There’s something natural about the way people hold onto sentimental items from their past.
A child’s toy. A handwritten card. The trophy from the winning game. Souvenirs from concerts attended or trips taken. Boxes of items once owned by our parents, grandparents, or other loved ones.
For many of us, these things aren’t just household items like extra Tupperware in the kitchen cabinet that can be decluttered when a lid goes missing. They represent the people we love, the experiences we’ve cherished, or the accomplishments we worked hard to achieve.
For that reason, the attachment is emotional. That’s why we refer to it as sentimental. And it can be one of the most difficult categories of items to minimize.
But over time, those meaningful items start to add up if we don’t declutter them. Isn’t that true? Closets fill. Boxes pile up in the attic, basement, and garage. Pieces of furniture begin to collect. Sometimes we even need to rent a storage unit down the street to keep all the sentimental belongings we’re holding onto.
Our spaces become a museum of the past. And slowly, without even realizing it, unless we choose to take intentional action, the stuff we love begins to keep us from the stuff we love.
Here’s what I mean by that:
The stuff we keep—no matter how lovingly—brings burden and weight onto our lives. Every possession does. They take up space. They need to be stored, organized, cleaned, protected, and worried about. They add time, expense, stress, and mental weight to our lives. Every item we choose to keep takes up physical space in our home and mental space in our mind.
The excess can begin to keep us from peace, calm, freedom, space, and intentionality. As a result, the sentimental items we accumulate can begin to keep us from being fully alive and present in our daily life. They begin to pull our energy from the very life and opportunities we would choose to remember.
We’ve held onto the toys and clothes from when our kids were young. But when the basement is so full of stuff we are constantly thinking about needing to clean it out—we are distracted from the people right in front of us today.
We purchased and kept souvenirs so that we’d never forget the trips that we’ve taken. But when the house is so full of clutter the cleaning and organizing is never done—we become too busy to take new trips today.
We hung all the trophies and certificates we earned through our accomplishments in the past. But when our walls and offices are so full of relics from our achievements in the past—we forget to dream about new goals in the future.
We couldn’t find the strength to declutter the personal possessions of a spouse who passed too early because we loved them so much. But when their things keep us from moving forward into our next season of life—we often miss out on the joy that they would have wanted us to experience.
It’s not that we love too much. It’s just that the items we keep to remember the things we love might actually end up keeping us from discovering and enjoying more of those people and adventures in the future.
The stuff we love begins to keep us from the stuff we love.
It is important to remember that we don’t love the physical objects. We love the people they represent, the experiences they remind us of, and the accomplishments they signify. This might be fine—unless our physical possessions begin to keep us from loving more people, having more experiences, and achieving more accomplishments.
So take a second look at the sentimental clutter you are holding on to. And if it is distracting you from living your best life in this current season of your life, then it is time for action.
Releasing sentimental objects isn’t about thinking less of your past. It’s about honoring your past by living fully in the present. You’re not being forced to decide what memories to keep, you are creating space for more experiences worth remembering in the future.
Are you ready to get started? If so, here is my advice on How to Handle Sentimental Clutter.
Josh, it often amazes me how often your columns intersect with my life like today’s. Just over a week ago, I took a bag I had hanging in a hall closet that I had filled with cards and letters given to me over the years and cleaned it out. I had cut it in half about a year ago but now desired to do it again. And this time I removed all the cards. It was wonderful to see them again and know how kind I have been, how I was and am loved, and how grateful I am for having (and having had) all these different and wonderful people in my life. But the cards were things I never looked at so I ended up removing all of them, keeping only about eight handwritten letters from my deceased parents, which are now in small drawer in the bedroom where they are treasured.
Much earlier, sometime during the height of Covid, I had done the same thing to all my photographs, the ones we keep in albums or in boxes. They all went. All I have left are a very few that are displayed. Most are photos I took, enlarged and framed. Only one is of my late parents–and that is all I need or want to be completely satisfied.
This “satisfaction journey,” as I have begun to think of it, is, as you have said, life changing. Satisfaction and joy are becoming permanent companions. Thank you for all your sharings.
As the objects only serve as a reminder of an event, and experience or a person I suggest taking a photograph and keeping it digitally in a file of reminders.
This is 100% my situation. You are spot on. It is not the exact things. It is that these things belonged to those that we loved. And somehow we feel that keeping those things keeps our loved ones still alive. My vote is that you keep some, but not all. And realize that when we die, so much of it gets either thrown away or donated. Sigh….