How do you approach decluttering sentimental items? If you have things lurking in your house that haven’t seen the light of day in years but you just can’t bear to let them go, read on for my tips for preserving your memories without keeping the physical items.

“But I can’t give away my memories!”

If you’ve ever said this, you’re in the right place. Decluttering sentimental items is one of the biggest barriers people face when they set out to purge the clutter in their lives.  

I’m usually very practical when it comes to deciding what to keep and what to get rid of. Even so, there are a lot of things in our daughters’ rooms that have escaped my decluttering efforts. Primarily, this is because these items belong to them. I’m a big believer in dealing with my own clutter and letting other family members deal with theirs.

When our daughter Colleen moved to the east coast last year, she took most of the stuff from her room with her, and we got rid of a lot of things. Now, with our daughter Laura moving to Australia later this year, it’s decision time for all the things she left behind in her room “until she was settled somewhere more permanently”.

When our daughters were home over the Easter weekend, we took some time to go through the boxes that were left in their bedroom closets. Looking through old schoolwork and keepsakes together was fun. We laughed a lot, kept a few special items, and got rid of a ton of stuff!  

This exercise reminded me why decluttering sentimental items is difficult for many people—myself included.

Tips for decluttering sentimental items

The challenge with these items is they tug at your heartstrings. Just looking at them can bring back a flood of memories. When I hear myself saying “Awww”, I know I’m in trouble.

Decluttering sentimental items requires a slightly different approach, but there’s still value in asking the questions from my Easy Decluttering Checklist.

First, if something has been tucked away in a cupboard or tote box for 20 years, the answer to “Did I even know I owned this?” is likely no, and “When did I last use this?” is probably longer ago than you care to remember. I admit I was surprised at how much of the girls’ schoolwork I’d kept. I thought I’d done a much better job of purging at the end of every school year. Out of sight, out of mind!

With the easy questions out of the way, the question you’re most likely to get hung up is “Do I love it?” It has sentimental value, so of course you’ll say yes. That’s why I pair that question with two others: “Will I use it?” and “Do I need it?” This is where it gets tough.

Realistically, we don’t need anything that has been tucked away in a closet for 20 years or more. But when it comes to sentimental items, emotions win out over practical considerations.

Here are some ideas to help you decide what to let go.

Ask “Why do I want to keep it?”

Possessions stir up a lot of nostalgia. If you’re holding onto an item because it brings back memories, it may help to remind yourself that the memories are in your head and your heart—not in the object.

If you decide to keep something because you think you’ll use it “one day”, make a point of using it. Take it out of the box and put it in your kitchen cupboard, your closet, your jewellery box, or wherever else it belongs. If you haven’t used it by the next time you go through that space, let it go.  

Consider the feel good factor of giving it away

If someone else needs and can make good use of an item now, giving it to them will make you feel great.

A word of caution though. Don’t force your stuff on anyone else. Your clutter is not their problem.

Think about what will happen to it after you’re gone

No-one wants to think about what happens after they’re dead, so this one is difficult. Even so, it’s important to be realistic about the value those left behind will place on the item.

If you think your kids, grandkids, nieces or nephews will want things that hold sentimental value for you, ask them. It really helped me to go through this exercise with my daughters. There were a few items that they just looked at me and shook their heads. It made it easier to let them go.

Keep one or two items

If you’re not ready to purge everything, consider if you can reduce the amount you’re holding onto.

For example, if you have several boxes of baby clothes, choose one or two items to keep. If your grandmother’s china dinner set is tucked away in a box, keep one place setting. If you have boxes of schoolwork, keep a few special items.  

Find a way to capture the memories

If you’re still struggling with letting go, find a way to preserve the memories without keeping the physical item. Here are some ways to do that:

• Take a photo of the item and put the photo in a “memories” folder. You may even want to create a scrapbook or digital photo book, or post the picture with your memories on your social media channels.
• Write a poem or story about the memories associated with the item. While decluttering, I found many items I had forgotten about. Instead of keeping them, I preserved the memories by taking pictures and writing about them in my Clutter Tales series. That made it much easier to let go.
• Record a video to tell the story of the item. This is an alternative to poems and stories if writing isn’t your thing.

Dealing with sentimental items is the hardest part of any decluttering exercise. Once you’ve captured the memories and let the items go, take comfort in the thought that the rest of your decluttering journey will be a breeze. The worst is over.

How do you deal with sentimental items when decluttering? Drop me a comment below and let me know.