A decade in a box

Back when I posted about our newly painted cupboards in my room, I mentioned that I have a box of mementos for each decade (well, so far one box covering one decade).   And then I got my first post request for what was inside it! (Ok, that request came from my sister but it still counts!).

I have various boxes in the basement storing items from childhood, high school, and college (although I am again feeling the itch to go through those and significantly pare down).  For things since college though I wasn't sure what to do with them.  For awhile I just had various things in my scrapbook area.  I don't know when I started this file system but it covers my post-college life (2005) through last year (2014).  A decade of mementos in a box.  

The system is easy enough: one file folder for each year.  The harder part is deciding what gets kept and what gets tossed. Here are some things I keep:

-significant birthday cards (that means all from my parents, grandparents, and sisters as well as other special ones)
-special thank you cards or other notes
-wedding invites and programs
-funeral cards from viewings we attend
-tickets from various events like TinCap games and museum exhibits
-race bibs
-any newspaper items of note
-art from kids other than Luke (we keep his elsewhere)

I sorted through that last folder (2014) and made it smaller...after I took these pictures. 

This filing system is purely for sentimental/personal items.  All official kind of things we have to keep like tax returns, adoption paperwork, and receipts are stored somewhere else. 
 
I keep things in a rough chronological order, as best as I can tell.  This makes it easy to find things.  I also try to date anything before it goes into the box, if it isn't already.  It's fun to flip through a past folder and have many memories come flooding back.

I could probably fit 2015 in the box too but I like the idea of a box for a decade so I guess now I'm on the hunt for a new box.  This one has been in the cupboard in my office but I expect to move it to the basement when I have my next box to start.

Considering my pile of boxes for the first 22 years of my life, I think it's pretty good I can fit a decade of things in this one small box.  Of course that doesn't include scrapbooks or pictures or probably many other things but I still consider it impressive.

And this is what happens when I try to take pictures when Luke's running around.  He apparently thought the box should be closed for all pictures:

That lid is definitely not see through in real life.