I recently came into possession of my parents’ photo albums — their memories lovingly kept in neat albums, photos of family and friends and unidentified people! I’ve got my own truckload of images, printed and online, so sorting through theirs made me open my eyes and think: ‘One day someone is going to have to deal with my memories, my treasures’.
You think it will be easy, but the clean out is a tough job, even when the stuff belonged to someone else. The sense of betrayal is immense. Yet, the truth is, you just have to be tough when it comes to whittling stuff down. I mean, there’s just so much of it right? Why do we accumulate so much, I wonder. Are we that sentimental? Every few months I get the albums out again and cull a few more prints.
With this insight into what will inevitably happen when I pass on, I have started to really get into a ‘clearing out’ frame of mind but there’s a common rule I’ve found in looking at different strategies to help with the task — leave your photos till last! Things that have the most sentimental values (photos, souvenirs, gifts) will just slow you down and undermine the whole process as you weigh up the pros and cons of keeping, donating or discarding. Chances are you’ll start reminiscing about that holiday in Scotland or baby pictures or images and souvenirs of friends long gone, and you’ll get nowhere fast.
I found the best method for me has been to pick a type of item (e.g. books, videos/DVDs/CDs, clothing or kitchenware etc.) and drag it all into one spot (I like the living room carpet) where I lay everything out in rows. I can quickly pick out stuff I don’t use or need any more and discard to the bin (it hurts, but it can also be very liberating!) or if I think it could really be useful to someone I’ll pop it in a box for the op shop or onto an online sales page if I can be bothered. I took about 80 VHS tape movies to a recycle centre once I admitted to myself I was never going to watch them again and their value these days is zero. DVDs are a little harder, but I’ve made a start; with online access to so much entertainment it’s hard to find the time to even consider putting a DVD into the machine!
Clothes are much easier I find, but I never was a shopper. I have about four pairs of shoes and live in my sneakers and rarely buy new clothes unless there’s an occasion. That has set up an attachment the clothes that I do have! I choose the hanger method of clearing my wardrobe: put what you can on a hanger and turn all the hook backs to the wall. As you use an item you hang it with the hook back to the door. Six months or a year later any item not turned can be safely turfed as ‘Not Being Worn’. It can be fun if you really want to keep something — just wear it. You’ll soon know if that was a mistake and happily remove it right away! If you’re a big clothes shopper, you may need to leave this section till closer to your sentimental stage.
I have heard a good tip that if you have souvenirs that are just gathering dust or not even on display you may find it easier to send them away if you take a photo first — I’ve yet to try it, but I can see it would still provide the memory without taking up space. Or if there is a group of things relating to a particular memory or person maybe pick a few select items and let the rest go. Nobody is going to be any the wiser. These are your things — wouldn’t you prefer to sort now and save someone time and anguish later? I know I would, so I guess it’s time to put a decluttering session on the calendar soon.