Do you hold onto sentimental objects?

Some I do, but only a few extra special pieces. If I saved, for example, every birthday card and picture my kids drew, well, I would soon need a whole room to store it all in. I'd never have the time to look at all of it again, so only keep the extra-special pieces.

by Sarah Bell

yes, but I'm getting less sentimental as I age - it's all just stuff and junk cluttering up the place now...

by Lydia C. Lee

I'm thinking along the same lines.

I'm thinking along the same lines.

Yes I do.

Can't help myself, but at some time I may need to have a slight clean out.

by jonaja

Yes I do and I honestly love them.
Recently I planned a clean up of my treasure chest.
My boys are now grown men and I still have their first drawings.
I had a day of joyful tears looking thorough my treasures.
To see how their thought patterns changed over their school years was very enlightening.
Not much has left the treasure chest.

My older son thinks I should seriously clear it all out.
However that changed a month ago when his little girl started daycare .
Yes she brought home her first drawing and the cycle starts.

by Zen

I used to hang on to all this sort of thing for several years until two of my children died....I then realised that keeping all these other small momentos was for me a waste of time, and not so important. It made me understand what IS important.

I now mostly only keep from my children, and had real problems getting rid of my daughter's things including deb dress etc.

I am inherently however, a collector! I collect other old things but apart from old things from my parents, there is no sentimentality attached.

by Finy

I have a box full of sentimental 'stuff'. I make sure it's secret and nobody is allowed to touch it!

by Matteo Lor

I used to but then I realised that the value isn't in the object it is in the memory that I have attached to the object. Then I realised I actually don't need the object because I have the memory and that will never fade. In fact the memory is even better because it is not one dimensional, it is multi-faceted and it is uniquely mine.

by Shelley Murphy

I am in agreement with you Shelley, but I have a terrible memory and the pieces I keep help to remind me.

Mum passed on aged 95. Dad was 80 when he went. I inherited every birthday card Dad had given Mum, each one incorporating a rose theme. There are also the invitations to all the weddings she attended, funeral services etc etc. Any suggestions?
I have photographed most of my children's artistic endeavours before recycling them. I did the same with their soft toys before donating them.
Some items I have donated to museums or archives eg old (very old) uni and school magazines.
I'm trying to be tough on myself, but it is quite difficult.

by grann

I don't hold on to many things. Only pictures and videos.

by dwatk

I keep some items of sentimental value. I am more likely to keep a hand made card than one bought at the shops. I kept a few toys from my boys' childhood but now they are adults I have given them the option of keeping them or not. I have some letters from my Mum's memory box which i am holding onto because of their age. It can be difficult to decide what to keep as i also believe in de-cluttering.

by Marie Vonow

Most definitely!
Still have all my 'stuff' from School Bus Trips to Melbourne & Snowy Mtns in late '60's!
I'm a 'hoarder', as anything I own means much to me!
I've a 'collection' of 50 years' of life very meaningful to ME! And I love it all!

by donjo

Wow! Where do you fit it all?

Hi Vee! Unfortunately, I've had to move from a huge house to one FIVE times smaller! So have stuff everywhere plus in storage. This house I'm now in has NO cupboards at all. Except two in a postage-stamp sized kitchen. I can't unpack storage cartons because there's NOWHERE to put their contents!
I moved in here because every door & window has security grilles, & I'm really 'thingy' about my security. I'm better off than many persons', I've a roof over my head, & for that I'm very grateful. I've a beautiful Siamese cat, who came from a foster home, where the other animals' 'harassed' him & ate his food. He was, because of that, so very thin when I got him a year ago. He's now a 'normal' looking cat & is THE biggest smoochie under the sun! Very intelligent, follows me like a dog, is an excellent 'watch cat', & understands all that I say to him! We've great 'conversations'!
Cheers& thank you.........

Sounds like my kind of cat, donjo. Also, told my husband about your collection. He is very impressed! Does it bother you that you can't readily access all of it, and do you ever go through your stuff? He collects things too, and it often bums him out that most of his stuff isn't readily accessible.

Thanks again for sharing. :)

Yes - when my son was little he was a great little artist and I have kept (and framed) some of his really good drawings. As a grown man he is still an excellent artist and, in fact, is also a life model (in between careers as a geologist and registered nurse).
I also have my father's war medals (including a DFM) - he was a navigator in the Royal Air Force and his plane was shot down when I was 6 weeks old, so I never really knew him.
My most precious possession is my late husband's signet ring which I now wear all the time.

by norma

Wow norma, thank you for sharing.

Thanks again Vee.