for you. i have time to toss things in containers, not further categorize. make sure you are working with your reality.
step three
make a plan.
if you haven’t already, it’s time to decide what to keep and what to throw away in each of your categories. i know this can tug a bit on a mama’s heart strings. here’s what i remind myself as i decide what to keep and what to toss.
- when my kids move out, they will not want me handing them 27 oxes of school papers to take to their new apartment/condo/home.
- most likely, i will only look at any papers i keep one or two times during your child’s life, if that.
these two truths making throwing things away a LITTLE easier. as i look through papers, i sort the papers into three piles:
{1} keepsakes :: for us, keepsakes are art projects, anything that is a first, report cards, test scores, handprints, cards, and the occasional random paper that makes me laugh or smile extra big.
{2} recycle :: even though we now have a place for school papers, i recycle almost all of what comes home. there are times when this is hard and i second guess myself. but i’ve talked lovingly with each of my kiddos about school papers. they know i am happy to see what they have done but that our house is not big enough to keep everything. recycling something doesn’t change the memory of doing it. this is a life lesson my children need.
{3} reference :: finally, during the year, any papers from the day that i might need to reference or attend to in the near future go in our hanging files.
step four
decide on a place to put the papers.
if things have a designated place, they won’t pile up as clutter. i know this. yet i still have places in my house that are a mess. this is ok. an organized house is a years long process! costco sells these stackable containers in various colors. i think they are the best way to organize school papers! you can also get them on amazon but they are more expensive. i like these because they are 15” x 15” and can hold some of the larger art projects that come home.
your storage solution does not need to be exactly the same as mine. you just need to choose one that that works for your house and your space. here are some other realistic options i found in my search.
{2} my friend marie’s file boxes for her kiddos
{5} simply kierste
step five
label your storage solution and file those papers away.
this is the easy part. and who doesn’t love a good label maker? all you have to do is label your storage solution with the categories you came up with in step two. you can be as creative with this as you want. i opted for easy label maker labeling.
once you have your system labeled, take the papers you sorted in step two and put them in. easy! i created a fun printable for the top of each bin as a finishing touch. want a copy to use for your system? click here and gain access to a boy and girl version in the LITTLE printable library.
for the first time since school started, we are completely clutter free when it comes to school papers. as always, i am left asking myself, why didn’t i tackle this sooner? want to remember these 5 steps for organizing and use them on another area of your house? you can grab them in the LITTLE printable library here, along with so many other fun
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