How To Get Rid of Sentimental Items?

[easysurfer]

The best advice I got was to take a picture of it, then give it away.

I haven't gotten to the point to giving away most stuff, but have taken pictures and given some away. For of a memories folder on my computer. Surely does save on storage space .

 

[Music Lover]

Myself and siblings bought my mother a good quality scanner a few years ago. She used it to digitize a lot of her old photographs (thousands), made backups, and then offered the old photos to her siblings. No one wanted them, but a couple of them did want a DVD of the digitized photos.

 

[Earl E Retyre]

Myself and siblings bought my mother a good quality scanner a few years ago. She used it to digitize a lot of her old photographs (thousands), made backups, and then offered the old photos to her siblings. No one wanted them, but a couple of them did want a DVD of the digitized photos.

That is basically my plan. We have 4 boxes full of old pictures that we have moved from house to house. We hardly ever look at them as they are stored away in a closet. It is clutter. And eventually the pictures will degrade anyway. So I ran an experiment last week and scanned one and projected it to the TV and it looks pretty good. I then experimented with windows Movie Maker and learned that I can easily make a slideshow, add text to each picture if I want, add music as background if I want and store it all in a tiny USB. So I have a project on my todo list to do this with all the photos. Then we can finally destroy all those old boxes and get rid of more clutter. We will probably view them more often since they are easier to view. And the pictures will be preserved since they are digital. I can also make a copy for anyone else in the family if they want it. Ticks off lots of boxes. I also have a ton of digital photos and some videos that I am going to consolidate into movie maker slideshows.

 

[FIREmenow]

So I ran an experiment last week and scanned one and projected it to the TV and it looks pretty good. I then experimented with windows Movie Maker and learned that I can easily make a slideshow, add text to each picture if I want, add music as background if I want and ..........

LOL! Hope you're already retired!!! That is a *HUGE* time-suck! (ask me how I know). It always sounds great thinking about it......

We decided it was WELL WORTH the $50 per 1000 photos or whatever, Groupon, to ship them off and have someone else send us back a CD-ROM. Worked well so far.

 

[Earl E Retyre]

LOL! Hope you're already retired!!! That is a *HUGE* time-suck! (ask me how I know). It always sounds great thinking about it......

We decided it was WELL WORTH the $50 per 1000 photos or whatever, Groupon, to ship them off and have someone else send us back a CD-ROM. Worked well so far.

Funny you say this. I am seriously considering making next month the last month of work. And so I started making my to-do list. I realize this will be a time suck. But I will have the time. And, it could potentially be fun. I actually did not realize that it would only cost $50 for 1000 photos. So, if the fun wanes early on, then groupon it is.

 

[marko]

Many of my sentimental items belonged to my grandparents who were the most unsentimental people on the planet. (Cranky old New England Yankees)

We now live in their old home and sometimes when I think about throwing something out, I envision them saying "Get rid of it! It's nothing but junk! What are you holding onto that for?! What are you, some kind of loser??" Which they certainly would say if they were still alive.

Then I throw it out.

 

[H2ODude]

I keep intending to do the photo'ing of stuff that is meaningful then pitching it. Like my box that has framed degrees sitting in my office for last 5 years since retirement. I really could go for a major decluttering (we really don't have THAT much but there is stuff I do NOT want our kids to have to deal with, or for that matter me/DW when it comes time to leave the single family home). Problem is stuff like china we will never use but was her mother's. That, and what I'd call just plain "stuff" that really isn't taking up that much space now but has not much meaning. I'd like more of a minimalist look (well, except in my garage).

 

[John Galt III]

Whenever I'm decluttering, if I come across some stuff I know I should get rid of, but don't want to, I allow myself the luxury of getting rid of just some of it, like 20 %, and leaving the rest for a future toss date.

 

[easysurfer]

Whenever I'm decluttering, if I come across some stuff I know I should get rid of, but don't want to, I allow myself the luxury of getting rid of just some of it, like 20 %, and leaving the rest for a future toss date.

I know where you are coming from. I've finally decided, in my effort to declutter this year, to part with my old Sony Mavica camera, which uses floppy disks. Since the battery no longer works and I kept more for nostalgia (this model was one fo the first digitals that ushered in digital pictures revolution) than functionality or value. A side benefit is I can then also get rid of about 60 blank floppy disks I have.

Oh, next year, I can get rid of my external floppy drive. Well, or maybe not .

 

[John Galt III]

I know where you are coming from. I've finally decided, in my effort to declutter this year, to part with my old Sony Mavica camera, which uses floppy disks. Since the battery no longer works and I kept more for nostalgia (this model was one fo the first digitals that ushered in digital pictures revolution) than functionality or value. A side benefit is I can then also get rid of about 60 blank floppy disks I have.

Oh, next year, I can get rid of my external floppy drive. Well, or maybe not .

No, No! Keep the floppy drive reader! And I hope you find a good home for the camera.

 

[easysurfer]

No, No! Keep the floppy drive reader! And I hope you find a good home for the camera.

That camera was great in the early days for taking pictures for selling stuff on ebay.

The weakest link is the battery as doesn't justify keeping and not using and letting the batteries die.

 

[RetiredGypsy]

Sentimental items to me are external storage of memories and emotions. You can go about your life, and when you see that item, it triggers whatever memories you have associated with it.

After time, it seems the strength of that association depletes. At some point, it just becomes an item. The emotions are gone, but the habit of needing to see the item remains. The focus changes.

I've found in getting rid of these items, I can internalize these memories and emotions again. They come up in the quiet moments of life, reading or star gazing or whenever, those times the mind isn't preoccupied with the things that need to be done.

 

[easysurfer]

Sentimental items to me are external storage of memories and emotions. You can go about your life, and when you see that item, it triggers whatever memories you have associated with it.

After time, it seems the strength of that association depletes. At some point, it just becomes an item. The emotions are gone, but the habit of needing to see the item remains. The focus changes.

I've found in getting rid of these items, I can internalize these memories and emotions again. They come up in the quiet moments of life, reading or star gazing or whenever, those times the mind isn't preoccupied with the things that need to be done.

I think where photographs come in handy is to remind us of the items. Otherwise, too easy for out of sight, out of mind.