View Full Version : Decluttering Journals
Hi, I’m new here. I’m just in a quandry, and have been forsome time, its mainly about my journals, I have about ten years worth of themin a locked tin (hard backed books). I am reluctant to get rid of them as I didthis with some journals I had previously and I regretted it afterwards, allthose records just gone. However, I am trying to declutter and keep thingssimple. I have put all my CDs on my hard drive. Most of my reading is now on myKindle, I just have the books I can’t get on Kindle and coffee table type bookswith pictures and there are not many of them. I just have an issue with the journals. I have always preferred to writein my journals rather than keep them on the computer, however they now seem tobe weighing me down, I also worry about privacy, even though I live alone Istill worry that my boyfriend might come across them or what if they are seenafter I am gone (someone will have to go through my stuff). I have had the ideaof scanning them and then getting rid of the originals but I feel it would besuch a huge task and someone at work who is very technical tells me all thatscanning would take up a lot of hard drive space. I am thinking of journalingon my laptop from now on and keeping it all digital but don’t know if I’d likethat as much as handwriting a journal. I have now started using my mobile phoneas a diary and am using my paper diary less and less for appointments butjournaling is different somehow.
Does anyone have any ideas on this? Is scanning the bestidea, or just keep the journals locked away and hope they are never found? Whatabout future journaling? Any thoughts welcome.
Hi citygirl,
You'll receive lots of different advice, so I can only share what I would do. And DO do. I have been a lifelong journaller and have a collection that dates back to when I was 18. To some, journals don't matter, but to me, it's an important record of my life - what was important to me when, who I used to be, how I figured things out for myself and grew into who I am. It's not just idle reading, but an important tool for me to stay healthy in my current life, to see where I came from. Everything before 18 was thrown away by my parents, which is a shame, because I would've liked to have heard the voice of that long-ago person to see who she was and what was troubling her then. Might be informative.
Anyway, I personally wouldn't dream of scanning them or getting rid of them. They may well be the last thing I lug through life, and that's fine with me. Mine live in a big rubbermaid container with handles, easy. I'm looking at it right now, tucked under a set of shelves in my closet. I take it out a few times a year when I'm trying to understand why I do what I do, or what might be causing some inner stress, and I'm always surprised at what I learn. I thought that? That happened to me? No wonder "situation X" is a big red flag for me. Etc.
In terms of someone else finding them, I haven't worried about that in some time. I am who I am, and if my boyfriend (now husband) was bored and wanted to read the rants of an angst-ridden 20-something, well, it wouldn't be the end of the world. But there are two things here: 1) he is respectful enough to stay out of my journals, because he respects my privacy, and 2) if he were the kind of guy who thought less of me for something I did or said when I was younger, then he needs to get out of my life anyway. Basically, I guess I'm trying to say that the kind of boyfriend who sneaks in your journal and then gets all weird because he finds out you're a flawed individual just like the rest of us....probably isn't someone you want in your life anyway, right?
Anyway, that's just an editorial. But I'm a student of journal master Christina Baldwin and I would never consider for a minute getting rid of mine. Having that record of my life matters to me and helps me. There are a lot of other things I'd declutter WAY before I'd start looking at that rubbermaid tub. Almost everything, in fact.
Just my two cents' worth.
I have also kept diaries/journals forever (since 1964), and I agree with puglogic 100%.
SteveinMN
8-11-12, 10:53am
It's not "clutter" if you use it.
I am not a journal-keeper. I did lug around a very heavy box of high-school and college yearbooks for a couple of decades, though, and when I unearthed that box and saw it still was taped up and had a move sticker from a couple of places ago, I realized that they really were doing nothing for me. Except for one really great yearbook, I gave them away or recycled them. I don't miss them. But if you would miss your journals and you do review them, they're not clutter. Make space for them.
Hi, thanks for your very helpful replies. This is such a dilemma for me and I don't want to do anything hasty. I did regret throwing out those other journals but then I didn't keep scanned copies or anything, they just went. I have been reading some stories on the Internet about people who destroy their journals because they don't want to hang on to the past and don't want anyone to ever read them. Its not just my boyfriend I worry about. In the past I didn't get on much with my brother and sister in law and at the time I turned to my journal to vent about them. Now, however, we are very close and I would hate for them to come across my angry words from years ago. I can't help but worry that if I were to die before them then they would be the ones (as my next of kin) to go through my stuff, they wouldn't be being nosey, they would have to go through it and even though if I wasn't here I wouldn't know about their reactions I still wouldn't want them to have a bad opinion of me and I wouldn't want to leave any hurtful words behind for them or anyone else to read. Thats why I had the idea of scanning my journals to keep them but have them more safe and password protected.
However, reading your replies makes me feel I want to keep them physical journals. I don't read through them very often but I like to know that they are there and there is something about writing and reading back writing rather than on the computer. I love the computer for writing stories, reading on the Internet, anything like that but journalling seems different somehow, it doesn't seem as personal on the computer. I have also given up on my paper diary as I find using my phone more convenient so it would be nice to have some kind of written diary. I just can't get over this privacy issue though or how to keep storing the journal books as they grow if I keep filling them up and getting new ones. My current locked tin is quite full. There is also the issue of the current journal I keep which isn't locked up as I like to have it to hand to write it. What if someone came across that. I have heard horror stories of journals being found which was out of the owners control.
Also my idea is to downside and declutter but I suppose, as you have said, you don't have to do everything digitally and declutter everything? I've got rid of most of my books and CDs, paper bills, appointment diaries (although I do keep my old ones but they don't take up much space) so I suppose I can make space and time for my journals if I could stop worrying and making it an issue.
Sorry to blabble on but I need to be really sure about this before I do anything rash.
I suppose, as you have said, you don't have to do everything digitally and declutter everything? I've got rid of most of my books and CDs, paper bills, appointment diaries (although I do keep my old ones but they don't take up much space) so I suppose I can make space and time
Don't forget that scanning/digitizing everything and keeping it in electronic format takes some discipline and a little physical space, too.
If you truly care about whatever it is, you should have at least one backup copy, and that's for the stuff that doesn't change (2010 journals, for example). For the files which do change (like this year's household bookkeeping), you need to make sure backups are periodic. Then there's that whole issue of opening the files in 5-10 years or more. Are the files on a medium which you still can read? Do you have software that can open a .cwk file from 1998?
"The cloud" is not necessarily the answer for the most critical stuff, either. There are issues regarding who has access to the information (inadvertantly or on purpose), who "owns" it (read those Terms of Service or Privacy Policy sometime), and what happens if your "host" goes belly-up or is sold or has a major disaster in their data center. And the same file-format issues listed above.
So you'll need at least the space for external storage media and the equipment to read it (and write to something new if the old stuff goes obsolete). Granted, it's much less space than books and the like would take up. But I think one could make a good argument as to whether it's simpler to go all-digital.
fidgiegirl
8-11-12, 8:10pm
Don't feel you must answer, but what made you regret getting rid of your old ones?
My personal experience is a little different. I too worried about the exact thing you are worried about - would I really want my family to read this when I'm gone? Particularly my husband, having to read about my past loves and angst? We married at 30 and 38, so I had a track record and he knows about it, but that's different than knowing every twist and turn of every previous relationship.
One day I was going through old letters from old relationships as well as old journals. And I thought, if I have to keep this top secret, and I feel like sh*t every time I open this box, it's time for this to go. It took over a year for the stars to align for me to have a chance to make a fire by myself, but I finally threw them all in the fire. I haven't looked back.
But I'm not a consistent journaler. I'm an angst journaler, so mine were pretty icky to look at. Lots of popped dreams, wrongs done to and by me, etc. Better for me to let it go.
I've known several folks that designate someone in their life to destroy their journals, or at least the ones that might cause pain, if anything happens to them. I am such a person for a good friend.
Another I know simply leaves an apologetic note in the container that holds her journals, asking people not to read them, or if they must, to understand that she went through many changes in life, and to please try not to be offended by the rantings of the person she used to be.
I don't have either one, though the latter appeals to me. But at the moment, I figure that if people can't be grown-ups and understand that (for example) when I was 25 I was grumpy, impetuous and self-centered, then that's really not something I can control. If they read the most recent ones, they'll see how I changed, anyway. Good luck finding a solution that YOU are comfortable with, though. That's the important thing.
Don't feel you must answer, but what made you regret getting rid of your old ones?
My personal experience is a little different. I too worried about the exact thing you are worried about - would I really want my family to read this when I'm gone? Particularly my husband, having to read about my past loves and angst? We married at 30 and 38, so I had a track record and he knows about it, but that's different than knowing every twist and turn of every previous relationship.
One day I was going through old letters from old relationships as well as old journals. And I thought, if I have to keep this top secret, and I feel like sh*t every time I open this box, it's time for this to go. It took over a year for the stars to align for me to have a chance to make a fire by myself, but I finally threw them all in the fire. I haven't looked back.
But I'm not a consistent journaler. I'm an angst journaler, so mine were pretty icky to look at. Lots of popped dreams, wrongs done to and by me, etc. Better for me to let it go.
I don't mind answering at all. I regretted throwing away my old journals because it was like part of my life that I had recorded had gone. Thats why I feel if I get rid of this lot I would have to scan them first, even though it would be a tedious tasks. There's always something about looking back. I do keep my old appointment diaries for the same reason but they are not as personal and don't take up much space so are not so much of an issue.
Journals are a treasure trove for genealogists and historians.
Journals are a treasure trove for genealogists and historians.
Yes, and I think that some of us who journal are historians at heart. I love the idea of capturing an element of time at a particular moment. I want to keep my journals, not because I think I'm going to be the next Pepys or Anne Frank, but because the details are so much fun to "dust off." For instance, I recently reread one of my entries from back in freshman year of high school when we went on a field trip to New York and I was horrified at the cost of a Coke: 25 cents!
I know my grandmother used to say to me, "In my day, bread was 8 cents a loaf," but for me to have actually lived that and not realized it until I reread the journal.. it's just fun.
As far as the scary stuff, I am totally honest in my diary, and so that being said, I have purposely simply not commented on major things that I feel would be very hurtful if my kids came across them. And I mean stuff that could send them to a therapist, not just little annoyances I expressed.
As it turns out, way back before my marriage, my then-boyfriend-now-husband of 35 years got nosy and read stuff that he didn't like AT ALL. But obviously he got over it.
fidgiegirl
8-12-12, 2:36pm
I like pug's idea of a note in the box. And then if they ignore the note, it was at their own peril.
Yes, and I think that some of us who journal are historians at heart. I love the idea of capturing an element of time at a particular moment. I want to keep my journals, not because I think I'm going to be the next Pepys or Anne Frank, but because the details are so much fun to "dust off." For instance, I recently reread one of my entries from back in freshman year of high school when we went on a field trip to New York and I was horrified at the cost of a Coke: 25 cents!
I know my grandmother used to say to me, "In my day, bread was 8 cents a loaf," but for me to have actually lived that and not realized it until I reread the journal.. it's just fun.
As far as the scary stuff, I am totally honest in my diary, and so that being said, I have purposely simply not commented on major things that I feel would be very hurtful if my kids came across them. And I mean stuff that could send them to a therapist, not just little annoyances I expressed.
As it turns out, way back before my marriage, my then-boyfriend-now-husband of 35 years got nosy and read stuff that he didn't like AT ALL. But obviously he got over it.
I have put some hurtful comments in my journals already. I guess I could go through them all and take out those parts if I decide to keep them rather than scan them.
For me, it was freeing to burn them in camp fire at age 37 when I was going through a tough year of soul searching. They represented to me the ideas of an almost OCD writing style from my childhood through my 20s. I received journals every year for Christmas and felt compelled to use them. Almost like homework. Being first born and of a pleasing others personality type, it took me until my late 30s to know what I wanted ... As opposed to doing what everyone else expected of me.
I never regretted burning them.
happystuff
8-18-12, 9:07pm
Like Tammy, I also had a "ceremonial" burning of my journals. It was freeing and a decision I have not regretted. Why did I do it? Mainly because while some of the things I wrote were "real" and "truly me", they could still have been very hurtful to others. The last thing I want to do is cause any old and/or unnecessary pain to someone else - be that before or after my death. I enjoy writing/journaling and I still do it! I am a bit more careful in my words and topics, but I still get joy and satisfaction out of the act of journaling! I have several books sitting in my desk drawer. They may also end up being "cleansed by fire" - lol. Or not. Time will tell.
Happystuff, its interesting that you are still journalling after burning your old journals and being more careful about what you write, do you find it easy to control what you write about, I would be still be tempted to write whatever is on my mind, which is why I am thinking of going down the computer route for journalling if I decide to scan my old journals.
happystuff
8-20-12, 3:12pm
Happystuff, its interesting that you are still journalling after burning your old journals and being more careful about what you write, do you find it easy to control what you write about, I would be still be tempted to write whatever is on my mind, which is why I am thinking of going down the computer route for journalling if I decide to scan my old journals.
Yeah, I do find it easy to control what I write about - after all, the pen is in my hand - LOL. While I write some things on the computer, I don't really like it as a journaling medium because it then limits where and when I can write. I carry a moleskin in my purse and that is what I journal in. If anyone were to read any of my journals now, while I might be upset that my privacy had been violated, I'm not afraid or ashamed or embarrassed or anything else of anything I've written.
Hmmm... maybe that is the question... if you (generic "you") are afraid of someone else/anyone else reading what you have written, why are you putting such things in writing in the first place?
My first thought was that you need to put a Harry Potter-esque charm on your journals, so anyone who tried to read them without permission ends up with, say, egg on the face for all to see. But since that's a bit of a fantasy, I say keep them if you want them, keep them private if you wish, arranged for their disposal upon your demise (as pug suggested) and otherwise don't sweat it.
My journals are mostly angst journals. In fact, when I read old ones it sounds like my life was in tatters until I check dates. I tend to write compulsively when in crisis but not the rest of the time. Mostly my writings are totally about me. I have used my journals to learn who I am, to help myself process and heal from difficulties, and mostly they are All About Me. Therefore, not too interesting to anyone else. Honestly.
So when I rant and rave and swear about how I'm feeling, that is still All About Me, even if I am projecting and blaming somebody else. I figure if anyone reads my stuff, it is at their own risk. But not at my risk. What other people think about me is none of my business. Especially if I am, say, dead.
Obviously, you'll have to figure this out for yourself. But I suggest that you try not to compromise your effective use of a good tool by changing it out of either fear of some unknown future or because you think you have to declutter.
I used another "middle ground" approach. Some time in my early 50's (and it actually felt like kind of a positive celebratory event) - I decided to trash/recycle all of my old journals. But before doing so, I read every page, and then went to the computer & created a password-protected document that was just a summary of what I had learned from reading those old diatribes that had been created when I just needed a private place to honestly vent and process things. I left out most of the tedious details, but documented what I could see from my 30-years-later perspective. It was a way of keeping the lesson alive without needing the details. And it was actually wonderful to see how much angst had passed out of my life since my late twenties. (Was I really in that much pain over something that relationship that seems so obviously dysfunctional now?) And since reading your post - I am reminded that I have some more recently written journal entries that need to be processed in the same way. Everyone needs a different path, and our journals can be a useful and important tool for growth.
Tussiemussies
8-21-12, 4:47am
I threw away all the notes I kept from high school that I had exchanged with my friends. Really wish I had not done that as I would enjoy looking them over so much...
On the other hand I had journals I had from when I was going through a rough time with my husband(that thankfully is now over). and I burned them in our fire pit.
For privacy can you get a safety deposit box at your bank? I know it would cost money, but if you are really concerned about privacy and you don't read them that often, for me it would make me feel very safe about no one ever having a chance to read them...good luck with this...:) Christine
... My journals are mostly angst journals. In fact, when I read old ones it sounds like my life was in tatters until I check dates. I tend to write compulsively when in crisis but not the rest of the time... This is so totally me as well. Well, I guess with the exception of my travel journals. Those would have you thinking I was the most fabulous of all jet setting women. No one reading them together would even know they were written by the same person!
Hi, I've just come up with another idea. I could scan in all my old journals and then keep future journals in a book and once each one is full then scan that in and get rid of the original, that way I am still handwriting and using a journal book but not having the clutter and maintaining some privacy - does anyone think thats a good idea or would it be better to just keep future journals on the computer if I scan the old ones in.
I personally never understood journaling. It's not something I've ever felt a need to do for myself personally, but I know many who find it very helpful and an important part of their lives. That said, I should also note that I detest clutter. I can't stand it and I a lifestyle where clutter type items have no place. Your journals are NOT clutter. They may be taking up space, but they are not clutter if they are used and are important to you and your life.
As for your future journaling, I think there is something to be said for the process of writing things out on paper. I know for me, I still do things with pen and paper, where many do now on smart phones and computers. From budgets, to menu planning to "to do" lists, I personally need to write things out and not type them in. One thought to preserve your privacy for future enties is to develop your own form of short hand that only you can read.
Thank you for your replies. I am still in a quandry about this. Thinking about it, it is going to take time to scan all my old journals. Part of me still thinks handwriting my journal will suit me better. I have got used to using the diary on my phone now and have no desire to go back to the paper one, my phone flashes up reminders and I can repeat entries without having to keep writing the same thing. But with journals its different, there's something about writing down on the page, however short or long the entry. The thing is I do regret some of the things I have written in my old journals and even the lock and key doesn't make me feel safe. I suppose I could go through them and black out the words I feel may be hurtful to people. I need to decide what to do and stick with it, I don't want to scan the journals and toss them and then regret not having the originals. But what bugs me is that I know journals can hurt and can cause trouble and is it worth it just for the sake of having a journal, would it be safer on the computer and never mind what feels more comfortable? I do know of cases where journals have got people into deep water.
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