I may have mentioned that I am finally working on my gigantic collection of greeting cards.
This is not a collection of cards that I might one day send; instead, these are the cards that I have received over the years. I always feel bad throwing them out, so I have dealt with them by putting them in a box, and filling a shelf in my office bookcase.
Many people who write about decluttering advise starting with the easy stuff, and working up to the more sentimental items. I suppose I have finally reached that next level, because over the holidays I was finally ready to tackle this project.
This has turned out to be one of the most fun decluttering project I have taken on.
I have found it very easy to discard about 1/3rd of the cards. They may be pretty, or funny, but without a lot of personalization, they go straight into the discard pile. They did their job of wishing me a happy birthday, or holiday: I felt loved, and now they are ready to go.
The other 2/3rds are the ones with notes that bring back memories, or have real sentimental value. Eventually, I will need to decide what to do with these survivors (I don’t think I can keep all of them forever), but for now, I am having a grand time enjoying the memories they stir up.
Some of the keepers include:
Holiday cards with photos. I enjoyed seeing my college roommate with spouse and small children at the Grand Canyon. Those children are all now college grads, and one is a college professor!
Holiday cards with updates. Several friends send newsletters, which I never saw growing up; but I love being able to look back over the years and see how things change (or not).
Notes from Mr. PiN when we were dating and newly married. Those are not going anywhere.
A thank you note from one of my fourth year medical students. She is now an attending in a subspecialty, and has been for years.
Another note from a college friend, thanking me for attending her wedding. I had forgotten that I went as an intern, with just 1 day off. I drove 4 hours to her wedding, changed at the venue, and went back that evening. I went back to work the next day. There is no way I could do that at this age.
I had thought I would want to keep all the cards from my recently deceased friend, but I was pleasantly surprised that I was willing to part with some of her holiday cards. I was impressed by how many of her thank you notes I chose to keep–they were very good, in that they reminded me of parties and visits we shared.
Going through this culling process has prompted me to consider the cards I send others.
On the one hand, I feel like I should try harder to write cards that are more meaningful and more personalized. As a recipient, I enjoy reading these types of cards years later. I want to send cards that are keepers.
On the other hand, I am also grateful for some of the cards that are easy to let go of. Just a nice card–funny, pretty, letting me know someone is thinking of me–which can do its job and then leave the house. I don’t feel I will need to be embarrassed to send that sort of card in the future either.
How do you deal with these sort of sentimental items?
It’s hard to deal with these items. A similar experience for me was dealing with all my daughters’ art work and other school work. I started choosing a few items from each grade and put them in their school scrapbooks. I do have a tote box on the shelf of each of their closets with some of their other work that I need to take the time to sort through. I’ll put that on my 2026 decluttering list.
I hope you have fun going through those papers.
It’s perhaps not the most efficient thing to do, culling what you are ready to cull and saving the rest for later–but I find I am less intimidated to think about going through them in another year or two. I figure at some point, I will be ready to let more of them go.
That’s exactly what I’ve found with each round of decluttering. Things I couldn’t part with last time are now easier to let go of. It’s an iterative process for sure.