Ah, Memories!
Downsizing your keepsakes is no small task. Many of us save pictures, letters, cards, souvenirs, and other items that remind us of happy times. I am no different. I love looking through them as well. While I have most of my memorabilia organized, I still had too much. Now that I am downsizing, I needed to downsize those mementos as well.
Recently, I emptied three boxes of keepsakes. As I sorted through them and I divided them into four categories: “Keep,” “Throw away,” “Think about” and “Pass it on.” The “Keep” pile included letters and cards my loved ones have given me over the course of my life. The “Throw Away” pile contained cards and other items that I no longer had a connection with. In that pile went things that made me think, “Why did I keep that for so long?” Anything that I could not decide what to do with went into the “Think about” pile. I went through this pile again after I finished sorting everything else. Sorting it a second time helped me decide whether I was going to keep the items or not. Finally, anything that I was keeping for others – my children — went into the “Pass it on” pile. I did not feel comfortable throwing away any of their memories, so I passed on those items to them. That way they could decide for themselves what they wanted to keep. I also am planning to return letters written by friends when they were having their children. I think they will enjoy reliving those days.
Those three boxes of memorabilia are now empty. What I kept I put into a smaller container. My photographs are in either albums or in some storage container. My mementos are now ready to be packed up and move with me.