Sick of cards! What do you do with them?

[Hiccupiscal]

My natural state is to hoard.
Ive been battling against this for years.
I'm on yet another round of decluttering, the one thing I always come across is cards..
Birthday cards. Christmas cards. Cards my partner has wrote for me, card ive written to my DC, cards other have given me.

I almost always end up in tears reading them. Not tears of happiness, but of empty sadness. Now im sat with a pile of them and i never know what to do with them.

I could obviously chuck them all away, but it feels so heartless and wrong.
I'm no good with technology so the whole take a picture thing would be misreable, plus I find with phone galleries they tend to flounce photos in your face with "this time 1 year ago" albums (which I hate)

What do you do with sentimental cards? Im sick of throwing them in a box to come across next decluttering purge, to come across them, cry - and repeat!

I honestly need it to be acceptable to stop/receiving sending the damn things!!

(Ditto for photographs, ie: photos of my ex and I, in incredible places of the world and lovely memories, but i can't stand to see his face as the way we separated and the fall out afterwards changed how i thought about him forever)

Just chuck them. Or give them to someone else and let them chuck them for you. And it's perfectly acceptable to stop sending them - whereupon you will very soon start receiving fewer in return. They're only bits of card, no point getting miserable about them. Take them out to the bin now and it's done. (And throw some coffee grounds in after them so you're not tempted to rescue them!)

I agree, they were of the time, not now. Just bin them and don't look back.

If they don’t make you happy then you have my permission to chuck them.

This might sound a crazy question, but what about my DC cards? Do kids grow up and want cards for birthdays? Xmas? Etc. I dont to erase parts of my DC life that was celebrated in the past?

If throw away the cards from my nan, mother etc and wish i never had, when they are "gone"

I'm guessing since these items don't bring me happiness, throwing them away is the sensible option.... ?

*from not for

I don't like cards. I never know what to write in them, they are expensive and I don't like the way they look when they are up. I wouldn't want to think that a card I'd sent to someone with good intentions was causing them upset years later.

I have got probably about ten cards that I've kept. Could you get a receptacle like a biscuit tin and only keep as many cards as fit in it?

Keep your favourite few in a folder. Scan a few more then dispose. The rest go in the recycling which is more useful than keeping dozens of old cards. I really like cards (both sending and receiving) but no-one has room to keep all of them.

3 days on the mantelpiece, then into the cardboard recycling box without a backward glance.

OP - it's only stuff. It's not real, iyswim?

I kept birth, age 1,age10, age 13. The last cards from relatives. In a box.

I've kept the cards I was sent when the dc were born and a very few particularly special others. I do have trouble with cards from DM when every one might be 'the last' but I usually fight through because I don't want the dc to have to do it somewhere down the line.

I got rid of the engagement cards I'd kept for years a while back when I realised I didn't recognise most of the senders' names. It was surprisingly easy. As pp said straight to the recycle box. Do it as you hear the van if necessary.

I love sending cards for birthdays and Christmas, but I would never ever expect anyone to keep them, or to feel guilty over throwing them away. I fully accept that cards are a pleasure on the day, (and maybe a few days after) and then they’re done. I do not keep cards that I receive either. Don’t let it make you sad, just pop them out for recycling and don’t think of them again.

If any are particularly funny or thoughtful I'll take a picture of them to keep. Then I bin them all.

I keep the latest card from significant relatives but have started recycling all the old ones as each year passes.

Thank you for the replies.
Ive actually just sat here in tears and trying very hard to let go.
The advice here is very good, especially like the advice that someone sending the card in the first place wouldnt want the recipient to feel sad a few years later...
I'm about to get a box and chuck them in...

I think I will be letting people know no more cards to be sent to me from now on.

Thanks for the support PP's.

Recycle bin.

Dd got to 38 before I threw away her drawings etc. I'm starting on photos soon. Only the best will survive.

i keep all of mine (for everything, for me, boyfriend, and 4 kids - i’m way too sentimental!!) in a box in my wardrobe and then with special ones - 1st birthday, welcome to the world, christening - i hole punch and use ribbon to make them into a book and keep in their memory boxes.

The pleasure is in the giving and receiving, once that's over their job is done and they can go in the recycling. Same with wrapping paper - it's job is to hide a gift, make it pretty, once that's done, out it goes. Same for many things, they serve their purpose and keeping them doesn't benefit anyone. Maybe a few very special ones from your DCs or similar but wider friends and family - out they go.

I’m keeping the cards I received for their birth and a few other bits such as hospital name tags.
DS’s birthday cards I give to him to play with.
You could use pinking shears and make some gift tags to reuse or make new cards from the fronts of old ones. I’ve done both and making cards children enjoy.
For me those options avoid the waste and also avoid keeping them

I must admit this used to be me! I had hundreds of cards for over many years, including my four children. Even multiple moves the cards came with me and ended up in boxes in the loft.

I eventually downsized to the point that there just wasn't enough room to keep out of date cards. I kept a few special ones. A few cards my children got when they were born, but that was it.

My children are now all adults and none of them wanted anything like cards that I had kept over the years.

I kept all of DS's cards, loads of them. When we last moved I asked him if he wanted them and he looked at me as if I was mad. I've got his birth cards, 1 year old cards and a couple of others. The rest went into recycling. As the cards make you sad chuck them in the recycling bin. If you REALLY want to keep them in a week fish them out. I bet you don't

Recycling. I never keep them. I don't send many either, really only to people that I don't see regularly. I don't buy birthday cards etc for my immediate family.

If you manage to get to the point where you're ok with letting cards go, do you really need to tell people to stop sending you any? A card is just a greeting, a birthday wish etc, but on paper. Once you've received it and appreciated it, it has fulfilled its purpose. It's not fulfilling any purpose sitying in a box in the loft.

You still retain the memory of people having sent you cards, just as you have the memory of people wishing you happy birthday etc in person, on the phone or on social media - you don't record those and keep them. It's the thought that counts, as they say!

I recommend this book. She has good tips for dealing with sentimental stuff.