Decluttering but losing the plot when it comes to memorabilia

[Gentleness]

As it says really!

Although I am really trying to get rid of stuff (and mostly succeeding), there is some memorabilia that I want to be able to browse through occasionally - significant times and places and so on - and the physical items help make the memories come alive for me. I know there's a lot of paper/photos that I could compile into simple scrapbooks, but I'm thinking about things like baby clothes/toys, first curl and my Grandad's favourite jumper, NowThat'sWhatICallMusic #1 on cassette, my first thumb pot and so on.

Having pared it all right down (well, some of it), I'm just past thinking clearly! How do I store it? Where? Those people who talk about having memory boxes, what type of thing do you use and where do you keep it? Are we talking shoebox size - bigger or smaller?

Help me please - this decluttering has been going on for 7 years off and on and I am just desperate for a beautiful vision of the final product.

No-one?

suggestions:

• favourite jumper, still wearable? If not, take a photo and recycle
• cassette - bin. Music comes on downloads now.
• what is a thumb pot?

paper and photos - scrapbook, or scan and bin. Remember to backup all digital memorabilia.

memory boxes of random stuff should be no more than a shoe box or it gets out of control.

HTH!

Yup - specialsubject talks sense - if you are just keeping stuff in order to trigger meories most of it can be scanned and recycled.

The other side of the equation is to try not to add stuff either -I am getting ruthless with not letting stuff into my house to be the memorabilia of the future.

I love keeping important things (eg. tickets, small clothing items, champagne corks etc)

If it's important get a plastic box (waterproof) and the sachets that absorb moisture to put in the bottom. I have around 5 of these boxes (3 in the loft and 2 under the bed) each around 80cm long by 40cm wide. And i love them. So many of my friends are jealous that I kept things.

Oh, and when I'm not sure I keep it for 3 - 6 months and the next time I look at it I ask myself if it is still sentimental, if not... I chuck it out

I like the idea of photos of the jumper being enough, but it really isn't - it's the memory of it on my cheek when I hugged him that is so strong. And with stuff like the cassette, it's the sense of archiving that I can't quite get past - maybe the historian in me asserting itself!

I think the frequent revisiting to reassess is going to be my key. I have just been browsing Pinterest for ideas and I reckon I need to assemble all this stuff in one place and see how much it adds up to.

If I had enough space I'd love to do the idea of a boxfile for each year, but in the absence of a glorious office space or library, I should probably scale back my dreams to a more realistic level.