Sentimentality -what items do you keep?

An old 1920s sit up and beg bicycle made by Humber, refurbished and given to me 45 years ago for Christmas by my then boyfriend. I rode it to work every day back then and it was always commented on. No gears, metal rod brakes, 31" wheels. It needs new tyres and brake pads now but I can't ride it any more, it's really hard work. The lovely boyfriend and I eventually parted and tragically he died but I still love that old bike and my daughters have promised that it will always have a home in a shed or garage and maybe even restored again.
I have other treasures too, paintings by my children, my mums locket with MIZPAH engraved on the back and a ceramic pot bought in Glastenbury by the above mentioned boyfriend.
Writing these memories has taken me back to the 70s again.

Loads and loads and loads of items! Things the DDs made at school, this week a poem turned up about 'My Mother' that one DD wrote about 30 years ago. Stuff belonging to my father who died in 1964 - I still won't let DH use my father's shoe cleaning equipment (he never allowed me to use it!). Sometimes I think I'll put labels on some items so when the DDs clear the house when I shuffle off this mortal coil they will see why they were treasured.

Far too much, I’m a real hoarder. One favourite piece is a not particularly attractive locket from my grandmother but it has pictures of her grandparents in it (so my great, great grandparents) who brought her up as her mother died soon after she was born. I have all my mum’s diaries, which mainly record the weather since 1960! But with them I found a little notebook which my dad used as a diary in the 1920s which has some fascinating little snippets of info. No doubt my kids will bin the lot when I’m gone.

Far too many things to list! All my Mum's momentos, all my Mum-in-law's, a lot from my Gran including a set of silver dessert knives my Grandad gave her on their engagement, the family Christening gown and a nightdress she made. Lots of photos and old coins, my Dad's graduation gown and mortarboard, Coronation mugs and a set of Edwardian coffee cups and saucers to name but a few. Drives my OH mad!

I have kept hundreds of cards etc from various family and friends, I’m not sure why because when I die I’m sure they will just be binned. Every now and then I think about throwing them away, I’ll get them out, read a few, and then put them all back. The one thing I have kept ( and is still on display )is a little ornament my son bought me on his first school trip 42 years ago. I can just see him getting off the school bus with it clutched in his hand. Better still, his best friend followed him off the bus clutching a huge tube of SR toothpaste for his parents. It still makes me laugh thinking about it. Such happy days !!.

I have kept my Papa's (granddad's) bow tie and my Dad's school tie, some pictures and cards made by my children and grandchildren, postcards sent by my children, an old school magazine, a couple of my old school reports, many letters, short stories I've written, paintings I've done, essays and course notes, about 30 old diaries......... probably far too much when I think about it. At some stage I will need to dispose of those things that relate only to me and are probably only of interest to me.

My daughters call me mother too when they disapprove of something I do narrowboatman

I don't really save anything, the bible I carried at my first wedding, last card from my son in law before he died and the pictures my grandchildren drew when they were small.

Far too much as others have said. Recently I got a box of photos out in order to throw some away, but had such a lovely time sorting through that very few went out!

The name tag, little white gown and shawl that my DS came home from the maternity unit in. Little things he made whilst at primary school; a little cloth frog and a first attempt at pottery, a small wooden heart with the faded words "For Mum, I Love You" written in a 6 years handwriting. I've moved house many times but these things are so precious to me and are the first things that I find a place to display them.

I'm a declutterer and every time I go through one of the kitchen cupboards I put my Grandma's egg poaching pan on the side to throw away but then when the time comes I put it back in the cupboard. I've had this pan since the Eighties and have never used it but it holds such memories of the times spent in Grandma's kitchen that I simply can't throw it out.

I’m don’t keep sentimental stuff anymore. Not since my daughter, on finding my ‘memory box’ stuffed with cards that she and her brother had made when they were small, family photos, my small collection of rosettes won at horse shows when I was single and all sorts of other bits and bobs, said ‘Do you want this mother? If not I’ll skip it’. She’s obviously not at all sentimental. Hmmf!

I have my husband's love letters sent when we were 'courting' back in the sixties. He was a railway fireman working on an engine and could be stuck miles away waiting for a train to bring him back home. He got into the habit of sending me letters and postcards. I have a lovely card showing many of the railway tracks of Shrewsbury station. To him, that would have been far more attractive than a lovely view of the countryside!

All sorts of bits and pieces; the childrens’ school reports; one of DH’s school reports (that’s an eye opener!); my father’s Army cap badge that went through the war with him and which he treasured more than his medals, and some of his letters in his beautiful handwriting; a brown Denby coffee pot and a marcasite ring that belonged to my mother ; a file of hand written recipes from my late sister who as a wonderful baker; a spectacle case (still in use) made in a junior school needlework lesson by my DD; a wrist watch stand made by DS in a woodwork lesson, and a small porcelain dish that he bought for Mother’s Day from a flea market when he was ten; a string of tiny yellow beads and a light up model of the Eiffel Tower that GS bought for me on a school trip to Paris. All precious. To me anyway!

I have most if not all of my mothers day cards from my son, along with all of his birthday cards in a scrap book.
I even have kept the letters that my ex husband and I exchanged before we got married - he was in Australia and I was in the UK so most of our romance was by letter - phone calls were too expensive to make internationally back then . I kept them just to show my son that we did love each other at one point!
I also have most of the tickets from various concerts and sporting events, then several bits and pieces that belonged to my parents - even have my dad's army papers from his national service and his ration book. My mums reading glasses along with her mums - I think that is about the only thing apart from photos that my mum had,sadly.

Oh I have kept some "items" over the years, outfits my children were christened in, wristbands from their births in hospital, lots of Xmas decorations that they made at school, and of course school reports. Then things that some will find a bit daft or really sentimentality gone mad!!.....my dad's old bus pass, he looks so young on it, but must have been over 60 (he was 85 when he died). My mum died when I was a teenager (she was only late 40's) I found a letter going through my dad's things, and it was one she had written to a friend of hers (returned by the lady she sent it to, to my dad after her death, as it was so lovely) detailing how I had reacted to my new baby brother ( I wasn't that bad!!). It will be kept and my children will decide when I'm not here what to do with it (probably bin it as no sentimentality these days) but it is so lovely to just see her handwriting. I also have a little book that was my dad's for keeping tabs on birthdays, special days etc, again because it's his handwriting I will not let it go. Hubby always keeps Father's day, mother's day cards plus birthday and anniversary cards from the children and grandchildren (think he's worse than me sometimes!!)
It's good not to throw everything away, I know we are a throwaway society these days but what will our children and grandchildren, and even further down the line have to look back on fondly?

Lots of dd-related things - baby congrats cards, some of their tiny baby clothes, one of each of their first shoes.

Things of my mother’s (she died in 2015) that I can’t bring myself to get rid of: the ‘lucky horseshoe’ thing she carried at her wedding in 1939 - still in its original box! - and lots of the birthday and Valentine’s Day cards my father sent her.

A load of picture postcards (written and stamped) collected by a grandmother, many dating from the very early 1900s. They were in the ancient original album, but it was falling to bits, so they’re now in a tin. One or two were quite helpful with family tree research, though.

Some letters written by my father to his folks when he was about 12. Much funnier and cheekier than I’d expect from that era!

A WW2 ‘Mentioned in Dispatches’ certificate awarded to my father, signed by King George V, or his pp. Probably relating to the Battle of the Atlantic, since he was engaged with that for at least 2 years.

It’s going to be down to dds to chuck most of those one day, I’m afraid.
Apart from books - far too many! - we don’t have much general clutter at all, though.

Children’s school reports and selection of cards and letters from them. I also have drawings and poems I did myself as a child, kept by my mother. Baby curls. Crystal and silver ornaments that belonged to my grandmother and great aunt. A beautiful mother-of-pearl case for visiting cards, with a
blue silk lining and my great aunt’s initials on a silver inlay. A totally useless carved chair that has been in the family as long as anyone can remember.

A card from my brother to congratulate me on my degree. It was one of only two written communications from him I had in my whole life.

Every word written to me by my grandchildren.

Very important are my grandmother’s and my mother’s engagement rings, which I wear regularly, on the fingers they fit. My fingers are smaller than my mother’s, but bigger than my grandmother’s. I have other pieces of jewellery as well.

When I downsized and had to part with beloved family furniture and china. I was lucky that my son took much of it. He has a big house! I feel it hasn’t really gone.

I wish I’d kept letters from my parents, but I didn’t. I like seeing their handwriting. Recordings of their voices would be good to have, too. I never thought of that.

I haven't kept much at all, over the years. I've got my Mum's wedding at eternity rings (she died 1995), on a chain, although I don't wear it. I've kept the last 8 or so Mother's Day and birthday cards from my sons, and a few pictures that my Grandchildren have done. I've got all the usual photos, but I don't believe in hanging on to things. I'm not particularly sentimental.

My grandfather was a Fireman in WW2 and was commended for his work in the Liverpool Blitz....I have his certificates/awards.
He was my hero and I cherish those together with the Teddy bear he brought me on the day I was born.

Couple of letters/poems from my husband and lots of photographs. That's it.

A bridesmaid dress i wore when i was 7, , and a baby outfit of my younger brother, im not at all sentimental or a hoarder, but mum found them in nannas when she cleaned the house out, and then i found them many years later in mums doing the same thing

I have three tins one for each of my children. They are filled with birth memorabilia, letter, cards and sentiments associated with their births. They know I have them, and through their childhood went through them several times.
I also kept many other things paintings they did as children etc.
These I have just recently given to them, so I could see what they wanted to do with them . As adults they got to understand what those things meant to me and that I had felt their achievements worth keeping. Some they didn't want others they kept and cherished.
When my mum died I found just the same sort of things she'd kept of mine I wish I could have gone through those with her like I did with my children. They bring smiles and laughter who'd deny any of that?

@Franbern - Your post reminded me that I had a collection of letters from our two children which they wrote to me from Orkney when I was away training in Bristol from 1985-1987. On impulse, a few years ago, after a life threatening illness, I sent them to 'the authors' each in a special vintage tin, one Christmas, worried that they may get lost if I suffered a sudden demise. Neither AC commented at the time....

ninathenana I know, it was the spelling of ‘naughty’ that got me, shall bequeath the note to her!

My daughters two front baby teeth....I have always said I will get them dipped in gold and made into quirky earrings for her!