What do you do with old cards?

[BryceQuinlanTheFirst]

I have some lovely thoughtful cards from family over the years, I don't want to throw out, any ideas for nice storage ideas? What do others do?

I put them in the recycling bin

Ah i would do that with generic Christmas cards but not ones where my mum has written special words. She won't be around forever.

I have a few, they’re in a nice box* along with some other mementos.

*ok it used to be nice and is now a bit battered and faded

Bin (well recycle).

Sounds heartless but where do I draw the line? One day when i'm gone my daughter will have to sort all my crap out and I don't want her having the same dilemma and feeling obliged to keep things.

I have a piece of paper in my purse with a handwritten note my Nan left me not long before she died (with a phone number on I was after so nothing sentimental) but I do treasure that but it was extra special because I found it after she had already died.

But cards go. I'm actually trying to start the trend in my family that we don't send cards at all because I think they're a waste of money. I have a large family and can easily end up spending £50 on cards alone, starts getting a bit ridiculous.

Memory box (about the size of a shoebox/box file) for really special things. Otherwise I recycle them.

I have been known to put them in a frame as well.

Photo of the front and the message for special cards. Recycle the rest.

But I understand your reasons and not everyone is the same... so I guess in your position I would buy a lovely memory box off Etsy and keep in there

Oh I'm so surprised by this!

I think I come from quite a wordy family and I'd never want to throw out.

I also love looking through all my grandma's old cards - they are amazing!

Recycle or bin if they're not recyclable, I'm not a keeper of stuff, at some point, it just becomes a burden that someone else has to deal with.

I have helped decoupage a cloakroom with old cards. Some cards turned with the pictures showing and the ones with sentimental or funny messages turned so you could read them.
Stuck them on with pva glue and then clear varnish over the top.
They are still there over 20+ years on.

They hold so many great memories You could sit on the loo and read all the nice cards. It worked really well and all the family/friends loved seeing them.

I recycle mine, I'm not sentimental over them though and much prefer photographs and videos to remember people by as they hold memories of a moment in time that I spent with that person.

The only ones I've kept are a few that dd's have made me but they're to pass on when they're old enough. I just store them in a folder.

@jumpingwithjoy
Ahhh that's so lovely ❤️

bin them im not sentimental with cards - whilst clearing out my late mothers house i came across cards she'd kept over the years - so out in the recycling bin they went

@BryceQuinlanTheFirst we had great fun doing it, it was lovely going through all the old cards and reliving old memories x

I’m not sentimental, recycling here.

I understand OP
I've kept my( adult) sons recent Mother's Day cards
I'd either put them inside a wall frame if you have room somewhere or buy a memory box.. even ikea have them in

I find it quite sad to hear people say they want to stop buying cards because they're a waste of money, although I appreciate that some people value them more than others.

I agree that generic cards from Clintons/ Me to You etc are rubbish.

But if someone has gone to lengths to choose a specific card with an image that they thought you would like, and written a thoughtful message inside it (i.e. not just 'To X, happy birthday, from X'), then I find that really special. I actually value that more than a gift a lot of the time.

I have a box where I keep those kinds of cards and it doesn't take up much space. The Me to You/ Boofle nonsense gets recycled though and I wish people didn't bother.

Our wedding cards I cut out the messages and put in the photo album alongside photos that included the person. Pretty bits from the front of cards to decorate the pages. You could probably do a generic version depending on what they're about.

You could put them in a large frame or put them in an album or posh scrap book.

Unless it’s a really nice picture, any we get go straight in the recycling.

Take a photo, add it to my 'sentimental' album, thank the card for its service and send it on its way into the recycling.

#TeamMarieKondo

Having cleared out first DMiL, then DM's house, I'm even more keen than before on doing what I can to avoid to 'clean up as I go along'.

I say that as someone who has two very large carrier bags of DM's photos. I don't even recognise many of the people in them but simply ran out capacity to just dump the last things.

DSis managed to get good homes for much more that we could hope for (a friend who had been in tied accommodation bought a house in readiness for retirement and was happy to take loads ) so I did the final clear out. Heartbreaking when you realise how much or rather little value so many treasures have once you have gone.

I kept the cards and letters my DH sent me when we were teenagers. I am so glad I did, as he died at 36. I still read them, 30 years later.
His granny was widowed for 50 years, and she was still re-reading her DH’s old cards and letters shortly before her death at 93.
These things don’t take up much space - in my case just a drawer - but the memories are beyond price.

I keep mine in a drawer downstairs then randomly go through them and recycle the ones that don't mean anything to me

I keep cards from my dh and my sons.

I want to do something with them but I’m not sure what. I want to be able to see the lovely messages they’ve written inside.

I have many books in many bookcases in many rooms (!), and I slide special cards in between random books, so I get the pleasure of randomly discovering them in the future. Then I either re 'hide' them or - if I find myself wondering why I saved this card - recycle them. It works quite well.