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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I feel like limiting toys really helps. I don’t feel overwhelmed with the actual toys we have. The most difficult clutter for me to stay on top of is paperwork/art and little Knick knacks from holidays, birthday parties etc. I usually let the stuff sit and once it hasn’t been touched in a month trash it.

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That stuff does stack up for me but I find it more manageable to go through because once I actually get into the stacks, it's pretty easy to get rid of things. I just went through a big stack that came home in a backpack at the end of term and it's all random worksheets -- I'm not keeping all that crap. I saved one spelling test (20/20 and cute example of current handwriting) and a worksheet where she had to write an autobiography that was so cute. The other 5-60 pages went in the trash.

Also, something I started doing when my oldest was in K: Each year I take an art portfolio book (just a black book with clear plastic sleeves inside) and I can keep enough stuff to fill that book and that's it. Each one has 24 sleeves, so you can display 48 pieces of paper in it. I use some of the sleeves for things like birthday cards or postcards from friends on vacation. Doing this forces me to evaluate whether something is worthy of keeping. And each book doesn't take up that much space -- I now have 5 for my oldest and 3 for my youngest and they only take up a few inches of shelf space. Plus it's nice to have that stuff organized and my kids really like looking through them and remembering. My thinking is that eventually I'll have 13 books for each of them and they should be able to fit in a file box that we can store in our home or they can take to their home when they're grown. Having them makes it easier for me to throw out other stuff because I'm not worrying that I'm tossing out their entire childhood. I feel like I'm saving just enough for the memories.[/quote]

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