Purging HS Stuff...People, your wisdom, please!

[vonbon]

OK, all of you lovely Boardies who are more pragmatic, organized, and realistic than I am...

 

I'm working myself up to face my homeschool stash of books, curriculum, art supplies, paper, completed schoolwork from 3 years ago, binders, science equipment, half-baked ideas, cool stickers and creative stuff for lapbooks, things I might use someday, maybe, dust, stuff that would take too long to create for the "lifetime" of it's use and what my kids would actually learn and retain from it (think raw materials for Pinterest ideas), saved plastic containers for learning about capacity...and just plain ol' junk.  Oy.

 

Here and there I've spotted photos online that show some other more organized person's version of a homeschool area in their home and it's got like one bookshelf with one shelf per student.  How is this possible?!  (Maybe they have some large bins in the garage or something.)

 

Background: 2 kids, 1 entering 3rd and 1 entering K.  Me: Idealist with a creative brain that always thinks of a million ways to use something...My house: about 1400 sq. ft. and WAY too much stuff for its size.  It's starting to feel like it's shrinking.  Time to purge!

 

Bought an Ikea cube-like organizer a few years ago.  Homeschool stuff was supposed to take up 8 of 16 cubes; the other 8 were for my non-homeschooling life interests (art and craft supplies mainly.)  Somehow the homeschooling stuff multiplied like rabbits when I wasn't looking and took over my life as well.  It now takes up all 16 cubes, more shelves, under my desk...This doesn't include children's books, BTW, that are housed in DC's room.  At this rate, it will take up the entire house by the time eldest hits 8th grade.  I'm afraid I'll turn into one of those hoarders on TV, only the house will be full of stacks and stacks of...homeschool stuff.

 

Please help!  I've put it off for far too long and now I've come here for your inspiration, your no-nonsense approaches...your wisdom and practical advice.  I have the entire day and the summer out ahead so let it fly.  Give me your best nuggets of encouragement!  I'm ready to reign it in and deal with my hoarding tendencies.  I need balance and realism.  

 

What do you keep and what do you toss*?  

 

* for those of you prone to twitching at the word "toss", its meaning here = actual garbage, recycling, and donations to the local homeschool swap box, public library, new church library, other hs families, thrift stores, etc.  I promise to be prudent, thoughtful, and responsible in my tossing. 

[Catalytic]

For completed schoolwork (my public school K) I sat down a few weeks ago and scanned everything into Google Drive. Can't help with the rest, I'm in purge mode for a move and it's HARD.

[regentrude]

Copmleted schoolwork: one 1 inch cardboard document box per child and year or 2 years. (In later grades I use binders, but in elementary with many non-flat things, bixes work better)

Any materials you have used with younger child and that are no longer needed: give away immediately at end of school year.

Stuff you know you won't use: give away.

Junk: throw out.

[Joules]

However you do it, Just Do It! 

  -The woman with a new homeschool graduate and crates of stuff to go through

[AmandaVT]

I have to do a portfolio for the state every year. Once it's finished and approved by the state, I keep the portfolio saved on my computer and everything else goes. I sell or give away all curriculum that we're done with and throw away everything that's not in the portfolio. I'm ruthless! :-)

[vonbon]

Copmleted schoolwork: one 1 inch cardboard document box per child and year or 2 years. (In later grades I use binders, but in elementary with many non-flat things, bixes work better)

 

I like this idea vs. bankers boxes (too big; temptation to keep too much.)  Are these 1" boxes something you buy?  

[vonbon]

I sell or give away all curriculum that we're done with and throw away everything that's not in the portfolio. I'm ruthless! :-)

 

DC are almost exactly 3 years apart so I guess I have about a 3-year span of stuff.  I keep saving things from DC1 that I think I might use with DC2.  

 

It's all a bit too much stuff though, and there's not a "freshness" to it the 2nd time around.  Meaning, I don't know that I will want to do exactly what I did with my first with my second child.  I thrive on novelty.  

[TammyS]

For kids that young, you don't need to keep any schoolwork.  If some of it is something you are proud of, photo or scan it, and the toss the actual. 

 

You need, at most 8 binders per child (and this is if you are very schoolish about things).  The rest can go.  For kids this young 1 large binder with subject dividers would be my preference.

 

Stickers, half baked ideas, etc get the toss.

 

You need a space for supplies (pen, paper, art supplies, etc). No more than 2 of your cubes.

 

Any books that you aren't planning (PLANNING, not hoping) to use in the future, or that your kids don't love, get the toss.

 

At most, per child, 1 cube each for notebooks and schoolbooks. 

 

So, in total, you need 6 cubes for school stuff, MAX.  That is still a lot - 2 cubes for binders, 2 cubes for school books, 2 cubes for school/art supplies.  Personally, I would cut that to 4 cubes, 1 for binders, 1 for school books, 1 school/art supplies, 1 for temporary overflow (this is a place that things go while you aren't sure what to do with them...clean it out at least 1x per month).

[vonbon]

Realizing I have a lot of duplicate stuff, like several books for handwriting, copywork.  A few different sets of curricula for phonics.  It's hard to choose one and purge the rest!

 

OK...off to the shelves and I will be back for more pearls of wisdom!   :thumbup1:

[mtomom]

I don't know how helpful it will be, but I'll share my "system" in case it's useful.

 

I took pictures (just digital) of artwork, projects, whatever I wanted to keep a memory of. I should have had the creator hold his creation in retrospect. I have some pictures like that, and they are more meaningful to me than the pictures with the item alone. I am not keeping records for government entities or similar, but for memory. If I had to keep stuff for records, I think I would just have a tub per child per school year. In the summer, I would take out what I needed to keep and put it in a labeled mailing type envelope, box or whatever and put it in the garage or attic.

 

Craft supplies have come in handy occasionally even as my kids have gotten older. I pulled out old Styrofoam craft balls and pipe cleaners this week for a science lesson. I didn't expect to need those in middle school. But, anyway, craft stuff that is used irregularly but potentially useful I have in long underbed plastic storage tubs. I've got it kind of grouped by type of item and type of whatever label on top. Those are all stored under my bed so they aren't in my day to day space but easy to get to if we need them.

 

I have more commonly used craft supplies in a hallway closet that was intended to be a linen closet. I put one of those hang over the door things with pockets on the door. A pocket has colored pencils, and others have things like scissors, stapler, tape, post its, index cards, etc. I used to have things in those pockets like commonly used small math manipulatives. It's just an out of way, organized, highly accessible to even little people place for day to day stuff. On shelves in that closet I have other supplies in those plastic box type containers--science stuff in this one, c rods in that one, extra tape and staples here, etc. That closet also stores my coil binder and supplies, paper cutter, and similar big, equipment type things.

 

I do have a lot of bookshelves. I even have one full of picture books I didn't want to get rid of along with another full of books my older kids read now. I am not good about letting go of books.

 

I have a bookshelf in a closet in the basement where I have some shelves dedicated to, well, curriculum I might use some day. I just purge as my kids outgrew the possibility of using whatever it was. I used to get rid of stuff that I thought wouldn't work. Over the years I occasionally had to repurchase something I had once owned. I stopped that. I give stuff away, because I realized quickly that I never get around to trying to re-sell stuff.

 

I have a bookshelf in our kitchen that has shelves designated for our current schooling. I do have all our currently used--daily or weekly--LA and math curriculum. It's grouped by kid and my oldest (MS), has his daily independent learning stuff on a closet shelf in his room. I have another shelf with currently used history, science, and similar books. I have another shelf with paper, the pencil sharpener, and one of those pull out the drawers containers. One drawer has white board markers and erasers, another pencils, and a third day in and out math supplies like calculators, rulers, and compasses. Lap type white boards are to the side of that, so they are easy to grab.

 

That's too much specific detail I'm sure, but the point is I tried to think of the need to accessibility when I decided where to store stuff.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 30, 2016 by mtomom

[vonbon]

For kids that young, you don't need to keep any schoolwork.  If some of it is something you are proud of, photo or scan it, and the toss the actual. 

 

You need, at most 8 binders per child (and this is if you are very schoolish about things).  The rest can go.  For kids this young 1 large binder with subject dividers would be my preference.

 

Stickers, half baked ideas, etc get the toss.

 

You need a space for supplies (pen, paper, art supplies, etc). No more than 2 of your cubes.

 

Any books that you aren't planning (PLANNING, not hoping) to use in the future, or that your kids don't love, get the toss.

 

At most, per child, 1 cube each for notebooks and schoolbooks. 

 

So, in total, you need 6 cubes for school stuff, MAX.  That is still a lot - 2 cubes for binders, 2 cubes for school books, 2 cubes for school/art supplies.  Personally, I would cut that to 4 cubes, 1 for binders, 1 for school books, 1 school/art supplies, 1 for temporary overflow (this is a place that things go while you aren't sure what to do with them...clean it out at least 1x per month).

 

Wow.  I like this.  I really like this.  But I am very afraid!   :crying:

 

What if need that stuff in the future?  

 

Realizing I am a bit Depression-minded (as in 1929 event) about these things. My dad was raised during / in the aftermath of a war.  He saved everything, only it was large things like tractors, windmills, fencing, etc. (farm stuff.)  He just went through a purging/auction process of 5 acres of stuff in the last year.  

 

I want to be liberated but I'm scared and the hs stuff has accumulated quickly.

 

I will have to go away for a bit and think on this "6-cube MAX" idea.  

Edited May 30, 2016 by vonbon

[MEmama]

I have one small box of early elementary stuff, all of which I could toss without a further thought. The later years I kept portfolios in binders, those line up nicely on a shelf. Everything else I toss or donate.

 

A full year's worth of textbooks, notebooks, etc. takes up 1-2 cubes that you are talking about.

 

I'm definitely ruthless. :)

 

Eta Maybe because I've BTDT and realized I would *never* again need all the extras and the stuff that didn't work out. Just as we've never gone back and re-read school books or looked at past projects. Kids interests change and grow and those kid books become "too young" mighty fast. At least that was our experience.

Edited May 30, 2016 by MEmama

[vonbon]

OK...I've started...It's going to be really hard not getting sidetracked with planning for next year as I review / consider books!

[TammyS]

Wow.  I like this.  I really like this.  But I am very afraid!   :crying:

 

What if need that stuff in the future?  

 

Realizing I am a bit Depression-minded (as in 1929 event) about these things. My dad was raised during / in the aftermath of a war.  He saved everything, only it was large things like tractors, windmills, fencing, etc. (farm stuff.)  He just went through a purging/auction process of 5 acres of stuff in the last year.  

 

I want to be liberated but I'm scared and the hs stuff has accumulated quickly.

 

I will have to go away for a bit and think on this "6-cube MAX" idea.  

 

Ok, if you are broke (which I have been, so I totally get it), put it away in a box in the attic, just in case.

 

But if you're not, then I would say this: You know you won't need it, because you still have it.  If you were needing it, you would have used it up already.  Want to know the stuff you need to keep?  Think of the stuff you keep using up (pencils, paper).  That is the stuff you need.

 

Also, even if you need it in the future, there is a solution.  Go to the store and buy it.  Seriously.  Better to buy it again someday than have it taking up space for years until then.

 

I get it.  My house is 1326 sq ft.  You have to think of your home like a store thinks of retail space.  Every single cubic foot (because it's not just the floor, it's "air") has a dollar value attached to it.  Same thing in your home.  Every cubic foot has a use value attached to it.  When thinking about whether or not to keep something, you have to ask yourself if that item is justifying it's existence in your home.  Even if you need it again in a few years, is it worth the space it takes up (and the dusting that goes with it)?

 

Practically speaking, every study ever done on clutter has proved that you get more use out of less stuff because you can see what you have, find what you have, and use/think about that stuff in peace and tranquility.  The stress of having all that stuff guarantees that you will get less use out of it.

[regentrude]

I like this idea vs. bankers boxes (too big; temptation to keep too much.)  Are these 1" boxes something you buy?  

 

yes, you can buy them; they come folded in packs of 5; you unfold them and make the box. I cannot remember where I bought mine, Staples maybe.

 

[AmazingGrace]

Ok, if you are broke (which I have been, so I totally get it), put it away in a box in the attic, just in case.

 

But if you're not, then I would say this: You know you won't need it, because you still have it.  If you were needing it, you would have used it up already.  Want to know the stuff you need to keep?  Think of the stuff you keep using up (pencils, paper).  That is the stuff you need.

 

Also, even if you need it in the future, there is a solution.  Go to the store and buy it.  Seriously.  Better to buy it again someday than have it taking up space for years until then.

 

I get it.  My house is 1326 sq ft.  You have to think of your home like a store thinks of retail space.  Every single cubic foot (because it's not just the floor, it's "air") has a dollar value attached to it.  Same thing in your home.  Every cubic foot has a use value attached to it.  When thinking about whether or not to keep something, you have to ask yourself if that item is justifying it's existence in your home.  Even if you need it again in a few years, is it worth the space it takes up (and the dusting that goes with it)?

 

Practically speaking, every study ever done on clutter has proved that you get more use out of less stuff because you can see what you have, find what you have, and use/think about that stuff in peace and tranquility.  The stress of having all that stuff guarantees that you will get less use out of it.

I have nothing to add to discussion.   :tongue_smilie:

 

I just wanted to say how true I think that last sentence is.  I read it somewhere a long time ago and it was some of the best advice I have ever gotten.  I think my mind gets easily cluttered.  I need space to think.  

[Cinder]

:bigear:  Just here for the inspiration as I also need to purge school stuff.

[lllll]

I just built more shelves.  Cheap shelves, all over the house.  I found that if I kept everything organized by subject so I knew what I had and could see it at a glance, I used it more.  I sorted the shelves periodically. 

 

Massive purging happened every time we moved.