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Friday, November 22, 2013

76

Our Storage Spaces: Memory Boxes

I pulled out our memory boxes to begin labeling them today and thought it would be a good time to snap a couple of pictures and share a bit of what we decided to fill them with, as we tackled our storage spaces one bin and one memory at a time.


Organizing can often times be extremely challenging and emotional for people.  I am not typically one of those people when it comes to everyday material items.  For me, the thought of living with less clutter and "stuff" is far more appealing than keeping things we don't use or need as often as we may have initially intended.  Popping through the donation center drive through leaves me feeling incredibly joyful, and I really can't remember the last time I said goodbye to something with regret.

But it is a different story when it comes to memories....

Organizing memories is a whole new ball game.  A game that now requires even more thought and decision making.  One that has emotional ties and heart felt feelings.  These are the items that are priceless.

We have always kept Rubbermaid totes under our stairs for each family member.  As the area became filled with clutter, the ability to adequately access those bins to add to them, or to simply take a trip down memory lane, slowly came to a halt.  Not to mention, those five bins were extremely bulky and took up a very large amount of storage space and were never given much attention.

As I mentioned in this post, we knew that it would be time to do something more to get our memories in order and give them the respect they deserved.  Our wish list looked something like this:

  • One single bin/box for each member of the family.  The goal is to be ruthless about what we are keeping, yet have a space for the items that simply have so much meaning that they have to stay.  Each member is allowed one box, and if it becomes too full, then something must go in order to add something new.
  • The boxes must be durable enough to last at least 18 years.  I hope to pass the boxes down to the boys when they leave the nest.
  • The boxes would have to hold a decent amount of weight and be able to withstand sliding on and off of the shelf frequently.
  • The boxes must fit a specific area of shelving within our storage room.  We intalled five shelves to hold the bins/boxes, and wanted to find something to completely fill the allotted space to maximize the amount of storage for each individual.  By keeping them on these specific shelves, they would also remain simple to access moving forward, vs. stacking and becoming an obstacle to maintain.
  • Handles were preferred.
  • Of course I wanted the boxes to be somewhat attractive, but I don't typically put that high on my list because I know that is always something I can try and modify if need be.

After searching endless websites and options, we ended up purchasing these from The Container Store.


Although far more expensive than I initially wanted, we were able to use a couple and once I finally found something that fit every single bullet on the wish list, I pounced.  And considering they will be in the family for a very long time, I considered it a long term investment.  The box dimensions are 15"w x 20"d x 11 3/8"h so they are a very good size box {much larger than they appear in photos}.

As far as what you should keep inside of these bins, no one can tell you that.  What has sentimental value to me most likely would have none to you.  There is no way for me to portray the sentiments and emotions attached to the objects inside of our boxes, so what anyone selects to keep is a completely personal decision.  A decision you should never feel the need to explain and justify to anyone other than yourself.

However, knowing how challenging it can be to purge these types of bins down, I thought I would still share some of what lies beneath the box covers.  Please do not judge the fact that I wore overalls while pregnant with my first child.... true story...


A few more things to mention about the contents.  Although I am typically over the top about making every project excessively labeled and perfect, these felt different.  I really want these to be a treasure chest time capsule of sorts, so digging and sifting through these boxes feels like part of the thrill of it all.  I want them to feel organic and simple.

The two items that I fell in love with when organizing the contents of these bins were plastic envelopes {I found mine at Target, similar to these}, and large zipper storage bags.  That was about as fancy as things got; purchasing archival storage boxes and holders for each item would have cost us our entire kitchen renovation budget. 

Below are examples of the items I selected to save for each of our boys:

  • Handmade gifts from friends and family members; the quilt shown below was sewn by a very dear friend for our first born.
  • Coming home from the hospital outfits, hats and blankets.
  • The bunny was a gift from my father who later passed away.  He gifted it to me while I was pregnant with my oldest as he wasn't sure he would be around for his first Easter the following year.  Of course, items of that nature had to stay.


  • Baby books and a pair of shoes from the time each boy took their first steps...


  • Our family photographs are stored in a separate location, however, back in the day I enjoyed taking time to scrapbook.  Fortunately, I always ordered doubles of my prints so when I cut them for my books, I always had the original duplicate photo stored away.  Knowing that, I removed specific pages from the few books I had made years ago, and placed the appropriate pages inside of each bin for the boys.


  • Inside the clear envelope below, you can see special moments from pregnancy to birth.  Each boy has their own envelope within their personal box.  It contains things like their announcement sheet from their cradle in the hospital nursery, ultrasound photos, hospital bracelets, first haircuts, etc...
  • Our oldest has had a few milestones in his early baseball career, such as playing for an all-star team and hitting his first grand slam.  Those baseballs are kept in inexpensive display boxes.
  • Publications and features in local newspapers.


  • Special achievements and awards received.  Some are also currently displayed within the boy's bedrooms, but ultimately will be purged down and stored within the boxes.
  • Schoolwork milestones are saved in separate schoolwork boxes.  Special artwork is saved in separate artwork boxes {seen here}.

Of course, my hubby's memory box as well as my own, look a bit different.  Here are a few of the things you would find inside of each:

  • Graduation memoriabilia {diplomas, tassels, senior portraits, announcements, etc...}.
  • Yearbooks {one from each school}.
  • Awards, achievements, medals and ribbons.
  • Special objects with memories tied to them.  My baby security blankie, a journal/scrapbook from my childhood, my dad's keys {store discount cards and all}, cassette tapes with messages from my dad. 


  • Special pieces from larger collections of coins and baseball cards.
  • Special greeting cards {I rarely keep cards, however, I make an exception for those that are extremely special and also try to keep one from each member in our family}.
  • Love letters.


  • A file folder filled with accomplishments, awards and milestones.  Ever have a bad day?  It is nice to have that folder to look back on.
  • Printed publications featuring our blog projects and articles.


  • Wedding memorabilia such as the knife used to cut the cake, our vows, music from the day and even my dress {which was small and simple enough to fit into a compressed zipper bag}.
  • Travel souvenirs.  I am not a huge collector when I travel, but I do like to grab a postcard or brochure at each place we experience.  I also keep important ticket stubs, travel docs from our honeymoon and shells from strolls along the beach.


  • A few more of those epic scrapbook pages... pregnant in overalls and all....


It is amazing to me that we were able to neatly tuck all of those different items inside of our bins.  The boxes are quite spacious, and we still have room for expansion.  Although, I am guessing the boy's boxes will continue to fill up at a much faster rate than our own.



So knowing those are all of the items we did keep, what did we let go of?  Basically our goal was keeping only things that truly mattered and documented a cherished moment or milestone.  I didn't keep every single award, plaque and trophy, just the best of the best.  I didn't keep all of our yearbooks, just one from each school attended.  I didn't keep every single greeting card, just ones with special thoughts.  My hubby has a few collections and for now, they each have their own box until he can determine what he wants to do with them {hand them down, sell them, etc...}.  However, he selected a few of his all time most important pieces of each for his personal bin.  We didn't really have anything that was too large for us to keep inside of the bin, other than my hubby's letter jacket, in which he removed his patches and donated the jacket.  The best part of living in a digital world, is that there is also always the option to photograph items with special meaning before letting it go.  Again, no one can tell you what to keep and what to let go of, I just wanted to share our personal decision making process and how we hope that our memories will live on in an effective way.  It is our goal that having this system will be much more simplified for our kids as we grow old, vs. endless bins of memories filled to the brim and being stored in the attic.

Anyone have more ideas and suggestions to add to this type of decision making process?  How do you go about storing and making choices when it comes to organizing your cherished memories?  Am I the only one who thought overalls were super fly?


76 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness! I have that exact same bunny blanket! :) My friend was trying to find them for her son who was born this year and said they go for $200 online. Can you believe that?! I would never get rid of mine; I can see you feel the same way. Lovely memories! :)

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    1. Wow! That is so crazy!! My brother and I both had one, mine was attached to me for many years of my childhood :)

      xoxo!

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    2. My best friend from high school had the same blanket in blue and now she is using it for her son. So fun!

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  2. This is such a great idea! I've been moving the same plastic bags full of hospital bracelets, hats from the hospital, and sonograms around for the past 3 years. We have another newborn with a few things that need to go into a box. I'm going to get on it ASAP! Great, beautiful ideas, as always!

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  3. I love these! I have a bunch of small memory boxes up ion the closet, it makes much more sense having one larger one each!! You're awesome =)

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  4. My husband is a bit of a pack rat while I tend to give away things too easily! I really love the idea of keeping one box full of mementos! I think I'll be stealing this idea. We bought a small memory box for my son but I'm already finding that's it's way too small for things like his coming home outfit.

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  5. We have memory boxes for each person in our family. Our older kids have special keepsakes in their boxes from their birth mom...these boxes are such a special thing to have for every person in the family. I really like your smaller boxes...ours are a bit too big.

    ~Sarah

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    1. I wanted to cry out when you talked about putting clothing in plastic bags! My mother is a professional seamstress, she always counsels fabric bags only or your clothing will yellow. Most people choose to ignore this, but I thought you should at least know.

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  6. One box per member of the family is genius! Since I keep the most "memories", I would have some major purging to do. Thanks for sharing!

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  7. I used to scrapbook back in the day too and am trying to make myself get back into it for my kids sake! ha

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  8. I'm starting to tackle this kind of stuff, so thank you for posting this! I'm trying to condense items down whenever possible (especially random cards and such), maybe I need these boxes to help!

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  9. This topic is near and dear to my heart. As a kid I kept everything! My childhood room is filled to the brim with memory storage. I am slowly working my way through it, but having a hard time deciding what to keep and what not to keep. I would love any other advice you have for pruning it down to the best of the best. :)

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    1. Hi Victoria!

      I guess it really comes down to how much room you have to store the items. Another thing to consider is how easy is it to access those memories down the line? I don't think that endless stacks of bins in an attic or storage unit do anyone and benefits, and can make it overwhelming instead of pleasing to head down memory lane. The best part about the tech world we live in is that we can scan in cards, photos, notes between friends, etc... We can take photos of memories and display them in pretty books. This allows us to be more selective about what is important to keep and what we are ok letting go. I try to touch everything and question the type of memory it represents, if I have something similar, etc... But again, memories are too personal for one to tell you what to keep and let go of. Good luck to you!!

      xoxo!

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  10. I am so sorry you lost your dad, Jen. {{hugs}}

    I still have all three of my yearbooks from high school. They aren't very big. My hubby has his and one of his brother's. His brother has passed away, so that is a definite keep. I have one rubbermaid tote for each of my three kids. It does get gone through and weeded out. The must keeps are report cards and exceptional schoolwork that was put in there. The art work gets weeded through when the bin gets full. I have a small bin with things from when I was in school and college. My hubby didn't keep much like that. But we do have his diploma and letter from band.

    Now you having me want to go through my stuff more. LOL I have been tackling my scrap room this past week, as it is out of control with all the product I have bought over the years, let alone what was sent to me for design team work. It is one brutally cold day (what's with these windchills that are below zero - in November!!), so a good day to do stuff like this.

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    1. Thanks so much Michelle! Sounds like you have some good systems going already, and I agree, this weather is perfect for snuggling in and organizing. :D

      xo!

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  11. Good luck trying to keep memories in one box!

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  12. Love it! I've been wanting to do a Shadow Box for my daughter, but I'm thinking these storage boxes would be better! That way I can put more inside. Very cute idea. Thanks for sharing!

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  13. I also have pictures of myself in overalls while 6 mo pregnant! Nowadays, the maternity clothes look so cute with a lot options! Oh well....thanks for memlry box tips!

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    1. Way to rock the overalls! We should start a club! ;)

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  14. Maybe this is the right time to ask something I wonder for a long time: I don't have a kid of my own, but I have always wondered why do parents feel like they want to save the coming home from the hospital outfit, and not a favorite outfit from a newborn stage? I do not judge or anything like that, of course :) and I can imagine it is difficult to choose only one outfit to save (I've read that some people keep a lot of their children's favorite clothes), so I wonder: why that one? Btw, keeping shoes from when they learned how to walk... that is beautiful, I am sorry my parents didn't think of that!

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    1. Hi Rusulica!

      I always picked my favorite newborn outfit to take to the hospital, so essentially, that is the outfit I would want to save anyway. But it also represents to me the special day and how little they were. I have photos of that day as well that correlate to that outfit I kept so it just made sense to me :). Again, no two people are the same, so others may keep different outfits from other milestones.

      xoxo!

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  15. Thank you SO much for this post! I have been struggling for a few years now to come up with a way to save the special things for my daughters. This is exactly what I was envisioning but could not figure out how to put it all together.

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  16. I love this idea!! My mom had boxes for us but they were not nearly as pretty. I want to get of few for my husband and I and then some for our to be kids.

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  17. Thank you for this inspiration. My mom sent us home from our family vacation last summer with a trunkful of "memories" she wanted out of my closet. I felt so overwhelmed going through it all, I just put it on the highest shelf in the garage to deal with later! Once the holidays are over, I'll come back to this post and get it all down to a box.

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  18. I have recently found your blog and I love my daily emails! I love the idea of paring down my husbands and my memories - we have recently moved and have downsized on storage areas so this comes at a great time with some great advice. I have stored my kids items (11 yrs old and 8 yrs old) in these great looking wheeled storage trunks from Wal-Mart $35.00 in black pink navy and purple they are great displayed in their rooms but only work if you have enough room The kids love them and they get to pick what goes in and out however I hold the key so they cannot open them unsupervised! http://www.walmart.com/ip/Wheeled-Storage-Trunk/16451721 not sure this link will post but they are an option for those with enough storage or enough bedroom space!
    Thanks for the inspiration!

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    1. Those trunks sound like a great solution!! Thanks so much for sharing!

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  19. Thank you for sharing just a small glimpse of your memories with your readers! Such a great idea of storing memories that I may have to share with my very sentimental mama ;)

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  20. Love this post, especially the parts about your dad, as I just lost mine last month. I have memory paraphernalia galore. Thanks for inspiring me to purge!

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    1. So sorry to hear that Christine! Sending you hugs. It took me quite a few years to get through my dad's items... You are in my thoughts.

      xoxo!!!

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  21. I rocked the pregnant overalls look in the 90's! I have kept my kids' memorabilia in banker's boxes since they were babies. After one who is now 20, they have not held up so well so I need to switch to another option for my younger ones and pare things down.

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  22. Thank you for this post. Exactly something I need to get in order!

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  23. I call myself a sentimental hoarder b/c I have boxes and boxes and boxes of cards, notes, ticket stubs, etc going all the way back to high school. I don't know how I am going to pare them down. I reached a milestone last year when I started throwing all cards away except for the ones from my husband. Thanks for this post! Your criteria for how much to keep are really helpful. This is an area I definitely need to make progress in.

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    1. You can do it!! And if a lot of it is paper, the positive is that you can go digital and still hang onto a lot of those memories and they will take up much less of a footprint. Best of luck!! xoxo!

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  24. I love this post! I have a small memory box from high school, and I get a good laugh when I look through it. This is such a great idea for my family though. Luckily my boys are still little, so I can set these systems up before we get too many collections. We need everything you talked about (memory box, artwork box, school box). Looks like I have a few projects ahead of me! Thanks for sharing! :)

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  25. I'm in the process of cleaning out a 1000 square foot basement full of memories I couldn't part with from my daughter's younger years. I wish I had this idea 14 years ago. Truly wonderful way to save memories while avoiding clutter. Love it!

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  26. Jennifer, I have really enjoyed your blog. Good job. It provides lots of ideas and inspiration for me. We recently simplified our things throughout the entire home, it took over 6 months. We finished the attic spaces last weekend. It makes me smile and reassures me that you have chosen the same amount of storage space as I have for our family memories. I just cheap plastic bins from Wal Mart though. Thanks for keeping it fun, pretty, organized, simple, and real.

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  27. For years, i have all my own, my husband's and my 2 year old son's memorabilia scattered in different locations in the house, in a random drawer, an overhead cabinet, on a shelf... Jen, your project 'Memory Boxes' is a genius! i wonder now why i haven't thought of it in the first place... until you posted this online.

    Will make these my next project. Thank you so much for the inspiration! I love reading your blog. I'm not a neat freak but i love an organized home.

    Can't wait for your next post.

    From Sunny (although it's raining for the past 3 days plus today which is exceptional weather) Abu Dhabi, UAE.

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  28. Wonderful post Jen! I'm patting myself on the back for already having a similar storage system in place for my 4 boys. I've also kept many of the same types of items. I think i may still have my maternity overalls from 2002 saved also;) Unfortunately my boxes are not quite as consolidated though. Each of my boys has a small box (large shoebox sized) with baby keepsakes thru their first year. Then each has a heavy duty rubbermaid bin for the rest of their memorabilia. I figure the baby boxes will fit someday inside. I also have a special box for keepsake clothes that are just for me, that I don't want to pass onto them, but is full of items sentimental to me (favorite baby clothes, a tshirts from a Wiggles concert, a toddler hat from DisneyWorld etc.) So glad to see how you've sorted similar items and to see how it all fits into an organized home. Thank you!

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  29. What is the font used for your names?

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  30. I tend to do pretty well purging regular stuff, but the items that have emotional or sentimental value are much harder for me. My mom passed away when I was 8. Since I was so little I didn't have much control over what of her stuff I was able to keep. I do have a some really special things that were hers, but I think with losing some other items that I would have loved to have saved (her wedding dress got ruined, I ended up having to sell a doll house she was building but never finished because I couldn't cart it around to college with me), I tend to be too much of a saver. I am doing much better but I maybe having a set limit with a certain sized box (or a couple boxes) would make it a little easier to narrow it down.

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  31. This is such a gorgeous idea. I think I'll suggest it to my mom and we can spend a day going through my stuff and create some memory boxes. And I can even start one with my boyfriend!

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  32. Thanks for sharing! We were previously using white photo boxes from Joann fabrics but they don't hold nearly as much. I had opted to use a hat box with my 3 month old but I love the idea of uniformity!

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  33. Thank you for sharing your special memories with us. I so want to have a box system like this, but like a previous commenter, I have our memories scattered all over (a drawer here, a shelf there, etc.). I also find the task of organizing memories to be a very daunting one, and one that will take me so much time since I tend to be an over-saver. I appreciate your perspective, and hope to tackle this someday soon.

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  34. This is a great idea! I need to get started on this for our three boys before it gets overwhelming. Thanks for the great direction.

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  35. I love that you have your dad's keys.
    xoxo
    Rachel

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  36. I love this idea. I'm stealing it. I've been wanting to do something like this for my kiddos, so now I'm motivated to do so! Love it! Thanks for the inspiration!

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  37. One of the things I love, and that helps me out when I'm organizing sentimental things (baby blankets, clothes, etc.) is the thought of what I will be giving when I give them away. For example, right now, we're expecting our second child - a boy this time. So I've gone through all of my daughters baby clothes, kept only my favorites (and the ones a boy can wear!) (and that was only a few) and special blankets and then put the rest in two huge boxes to give away. It was so hard to go through it and not be sentimental and "keep it for later, if she wants to have kids, etc." but all along I kept thinking about some pregnant woman getting out of a bad situation (we're donating them to a women's shelter) and how she will hopefully feel happy and grateful and excited to get well-cared for (some haven't even been WORN) baby clothes and how that will help her out. It's harder with cards and pictures, but I'd rather have a few wonderful pics and cards that really highlight the memories than boxes and boxes of not-so-great photos or generic cards. I tend to be an over-saver but that really helped.

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    1. That is such a beautiful way of looking at it! We donated a lot as well, but the women's shelter idea is sweetly fantastic!

      Thank you so much for sharing!

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    2. I feel that way too. In a way I think it is a bit greedy and wasteful to hang on to too much stuff. Better to keep a few precious items and share the rest with others who are in need. I have several friends who are really appreciative of the hand-me-downs, just as I was when I received things from other people and the rest goes to local charities.

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  38. When I was a freshman in COLLEGE...... 8 or so years ago, I wore overalls to a party. And that is much more embarrassing than wearing them while pregnant.

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    1. I may have just spit out my milk! So funny! <3 You get to join the cool club now too! Welcome.

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  39. I love those boxes. You have such great ideas. By the way, I was at target and they had 6 inch gold pails in the dollar section. (They were actually $3) but they were really cute. Any hunters in your family? Have a Happy Thanksgiving

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    1. Thanks for the gold bucket tip! And no hunters {which I am thankful for because I love having my family around me during the holidays}. :)

      xo!

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  40. Oh, I was so guilty of overalls! Why did I think I looked so cool in them? (And what do I wear now that I will look back on and say the same thing?! ;) Love these special boxes, Jen. I love that you were so intentional about what went into each one. Your boys will be so appreciative that you kept all of these mementos for them! (And I'm sure their future wives will enjoy looking through them too!) Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

    ~Abby =)

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  41. We have a similar memory bin system going on in our house with one smallish sized plastic bin per family member. The bins are stored in our clothing closets for easy access. The one idea I had recently was to upgrade our plastic bins to something fireproof like the first alert fire and water chest that Target sells for $32 each. I keep thinking these memory bins contain the irreplaceable items. Just another idea:).

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    1. I have thought about that as well, just not sure that I can find anything large enough to hold all of the memories, but maybe one for the most special items. :) xoxo!

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  42. Jen, this is really interesting and inspiring, thanks for sharing this with us. I have a similar system for my three kids (not for hubs and me tho...) where I use Container Store's lidded underbed boxes. However, they are only 9,6 and 3 and they are all almost full - so there will be some purging needed!! However, I do also keep project life books for each child as well so a lot of their memory keeping is in there.

    I am really trying to think about paring down more, I can't continue with a massive book for each child every year or they are going to be overwhelmed when I hand it all over to them. Too much of a good thing!!! I need to condense!

    My childhood home is still intact but most of memory items have been tucked away for 15 years in two large bins in my childhood closet. I get anxious even thinking about looking at them or having to go thru them, not sure why.

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  43. I absolutely love that idea! I have to do it! But it will take forever to round up everything that is scattered about but should be in the box. Thanks. I think I am going to buy a box for each family member for Christmas and start from there! Love it!

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  44. I had the same bunny blankie when I was little! Now I am going to look for it:) thanks for all the great ideas as always!

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  45. I am dying here….I also wore overalls with my first pregnancy! Let's just say it was in style then??? :) Great tips! One thing I do with my kids is have them go through their memory boxes about once a year and purge so to speak. A lot of times things that were "memories" no longer hold the same sentiment.

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    1. Love that! I found that this time around as well. There were a few things we were keeping that we were able to let go now.

      And I am excited that the overall club is growing! ;)

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  46. Agh, this is so hard for me! I was so proud of myself- I managed to pack all my old "memories" stuff from 3 big brown moving boxes to just one. I told my husband to get his own box. And we don't have any kids, so I am really going to be in trouble one day! I photographed everything I didn't keep to have a "memory book" at some point down the road...but for some reason I want to hold on to everything!!

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  47. oh my goodness Jen- I had the EXACT same little pink bunny lovie when I was a kid- appropriately named "Bunny". I have no idea where it is now, probably in my parent's attic and completely covered in dust!

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  48. I was right there with you in wearing overalls for my first pregnancy! I remember wanting a pair so badly and I was so happy when my husband bought them for me for Christmas. So funny and weird to me now. Those overalls were my uniform for my first pregnancy. :)

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  49. My hubs is a horrible pack rat and it's fueled by his genealogy habit. He is always saying how he would have loved to have a birthday card signed by his great grandmother or a shirt from his great great grandfather. I had lots of high school and college memorabilia (cards, notes, awards). What finally helped was when my parents sold their house and I had to decide what to pay to take with me half way across the country. Those awards that were 20 years old didn't seem worth the extra $100. I had my 6 year old pose with them and then ripped off the inscriptions.
    I'm fearful that one day I will leave a bunch of memories that may be a burden to my family. You can remember without keeping every single thing.

    I'm going to try those boxes! Now, how do you toss the kids' busy-artwork without them getting mad?

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  50. I loved this post! How many times I have had the talk with myself about being unable to save EVERYthing and that it's not the things themselves--it's the memories attached to them. I had already created memory boxes for my girls from babyhood and for their Baptisms, etc. But your post has helped me to think about curating a memory box for myself, too, and my husband. Thank you for the great ideas and also for letting me know I'm not the only one who can be reduced to a puddle of sentimental tears when looking over these precious items!

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  51. This post really inspired me to do the same thing at my house for my husband and I. We don't have kids (yet), but we have been "given" all our memory items from our parents when we bought our house. (Thanks, Mom & Dad! haha) I badly wanted to get the exact same boxes as you. When I was in the Container Store looking, I realized how roomy they really are! I actually ended up with some different ones, however: http://www.containerstore.com/shop?productId=10034767&N=&Ntt=watertight. I purchased two of the smaller ones, which are actually almost the same dimensions as yours. They're not as pretty, but since our basement tends to be damp and we will be storing them there, the watertight factor seemed like a big bonus. Now the trick is to purge everything down to fit in these boxes! Thanks for inspiring me with each and every post!

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    1. What a wonderful find! I didn't see those in my search, but such a great solution! Great job you! <3

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  52. I love being organised but can't bear to throw away sentimental things - by having them in a box, you can look through it easily too. this is such an amazing idea, thank you for sharing it!

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  53. I have kept a box for each child since they were born, but now that they are getting older and more memorabilia has accumulated, plus I am expecting baby #3, I decided to order some larger boxes from Ikea. I also bought a baby time capsule for each child (and will again for the next one), which I include very special items and information about the year they were born; I can't wait until they open them when they are 21! :)

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  54. Hi Jenn - You said you did a lot of research before deciding on the storage boxes from the container store. Unfortunately, we don't live anywhere near a container store or IKEA. Could you suggest another storage box that was on your list? Perhaps something from Target or Walmart? Thanks! - Annie

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    1. Hi Annie!

      Unfortunately, many of the alternatives were also at IKEA and Container Store, however, I did find these gems at Target recently: http://www.target.com/p/threshold-large-lidded-box-assorted-colors/-/A-14769414#prodSlot=medium_1_32&term=storage%20box

      xo!

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  55. Impressed you have it down to just one box each! My son doesn't have much (19mos) but I have a few boxes...really need to consolidate those! Thanks for the motivation!

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