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[loobyoxlip]

...with the loads upon loads of artwork the kids are bringing home at the end of the year?

I usually pick out the best of the best and trash the rest but I got caught by Jalen once for doing this and it was like the world had come to an end! So for now it's all in this big huge container.

[wheatenwalker]

Tina, I STILL have their art work! Someday, I may figure out what to do with it besides put it in a big tote- Sheila

[lauren-roxy]

That happened to me once too Tina so now i go through it after they are asleep and throw it away in the trash can in the garage. I stuff I kkep, I keep in a Rubbermaid container, one for each child so far!

[DrDolphin]

My grandmother kept all my mother's art work...

[OffKilter_Lynn]

If it's a really BIG piece of artwork, I take a picture of them with it. (Then it quietly disappears... except for the really great stuff, of course!)

Now if you ever come into the digital age, this is a really easy way to manage the infamous art work. The pictures all get downloaded into the 'artwork' folder and there we have a record of all their projects - plus it's a neat record of how they've changed over the school year (and always take the picture in the same spot so you can watch them grow! )

[Cam22]

I've kept a lot of the really good stuff, but when she's away from home or asleep, I take all the rest to the garbage toter outside.

[Kylesmom]

Try putting it all put on a wall and taking appropriate child's picture in front of it all. Then throw the mess away. You have the picture to show not only the artwork but what your child looked like when they made it (size etc)

[MickeyMAC]

Each one of my kids has a big flat storage container that we keep special papers in.....they go all the way back to Kdg. and I love going down memory lane looking through them.

[DopeyGirl]

Even though Emilie isn't in school yet, she still makes lots of pictures at home . . . I put up each one for a couple of days then take it down. Keep the real "good" stuff and pass on some of the rest to the grandparents!

[tkmom1972]

my DS doesn't bring home art work often he doesn't take art at all. he had to give up art for his dislexia class. poor kid and he really loved art.

[snoozy]

My DD is very much into art. So she is the one who goes through all her stuff and then she puts it in a portfolio. She wants to go to art school after high school.

[Teresa]

Advise from someone who cleaned out a mother that keeps everything's house.....
Pitch it!!

Neither my sister nor I were interested in the multitude of artwork and papers that mom kept. We threw it all away without a backwards glance.

[boosmom96]

Tina,
Thanks for the post. I've always felt like a horrible mother for throwing out DD's artwork, but if I kept it all we'd have several bins already and she's only 8 1/2! The pictures aren't bad, it's the "art projects" that take up so much room! The bags for Halloween and Valentines, the tissue paper flowers for Mother's Day etc. We went to Open House last week and I have a huge mountain of homework and tests on my dinningroom table!
I do make sure and wait until she's in bed before I toss stuff. She's going through a phase of wanting to save everything!! It drives me crazy.

[luvnwdwgal]

Our DS is 22 and I still have a huge under-the-bed container with his school stuff in it!

[Colexis Mom]

I have the kids stuff in a really big container as well. But I do pick the best of the best, and throw out the rest when they aren't looking. I too have been caught, but I take it out of the trash, and throw it away again after they have gone to bed