How to let go of sentimental items when decluttering

There are many reasons why your home may become cluttered. Perhaps life just gets in the way and you simply don’t have time to tidy. Or your family dynamics mean homework, sports clothes and shoes end up scattered through every room in the house.

Regardless of your ability to tidy and organise your home, or your family being great at putting things away, more often than not clutter builds up because we can’t let go.
Sentimental items given to us by family members can be some of the toughest things to let go. 

Here are a few tips for how to effectively begin decluttering and organising sentimental items in your home. These are tips I use when working as a home organiser and decluttering coach helping clients organise and declutter their homes.

1. Let go of the guilt

Sentimental items are not necessarily evil, or bad. Often they hold loving memories and we can’t bear to part with them. However, when you start to feel weighed down by the items, or they are no longer bringing you joy, you can start the slow process of letting them go.

It can helpful to remember a few kew mantras as you go through the process of decluttering:

• You don’t necessarily need to keep the physical item, sometimes a photo can bring the memories back just as well

• Our memories are within us, not within our things

• You should not be categorized by your things, you are more than your possessions 

• This is your home! You have the right to prioritise what you keep in your home

• It’s ok to keep some items, within reason

2. Letting go of children’s drawings

A great strategy for collating children’s drawings is to take a photo of them. Each time a new piece of art work comes home, consider taking a photo of the child with the artwork. You may choose to display it on the fridge for a week before letting it go. Once it is time to let it go, consider repurposing it as wrapping paper or recycling. I know first hand that grandparents LOVE receiving children’s artwork!

3. Letting go of photographs

Instead of keeping physical prints of all your photographs, I suggest digitising all photos that are not already digital. Start with a pile of physical prints and sort into “to digitise & store” (Photo’s you can’t bare to lose) “Store” (Photos you wish to keep but don’t mind if you lost them), and, recycle. Once you have decluttered the unwanted photos and digitised those you love the most, consider storing the remaining prints in an album. If an album is too time consuming, you can also use well labelled photo boxes such as these: 

• Family

• Children

• Holidays

Helping clients with photo storage and sorting is a passions of mine and these are the steps i’ve taken with clients in the past and they work really well. If you are struggling with photos, get in touch today.

4. Letting go of family heirlooms

Not all family heirlooms are created equal! More often than not, an heirloom is passed from generation to generation and the sentimental reason for keeping it in the first place gets “lost”. Over time, heirlooms can also get damaged.

A great example is china sets. These are often gifted on and then sit unused in a cupboard, and often chipped or cracked. Consider downsizing & decluttering the china set by keeping 2 or 3 favourite pieces such as a cup and saucer. You will find it takes up far less room. Keeping a teapot and using it for special occasions is also a way to enjoy using the heirloom. 

If you find yourself holding on to items you’d rather not keep, but feel guilty throwing them away, remember that letting an item go doesn’t mean you care for your loved one any less.

Next time you declutter and organise, review everything you own. When you see an item that is damaged or unwanted, consider letting it go. If you wouldn’t grab it in a fire, you can probably live without it.

5. If you really can’t let go consider repurposing the item

Inevitably you will have items that you just really can’t bear to part with. That is ok. Consider repurposing them in a way that takes up less room, or allows the item to be seen rather than tucked out of sight in a box. 

Old jewelery - Consider approaching a manufacturing jeweler to modernize some of your most prized pieces - If you need recommendations for a good jeweler, let me know as I know a fabulous one in Wellington. 

Special linen - Instead of keeping it locked away, consider adding it to your regularly used items and starting to enjoy it. The same can be done for china or cutlery sets. 

If you and your family constantly struggle with clutter and can’t bring yourself to let things go, seek help from a professional organiser like me. They will help you sort your belongings and work through the emotions attached to each item.