Clearing Out the Memories

This week I'm reorganizing our basement, for the upteenth time since moving into our house. Storage is at a premium in our house and anything without a place on the top floor is relegated to the basement, usually sitting at the bottom of the stairs for several months until I either find time to organize it or we have guests. Our guest bedroom is in the basement and it would not be very welcoming if they had to climb over boxes and bags to reach their room.

So I'm making a path organizing the office and the closet when I come upon a Rubbermaid container with the label "keep". Inside this box are baby items; afghans, hand made clothing, and several items of infant clothing that must have been too cute for me to pass on. Now I say "must have been" because as I'm looking at these items I have no idea why I saved them and what I planned on doing with them, other then keeping them in the container for the future. "For the future to do what?" As I go through the kept kids clothing, filed school projects, printed pictures, and many many other items we have collected in the 7 short years we have had kids the question is "what do we keep", "why", and "why did I save it the first time?" While going through this box I realize that items which meant a lot to me at the time do not hold the same meanings now. But, even if certain items do not hold the same emotional attachment today can I now pass the clothing on to friends?

I found several solutions to this dilemma. First, I saved all the hand made items. Then,
I moved the kid's "going home from the hospital" outfits to their individual memory boxes, this way I won't forget why these specific outfits were saved. I kept their Robeezes, why I'm not sure other then they are cute, were pricey, and well used so I can't pass them on to others. And because I was once emotionally attached to the clothing I plan on creating a quilt, or blanket, or something with these items. Anyone with an awesome idea please send it my way.
Of course this project will begin once I finish all my other projects that have been sitting and waiting for my attention. And, I can begin them as soon as I clean out the basement and reorganize AGAIN.