Sentimental Items: What to Keep?

What is the secret to downsizing keepsakes if you have accumulated a significant collection over the years? Or maybe you have young children and you are overwhelmed by artwork and other sentimental pieces that you are keeping for the future?

Photo by Alvaro Serrano

Christy King of The Simple White Rabbit writes a most helpful guide to minimising sentimental items in her article "Minimalist Keepsakes". She says:

"The key is to keep only mementos that are meaningful for us and for future generations." 

The more sentimental items we keep, the less significant each item can become as it gets lost in the mass of other things. Christy points out that it may take multiple reviews of sentimental items to gradually pick out what is most important to keep.One long session of looking through keepsakes may be overwhelming and a few shorter sessions more regularly may be a more effective approach. Also, over time we may become less attached to some items as our lives move on.

I have found that a very helpful way to keep on top of mementos is to have a box or a few boxes that act as physical limits on what can be kept. If, like me, you have even forgotten what is in the box, it may be time to reconsider what you are keeping!

A helpful way to organise children's keepsakes is to use a large plastic box that is filled with hanging files (or plastic enevelope-style folders), one for each year. Each year you and your child can pick a few meaningful artworks, a writing sample, any certificates that are important and an end of year school report. The folders will act as a limit on what can be kept each year. If you have a collection of 3D artworks then a photograph with the date on it may be a helpful way to keep memories of the various projects rather than needing to keep the physical objects.

Another helpful list of suggestions can be found on Andrea Dekker's blog in her post "Seven Ideas to Sort Through Sentimental Stuff". She describes ways to use and display your sentimental stuff so that it is not stuck in a box!

Some more suggestions for dealing with sentimental items can be found in my previous post by clicking here.

What are some of your ideas about keeping sentimental items? Please share your tips for keeping mementos and keepsakes under control.