Comments on: GTD for Kids: Inbox Processing

By: Marcus Goodyear

Marcus Goodyear — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 13:54:21 +0000

What a wonderful system! We have one big box in the garage for both kids, but it begins to feel like a micro-hoarders space sometimes.

We do something similar with toys leading up to every holiday. For example, in October, we go through all their toys and sort by toys to keep, toys to trash, and toys to donate. We like making the donations prior to Christmas because it allows others to purchase our toys resell, but it also creates a period of time when the kids simply have fewer toys.

By: Shannon

Shannon — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 20:38:06 +0000

My process for my 5 year old’s artwork is nightly emptying of backpack onto her (child size) art table. Any artwork done at home during the week is stacked there also.
Every Sunday nite before bed we go through the pile for “treasures” and these are tacked up on the fridge and/or small kitchen bulletin board for display after being marked with date and year on the back. We only keep an amount that will fit that space- the rest is recycled/purged.She is okay at this age with purging them- we have a tiny house and she understands we don’t have room for things that aren’t VERY VERY special.
To make room for the new treasures, we review what’s currently on the fridge/bulletin board – very few are kept “forever” in a large underbed storage box. Some larger, colorful ones taken off the fridge/board I save for reuse as wrapping paper (go directly my gift wrap bin)and a few others might be placed in addressed envelopes I keep for regular mailings to close family members. Evrybody wins!

By: Meghan Wilker

Meghan Wilker — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 19:54:29 +0000

Thanks for the comments, everyone!

@Lynn Haag: I am working on another post about “Filing with Kids” – I have a feeling our kids’ bedrooms look eerily similar. :)

By: Lynn Haag

Lynn Haag — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 19:59:55 +0000

Being a DAC employee and mom to a 5 year old I’m loving these suggestions! I especially like the idea of saving all of that “backpack paper” and going thru it 6mos-1 year later and realizing how her writing skills and artwork have advanced. I also scrapbook and note the date on the back of the artwork for future reference. Lily’s bedroom has shoebox size bins with labels marked “crayons”, “Polly Pockets”, etc which makes clean-up time easy (or there’s always the threat of “whatever is left on the ground in 5 minutes becomes MINE”! :-) Works like a charm!

By: Renaud

Renaud — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 17:29:56 +0000

Great idea to put the date indeed. I take photos of some of the work that we don’t keep or scan it whenever possible (A4 size max, and no paint job)

By: G.

G. — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 09:33:28 +0000

I used to stack up all artwork and school work for the one school year and then sort it, very fast in the next summer. Then you have some perspective on what art is best to keep and what connects to what.

Also, as your kid(s) gets older, that same box can turn into a homework/school work/art pile and every bit of paper goes in that one big box. That elimates the “did you throw out the notes for my Spanish test?” anxiety. Becasue it is in the box.

By: OogieM

OogieM — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 21:51:12 +0000

One suggestion, I’m currently sorting stuff from 50+ years and I wish now my mother had remembered to put a date including year on everything that was kept! I make scrapbooks and knowing the year would make it all so much easier to sort and decide what is going into the scrapbook and what is not. She’s been gone for 12 years so I can’t even ask what year the various pictures, papers and other items she kept were from.

By: Bob C

Bob C — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 21:27:24 +0000

Wow, this is awesome! You’ve made GTD contextualized for little kids, terminology and all!

The only way I’ve pass on GTD to our little ones is when they need to clean their room. They look at the big mess and either get distracted or immobilized with what to do. I treat the whole room as the In Box. I routinely tell them, “Pick up something right next to you, and decide where you want to put it.” (trash is definitely included in their choices) As soon as they put something away, I say, “Stop. Pick up the next thing closest to you.” They are getting the hang of it now.

But, you’ve giving us some great ideas! Thanks.