How much of DC's schoolwork/artwork do you keep

[QueeTheBean]

I love the artwork and school work that my children do. I have very little of my own from my school days--wish I had more. At the same time, I just don't have enough room to keep all the things they make.

How many pages per school year seems reasonable? What is your criteria for keeping something? And what kind of container is best for storing them?

Poll added for fun . . .

[rachelagain]

ok, I said "1-5" because I have some Christmas stuff they made that I like and pull out every year. Other than that-- nothing.
My mom saved stuff for me- last year she gave me a fruit box full of "memories"-- I already have enough crap, so I went through, looked at it- smiled and threw it away. Meanwhile she carried it (and 3 others for my brothers) around with her- on 5 moves across many states- for me to smile at it and throw it away. Really, it wasn't something I wanted to hang onto and I don't want to burden my children with things like that either.

I do have a couple things I "kept"- the first picture my youngest colored in the lines, he held it and I took a pic of him- it went in his album.
Once 2 of them won coloring contests-- I did the same thing, a pic of them with the picture and the prize.

[2GR8KIDS]

I keep pretty much everything from my 8 y.o. and my 3 y.o. and I am drowning in it! This is really a problem area for me. I have promised myself not to pass this onto my kids as a big undigested mass, and my main project this year is to sort, purge, and organize this stuff. I need to pick out the treasures and display them or put them in albums and then purge the rest. I am thinking about scanning my "undecideds"- I know it's unlikely that anyone will go back and look at scanned kids' artwork but I think I will be better able to let it go if I have kept it in digital form.

My "keepers" would be anything that represents a big milestone (like the first time your child writes their name or draws an identifiable person), big school projects, anything that is particularly beautiful or that the child loves or is proud of.

I am trying to limit this category of items to (1) a Rubbermaid tote of mementos for each family member, and (2) photo albums/scrapbooks/other albums that fit on our bookshelves.