Anyone who has a child in school knows the amount of paper that comes home. Whether it be an art project or an A on a math test, pretty soon, you’re swimming in the stuff. When Nick isn’t looking, I sort through the papers and save the very best … the great test scores, the beautiful pictures, the crafty projects … a lot, but not everything. There’s just no way to save everything – it’s too much! And the one time I got caught throwing something away, I had to carefully explain why. I mean, really, it was a multiple-choice test that he got an A on. Yes, he filled in 5 little circles quite nicely, but I didn’t think we needed to save it. Many exasperated protests later (from him, not me!), he relented and agreed with me.
But now what to do with all the treasures that we do save? For awhile, I was putting them into a “Nick” file in one of my filing cabinets, right there next to the gas bill and other assorted household folders. It was neat and tidy, but by the time year two of school rolled around, the file was bulging. I added another file, but still, something needed to be done to tame the paper beast.
Enter Staples. I bought 2 packages of mailing boxes, sized 15-1/8 x 11-1/8 x 2. They come five to a package and sell for about $8, although I had a coupon. They are the perfect size to house whatever your little one is bringing home from school. So I set Nick up on the floor and gave him the (now three) bulging folders of all his schoolwork … everything since he started pre-school at age 2 through the end of first grade. He sorted all the piles and went through and even decided (gasp!) to throw some things away. I showed him the size of the box and told him whatever didn’t fit in there for that particular year, we weren’t keeping, this way he was a little more shrewd when editing the pile, but I left it completely up to him (you can fit quite a bit). Everything in the folders I thought was worthy of saving, and could fit, but if he didn’t want to save something, all the better.
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