AIBU to throw away the contents of this box?

[desperate4spring]

My lovely mum recently delivered to my house some boxes of 'things' that she had found in her loft that were mine from yeeeears ago. A lot of it is old clothes from my teenage years which dd is delighted about as some of it fits her.

One box however is full of all of the cards that they recieved from friends and family when I was born, at my baptism and for my 1st birthday. I find it slightly bizarre (although also somewhat touching) that she has kept them all this time - including 4 house moves.

I've had a look through them and have put aside a couple of special ones, but otherwise do you think it's ok for me to throw the rest away? It seems a shame when she has kept them all this time, but I really don't see why I would keep them all?

I'd bin them. But the m not at all sentimental. At times I could be described as stone hearted!

God no, bin them! My choice of hoarding is clothing, have zero attachment to cards.

I think it’s ok to throw them, just check that she doesn’t want to keep them first. My mum have me a ton of stuff and I got rid of it.

My mum made me a scrap book for my 21st with all special cards from my christening and birthday stuck in, which I thought was lovely and I can just slide it under my bed.

@BikeRunSki

I’ve been helping DM clear her loft this morning and kept finding this kind of stuff. I am not nostalgic about it - my school work, teen clothes etc. I took the handful of teddies and photos i wanted years ago. DM seems to be attached to it enough to pay £1000s for packers to pack and move it half way across the country. There is a trunk of 1970s acrylic baby clothes that none of my siblings or I wanted for our own babies! That’s being moved...

"There is a trunk of 1970s acrylic baby clothes that none of my siblings or I wanted for our own babies! That’s being moved..."

That would make me angry. My dad drives me crazy, but to fair to him one thing he has been doing over the last few years is selling and binning things he no longer wants or needs. When he dies clearing his house (and garage, and shed, and loft) is going to be so much easier than it would have otherwise been.

DM had a clear out (after 8 house moves!) and gave me the topper off my christening cake (&other stuff).

These are her memories, not mine.

I have enough sentimental stuff of my own DC that I’m keeping. I keep DC stuff as it’s sentimental to me, it brings me happy memories when I come across them. It doesn’t represent my love for DC so I won’t be dumping it on them when they are adults.

Re the comment on selling them on ebay, I bought a lovely postcard on ebay that was addressed to my aunt, and was sent from her granny (my great grandmother). It was sent in 1913. I've no idea what had happened to the postcard in the intervening 100 years!

Definitely ask her first if she wants them back, It's a weird thing to give you, they would mean more to her than you. I know the stuff I've kept from my kids when they were littles do.

Do men keep all this junk?

My mum has kept all mine. I have a box of stuff for my DD's when they're older. It's lovely. Please keep them.

If I had room I would keep them. I had to downsize last year but kept the cards my parents were given when I was born.

I have one or two from aunts and uncles who have since died but not all my childhood cards.

My mum kept everything. EVERYTHING! We had a lovely day looking through everything together when she packed up her house to move. Then I kept what I wanted and we slung the rest in the skip. I will give my children everything I kept on the understanding that it is really only expected that it gives them pleasure to look at and then chuck whatever they don’t want. Who wants a stained babygro from 1976 or school reports from 1987 mum?

You must be about the same age as me op because I recognise these cards from my own pile! I've kept the ones from people I remember in my childhood but not others.
For example one from my grandpa who had a stroke when I was small and couldn't write by himself in any of my card later in my life, one from a lovely neighbour who I have warm fuzzy memories of as a young child. Most of the others I threw away.

I have one big plastic storage box for each person in the family for mementoes and things, I don't want to inflict any more than that on my kids when I'm gone.

I have absolutely nothing from my childhood. My parents split up when I was on a gap year abroad and my DF sent me my birth certificate and exam certificates, then got rid of everything else I owned. I have put key things from every stage of my daughter's life in the lift so that she can sort through and keep whatever she likes.

My brother used to periodically get out things like old school reports as he moved out when my parents divorced and took his things with him. It makes me sad to think that I don't have a single item like that even to pass onto my own family.

I think cards are generally such a bloody waste of money. They clutter up the house and people never actually write anything of any meaning in them. I'd much prefer a text!!

That said I keep the card from my birthdays from people like DM and DF as you never know when it will be the last - I then throw away last year's. I had a necklace made with my Nans handwriting and I treasure it... I had it made from the last card she sent me. www.etsy.com/uk/listing/897574975/handwriting-necklace-custom-actual

Otherwise I just bin everything. Recently my mum had taken to giving me all the tat she has saved over the years. Things such as my 3 year old scribble. I've binned it all and told her so. She is fine with that, she just can't bin it herself iyswim.

I would probably throw them away, but I'm not particularly sentimental about things. I definitely wouldn't find it fun to get loads of old cards out of an afternoon and look through them, especially as I wouldn't know who most of the people were. And the thought of keeping every birthday card makes me feel quite claustrophobic - you would end up with so many that you wouldn't be able to see the few really special ones in the pile. I prefer to keep the really special things and get rid of everything else.

@MMAMPWGHAP

Do men keep all this junk?

My other half is the 'keeper' in our relationship, he has old school books, cards, magazines, books etc. It's a bone of contention.

I would keep them. DM kept card and photos and when she died I loved looking through them. She even had her 18th and 21st cards.

I'd love to be given something like that, but each to their own

I would keep them but I have loads of stuff like that and love old things.

I would keep them. I have kept the cards both of mine received. Sometimes we get them out and look at them. It might be something your grand children like to look at and talk about, a tangible link to the past.

I have the grand total of nothing form my childhood. I'd love yo be in your position now. Keep them in the loft, they will mean more than you know in years to come.

Offer them back first.

The idea of scanning them is good too. I wish I had more things like that from my ancestors. It's nice more people are putting things on ancestry sites for people who are interested now and in the future.

I'd put them in the recycling

Get rid, and do so without any guilt. Other people’s “treasures” don’t have to be yours. If we keep everything from our own lives and our parents, where is the room for our children and theirs special things.

I have scrapbooks with memories for each of my children - things they drew, flyers and tickets from special things they went to, stories they wrote, cards etc of importance. When they leave home they can have them or not as they wish. But just a scrapbook, not boxes of stuff they can’t remember.