Who better to get advice from than someone who deals with “multiples” on a daily basis, although a little bit of a different setting. My friend, Karen Egbert, is a preschool teacher and was Maverick’s preschool teacher. She also became one of my clients and I totally miss doing her hair! She taught me some GREAT things about organizing and educating for little ones. I was one of those mom's, (ha, like its in the "past" tense, I still "am" one of those mom's), who kept every piece of paper your child ever scribbled on. See, I always had this "vision" that I would have these perfectly planned, color-coordinated to every detail, journaled scrapbooks of my kids... right? Well, in a perfect world, I believe I would have, lol, BUT as it seems, my perfect world is perfectly imperfect and I'm okay with that :). So, now that I have accepted and come down to reality... it was time to quit waiting for the perfect time to get my perfect scrapbooks done and just get down to business!!! I called Karen, because she is one of the most organized people I know and asked her to help me figure out what I should keep and not keep. That's always my dilemma. So, I drug out my boxes and boxes, yep, all 7 years of "stuff" of Maverick's to be organized. Here were some of her tips:
3" binders & Box of Page Protectors
Okay, now before, I continue one, I just want to interject that I know maybe there are a lot of people who have thought to do it like this before, and it is very simple....but, in my defense, I could never get past the whole "perfectly planned pretty little books!!!" So, cut me a little slack when you find out how simple and easy this was and I should or could have done this, yep, about 7 years ago, and maybe if you are one of those mom's like I am, then it can help you too!
So, back to the tips:
First, drag out all of that stuff you've been hiding in all the drawers and closets that takes up valuable space, yep, ALL of it!!!
Next, sort out according to grade level. And, EDIT!!! (and eat and drink too)
Here is a sort of guide to help you decide what stays vs. what goes:
Here is a sort of guide to help you decide what stays vs. what goes:
Glue & Stick Cut Out: Throw out
Coloring Pages: Keep a few from beginning of the year and a few from the end of the year.
If they Created It, Wrote It, or Made It........KEEP IT!
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| Felt sooo good to get rid of some stuff!!! |
Then, Sort and Edit Again...
Put into Page Protectors into Binder, Add Title to Binder, & Put Away!!! All Done!!!
Then, when you are caught up to present, keep that notebook handy and everyday sort through what papers to keep and what to throw out, put in binder... All Done!!!
Can you believe all of that fit into these? Why did I wait so long???
I put all of the stuff that Maverick made before he started school in the "other stuff" binder, so eventually I may be able to scrapbook, or even finish his baby book, because I now have everything in one place!!!
Karen did this for all four of her kids, here is a pic of here highly organized, "real" person closet where she stores it for them.
I put all of the stuff that Maverick made before he started school in the "other stuff" binder, so eventually I may be able to scrapbook, or even finish his baby book, because I now have everything in one place!!!
Karen did this for all four of her kids, here is a pic of here highly organized, "real" person closet where she stores it for them.
Now, I just have to start one for each of the babies....just when I thought I was getting ahead of the game....Reality sets in.....again x 4 !!!
