Is Summer Starting with Piles of Your Kids' School Stuff Around the House?

It's that time of year when your kids bring home a year's worth of notebooks, papers, projects and other things that were stashed in their desks and lockers for the last nine months!

And whether you like to file it all away in your basement just in case your son or daughter wants to check out their kindergarten drawings, 4th grade writing or middle school math notebooks decades down the road (which is highly unlikely) or you just can't bring yourself to throw it all out, there is a way to easily preserve all those keepsakes though pictures and maybe even declutter your space! 

Step #1
Go through your piles and decide which keepsakes are your absolute favorites! I recommend keeping only about 10% of your stash as a sample of this moment in time. If you keep it all, YOU will have years of clutter to go through someday down the road.  Sadly, it is unlikely your kids/grandkids will ever want or have space for these! 

Step #2
Use the camera on your phone to take pictures of your favorite keepsakes. They might need a little cropping but you will be amazed at how great the digital versions look! You can also scan your keepsakes using the Google Photo Scan App, which is great if you have a little more time on your hands!

Step #3
Once you've taken pictures of your keepsakes, organize them in a digital album, which will make them incredibly easy to find and share right from your phone!

iPhone/Apple Users 

1. Open Apple Photos from your phone 
2. Click "ALBUMS" from the menu at the bottom of your screen
3. Click the "+" sign in the top left corner
4. Select "New Album"
5. Give your album a title such as "Alex: 8th Grade" and click "SAVE" 
6. Your photo stream will automatically pull up and you can click on the photos you want to add to your album
7. Click "Add" in the top right corner

 
Android/Google Photos Users  

1. Open Google Photos from your phone 
2. Click "LIBRARY" at the bottom of your screen
3. Click the "+" sign in the top left corner to create a new album
4. Give your album a title such as "Alex: 8th Grade" 
5. Click "Select photos"
6. Your photo stream will automatically pull up and you can select the photos you want to add
7. Once you've selected all your pictures, click "Add" in the top right corner

Once you've taken pictures of your keepsakes they can easily be accessed from your phone or computer!

I hope you have a relaxing and safe start to summer!

All the best,

Melissa