Hoarding

Not like the TV shows. But kind of.

Little mementos of the lives lived: birthday cards with their signatures, a Starbucks sleeve with a note on it, a broken He Stopped Loving Her Today 45lp, a frog figurine on a shelf, obituaries cut out of the newspaper, those little cards from the funeral home, ashes in container, a shirt that still smells like my mom.

I finally burned my journals with all of their negativity. So that’s a start.

A Time to Heal

First birthday cards, bands from his hospital birth, love letters from my husband, notes of encouragement from friends, rocks from various trips, old 35mm film that needs to be developed, camcorder tapes that surely contain the voices of the now-dead.

How do you purge these things? And why do I hoard them?

I’m closer than ever to getting rid of this stuff, but as I go through the stuff, I just don’t know how to throw it away.

3 thoughts on “Hoarding”

  1. Who says you have to get rid of that stuff? Who says it’s hoarding? Why toss away things that are part of us? If it’s things that make you feel warm and fuzzy..keep them! If it’s stuff that has dark negative feelings..get rid of those! Just my opinion!

    Reply
  2. I don’t know that you have to. I mean, certain things, yes. I just threw away a bunch of birthday cards myself yesterday. Somehow it feels wrong to throw away these things friends picked out for me and signed…but why “hoard” them?

    But other things? The birth bracelet, the love notes…why not keep those? In this age of ‘digital everything’ those things matter.

    Purging is good, decluttering is good…but mementos matter. Don’t purge everything.

    Reply
  3. I agree with Sonia. Those little things that you can show your kids and grandkids. You just need to keep them in one place so they are not everywhere. Birthday cards I say trash unless there is something very special written on them. You are an artist you could do so much put a little something on every painting then a little part of your history would always be in the world but not cluttering your home.

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Tracy Husain Cancel reply