How did my Mom keep all my treasures? Really, she had boxes of my shit stacked in her storage room (I was lucky enough to have gotten most of it pre-house fire). Knick knacks I thought were important and that I still hold sentimental value for. Barbies in unopened boxes that my girls beg for; looking up to the top shelf of my closet. That is probably torture for them, those glittery dolls all packaged up since the 80′s. There are just a few of those, I wasn’t one of those kids that kept their toys in shrink wrap. Nope, I played with my stuff pretty hard and not much survived. Anyway, I am running into some guilt issues with the works of art my girls create on a daily basis. I love it all, but know I will turn into a full blown hoarder if I start saving it all. I try to weed through the good and average; the colorful to the dull. The ones that took time to the ones scrubbed in Crayola out of sheer boredom. (I took away the Play-Doh months ago and they are going through the crayons like toilet paper). And then there are the school papers and projects that get toted home everyday; 1st Grade and Pre-School. What is a mom to do? Seriously, when I pitch something that I know is trash I still feel that paper looming in the plastic, white abyss; covered in whatever Issie didn’t eat for dinner. I still feel the paper’s doom right up until it ends up in the big green dumpster outside. Let’s be honest, once it gets to that point it’s a goner.
Yes, I have fished papers out of the trash that Mike threw in there. He likes a tidy house, I am a raccoon . . . clean and tidy is relative when something shiney attracts my attention. (Another blog).
I love every piece and shred of creativity my girls produce; yet I am getting really crafty with ways to hide the art in the trash. I cover it with other papers (bills) and left over lunch or dinner. I still love it, but I have no room. I could be the perfect mom and scan the art and save it on the computer, but that is work and I am a stay at home mom who doesn’t work! 
One potential hoarder to another… its ok to toss!! It is so easy to assign sentimental meaning to something… almost as easy as it is to assign resentment 15 years later when you still have it, merely because you’ve had it for 15 years, not because it is actually significant. (See: my guest room closet holding EVERY note I recieved in middle school in high school. EVERY NOTE. There’s got to be a book in there somewhere in this day and age of text messaging, haha.)
But, I say all that in regards to my own “stuff”. I’m sure when it comes to my girls, that will be another story (or closet).
In either case, I am strongly on the side of “toss.”
And the shiny stuff/raccoon analogy: hilarious.
Start a nice little file folder on your computer and scan the ones in that you love. Takes up no room and is easily shared with other’s who have computers and email. You can also use it for your screen saver and desktop images. I have a rule, it can go up on the fridge, but when the fridge gets overrun with it, it has to make the rounds to other relatives houses or in the garbage.
Ugh…I feel guilty every time I throw something away too! I still have to do the “hide the artwork” in the trash thing. You just can’t keep it all, so keep the good stuff and hide the “ok” stuff in the garbage.
Just give it to Grams! I already have Eryn’s artwork framed and hanging on the wall!