design finch

Summer is a terrific time to complete a few organizing projects, especially on those triple-digit days when going outside after 7 a.m. is not even an option. While tackling some clutter this week, I was reminded of my favorite tools for corralling personal keepsakes:

My mom purchased this chest from Lillian Vernon when I was in elementary school to organize my artwork, yearbooks, and other bulky mementos. (Although this product is no longer available, you could use a flat file or follow this tutorial to make your own keepsake box.) I think this is such a great way to organize childhood memorabilia because limiting items to one small box per school year really encourages you to keep only those treasures which are most meaningful.

We had loose photos floating around all over the house until I discovered the Cropper Hopper. (Ours came from Costco several years ago.) Rather than trying to keep our pictures in chronological order, I now organize them into plastic envelopes by theme. Of course, I love any excuse to use my label maker, so each envelope is clearly labelled to simplify sorting! One side of the box holds 4″x6″ photos while the other compartment stores larger prints, making it easy to wrangle all our photos in one convenient place where we can locate them quickly.

Every January, we buy a new Kolo album to hold things like wedding invitations, birth announcements, concert tickets, and favorite photos for that year. It’s essentially a scrapbook, but without the cutesy paper and stickers. I started doing this when I graduated college and have continued the tradition ever since. We enjoy thumbing through the pages and remembering the highlights of each year.

We keep our photos and scrapbooks in a cabinet where they are protected, yet easily accessible so we can enjoy them for years to come. I wish everything was this neat and tidy, but I still have 3 boxes of high school and college memorabilia that I need to cull through and organize in some form or fashion. That is one of my goals for the summer, so I guess I’d better get busy!

How do you corral keepsakes? I need suggestions!