How do you organize the important things? And the sentimental things?

I could set up a filing system for everything, but I find that it's better not to be too ambitious about organization. It becomes hard to maintain, and I end up doing nothing. Less is more. There's one drawer in our kitchen devoted to school and notes. Things that are inactive but important are in that drawer. Any note that comes home from school about an event that's coming up gets taped to the refrigerator door. When the event passes, I take the note off and throw it away. I do the same with birthday party invites. Our refrigerator is our bulletin board. The kids each have bulletin boards in their rooms, but I find that one central place is easier to manage.

For important family documents like birth certificates, medical records, passports and the like, I use big plastic storage boxes. I have one for my kids' artwork. I force myself to go through it every month or so. Although everything they do is precious, if it's nothing more than a scribble, I get rid of it. I pick a few pieces that are emblematic of what they're doing that year, and I keep those. I only have two kids, so I only need one box. It's easier that way. Even the act of getting a box for each kid makes the process harder, as you have to figure out whose box it is.

I keep yet another box for all the photos I collect over the years of birthday parties and the like. In January, I go through them and, with a cold eye, I discard seconds or pictures that just aren't very good. When I'm ambitious, I create some photo albums with the best shots. Otherwise they get thrown out.