How To Distance Yourself from Sentimental Items
When my son was born, I realized I needed to make space for him and his stuff. Unfortunately, the most logical items to give away were my beloved books. This was incredibly hard for me, but I did it slowly. When I use these distancing techniques to talk to myself about this process, I can see the logic much clearer, and so I share this tool with you today with the hopes of giving you some clarity about and distance from those sentimental items.
Sentimental Paperwork
Last week, I went through my papers. For the most part, the minimalist in me won. I got rid of a lot of papers. But then I ran into the cremation bill for my dog Egypt who passed in 2021.
Vision - Decluttering Sentimental Items
My goal is to give you two concrete tools to craft a vision that can guide you in minimizing your home. First, those of us with too many sentimental items are often multidimensional idea people that don’t always have room in our homes and our calendars for all of those ideas. By recognizing that, we can release some of the items, but actively keep the ideas. Second, sometimes our visions compete, and when they do we can often find solutions that can allow us to maintain those visions.
Minimizing Sentimental Items
Here is where the problem came in — everything made me feel a deep joy — but some of my treasured mementos had to go.
Joy, for me, is in so many items I own. But the joy that I really need is the joy that will move my vision ahead.
Grandma’s Sweater
This means Grandma’s Sweater made it through 10 years of intentional decluttering. For 10 years Grandma’s Sweater lived in a closet with its tags still in tact while all sorts of items around it were re-homed.
Trinkets & Chachkies
If you come to my house and leave “garbage” it might end up displayed on my bookcase…like the pistachio my best friend left in the medicine cabinet.
Organizing & Minimizing Stuff from People I Love & Miss
I really struggle to give away items that have some sentimental value to me.
Organizing: How to keep stuff.
Am I keeping this items for love or for function? These are two basic reasons I keep items in my home — it makes my life better or it makes me feel good.