Regarding your kid's ''Masterpieces''...It's a common practice in some households now to take a picture of the actual piece. (Digitally ''saving'' it takes much less room so you don't need physical space.) I think it also helps establish a pattern of ''out with the old/in with the new'' if they can be part of the process of knowing items will only be physically displayed (in a finite amount of square inches...perhaps on their bedroom door?) for a short time. Let them take the best picture of it for their memories, and once a year you can easily go through the pictures with your kids to keep the most important/best ones. After all...you can't keep it all; Where would you put it?

My kids LOVED to do art project too!

We covered the art with clear contact paper and used them as placemats.
The kids had no trouble tossing them when they got funky....

Just a thought.........how about having a "charity" birthday party? Your daughter would still get to have a party and fun with her friends, but instead of gifts they could bring a toy or food to donate to your local shelter. Your daughters would not only get to have a great time with friends, but they could also feel good knowing they're helping someone not quite as lucky as they are.

stir fryi- We finally had to come up with the rule if one toy comes in one old one goes out. Art is the same- you make me a new picture, fantastic, throw the old one on the fridge away.

If you are sentimental about their artwork- try scanning it and saving it digitally.

ebear- I love the idea of a "charity" party- even making a donation to a local shelter/organization of the birthday girls choice.

I thought I was the only one bribing the kids not to have a party. I've offered $50 each. So far, the boys are waffling. I may have to up to $75 each. It's still cheaper than going through with a party and I don't have to stop progress on what I'm doing.

Pre-K and Kindergarten are the two hardest years to get through in terms of keepsakes. I have a 3-Ring binder for each child and stuff gets put in there. I'm also keeping a box for the bigger items and writing names and dates on the back. I keep this upstairs which for right now is just a dumping room. I'm slowing working my way up there to get organized. I figure I can keep the boxes for a couple of years and then get more perspective on what I want to cull. I have plenty of space in my house so no immediate decisions have to be made. The downstairs is our main living area. Keeping extras is not impacting us for right now.

When my kids were at school, I'd sneak in their bedroom and just bag up all that excess and put it in the trash. They had so much stuff they didn't even notice.

I would get rid of things that they didn't play with and they didn't even notice. Of course I would do it a black bag at a time. Stuffed animals take up so much room.

As far as art work. I would never through it out if they were home. I would wait until they went to school. I couldn't keep the 10 papers they made this week and again next week. The ones that I kept I would put inside the roll that paper towels came in. When I started getting to many I would toss a few.

When kids have to many toys they get overwhelmed on what to play with and of course if there isn't much room for storage they get overwhelmed when they have to clean up.

Oh, stiri_fryi, come sit over here by me!

We can keep each other company.

I have thrown my kids' things away completely without guilt. When they weren't looking.

I do wish, however, that I had simply *made* them throw things away, or at the very least, made them see what I threw out. No reprieves, but they have to hear my reasons for throwing it out. If I'd started than when they were littler, I'd have a much better situation now, and they'd be more willing to cull on their own.