Storage

Store your Child’s Keepsakes, Schoolwork, and Art

Simple ways to store your child's keepsakes.

The day our children make their first scribbles with a crayon we begin collecting and storing their art and other keepsakes. Beginning in preschool the volume of children’s crafts, art projects and first handwriting efforts sent home increases dramatically. By elementary school, your child’s keepsakes can start to become overwhelming.

What keepsakes should we keep? Where and how should we store them all?

We recommend storing children’s keepsakes in a clear plastic file box. The Container Store has a great extra-large file tote box.  Label the tote box with your child’s name and create a file folder for each grade, starting with preschool. These files will give you a year by year record for your child making it easy to pick out what you would like to include in a scrapbook.

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My college student just returned home for the summer. How am I supposed to fit all of their dorm room belongings back into our home?

Moving Boxes for Organizing a Dorm Room

Before you bring everything back into your home, now is a good time to go through and assess what is really necessary and needed. Encourage your child to sort through their clothing. Was it worn during the year away? If not, now is a good time to let it go. Freshly launder all dorm bedding and then store and label in containers for the summer. Create a “College” storage container for items that will not be used during the summer, but are used during the school year, such as mugs, shower caddies, school supplies, etc. Larger items like dorm refrigerators, chairs and trunks can be easily stored and labeled out of the way in a garage or basement. Doing all this right as your child returns home will make the transition to pack up again at the end of summer all the easier!

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What do I do with the art that I don’t have space for on my walls yet want to keep?

Storing, cataloging and organizing artwork and collectables

Consider a painting rack to store framed artwork on, wrap paintings in plastic to keep moisture out.  For unframed art you can lay them in an archival box with acid free tissue paper between pieces.  The basement and attic can be easy and tempting places to store art, but with temperature changes and moisture potential this may cause more damage.  If you need to stack the paintings place padding in-between each piece to protect them.

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