I have hoarder tendencies, especially when it comes to our children. The sentimental side of me wants to preserve every piece of artwork, treasured board book, and precious teeny tiny shoe.
![]() |
These stripey sort-of-matching jammies! How can I part with youuuuuuuu? |
But I also get antsy about clutter, so the organization-hungry side of me says “We don’t have the space! We can’t keep everything!”
Here’s the process I follow for keeping the “memories” under control …
Keep one memory box for each child. I have two medium-sized plastic totes in our master bedroom closet — one for our son, one for our daughter — for keeping the really special items. By keeping the box somewhere central, it’s easy to add items along the way and ensure nothing gets lost. I have saved their tiny soothers, the bibs from their first taste of solid food, certificates from their toddler “classes,” birth announcements, and first locks of hair — although we have yet to cut our daughter’s hair yet, so she will probably be 10 before that gets added.
Make space-saving decisions: When our youngest potty-trained, I found myself getting sentimental about parting with the kids’ shared stash of cloth diapers. Yes, I actually felt sappy about pieces of cloth that had been peed and pooed on, repeatedly, for years. But I knew it was silly to keep all of them, so I only kept three “favourites” — a blue one for our son’s memory box, a pink-and-purple design one for our daughter’s, and a black-and-white one for my own memory box — you know, so I can look back one day and remember changing those tiny (stylish) bums.
Continue reading over in my weekly parenting column, The Mom Scene …