Understanding why you struggle with letting go of sentimental items is the first step in being able to manage them. So why have you accumulated the memorabilia?
· Memorabilia evokes personal experiences, feelings, a connection to the past
· You are responsible for dealing with a deceased loved one's possessions
· You feel obligated to hold on to the items for legal reasons (old legal documents, business manuals, training, information, etc)
· You feel obligated to hold on to the items because of potential value
Learning to understand and let go of quantities of things from the past, tends to alleviate some of the emotional buildup of the past and allows for more space in your present life. There are ways of sifting through quantities of mementos to unearth the ones you truly want to keep.
When you are ready to start sorting your mementos, try to prepare yourself for the feelings that might come up as you go through the items you've accumulated. Take it slow and don't try to go through all of your memorabilia at once. Short sorting sessions in manageable intervals give you time to recover from any unpleasant feelings as needed between sessions.
Now you are ready for the process steps to make decisions and begin sorting. Remember that you are searching for the treasures, and eliminating the unwanted or trash. This process involves three phases of sorting- don't get overwhelmed by that thought! The idea is to work through emotional justification, value justification, and finally space justification.
First, all of your memorabilia will be sorted into three categories: Keep, Get Rid Of, and Undecided. The Keep and Undecided categories are what you are going to put your emphasis and time into. Now, as phase one of your sorting beings, clarify and separate what to keep by deciding what emotions the objects evoke. Items that bring up negative or angry feelings should be eliminated. In keeping and storing those items you will be cementing those old feelings in place and have a constant negative reminder. Only keep the items that make you happy or may make you sad, but are important remembrances. Also, give yourself permission to let go of things that bring about feelings of guilt (such as a gift given to you for your wedding, or inherited but unwanted items) should be included in the Get Rid of category.
Phase two, brings you to working on the two largest clutter contributors, those mementos remaining from phase one's Keep and Undecided categories. Now as you sort ask yourself:
"Why should I keep this?"
"What is the value of this?"
"What purpose does this serve my life?"
"When have I used this last?"
The key to success in making the phase two decisions is to define some limits on how much you keep.
Consider it a quality versus quantity proposition.
If you are struggling with the thought that the possessions may have financial value but are of no purpose to you, consider the options. Selling, donating to a museum or charity, or passing along to a family member are all great ways to release things and unburden you. Just don't put them aside to disperse at a later date, be sure to be proactive on letting them go.
By phase three you should have made significant progress and eliminating the quantity of sentimental items. Now the amount the space you have will dictate how much room you have for your treasures.
Consider how the memorabilia will fit into your home and if it can be easily displayed or properly stored.
If you are still stuck on items that you are undecided about,put those items to the side and set a deadline for when you will revisit them. You may find that when you revisit the items you no longer are as compelled to keep them as you had once thought.
Now that you've done a great job of reducing the quantity of sentimental items to the important quality, be sure that you maintain the same process to new mementos that come into your life.
Cindy Gunderson is the Chief Organizing Guru at TheChaosPlan.com the most comprehensive, creative and cutting-edge personal organization service on the web, we help men and women cut the clutter from their lives. Our members receive individualized attention, direct support, and access to dozens of resources. Find us @ http://www.thechaosplan.com
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