Any t-shirts, blankets, other cloth things I am having made into a quilt.

For the 2D stuff, I’d have them high-res scanned.

You may just want to frame or shadow box some of it and display it … if you like it, that is …

A great question to ask when clearing sentimental clutter: “Does this item lift my energy? Does it make me feel really, really good when I hold it and look at it?” You’d be amazed how many “mementoes” actually do the opposite! Chuck ‘em.

Mash this up with the post you had on decluttering your closet … take pictures of all the clothes you don’t think you’ll use, and keep the pictures in your closet in a little folder or album – but the clothes go in a box elsewhere.

Anytime you actually go get a piece of clothing out of the box, remove the picture from the album. After 6 months, give the box (but not the album, if you don’t want) away.

That way, you don’t just ‘forget’ about clothes, they’re honestly ones you had the option to wear but didn’t, and you immediately gain space in your closet!

Flash forward to two months ago. I was visiting a hospital as part of my clinicals as a student nurse. I recognized one of the nurses, but couldn’t place her. It was driving me crazy. We started talking, and one of the first things out of her mouth was, “You used to live in the dorm right across from us, 25 years ago.” You guessed it. She was in the picture that I threw out. I should have scanned it. I still have it on my todo list to look through my negatives and see if I can resurrect it (I think that day of uncluttered was spent in front of a shredder). To make matters worse, her old boyfriend, that she never fully got over, was in the picture as well, and she wanted to see the picture.

Having said all of this, I agree totally with this tip for uncluttering. I have taken many, many pictures of silly things that didn’t make sense for me to keep around, especially when I know that they could be better used by someone else. Things like blankets, clothes, furniture, appliances, tools. Things that I have memories with, but when I really analyze it, it isn’t THAT burning of a sentimental connection. It just has things associated with it. But it’s just a thing.

I do have certain items that I will keep. Like the person above that talked about the statistics book on the shelf. For me, it is a small, homely wooden box that I made with my own hands as a 10 or 12 year old kid. It’s worthless to anyone– even me. But it represents my childhood, and strong memories of wanting to be independent and to make something completely by myself. I did it myself. Start to finish.

This decluttering tip has been very valuable to me. As another reader commented, I don’t think it was ever intended to mean to replace everything with a picture. It prompts us to realize that some things really aren’t about the thing itself, but just memories that we have associated with it. A picture will, in many cases, more than suffice. I’ve even found myself near the point of deleting a picture of some thing that I previously got rid of after taking a picture, as I had realized how little sentimental value it really had to me, and how much more free my life was without the bulk of the item. Turns out, I was really only keeping it out of habit.

We inherited a bunch of stuff when DH’s dad died, and took some items from his first job and had them mounted in a shadow box. We also realized we didn’t need to keep ALL the stuff to keep the memory of him, and that it was not a violation of his life to pass on some items. For me, a watch and a Swiss Army knife FIL gave me are my special items I treasure; that’s sufficient.

I don’t entirely agree with this. I DO agree with inviting someone over to help, but just because a person has trouble getting rid of their own items (”hoard” is a loaded word in this context) doesn’t mean that they can’t help you go through yours. I know this from personal experience, because I am a pack rat and it is very difficult for me to go through my junk and throw stuff out; however, I found that I am pretty good at helping other people go through their stuff. Other people’s stuff isn’t sentimental or meaningful to me, so I can look at it much more objectively.

If photos are of a known building, or location, or group, then they’ll probably be greatly appreciated. If they’re a complete cipher, you may be disappointed.

Also, to Mel – what about making a quilt out of them? A quick google search shows me that many quilt stores offer this as a service, if you’re not a quilter.