"Memory" Stuff

[fidgiegirl]

Feeling a bit overwhelmed with "memory" stuff, chiefly from childhood/college. Not only mine, but DH's. Combined we probably have 10 boxes (maybe more) of this stuff. Some is photos, some is artifacts.

I have scrapbooked some of my photos, which was fun at the time, but I am not willing to do it with everything. Most of my photos are organized in boxes. Which then leads me to ask, do I even want to keep all of this?!

DH has quite a few items and I can't quite pin him down on if he would like a scrapbook. I would be happy to make one. Actually he may quite enjoy making one himself if I got the stuff set up for it. He likes hands-on things like that.

Sigh. Not sure I want to start dealing with any of it, but it seems dumb to just let it sit in the attic like a big (physical/emotional) weight. I burned up a bunch of old journals and stuff last summer and it felt good.

I know we've had these discussions before. Not sure why today it is bugging me . . . maybe because it's sucking up half my crafting closet! ;)

[SteveinMN]

Before I moved to my studio apartment, I got rid of all but one of my high-school and college yearbooks. I'd carted them around for decades even though I rarely looked at them -- in fact, most times, they were in the unopened carton from the previous move. But until that apartment, I'd always had somewhere to stash them and not miss the space. I only regret that I didn't think to offer the 'books to the respective schools or Classmates.com or such for the sake of their historical interest in them. But that's not where I was emotionally at the time, so I let it go.

I still have three small boxes of stuff that I just haven't had to face getting rid of (awards, programs from high-school plays, news articles, etc.). For me, out of sight, out of mind. They're probably the few items I would rescue in the classic "the forest fire is coming -- what do you take with you NOW?). But that's my situation. If I had to choose between, say, those boxes and being able to navigate a closet full of off-season clothes, ....

[Fawn]

Kelli--you know the drill---

Is any of this stuff a drag on the emotions? For me, anything "high school" was and that made it easy to get rid of....same with wedding photos of the defunct marriages...I would want to keep those pictures, why?

If it brings you joy to look at the artifacts...whatever they are... get them out... put them in frames...look at them every day.

If not....put them in a box with a future date on them (say one year in the future) and if there has been no reason to bring them up... let them move on.

If it is something that you or DH LOVES....put it in a place where you see it every day, hold it, use it, talk about it.....

[shadowmoss]

For certificates, awards and such you could do nice color scans of the item. Pixels take up less room, and it isn't 'gone' really. Same for photographs. I may gather all those little pictures of classmates we traded each other back in the days of gradeschool and do a scan collage of them at some point. A DVD or external drive holds all that type of treasure, as well as important documents, and can be stored in a lock box at a bank if there is stuff on there that needs off-site storage.

[Rosemary]

Things like that are easiest for me to declutter a little at a time.
Some old letters that I had, I read and then sent back to the writers, so they could relive those days one more time and then discard if they wished.
I tossed right into the garbage before our last move two heavy boxes full of photograph negatives from about 15 years.
A couple of years ago I went through old photo albums, removed all the photos to sort, tossed some of them, and put the ones I was keeping into new, photo-safe albums that take up less space.

[Mrs-M]

Memory stuff, is a hard one. Some people are just so comfortable with letting it go, while others (like myself) aren't, yet speaking for myself, even though I know a lot of it is simply useless old stuff, a part of me (deep inside) says, "hang on it, it's part of your past and if you get rid of it you're going to regret it", so I continue to clean and organize around my old memory stuff, DH's, too.

[catherine]

yet speaking for myself, even though I know a lot of it is simply useless old stuff, a part of me (deep inside) says, "hang on it, it's part of your past and if you get rid of it you're going to regret it", so I continue to clean and organize around my old memory stuff, DH's, too.

That's me. If you could accuse me of hoarding anything, it's old memorabilia. My closet is lean, my counters and tables are free of knick-knacks, but I have every letter and card that anyone ever sent me. I've just started doing what Rosemary said: bundling up letters people have sent me and given them back to them.

A few months ago I went through photos and actually threw out (!!!!!) a whole bunch of them that just weren't good photos. Prior to that purge I could not let go of ANY picture--even fuzzy ones and duplicate ones.. So I'm making progress. But, man, that's tough. Good thing we had a few floods that actually destroyed some of the stuff.

[Gardenarian]

I would first give your dh his half and tell him it can't live in your craft area anymore. Let him figure out what to do with it.
Then you only have your stuff to deal with.

[larknm]

I think people really vary on their needs about this. I prefer relying on memory, have no memorabilia,and am glad because when I did I would only look at the things to decide what to keep and go through this ambivalence that didn't feel like a good use of my time. My guideline seems to be, if I don't use it, don't keep it. I really do resent the maintenance and decision-time things take. I miss no old photos or yearbooks. But in my life today is a lot better than yesterday was.

[larknm]

I think people really vary on their needs about this. I prefer relying on memory, have no memorabilia,and am glad because when I did I would only look at the things to decide what to keep and go through this ambivalence that didn't feel like a good use of my time. My guideline seems to be, if I don't use it, don't keep it. I really do resent the maintenance and decision-time things take. I miss no old photos or yearbooks. But my life today is a lot better than yesterday was.

[CeciliaW]

Speaking of memories, I'd just recently shared a picture that said, Sometimes the only thing left is a memory. Make sure it's a good one.

In this morning's email is a letter from a man I dated in high school. 41 years ago.

I'm pretty sure this needs to stay in my 'memories' and not come into this time in my life.

*my brain feels funny*

[fidgiegirl]

Speaking of memories, I'd just recently shared a picture that said, Sometimes the only thing left is a memory. Make sure it's a good one.

In this morning's email is a letter from a man I dated in high school. 41 years ago.

I'm pretty sure this needs to stay in my 'memories' and not come into this time in my life.

*my brain feels funny*

Ooh, yeah, I can see that!! I wouldn't want that to happen, either.

[early morning]

Ok, this may sound strange, but I'm voting for keeping. My mom is 94. For years she has not wanted to look at old photos, yearbooks, etc, but she kept them. Now, nothing brings her greater joy than to go through old photos, yearbooks, letters - and share her memories with us, her children. While she does not always remember what happened yesterday, revisiting her past is happy and comfortable for her and is a way she can connect with her surviving siblings and with visiting children (who are now OLD, lol) of her friends. She can share old photos with people who LOVE having a picture of their Mom/Dad as a child, and they trigger memories otherwise untapped. Hopefully, we will ALL be old someday! :)

[bunnys]

em--I agree. I can't imagine all that stuff takes up that much room, anyway. There is so much other space sucking junk we buy and collect that has no meaning that we need to get rid of.

[saguaro]

Before I moved to my studio apartment, I got rid of all but one of my high-school and college yearbooks. I'd carted them around for decades even though I rarely looked at them -- in fact, most times, they were in the unopened carton from the previous move. But until that apartment, I'd always had somewhere to stash them and not miss the space. I only regret that I didn't think to offer the 'books to the respective schools or Classmates.com or such for the sake of their historical interest in them. But that's not where I was emotionally at the time, so I let it go.


Well I am off work through the end of the year and since I am dedicating my time off to decluttering, so this thread is quite timely.

I had eight yearbooks, four from high school and four from college, sitting in my garage for years. Because that's how far they got when I moved them from my folks' house 10 years ago. Looked through them and just discarded all of the college ones (seriously) and kept two of my high school books from junior and senior year for now. Not sure if I will keep those or not. Also got rid of the "Who's Who Among America's High School Students" book that my Mom insisted I get because I made the book in my senior year. Never ever looked at that book.

Now going through old cards and photos......

[rose]

Ok, this may sound strange, but I'm voting for keeping. My mom is 94. For years she has not wanted to look at old photos, yearbooks, etc, but she kept them. Now, nothing brings her greater joy than to go through old photos, yearbooks, letters - and share her memories with us, her children. While she does not always remember what happened yesterday, revisiting her past is happy and comfortable for her and is a way she can connect with her surviving siblings and with visiting children (who are now OLD, lol) of her friends. She can share old photos with people who LOVE having a picture of their Mom/Dad as a child, and they trigger memories otherwise untapped. Hopefully, we will ALL be old someday! :)

I am glad to hear that someone looks at their albums. My mom didn't and wouldn't let us dig out old pictures when she was alive. My mom's elderly neighbor was tossing photos because she didn't think anyone wanted them. I asked her...."isn't that why we save these pictures so we can look at them when we get older?". She said she wasn't really interested in them so it was easy to toss. Then I ask myself why I keep all my photos and keep taking them. I have albums from trips that no one else would be interested in. Will I look at them when I get old? I hope so! I don't look at them now but I guess I think I'm too busy with other things.

[maryellen]

It's truly a very personal decision and also feeds us on an emotional level, so I think we should take that into account when ruthlessly decluttering. I think that it's a good thing to maintain threads to our past lives - at least the good parts. My solution has been to store things in our file cabinets in folders. I label plastic page protectors for a year or 2 or 3, and then insert the best of the best for that period. No yearbooks in there, but letters, cards, special announcements etc. It really doesn't take up much space in our small house. I keep the larger things like scans of sentimental photographs in a digital format. After about 10 years, I find that I really do re-visit these...possibly because it's a small collection.