To trash it- or to keep it?

[ThatPersianGirl]

I had this conversation the other day, and I thought of an idea. Line up all your memorable stuff, take digital photos of each item, upload them onto an online storage (private) site, like photobucket.com (for back up), as well as on your own computer, and you will have images for easily accessible memories and photos to show children, etc. but without any of the clutter.

Excellent idea!

 

[NoHall]

I'm with the condense/keep camp. I just did that a few weeks ago. A large storage box full of cards and letters turned into a handful of labelled manilla envelopes. Pictures are filed in boxes or albums. I use old trophies and the like around the house.

Why keep them? Because my family has found so much joy over the years in re-discovering piles of letters. There's a historical aspect: We have letters that were written to my grandmother, and it's fun to find that they were written to her by family members of people we know now.

It's always kind of a surreal experience to find those letters and cards. (I was so shocked a few weeks ago by what I found that I had to post a thread about it, if you remember...) You'll like going through that box when your 10-year reunion comes along, and when that old boyfriend gets married and you get a case of the mean reds over it, or when your BFF from high school has her first child.

A friend of mine figured out another funn use for old trophies. They are usually hollow with a screw in the bottom, and the top part--usually a figure of a person--screws off. Run wires down the middle, install a light socket, add a shade, and screw the sports dude back on top. Great in offices or little boys' rooms.

Wow, Audie, that was long...

 

[audie]

i'm a pack rat i say keep it - who knows when you might want it again....

 

[Smiling JOe]

Like I said, scan and save images of them all, then give the originals to a family member and let them do the worrying. Once scanned and saved, you can email a copy to everyone in your family.

 

[dbuck]

This is a tough one for me too. I have thrown things out that I truly regret now, especially old letters and photos.

 

[scooterbug44]

Keep photos, trophies that have meaning (not so much the ones for just showing up), any toys or books you might pass on to the next generation, and any letters etc that you might want to reread or look back on.

I usually find when "cleaning" or "purging" that 1/4 to a 1/3 is junk I can easily get rid of and somehow ended up being saved by accident.

 

[Beachlover2]

Going through the same thing right now - finding stuff I haven't looked at in 20 years. I am enjoying looking at it now - but figure if I don't look at it again for 20 years I will be too old to remember who those people are anyway or why I saved it. I have trashed probably 2/3 of my stuff. It actually feels real good to downsize.

 

[Smiling JOe]

Going through the same thing right now - finding stuff I haven't looked at in 20 years. I am enjoying looking at it now - but figure if I don't look at it again for 20 years I will be too old to remember who those people are anyway or why I saved it. I have trashed probably 2/3 of my stuff. It actually feels real good to downsize.

 

[steele mama]

Easy answer for me too. Since mothers are usually very sentimental, I say, give it to your mom, if she wants it, and let her figure out what to do with it.

NOT!!! I'm going through and trying to get stuff back to them now.

 

[Cheering472]

NOT!!! I'm going through and trying to get stuff back to them now.

I hear ya. I can't get my daughter to take her stuff. The girls house is just as big as mine, she can store her stuff there.