21. What to do with your kids school and artwork?

Kids bring home so much art and school work. What do you do with it? The first priority would be to purge unwanted pieces. Determine if looking at your child's math homework in a few years will be important. Odds are, no. Keep things like notes the child has written to you, the first time they wrote their name, outstanding artwork, etc. Once you've decided what to purge, make sure your child does not see you throw it into the recycle bin. This could send them into hysterics and you may end up bringing everything back into the house. Go to the recycle bin alone!

Here are a list of suggestions on what to do with the items kept:

- Use colorful artwork as wrapping paper. Grandmas love this.

- Take photos or scan them and create a portfolio or memory book. Shutterfly, Apple and SouvenartBooks are just a few resources that sell fantastic printed books that you design with your own photos and scanned art.

- Select a few great pieces and have them professionally framed. Wha-la! Beautiful custom art for your home or a gift for family member.

- Fold the artwork in half and use as a "thank you" card.

- Storage for larger pieces can be made out of a poster board. Take the poster board and fold in half. Tape the side perpendicular to the fold leaving the parallel side open. This creates a giant folder. The kids can decorate the folder with drawings, their name, age and grade level.

- Store items in your child's keepsake box. (See post 22 on how to establish a keepsake box).