sentimental clutter - what to do with?

carolt · 9 March 2007 at 10:35PM

I urgently need to declutter as 8 month old son still sleeping in our room as his room full of boxes of 'stuff'.

Trouble is (aside from filing 7 years worth of stuff, boxes and boxes of 'to ebay' stuff etc, there is loads and loads of sentimentally charged stuff don't know how to sort out/dispose of. For example children's pictures/artefacts made at school and elsewhere - whilst I can now reluctantly bring myself to throw away odd scribble, they produce reams and reams of lovely pictures and endless junk modelling, candleholders etc - does everyone else keep all of these?

If so, how and where?

If not, how do they choose?

Any tips on sorting out/organising/disposing of sentimental 'clutter? You see, the problem is I'd really like to keep all of it, if only I had the room....;)

pavlovs_dog · 9 March 2007 at 10:42PM

put what you can into albums/scrapbooks.

bigger stuff, photograph and then dispose of. sometimes you just have to be ruthless - your son is going to need a room of his own

whilst it is just sat in the spare room out of sight and mind, its not serving much sentamental purpose anyway.

Lorian · 9 March 2007 at 10:49PM

carolt wrote: »

they produce reams and reams of lovely pictures and endless junk modelling, candleholders etc - does everyone else keep all of these?

I just keep the best few bits each year, and have a box for it. Other than that my first boss, god rest his soul, had some words of wisdom that have helped me ajust to be a clutter free person.

"If you haven't looked at it or used it in the last 6 months and you won't in the next 6 months then dispose of it".

He also said never buy a horse.

Justie · 9 March 2007 at 11:16PM

keep some bits and take photos of the rest - you'll have a lifetime of sentimental things and you can't keep them all but there are ways now of being able to remember and enjoy them without them taking up too much space.

onredbull · 10 March 2007 at 1:38AM

carolt wrote: »

I urgently need to declutter as 8 month old son still sleeping in our room as his room full of boxes of 'stuff'.

Trouble is (aside from filing 7 years worth of stuff, boxes and boxes of 'to ebay' stuff etc, there is loads and loads of sentimentally charged stuff don't know how to sort out/dispose of. For example children's pictures/artefacts made at school and elsewhere - whilst I can now reluctantly bring myself to throw away odd scribble, they produce reams and reams of lovely pictures and endless junk modelling, candleholders etc - does everyone else keep all of these?

If so, how and where?

If not, how do they choose?

Any tips on sorting out/organising/disposing of sentimental 'clutter? You see, the problem is I'd really like to keep all of it, if only I had the room....;)

Hiya carolt,

I went through similar this week - as last week end there was a thread started "Enough is Enough" and a few people included myself have said what they need to de-clutter in there house, what rooms need to be done & sorted ect and then others have offered advise and possible solutions to help.

I have been trying to start for months and during last week end i decided to sort out my 3 shoe boxes of photographs and dozen albums.

Firstly i checked negatives and then shredded them all.
Then i took out all the photos of people & things i didnt know and threw away(Probably taken while drunk)
Then took out all duplicate & Very similar and threw away
Then took out photos i didnt want and i am left with a smallish pile on table to go through again soon as i probably missed some.

This took all day sat and i was annoyed that i had done nothing during week end but it was a small step for me to take to get myself motivated and it worked. Monday i went through son's pictures/scribbles/paintings - He is only just 4 and i had 3 carrier bags full saved and managed to condense and cram into 1 carrier bag.

I advise you to get 1 lot of things - picture, photos,books, cds,clothes - whatever you choose to do but only sort through that first and enjoy it.

IF ON THE OTHER HAND YOU CANT BRING YOURSELF TO THROW OUT ALL THOSE DRAWINGS & PICTURE :undecided,

:think:

AND HAVE NO FAMILY & FRIENDS YOUR CHILDREN CAN GIVE TO:idea:,

:think:

AND NONE OF YOUR FRIENDS WILL COME OVER AND HELP :grouphug:,

:think: :think: :think: :think: :think: :think:

THERE IS ONLY 1 THING YOU CAN DO - AND THAT'S KEEP THEM !!!!

USE THEM AS WALL PAPER AND DECORATE YOUR BATHROOM OR HALL OR IF YOUR NOT THAT BRAVE - TRY THE GARAGE !!!!!!

Hope the first bit helps and good luck.

mumoftwo · 10 March 2007 at 10:27AM

Make a memory box, buy a storage box (plastic or B&Q do nice square pine ones) or I got a banana box from Asda) decorate it, or get kids to do it. And throw stuff in

And tell yourself one box only... first I kept all their workbooks, paintings etc, I have thinned it out to a few. A few favourite toys, paintings. I have framed one or two special "artworks", Kids have pinboards in their rooms, they are so proud to display their stuff and a few photos. And I have started scrapbooking. Or move to a bigger house!!!

the_optimist · 10 March 2007 at 10:35AM

When my kids were born I started a memory album for each, adding each year a couple of photos and also some drwaings or pieces of writing (including the first tooth they lost!). When they were 18 they got it as a birthday present.
I also kept a few other things from their school days, including some bits from my school days. They are all in a box tucked away. Once every few years I tidy up that cupboard and when I get to that box I spend a lovely time looking at the stuff. Then it gets tucked away again for another year or two (and I carry on tidying up the rest)

ailuro2 · 10 March 2007 at 10:36AM

I too keep a few of the best things,and a couple of school works from each year.Our previous childminder kept everything her kids ever made, and she stored it in the loft, in cupboards, and even under the floorboards.A bit extreme I thought.

I always wondered what was her first priority- keeping her kids 'makes' or not having her house stuffed to the brim with flammable materials.:eek:

I agree with taking photgraphs, and perhaps a collage of his best pieces on the wall of his new room?

Nicki · 10 March 2007 at 8:44PM

With pics, you could also scan them and keep them on cd rom and throw the originals away?

anniebooklover · 10 March 2007 at 9:20PM

I kept EVERYTHING my DS and DD ever drew or gave me for Mother's Day, birthday, Christmas, etc. When XDH and I split up we looked at everything including DS and DD's works of art.

Even DS and DD asked us why we had kept absolutely everything as they were more than happy to get rid of 80% of it.

Don't feel guilty. Keep one or two things from each year that they are at school. The important thing is to date it. If your children can actually date their drawing to a time in their life it will mean so much more to them. If you like, keep some of their drawings, paintings, calendars, etc just for you. Take photos of the things that REALLY mean something to you. Get the children to pose with it if it means that much to you.

If I can add just one thing - tape your children talking when they are young. They will absolutely love hearing themselves talk when they were babies. My DS and DD love to hear the way they sounded when they were just babies and toddlers. Videotape or DVD is even better. Of course most families have DVD cameras these days. Just remember to save it!

carolt · 10 March 2007 at 10:03PM

Some really good tips - you are all much more ruthless than me, but I know I need to learn....

onredbull - unfortunately, your photo organising wouldn't work for us, as we have 3 kids, oldest age 7, and husband is ex-photographer - so a LOT of photographs - we did start sorting them out before ds was born because NONE of them were in albums but got as far as sorting them into 6 (!) full shoebox type boxes, binning the rubbish ones etc. And that's not counting the probably thousands more on the computer only, that were taken in digital format and we (probably mercifully) never got hard copies of. Wish dh would take slightly fewer photos sometimes, but that's what he's like.

Idea for memory box a good one - we did buy portfolios for dd's but already filled 2 each! and don't cover anything but artwork. Wish I'd been more disciplined with dating stuff - I agree it's more meaningful to look at picture if you know who did it and when done - not even named stuff - at the moment think I'd know who did what by context (and they often write names on them helps too!) but not always, and probably would be likely to forget.

Did try to look at existing thread on decluttering but it got too long for me to keep up with and I was busy decluttering other (non-sentimental) stuff eg filing etc.....

Any tips on motivation?

Completely overwhelmed :eek: by size of task in front of me - have to plough on as drowning in clutter, son needs a room - but also needs a mummy who has some time to spend with him now (and who would much rather be playing with smiling little one than reducing rubbish pile....).

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sentimental clutter - what to do with?

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