opinions needed on keeping old "stuff"

[fountainfairfax]

Ok, it is in my genes to be a pack rat at heart, my parents keep EVERYTHING and their basement looks like a firetrap. We have a lot of family stuff from grandparents that none of us can bear to part with, so our houses continue to fill to the rafters.....

What I''m struggling with now is whether or not to keep things from my 1st marriage...and I''ve been divorced for 10 years! What has triggered the whole thing is that I have decided to reward my ongoing weight loss with some things on my jewery wish list as I reach milestones (i.e. some silver earrings for 20 lbs, a seiko or bulova watch for 25 lbs, the James Allen cat pendant at 35lbs, 50 is up in the air, 75will be pave huggie hoops, studs or pendant for my goal of 83lbs) but of course these things don''t pay for themselves and with a car purchase looming sometime this year, plus a goal to have 3-6 months salary in savings in the near future and the living room furniture needs to be replaced...rewarding myself wasn''t originally in the plan but I''m already down 18.8 lbs and counting and pretty shineys are a great motivator.

So my question is, will I regret selling off little things that at one time had great meaning? Jewelry I''ll never wear again, the jewelry box he gave me for our 1st christmas as a married couple, home decorations, collectable x-mas decorations....none of these things have great $ value individually but perhaps on ebay I could sell them off and accumulate $1000+ . My original e-ring was sold off years ago to pay off credit card debt, and I do regret it but only because the diamonds were well cut and could have easily been recycled into something new

I wonder if anyone has ever "cleaned house" of past momentos and how did you feel later? I''d been thinking that some of these things might one day make nice trinkets for my niece but now I think I''d much rather she have things from times that didn''t end in such misery........

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Erin]

Well, if you''ve ever watched that show "Clean Sweep" they recommend negating everything in question into a neutral space like outside, a garage, a spare room whatever and place into piles: trash, donate, sell, keep

After that sort, remove the keep pile and sort again into donate, sell, and keep with the objective of limiting yourself to a keep pile that will fit into, say, a large box. Finally, do with them what you said you will do with them.

The key is to sort once, and then sort the keep pile again because most packrats think things belong in keep when they don''t.

good luck!

 

[sunkist]

When I accumulate stuff I go through and toss the stuff I can live without. Then a couple months later go through it again and throw out stuff I can again do without. Sometimes it takes time to let go of something, but in the end, what does it really do for you? It just sits there...

Here''s what my friend does. She made her sister cry doing this but it worked!

For every object you pick up, ask yourself "Do you LOVE it??? Can you not live without it???" Elaborate and be creative if you like

but in the end you''ll have only the stuff that has real meaning to you. And that''s the stuff that''s worth keeping!

 

[Lorelei]

I wish you luck FFF, but I am a dreadful pack rat myself and it drives my Husband crazy

I wish I could offer some suggestions but I can''t! I love to hoard! If you can get some new jewellery out of it though, I would really try hard !

Well done on the weight loss!

 

[sistagrl2004]

JUST LET GO! ... Sell your old stuff so you can have new stuff associated with positive independant memories.. There is a reason you are DIVORCED from that man. I certainly wouldn''t want my fiance hanging on to old stuff from an ex.

 

[Sundial]

I am very big on "purging" household possessions and clothes and it drives me crazy when people won''t get rid of old stuff they never use. It is one thing to keep a few small or valuable momentos, but another to keep a house full of outdated junk. I purge twice a year. If I haven''t worn clothes, shoes, or jewelry in over a year I sell, give away, or throw away whatever it is. I try to clean out drawers and closets at the same time. You could make some nice cash selling off your old stuff to use to buy new stuff that you will actually use. I think you will find that you won''t even remember the stuff you got rid of.

 

[Mara]

we can be total pack rats too and esp with old sentimental stuff, aka i still have my love letters/cards from my very first boyfriend at age 17! so silly i know. not like i could tell you WHERE they are, they are in some box somewhere.

we tend to try to purge and go through our things every few years. the way i look at it is that if there are boxes in the garage that you have not been into in the last 1 year then toss out the entire box. i know that it's harsh but it's sooo hard to go through every little thing because you will want to keep it! i have like 2 boxes full of 'momentos' from when i was young, aka my cards, yearbooks, old pictures but other than that i try not to keep old stuff...ESP material items and stuff. it just takes up too much room!!

so if you think you can do it, i'd pull aside a few small things you may want to keep but toss everything else and have someone else there with you as a 'reality check' going 'do you REALLY want to keep that?'...trust me it makes it easier to have Greg sitting next to me going do you really need that old writing desk? oh by my parents gave it to me...well do you ever use it? no. okay it's gone.

good luck!!

 

[Lorelei]

I think being a pack rat is in my genes too! My Father used to do it, but the things he used to hoard were useful such as nuts and bolts, washers, taps, motors, all kinds of things. You could bet if you needed a tool or a screw or nail for a job and didn''t have it, Dad would magically produce it, bless him!

 

[LizzieC]

I think you''ll find getting rid of all that stuff to be liberating and therapeutic. You''ll be letting go of your old life for the benefit of the new you! What could be more thrilling than that! Ditch the past and get yourself some pretty new sparklies!

I''m very UNsentimental though, so I''ve never kept anything from any past relationship ever. My view is when it''s over, it''s over, move on!

 

[MissAva]

As a general rule of thumb I toss things. Clutter makes me anxious. But if you still feel emotionally connected to these things hold off. Once things are gone they are not likely to come back.

 

[mrssalvo]

we have moved 3, going on 4 times in the past 5 1/2 years so i''ve had to become a tosser. way too much stuff to keep moving around. I have one or two rubbermaid bins filled with yearbooks or tee-shirts my dad bought me on his business trips when I was a kid. Everything else and been long gone. I do really like not having closets and storage places packed full and overflowing with junk though.

 

[sanfranciscoellen]

I like to look at things I feel conflicted about and think, "Do I want my poor kids to sort through this when I am gone?" It''s a long way off but I look at my parents house and grimace I realize it is never too early for me to break my genetic tendency to hoard