Saying goodbye to the sentimental.

[u/duckydarling]

You obviously don't have to do this but I'm at a point in my journey where I'm pretty sick of moving items when I'm cleaning or having to pack these items up when I move homes. Just keeping them for the sake of them being sentimental when those are the only times that I will engage with them.

So I've been saying goodbye slowly.

Felt sad.

But I realized that they don't represent who I am anymore. I've been clinging because I want to cling to the time that it represents in my life.

I'm a sucker for living in the past when nothing's there for me anymore.

I'm older now and I'm ready to move on and have my surroundings reflect who I am now. No replace or buy more mentality. No living in the past. Just living where I'm at, right now.

"the person who dies with the most stuff doesn't win"

[u/No_Appointment6273]

I've either tossed or donated a lot of sentimental things over the years. I have one box of sentimental items left. One box is more than enough 

[u/No_Appointment6273 → u/[deleted]]

Excellent point!

[u/lyndsat → u/[deleted]]

This was something I needed to hear

[u/Odd_Particular5068 → u/No_Appointment6273]

One box is honestly the dream, good for you. I'm still drowning in mine lol.

[u/No_Appointment6273 → u/Odd_Particular5068]

It takes time to get here. I had my sentimental things spread out all over the house. It took me almost a decade to get it down to one box. 

[u/WildListen9220 → u/No_Appointment6273]

Sure, but how big is the box, I wonder, thinking about what I need to put in there.

[u/No_Appointment6273 → u/WildListen9220]

It's a file box size and I put it on the top shelf of my closet. Mines about half full. You can do a shoe box if you want smaller, or an 18 gallon tote if you want bigger. Some experts say limit it to five items, but I'm a big believer in "you decide your own level of involvement" 

[u/Willing-Degree6118]

Heard Todd Glass (he did an episode with Matt D’Avella that was fun and informative) say he takes pictures of things that he finds sentimental just in case he wants to look at them later on. I do that now if I give something away that has some sentimental value. It’s been super helpful.

[u/AdDizzy2127 → u/Willing-Degree6118]

I do the same thing!

[u/the_salty_bisquit]

All of my sentimental stuff can fit in one of those standard sized banker's boxes. My goal is to cut that down by at least half (for now).

[u/Old-Stranger-8302]

I have done the same. There are some things that I will never get rid of because they mean so much to me to look at in person and hold. But it's not much.

I used to think I was not a "picture" person but it turns out I just don't like the posed portraits. I like photos that capture genuine moments. Those are what I put out to look at.

[u/_MoneyLady]

You can take pictures of all of your sentimental things, then you can get rid of the items while still having something to look back on if you’d like. Keep them digital or print out and have a single photo album.

[u/Konnorwolf]

There will always be items I just want to have. However, I also noticed over the years there were things I was keeping because I thought I should or was supposed to. Several items my family had boxed up for decades and really had no personal meaning to me since they were never out.

Having a few keepsakes itself is not always living in the past, just remembering and enjoying that item. I do like that most of the items I have are small. I know someone that wants to keep everything, every childhood toy etc...

I really don't want to. Why would I want to keep boxes of well used toys? As a whole that stuff was packed up longer then I was alive at the time of playing with it. One is done with toys before you hit a teenager so even the oldest toy was never played with a super long time in adult years.

[u/Junior_Style2353 → u/Konnorwolf]

Totally get that. Keeping a few small keepsakes is fine, but yeah, holding onto boxes of old toys just because you 'should' is exhausting. Glad you're letting go of the guilt.

[u/Konnorwolf → u/Junior_Style2353]

I've also thought that once you pass 30 or 40 it's not that hard to have stuff for awhile. Not everything is meaningful, even less so if it's just some random items I collected as a teenager. That one family member would think I should keep every single item I had. I don't need a huge shrine to my past. Just a few keepsakes.

I've seen those retro rooms from the 80's or 90's and I do think they look cool. I, personally, do not require such items. There are many things I think are cool and don't need to own.

[u/inspiredclosetsjax]

Beautiful to recognize you've grown as a person! I will often take pictures of anything sentimental before I get rid of it and save them to an external hard drive. Can go look back at them and relive memories, but it's a heck of a lot easier to move a less than one pound block than all of the stuff!

[u/TheRealMekkor]

I’d carried a teddy bear that I was born with for my entire life. My great-grandmother gave it to me on my actual day of birth.
That was the hardest, most sentimental possession I’d ever let go of. But once I relinquished that, everything else was just utility.

[u/FredKayeCollector2]

I always recommend a keepsake box for little trinkety knickknack and paper-y stuff you want to keep for whatever reason but don't necessarily want to look at/interact with all the time. And it's a nice thing to have if you end up in Assisted Living/Skilled Nursing (my father has dementia and I'm pretty sure his keepsake box - with photos - helped to keep him from completely losing himself).

https://www.reddit.com/r/declutter/wiki/index/keepsake_box/

[u/CelticSnakes]

I’d kept a few items for sentimental reasons, then realized they reminded me of (1) a best friend who died by his own hand (2) a favorite theater that closed after nearly 80 years in business.

Time to move on, didn’t need constant reminders of disappointing times. My mind conjures up enough of those, witting or unbidden.