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Designful Mama

How to Deal With Sentimental Clutter

Home· Motherhood· Organization

19 Dec

This is the guide I needed to change my relationship with my stuff and give myself permission to let things go!

One of the hardest types of clutter to part with – at least for me – is sentimental clutter.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a keepsake collector. I’ve collected souvenirs and receipts from places I’ve visited, ticket stubs for concerts & ballgames, wedding invitations, thank you cards, birthday cards, birth announcements, Christmas photo cards, and the like. Every time I did a massive paper clutter clearing day, the sentimental items woud get boxed up. I’d feel guilty about parting with them, as though somehow I would be throwing away the memory of a special occasion, or a special person.

Eventually, those ‘memories’  turned into clutter. It was collected into a box or bin and stored under the guest bed or at the top of the closet.

The thing is, I’m pretty sure this is not how my friends and family would like their correspondence to be treasured. Things we cherish need to be enjoyed – the either need to be put into albums, framed, or alternately, we need to treasure them for a time and then let the item go.

If I discovered our friends and family members had been opening our letters, cards, announcements and photo greetings all these years, reading them, enjoying them, and then letting them go, how would I feel about that?  Shocker! — I wouldn’t be upset at all.

And there was my AHA moment.

My friends and family know I don’t expect them to box up my memories and special events. They have my explicit permission to throw away every piece of paper and to let go of all the gifts and tchotchkes I’ve ever given them. Photos and special keepsakes from my own life events are carefully stored in albums and special places at our house. We can visit them any time together.

If I want to reminisce with you about your or your child’s graduation, wedding day, birth story or Christmas memories, it will be with you, together. As it should be.

How to Let them Go

A few years ago at Christmas, I started a new tradition. As I took down all the Christmas cards we had received and displayed in our entry hall to enjoy, I prayed for each and every individual and family whose card is on our wall before I {lovingly} placed their card in the recycle bin.

The same goes for birthdays and other occasions when cards come in, like graduation announcements and birth announcements. They get displayed and loved and enjoyed, and then I say a prayer of heartfelt gratitude for the sender as I take it down, and pray for bountiful blessings in their lives. It has become one of my favorite prayer times!

Keeping Special Cards

I haven’t let go of every card I’ve ever received — there are some special ones that correspond to significant moments in my life and the lives of my closest loved ones. There are cards of encouragement that were so meaningful at the time that just seeing them again stirs up deep affection and gratitude for the wonderful people in my life. Those cards are either scanned and put into an album or placed in a beautiful box that can be displayed on a shelf and visited from time to time. Either way, they can get the place of honor they deserve and I can enjoy them.

Memorabilia

My ballgame and concert stubs, airline passes and the like are photographed and included with the pictures from the event in Our digital scrapbooks, and the originals are tossed or recycled.

The thing to remember is this: sentimental keepsakes are not being honored if they have become clutter. Choosing the most important letters and cards and giving them a place of honor allows you to release the others without guilt.

Giving myself permission to let things go, in the same way I’d hope my loved ones do, has been incredibly freeing and has allowed me to enjoy them MORE. Everyone’s story is different. I’d love to hear, how do you deal with your keepsakes and cards?

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