More good ideas! Thanks, Lori!
I have filed a bunch of the sentimental paper very much like you are describing. Now I have to go through and purge. I think you are right in that it may take several passes.
I imagine this will be an ongoing thing. In fact, I need to accept that it will be ongoing, because I don't want it to get this out of hand again. :)
I made more good progress today in the living area!
I used to have 2 huge Rubbermaid boxes of greeting cards, letters and various mementos. It was out of hand. I separated everything into groups of family, friends and other. Then separated into piles for each individual and kept a few special things from each person. I tossed a lot of tickets, handbills, clippings, etc. Now I have everything in one Ikea box on a shelf in my closet. It is manageable and I'm much more selective what I keep now.
With the sentimental paperwork, e.g. greetings cards, do you (or anyone here) get it out often to look at it or it is important just to know you have it?
I'm not sentimental about things and am just trying to understand why people keep these them. (I have a friend who is seriously sentimental and can't look at certain things without a flood of tears.) Where is the line between enjoyment and emotional burden? Or emotional torment in case of my friend. Thanks for your insight.
a few years ago, i decided i didn't get those things out often enough to justify having them around.
i had to sort of give myself permission to not cart every bit of my life around with me for ever.
yes, i had some stuff that provoked enjoyable memories....and i found i can recall those good times and good people just as well without the props.
and after all, every day, i'm busy creating new enjoyable memories. i haven't got all this time to dwell on the past. i'll save that until i'm really old!
AJ....No, I don't get my box out and look at the stuff in it. Now I'm wondering why I keep any of it!
I love this blog, it always makes me think deeper.
AJ - I used to have a lot (more) of stuff just for the "comfort" factor of knowing I had it but I'm getting over the "lack/poverty" mindset slowly.
I have a lot of paper memorabilia partly because I want to put certain things in photo albums. A fair bit of it is info that I will want to write in the albums so I'm keeping the source document until I get to that album.
The info is most often on calendars, postcards or tickets. Some of it is quirky things from our travels where the source document may end up in the album to prove to people that we aren't kidding about what we've seen. For example, in Germany it is - or was in 2003 - "normal" for dogs to accompany their owners into a restaurant and onto trains - and we aren't talking guide dogs here - we found written rules about this on a ticket.
Going through some memorabilia yesterday (one of the last boxes of our recent move) I found all the cards we'd been given for our wedding. I purged a lot and kept some of the quirky, interesting and simply sentimental cards for my wedding album. I had actually completed the album last year but was able to add in a few pages at the back to slip these items into. We don't plan on having any children so I don't know who will get this album when we go (niece? nephews? - if they care) but I can enjoy them again when we pull out the album (generally on our anniversary).
I just wanted to say how lovely your bed roo looks - all that space by the bed - I am jealous!
Thanks, Badkitti! Unfortunately, it isn't my bedroom! :( The house belongs to my MIL, and we are in the process of getting it ready to sell.
The furniture is mine, though. My parents bought it for me when I was 7. I'm 60 now. LOL!
Bummer! While I was out with my MIL today, my beautiful bedroom mirror crashed to the floor and broke into many pieces, the wood, too; so it's not salvageable. Sigh!
It is sad, but it didn't break my valuable lamp when it fell. Also, after the bad news my MIL received at the doctor's office today, my mirror fell into perspective. The medicine my MIL has been taking for her lung cancer for almost 4 years is not working any longer, and she needs radiation.
Well, my MIL is amazing! She is still around and doing great! I attribute that to her good attitude. She has always been a pollyanna, and her attitude has kept her going a lot longer!
I NEED HELP!
I have stalled, stagnated, whatever you want to call it. It seems I reached a plateau and just stayed there. I've been working on things in the yard, posting on the internet, playing games, even cleaning, anything to avoid dealing with the remainder of the clutter!
I made such great progress! Now I'm bogged down and feeling desperate! How do I get going again? My main problem to tackle now is the sentimental paper. Every time I pick some of it up to start, I put it down again! :(
Actually, I did accomplish my original intention - to put the house in order, but I haven't finished the uncluttering.
Hey Claycat, I hadn't read this thread before so I'm glad you posted again and brought it out into the light. Am I correct in thinking you have most of the sentimental paper sorted - it just needs to be culled? Or did you get started on the sorting and then bog down?
Either way, I'd think the way to attack this is in short, concentrated bursts. Like the 15-minute housecleaning sweep idea. Set a timer, sit down with a box, and sort papers for 15 minutes. Don't take time to read and think about each item right now, just glance at it and categorize it. But make sure one pile is "toss." Surely, some things you will know at a glance are not "keepers." :-)
Then file the other papers. Then go do something else. [Choose your interval] later, spend another 15 minutes. As long as you spend an hour a day on it. After EVERYTHING is sorted, then start going through each file.
I am not a big sentimental paper keeper myself, so this particular challenge is outside my immediate experience, but I know from observation that paper is a HUGE challenge to many of us. Bearing in mind I *don't* have that personal experience, I'd think it might help to use the "Five Whys" approach here. Given that you are feeling stressed and overwhelmed and discontented with your progress, it seems clear that just accepting you are sentimental is not all that helpful. :-)
But rather than a drill-down, maybe frame the questions as, Why is this paper important? Why is it unique? Why is it valuable? Why is it essential? Why am I attaching meaning to it?
You may have to frame the question different ways to elicit the true reason you feel unable to let go of something.
Good luck and update soon!
chacha, i am going to attack my filing cabinet today using your suggestions.
there isn't a massive volume in there but there is definitely a degree of useless clutter.
claycat, wanna hold hands with me? if i do an hour, will you do an hour?
and we can renegotiate again tomorrow!
Yay! *awarding ClayCat a shiny Unclutterer Forum Challenge Accomplishment medal* (virtual, of course, no clutter)
As for the rest... YES to chacha's approach with the timer, and if you're afraid, you can set it to 10 or even 5 minutes, too. Something I like to do with Very Dreaded And Procrastinated Tasks is to write down beforehand how long it will take and what will be the most difficult part. I've done this a few times and it always turned out I was very (very very!) wrong about both time and difficulty. Maybe this could be a way for you to approach this, too?
Also... I know this is the Unclutterer Forum, but: If you really don't start and just push things from left to right and back again for those timed 15 minutes, it simply means that you're not ready, that you shouldn't force yourself to do this, and most of all, that you shouldn't feel guilty :o) Try again in a month!
LOL! Thank you all so much for coming to my rescue!
@ chacha1 - You asked a very good question. "Why is this paper important?" My answer is that I don't have a very good memory, unless it's useless trivia. :)
I keep a lot of it, so I can go back and pick up that memory again. There are too many memories though! I guess I need to ask myself if I need to remember all of that. I remember the people. I remember the love. Maybe all the memories aren't as important as the feelings?
Thanks for making me ask myself the difficult questions! I'm going to take your advice about the timer. I bought one to use in such a way. If I promise myself that it will just be 15 minutes, that I don't have to do any more than that if I don't want to, then I should be able to stick with it and maybe go beyond the 15.
@ bandicoot - I like the idea of holding each other accountable. I will start with the 15 minutes like chacha1 was suggesting. If that works, I will wait awhile and do another 15. If I do that several times tomorrow, I will get to the hour. It's a deal! You will have a head start on me time wise. :)
@ trillie - I'm going to do that, write down the most difficult part!
I'm ready! It's time! I can't put it off any longer. I'm 60, and this has been growing for years. My next birthday is in October. I want to have it under control by then.
I include photographs as my sentimental paper, too.
I have several file boxes full of sentimental paper and a small bookcase full of photographs.
Hi Claycat, I'm glad my idea was helpful to you.
It seems I have read elsewhere on this forum an excellent suggestion for collating and editing "memory" papers & photographs, in which you sort according to a specific event or person, then go through all the papers/photos to select the 10 best/most representative items. A Top Ten List of things to bring that whole experience or person to mind for you.
You have two whole months and we are all cheering you on. :-)
Thanks for another good idea. I will look for that thread. I actually completed around 40 minutes of sorting, with my timer, yesterday. Nothing today - I had to go to College Station to shop for groceries and other items. That takes a lot of the day. I enjoyed it though, in spite of the heat. :)
ok, i am late back to this thread....but i certainly attacked the filing cabinet.
it all takes longer than you think, doesn't it?
my files aren't too dreadful, but i was still caught aback by a photo of my dear old telemachus cat enjoying the sun on his belly and i got lost there for some minutes.
i shredded a huge bag full of papers and emptied my shredder four times.
this has all thrown up dust, so i am sneezing madly. which is why my eyes are watery.
@chacha...that top ten idea rocks! and the timer idea is working for me.
@bandicoot...i am sneezing right along with you. my shredder needs a break.
i am proud of my efforts with paper clutter this week. DBF and i can see the progress. i don't want to be in this paper mess...working through to find what is useful/beautiful/sentimental.
Congratulations, bandicoot and SunshineR! I wish I the perseverance to keep going. I keep interrupting myself too much!
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