How to Let Go of Sentimental Items

Ah, the dreaded side of minimalism: giving up sentimental items. Minimalism may seem easy until you start going through your stuff and all the memories it serves you. And then you start to doubt whether minimalism is right for you or think that all minimalists are heartless individuals who don't seem to care about their past. Neither answer is correct, and I'm here to help you sort through the emotions when trying to decide what to keep and what to get rid of.

As mentioned before, minimalism looks different for everyone. One "hard-core" minimalist may not have anything collecting dust or reminding them of the past, while the next may have a display of knick-knacks on the bookshelf. But how do you determine what's right for you?

Keeping sentimental items is good when:

• it gives you comfort. Let's say a relative has passed recently and you've been keeping a box of their items. Some of it is just stuff that may have been fun to go through at first, or you feel as if you need to keep because it meant a lot to them, but some of it may be the only thing that keeps you steady whenever you need to feel their presence. Keep the things that keep you steady and secure.

Keeping sentimental items is bad when:

• you have no use for them. Let's go back to the first example: you have this box full of items from a relative that you're keeping under your bed. You've filtered out the things that give you comfort but you've forgotten about the rest as it still sits under your bed. You aren't using them, and as many times as you go through it every year and "remember that time when..." you will continue to have no use for them. So, get rid of it, whether that means just dropping it off at Good Will or, if you can't even stand that thought, passing it on to someone else who you know has a need for it. Our memories are within us, not within our things.
• they are weighing you down. Some items we keep because we feel like we need to, but guess what? You don't! If it doesn't make you happy when you look at it, then it's not benefiting you or your life and there's no reason to have it around. You are not your stuff, we as humans are more than possessions.

Pictures:

Much sentimentality comes from looking at old pictures. I know my mom has boxes of pictures that she stores from her childhood, mine, and my brother's. I understand the need to keep pictures around (I was a former scrapbooker myself), but an easy way to de-clutter without sacrificing them is to digitize them. This way they're also easy to organize and sift through when you're looking for a specific moment or picture in the future!


Pretty much everything you will run into will be under one of those categories, and the decision is up to you! 

If you have any thoughts, questions, or possible exceptions you'd like to bring to light, let me know by sending an email or in the comments below!