Displaying Sentimental Items

[Teacher Terry]

I made a shadowbox of my Dad's items from when he was a city councilman and gave it to my oldest son.

 

[CaptTom]

I tend to keep more stuff than I should, but I'm doing better. I'm at the point where I'll ask myself "Do I really want my kids to have to throw this away someday, or should I just do it now?" That helps a lot when choosing which category things are in.

Sometimes I worry that stupid little things I hang onto will cause my kids to feel bad about throwing them away, thinking they "meant something" to me. Not really. Keep the memories. The junk can go in the trash.

 

[W2R]

I tend to keep more stuff than I should, but I'm doing better. I'm at the point where I'll ask myself "Do I really want my kids to have to throw this away someday, or should I just do it now?" That helps a lot when choosing which category things are in.

Sometimes I worry that stupid little things I hang onto will cause my kids to feel bad about throwing them away, thinking they "meant something" to me. Not really. Keep the memories. The junk can go in the trash.

+10,000

I spent 3 hours this afternoon getting rid of various things. Things that I felt I needed or were dear to me years ago, just aren't any more. I threw out my PhD prelims and college transcripts and research stuff, and old Christmas cards from family members that had nothing written on them except for a signature. While I was at it, I threw out (or will take to the shredding company) paper bills from 1996-2015, and tax materials from 1996-2010. If anybody decides they need any of that old paperwork, then too bad.

Feels good, like a boulder off my chest.

I think many humans just keep way too much stuff, or at least I do.

 

[Katsmeow]

Picture attached, somewhat obscured by the reflections on the "glass" front. Most of the things belonged to my parents and evoke happy memories of them.

That is lovely. That is a great idea.

I have a bookcase in my dining room and 3 shelves have books and 3 have pictures and sentimental items.

We are big on bookshelves and something like that might work.

We've done some fun things with Shadow Box picture frames. They are deep and have glass, and we have a few of my dad's fishing lures in one.

I like the Shadow Box idea also for some of the smaller items. I did look up greeting cards and displays and that is how I found the pic of the gutters holding the cards which was incredibly cool looking.

I am actually meeting with an interior designer next week about various issues (especially the bathroom remodel) but I am going to ask her about this issue also.

 

[brucethebroker]

Many people want to give stuff away to loved ones, but wind up moving their basement stuff to others basements.

My mother died when I was young. When in college, my great aunt (mother's side) put together a photo album of my Mom as a child, teen, young bride and mother. Auntie gave it to me, and it is a treasured possession, since I never received any photos from my dad. If I had been given a shoe box of photos instead, who knows where it would have ended up? The album is easy to store, and easy to pull out when nostalgic.

Nearly 50 years later, I still think of my late Aunt when flipping through the album. What a great gift.