If you’ve read any of my other posts, you may know that decluttering sentimental items is a hot issue for me. I understand more now about why and how I would pare these things down; — I lived it for a while without knowing this, and it is immensely helpful to have the empowering knowledge as I work my way through things so that I can honestly do my best at it.
We Keep to Remember
First off, we try to keep everything because we want to remember, its a nostalgic sort of thing. We love the item when we get it, all the way to when it’s sitting in a pile of the other overwhelming similar hand-made or dear items.
Just remember though, if the item is stowed away in a box in your basement or the attic, then just how much are you really able to enjoy this item? Are you getting to remember the person or experience like you really wanted to?
Most people don’t take the time to consider this, but being more mindful of the effect of keeping too much stuff can wake you up to keep just a more curated set of things you truly can cherish, take care of, and appreciate.
The Perils of Keeping All Your Sentimental Items
Its Hard to Enjoy Something if you Keep Everything
This lends itself to the first problem. That is, if we keep too much stuff, eventually it ends up becoming an issue of having too much to enjoy and appreciate it.
Even worse, then, the items all sit in a pile together, not getting any attention and yet causing us stress at the same time. That when all of this was initially being held onto for love.
It Becomes a Neglected Source of Stress
So now instead of trying to keep everything, I’ve become more of a curator. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m still not the mom that can throw away a diorama the night it comes home graded, — I enjoy it out for a bit, then take a photo, then can proceed to let go.
I am not the quickest to let go.
Ways to Handle Decluttering Sentimental Items
Stay Fresh
I also still have to really work to get rid of things. Because of this, I always like to make sure I’m fresh to go through sentimental items. This is important to me because if I’m not fresh, I’m more likely to hold onto more of it. This just ultimately leads to me keeping more than I should and means I’ll have to go through the pile again.
Keep Decluttering Sessions Short
I also keep the sessions short. I use the Pomodoro technique and set a timer. This really motivates me because it’s a short enough time for me to go through things, but still allows me to make progress. If I think a session won’t end soon enough, I get a little down on the whole activity.
Curate & Reduce
I sort the items into like item piles, then work from there. I see if there’s a way I can keep the best of each as I work through a batch. If the items are all not alike, I’ll still challenge myself to get rid of around 50% of the items. If I come back fresh later to do another round like this – win – win!
Digitize
Don’t go overboard on this, because if you do, you’ll just be swapping your your clutter for digital clutter and have the same sort of overwhelm and stress issues, just in the digital realm. If you think you want to get rid of something, but aren’t quite sure, consider taking a picture of it.
Be sure to plan to store your photos in an organized fashion so that you will be able to make sense of it and still find something should you desire to do so in the future.
This new understanding of curating these items has helped me to pare down my collection them, and yet I realize I probably still keep too much. I’m still working on this ability, but opening my eyes to the fact that the very things that caused joy in the first place would be causing stress in a pile that I don’t really break into to enjoy anymore has helped me in many ways to reduce them down into what I am able to appreciate.
