Answering a Reader Question

In my last post, "Conquer Paper Clutter", I shared basic tips on organizing paper. It's clear that we all struggle with keeping up with the paper that comes into our lives. This month, let's take a closer look at one category of papers: memorabilia and keepsakes. This topic is at the request of a reader and a dear friend of mine, Karen Maruyama Bolognese.

Here's what Karen wrote in an e-mail:

"Definitely agree with the paper clutter issue. My only comment would be that the suggestions are good, familiar with them, but what about all the "memorabilia" that come home (or are made at home) from one's kids? I find it very hard to winnow those down."

This is a tough one for me too. So much so that in nearly 10 years of writing for this blog and my monthly e-newsletter (subscribe above), I have rarely directly addressed memorabilia and keepsakes. While I feel like I "should" give tips on what types of bins or boxes to use, in the my next post I really want to get to the heart of why we struggle with memorabilia and keepsakes.

If you have a particular organizing challenge, please comment below, so we can learn together.

All My Best,

Carolyn