Now that two of my three little ones are in school, it was time to get organized before the deluge of papers took over every surface in my kitchen. Everything has been consolidated into one bin per child and will house yearly report cards, artwork, school pictures, papers, keepsakes, medical documents and everything in between. I’m excited to share this organizational system with you!

First, for those who know me and have been following me, I LOVE simplicity!! That’s why I’m so happy to share it with you. It’s simple to do and easy to maintain. I purchased clear plastic file boxes on Amazon for each of my kiddos because I like everything to match (when I can).

These bins are specifically designed to hold hanging folders that can accommodate either letter or legal sizes. Another plus are the lids to keep everything inside safe and easy to stack and store. I bought the hanging folders from OfficeMax to house everything each year from preschool to 12th grade.

I added labels on the front of each box with my child’s name and then labeled each hanging folder so it’s easy to tell where papers should go. Goal: simple and easy! Here are the labels for you to purchase if you’d like.

Now let’s address the obvious...the boxes aren’t very large. I purposely chose this size because with my oldest son, I kept everything which meant bins upon bins that I ended up storing...and that was just 4K-1st grade! I suppose I believed that somehow I would have spare time to go through these on a regular basis. Ha! Bottom line, I kept way too much.

I figured out a new way to store and cherish their artwork and, now with my daughter attending school, got smarter.

I decided not to save every piece of paper she scribbled on or loaded with stickers. I keep the things I love the most (homemade cards) or that they are super proud of. By going through this process, I have found that this box size is perfect and keeps me in check.

This method or organization has helped me save tons of space and time. I hope it does the same for you!

Simply,

Erin

School Paper Storage