Managing Children's Artwork

As a mother of 3 artistic children, I end up with quite a stack of artwork. There is always something unique about every piece, they've learned to draw something new, or they've taken a little extra time coloring it. I find it hard to get rid of their precious artwork, so I end up saving all of it (for the most part). Considering I have minimal space to store things, this poses a problem. It either ends up piling up on my desk, overflowing my "To File" folder, or cluttering my refrigerator.

I've noticed that the only time I do a hard core toss session is when I'm piled up to the max. I fear that I'm throwing away something precious that I can't get back. With 2010 just beginning, and a new set of goals, I've purposed to come up with a better way of managing my children's artwork and getting rid of some of this clutter.

In honor of the backwards edition of Works For Me Wednesday--I turn to you. How do you decide what artwork to keep, and what to toss? How do you store the ones you keep?

Photo Source

2010 Goals

We made it another year! 2009 ended up being a pretty good year for us overall. I haven't had a chance to do a recap of our 2009 goals yet, but I should have that posted next week sometime. Having a specific list of goals to concentrate really helped us to stay on track and keep motivated.

My list this year doesn't contain as much as last years because we are already very busy next year and we will have the addition of another family member. I don't want to be any more overwhelmed than what I have to be. :)

Spiritually

• Read the Word more often.
• Do a Bible Study on my own. I'm wanting to find a book to walk me through a book(s) of the Bible.

Financially

• We weren't able to pay off our truck (our final debt) in 2009, but we should be able to have it payed of by April of this year.
• Bump back up our Emergency Fund to allow room for medical expenses.
• Save additional funds for our first ever family vacation to Florida in May.

Home

• Figure out a Home Cleaning Schedule that really works for me. This seems to always be on my list of things to do. One of these days, I will finally master it!
• Get the children more involved in the daily tasks of maintaining a clean home.
• Get Rid of Clutter. I absolutely despise clutter, but somehow it has begun to take over my home. It's time for it to stop! This goes for storage spots as well.

Gardening/Food Storage

• Do majority of the garden from seeds, just like last year. This year will be a challenge since I will be pregnant through the entire spring, and up through most of harvest.
• Plant Wave 2, and probably replant Wave 1, of our Orchard. The deer found our fruit trees, and I'm not sure they will survive. :( We need to come up with a way to keep them out.
• Grow my own herbs. I'm going to try this again this year, since last year was a huge flop!
• Preserve as much fruits/veggies as I can.
• Continue to involve the children in the kitchen.
• Build up our meat storage--hopefully by way of buying a beef, and maybe a hog.
• Have meals ready in the freezer for when baby comes.

Self

• Read more books.
• Get on a exercise routine.
• Bring back one of my old hobbies. I used to love to scrapbook, sew (which I rarely did, but loved it), as well as make jewelry. I've not done these things in SO long, and would love to get back into atleast one.

What are your plans for 2010? Let's make this year a good one!

This post is linked to

• The Happy Housewife's 2010 Goal Link Up
• A Beautiful Calling