14 Oct 2012

Keep or Chuck

Who has ever had to move house?

Who has ever had to go through the painful and mind-numbing-ly boring job of packing?

Who has ever had a conundrum of what to keep and what to chuck?

If you answered yes to those 3 questions then you have a vaguely good idea of whereabouts mentally I am at right now.

My room has been 1/4 packed. All my books, cd's and dvds are in boxes, along with some folders and files. Now that took me about 3-4 hours to do. I still have to pack all my clothes and shoes, everything that is on top of my desk, my bedding, sports gear and miscellaneous items. 

However I have a slight issue. I am somewhat of a hoarder. Like I don't hold onto random drawings kids have done for me...but I do have 2 shoe boxes full of letters people have written to me over the years...and a file of old uni essays I have written. Is that wrong?!

Is it wrong to hold onto sentimental items that I feel show me where I have come from? 

I have a TERRIBLE memory. Literally it is very bad. I often will not be able to remember a conversation had a few days ago. I cannot remember significant events in my own life! Like I genuinely couldn't remember that I had gone on a trip to the French Alps in year 9 until someone showed me a photo of me being there. 

So on the pro side for keeping items, I feel like they are a part of my history and so by looking at them, reading them, remembering the stories behind them, it pieces together things I have done in the past which I might otherwise forget.

On the con side of keeping items. They take up room. They ultimately might sit in a box or draw completely forgotten about until I decide to rummage through...which could be once a year...or not until the next time I move...

It's difficult. How do you choose whether to keep or chuck?! What happens if I throw things away and then really regret it? But then what happens if I keep things for ages just because I'm worried about potentially missing something that I won't actually miss??

HOW DO I DECIDE??

Any advice? Please!  

3 comments:

  1. Is it weird that I really want to come and help you organise?!

    My advice is to be ruthless. If you haven't seen it for years you probably won't miss it - especially things that aren't particularly sentimental.
    If you've got lots of memory type things then try and think of ways of keeping them or displaying them but have a designated place to keep them - not just stuffed in a random draw. Pinterest has loads of good ideas for that kind of thing x

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    1. It is not weird at all - I need your expertise!

      Thanks for the tips though - think I'm going to take most things and then seriously make decisions when I'm trying to find homes for things at the new place...that way I don't feel rushed into a decision. x

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  2. I just had a thought - you could take photographs of some of the things if you just wanted to remember the contents of letters rather than keeping the actual item.

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