Two Peas Challenge: Organizational Tips

Yesterday's blogging challenge on Two Peas was to share your favorite organization tips. So, in the true spirit of organization, I'm sharing yesterday's tip today.

I actually teach an organization class, and this is one of my favorite subjects. The tip I'll share today has to do with organizing memorabilia: all the non-photo stuff you'd like to include in your scrapbooks (brochures, concert tickets, maps, etc.). I keep my photos filed chronologically in boxes (not pictured here) and I have a LOT of memorabilia (read: I keep everything).The challenge is how to keep all of that stuff organized so that you can find it (and remember that you have it) when it is time to scrapbook a particular set of photos.

The solution that works for me (after trying several different tactics) is this: I file my memorabilia chronologically in large expandable folders, separately from my photos (the file pictured here happens to be from Creative Memories). I have set up tabs for the 12 months of the year, and within each of those tabs I have shorter dividers for years (2003, 2004, 2005). So if we attended a concert in January 2005, I stick the concert program and tickets in that section. When I'm ready to scrapbook a set of photos, I make it a habit to check in my file for that month and year to see if I have any corresponding memorabilia. I pull it out of the file and decide if it is something I'd like to include on my page or in a pocket at the back of that scrapbook. If I choose not to use it on the page, I either discard it (rarely) or (more likely) put it back in the file for posterity. (Why put it back in the file? Because I'm hopelessly sentimental like that.)

I have a separate expandable file for vacation memorabilia. The tabs are labeled by trip and year, and everything I drag home goes in that section until I'm ready to create the vacation album. I should also say that I have a plastic tub for each school year, too. The bulk of my daughter's school papers go in those tubs. The only school-related memorabilia I keep in the expandable files are the items I'd truly like to include in the scrapbooks: typically concert programs, certificates, awards, and newspaper articles.

Periodically I sort through memorabilia and put it in my expandable files. Right now, I have multiple stacks of school memorabilia to file. This must be done before I can scrapbook any of those photos. This is a good activity for when I want to do something related to scrapbooking but don't feel the creative mojo to actually make a page. Because I can't scrapbook with others (that will be the subject of another post!), I have also been known to take my memorabilia to crops to organize and file it. And yes, my friends think I'm a complete nerd for doing this (OK, they already KNOW I'm a nerd), but hey...it gets done.

After trying a variety of methods to tame the memorabilia monster, this is the one that works best for me.