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Get rid of it. I'm a 66 year old and I don't miss anything I've thrown away. I try to simplify my life so that my kids won't have to do it when I'm gone.
My mother kept everything. Important, not important, she had some little hand prints I made her in kindergarten, rolled up in a paper towel holder with glitter on it. So, some of it was good to see she kept. But, yes, I like the simplify idea.
I have gone through a terrrible tribulation in my life, and it has really changed my mindset. When I moved the first time 10 years ago, I had to leave so the "flea marketer" picking up the unsold stuff could get it without me saying, "I need this, I want that", etc. Haven't missed a thing from that time. Moved to Texas and decorated differently. I am a sucker for pretty knick-knacks, had a couple curios for displaying. When my tribulation made it so that I had to move, I had an estate sale. By then I really didn't care what went, except for my most favorite things. My feeling is if I get rid of it I am not buying it again, since I didn't need it or use it when I had it.
Now, I am moving again, back to Texas from Michigan, and having to take the unpacked boxes back with me (I moved in with a relative so I only used personal things). However, in looking at or in boxes, I find I am no longer "attached" to the contents (I kept things I would or could use when I got a new place of my own). My whole life has changed, and along with that my whole happiness? with "stuff". Even looking at all the old pics from the past means nothing, most people are now dead, out of my life, or grown up.
Life changes, so do our attitudes, especially as we age. Once gone, I don't think you'll miss a thing. If in doubt, keep it. Eventually you will get sick and tired of seeing it or moving it and your attachment will be gone, and so will the item.
Link to a clutterbusting blog that I enjoy: Clutter Busting with Brooks Palmer
Like the attitude of author, because he doesn't berate people about their stuff. He just asks how the person feels in the present about an item-regardless of how one may have felt about it in the past (we get used to keeping some things out of habit, then forget to check if our feelings towards the things have lessened, and whether our priorities have changed since then).
Can't opine on what's going on with the OP, it's a judgement call & each person's situation is unique.
When I was younger, it seemed that I never had enough of "my own" stuff, so I was in "acquisition" mode. With age, I've accumulated my own clutter, and had people die and leave me theirs, so now I'm in "divest" mode-have at last arrived at point where I have too much stuff.
Some items I could only bear to get rid of a couple days ago, some objects may take me another decade to part with-one's attachment to a given thing can shift over time, and making decisions about what to retain & what to dispose of can be very tiring. It is indeed difficult to predict which activities, hobbies, collections will still be of value to oneself in the future, based on the limited knowledge one currently has.
Progress tends to be gradual & incremental, which is reasonable considering that all this stuff didn't appear overnight, either. I'm trying to decrease my possessions to a slightly more manageable level, as keeping things in one's home is an implicit commitment to having to store & maintain all those things (which can proliferate, get out of hand).
I think it can be healthy to go through and get rid of some of the things in our lives that maybe hold a negative feeling, or to just cut down on what we have. I would suggest you not get rid of many photos though. I think photos are special (unless say it was a pic of an ex you don't like). Year from now you may really regret it and those are things that cannot be replaced.
Don't know whether it would be practical or not to scan photos into computer-if digital memorabilia is easier to manage, takes up less physical space, than the photographic prints/albums. Merely a suggestion.
I seen on one of those ABC after school specials and on "ordinary people" when someone give's all their collections away it's because they're suicidal. Just sayin'
I disagree with the above "when in doubt keep it." It's "WHEN IN DOUBT, THROW IT OUT."
throwing it out when emotional could lead to feelings of despair that the item is now gone and the owner still wanted it. I followed up with eventually you will get sick and tired of looking at it, or moving it, and really be done enough with it to get rid of it. At least this is how I did it, because I get attached to my "stuff". However, under these new circumstance of my life, I am really wanting to have another garage or estate sale and lighten my load some more.
Don't we all have boxes of stuff that we only see every time we move? I know I do! Unfortunately, by the time I get to those boxes, I'm knee deep in the moving process and don't have the time or energy to sort through everything. I got rid of a LOT of books the last time I moved, and swore I'd use the library more often. Well, that worked for a while - until Borders started going out of business. I ended up with a whole book shelf of books. Some of those new books are still unread a year later. (Bibliophiles are a special breed of hoarder! )
I don't like knick-knacks and clutter. It's just something else to dust. I vote for simplifying your life, but I agree about the photos. If anything, take the photos out of the albums and put them in a shoebox, just in case you want them later.
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