We are back to school. It’s official. Now what to do with all the art, projects and paperwork coming home?

This week I set-up a system with a client to handle all the school work that’s coming home (and has been accumulating for years from two kiddos). She now has a process where items flow through an easy to maintain system.

Tip 1 – Set-up your flow. Get stuff out of backpacks and into an “inbox”. Then think about where you are going to store it long-term. If you are going to display art, set a time-frame (like 2 weeks) and write the date on the art so you know when it needs to come down.

Tip 2 – At each step in your flow, select and keep only the most treasured items. I’ve noticed that what is “treasured” can change depending on how much time has lapsed since it was created, AND it seems to be easier to let stuff go once a year or more has gone by.

Tip 3 – Have the kiddos help go through the art and projects to decide which ones they'd like to keep. When making decisions about what is kept, ask questions so they can share and tell you about their work. This type of processing often helps them (and us) make decisions about what to keep and what to toss.

Following these 3 tips, we set-up a system where not everything gets put in storage right away, but instead we have a flow that is manageable to keep-up with – and don’t have piles stacking up in the kitchen and dining room.

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