How to manage your child's clutter

If you have children in school then you know how quickly the papers and artwork can pile up in your house. 

You know you can't keep it all, but to your kids each piece is a masterpiece worthy of a place in the Louvre, so what do you do?

Danielle Wurth is a professional organizer, author, and owner of Wurth Organizing, she says clutter builds up when there isn't an organized system that flows. 

When a new paper or piece of art comes into the home its important to first decide what needs to be kept and what needs to be tossed. 

Once you have determined that, Wurth says the ones that are worthy of the next storage stage are clipped together with a binder clip and placed in one location.  She suggests using an upright magazine holder, which you can find at most retailers.

If you run into trouble getting rid of some of the artwork, Wurth, who is also a mom, suggests going through the papers yourself and looking for duplicates.  Then lay out 5 pieces of artwork on a table and bring your child into the room and ask them to pick their top 2 favorites, with a reason.  Wurth says, when you have the 2 pieces, you can then write the date or the child's age on the artwork along with their name and their answer.

If the magazine holder is full, or the pieces are too large, Wurth suggests a cable wire system which you can use binder clips to hang the artwork on the wire in your child's room for everyone to enjoy.

Treat your child's room like a real art gallery, and switch out the pieces occasionally.  Once a piece has made it's rotation on the wire, Wurth suggests sitting down with your child and determining which of the art should be kept and placed in their 'Craft Memory Book'.

If you have larger pieces of art, or ones that won't fit into the memory book, Wurth says you can have your child lay in the grass and spread all of their wonderful works around them, then stand on a chair or stool and take a picture that you can put into the memory book.  You can also reduce the size of the artwork on a photocopier and but that image into the book.

Bottom line, if you think you're keeping too much stuff, take inventory and multiply it times 20 years.  If that amount is too much, then it's time to start thinking about what to purge.

Wurth Organizing
602-579-5274
www.wurthorganizing.com