Dealing with Sentimental Items

I find it really difficult to get rid of particular “sentimental” items. In particular things that use to belong to family members and were passed on to me. I think it is fine to keep some sentimental items that are useful or bring joy, but I realized if they were simply boxed up or put away they were doing neither of these things. A particular example is a vase that belonged to my granny. I used to see it on her pelmet when I visited her as a child and thought it the most beautiful vase in the world. She graciously passed it on to me, but as an adult it was perhaps more the lovely memory than the actual item that made me happy. It sat at the back of the cupboard for ages before I realized I needed to get it out and actually use it for it to be worth hanging on to for many more years.

The blogosphere has various suggestions for dealing with sentimental items:

1. “Upcyle” items to make them more useful. Some examples are making fabric items into a teddy bear, quilt or cushion cover so that they can have a new life. I have some lovely old (and chipped beyond use!) china pieces which I hope to turn into a mosaic tray.
2. Choose one of a collection to keep rather than keeping the whole collection. This may be a bit tricky, but if you can hone down to just a few really beautiful or memorable pieces and sell or give away the rest it may mean you appreciate more what you do choose to keep. I may need to do this with my teddy bear collection!
3. Take a photograph and don’t keep the actual item. If it is just the memory that is significant, then in theory a picture should do just as well as the real thing! I am not convinced this will always work, but I think keeping a journal or brief note with the photo is helpful as a way of treasuring the memory associated with an item. Where this will work well however is all those children’s art pieces that are too big or awkwardly shaped to keep successfully.
4. Give the item to someone else who will love it. Perhaps another family member would appreciate the item more fully or someone you know would love it and find it useful. Knowing that your treasure is going to a good home may make it easier to part with it. I needed to do this with baby items I was hanging on to for sentimental reasons.
5. Limit yourself to a memory box. If you choose a limited space in which to keep sentimental items and then review your box regularly and update what you choose to keep, this may be an effective way to keep on top of nostalgia. One of my 2016 projects is to collect up all the paperwork that I am keeping for sentimental reasons (cards, photographs, children’s pictures, reports) and create a memory box with file folders for each year. That way I can keep everything in one place a limit the collection to a box.

It may be necessary to go through sentimental items more than once. You may possibly find that some items and photographs actually grow less significant with time. You may also need to think through your attachment to specific items and work through them when you feel less emotional about the memories associated with them.

What type of sentimental items do you find hard to let go of? How can you enjoy your sentimental items more often?