To do this, there are a number of ideas you can find on Pinterest or the web. Today, I wanted to share with you one that has worked for us over the years. It is a school binder. Now I've tried a couple of different techniques, which didn't seem to work well (for us). Keeping papers in a vanilla file stored in each child's big tote got messy with too many papers by mid-year. Then a filing crate, with hanging files marked for each year, did well until we found ourselves shoving papers in there with no order (and were they REALLY our favs?).

Anyway, back to how to create a school binder. Here are 4 items I used:

1. Avery 1" Binders. I found a 6 pack of these puppies for $11.48 at our SAM's Club. I really like these, because they provided the clear outer shell and also has slots inside the front and back cover to hold additional items (see pic. below). I'm sure you can get them for a great price, also, during this school shopping season.

Pocket inside Avery binders from SAM's Club.

2. A 3-Hole Punch

3. Protective 3-Hole Punch Sleeves. These are great for keeping birthday cards and smaller memorabilia smaller than 8x10 (i.e. mini golf score cards, etc.), as well as keeping their school photos protected.

Protective Sleeves to hold a lot of memorialbilia.

4. Template for Spine of Binder and Front Cover. (I found a template online through Microsoft and edited the images to include the school mascot or logo.)

Once school starts, you can either save all the "fav" paperwork until the end of the year, or you can begin placing them in the binder in chronological or subject (i.e. report cards, art, math) order. I have been utilizing the file crate to quickly place paperwork accumulated throughout the school year. About 90% goes into the recycling bin, it's the artwork, great scores, (some bad scores - Lord knows they are not perfect), and other memories captured during the year.

You can even take it a step further and add at the beginning of each binder questions to ask your kiddo each year. Such as: