Sentimental value or clutter?

Simple in our house. Anything I think of as sentimental value, my OH regards as clutter

I have cards sent to me by my husband in the seventies. He was killed when he was thirty eight. I haven't the heart to throw them away, my children can do that when I'm gone.

Yes, def not the bin but the recycling bin.

Dana I have been there and still have some cards saved in the loft that will stay there. Keep some if you have room. I also use some as notes (discard the message and keep the front) at least writing my shopping on a pretty piece of card and it then gets a bit of a recycle. If you have no room then put them in recycling please not just a bin

I have passed all the birth congratulations cards, hospital identity bracelets, children's first drawings etc on to each relevant child and have left it to them to make any decisions about what they want to keep

Mm, I did a declutter and now have only the close family cards. When my FIL died it was much appreciated by the family how he had kept cards and correspondence from us.

I had S2 empty my loft and dispose of the contents whilst I went away. Had I been around, I would, without question, held on to 'stuff'. In all these years I have only ever 'wondered' about two items so I'm not sorry about that decision and I am VERY happy to have an empty loft which only gets checked and aired for maintenance reasons.

When I was moving abroad I sorted through all the cards and mementos that my children had made for me and asked them if they would like them together with their school reports. They took them and enjoyed showing their children. Whether they kept them I don't know. I also divided up all the boxes of photographs and kept those that were personal to me and gave all the rest and albums to my eldest daughter. They then had a meet up and had a lively time going through the photos and each taking the ones personal to them. They agreed to keep the albums whole so my eldest daughter has care of them. I thought that much better than the photos being in a different country and someone having sort everything out later. 9 years later I really should clear out all the clutter accumulated since. The only birthday cards I have kept were those for my 70th birthday because most of them were specially made.

I haven't ever kept cards and have never regretted it. Likewise, if I haven't used something for the past 2 years then I either give it to charity, sell it or bin it. My loft is, thankfully, empty as I found that once something went into the loft I never used it again.

I use some greetings cards to make little boxes for gift giving, and my favourites get used as book marks.

I began to amass cards in the early days so had a massive clear out and got rid of them. I now I just keep the current year's Christmas, birthday and anniversary cards and throw them out when the next lot arrive! Only ones I will keep are our Golden Wedding cards as I guess it's a bit of an achievement especially as a lot of people said 'it will never last'!

Very wise emilie.
Chewbacca - you and I seem to have much in common, but read the other posts and take heed! I have been much encouraged and will try to be tough.

This has made me look at the "stuff" I've kept for years. I still have all the cards that I was sent when I had DS (he's 35 now). I have the little outfit; shawl and bootees that he wore when he came home from hospital; his I.D bracelet; Beavers & Cub Scout neckerchief, jumper and badges; school exercise books; first attempts at pot throwing; woodwork.... the list is endless. I don't have room for all of this but I just cannot bring myself to throw it away. Daft or what?

I have loads of cards in the loft, too - dds will have to chuck them once Dh and I cark it.

Also have the lucky horseshoe thung my mother had for her wedding in 1939 - still in its box! - and several of the anniversary cards my father sent her - big ones that came in boxes. Couldn't bring myself to chuck them after she died at 97.

Not to mention a silk christening gown and robe thing, made I think by my great granny for my father 100 years ago - meticulously pin tucked and beautifully sewn.
My mother couldn't use it for any of us - we were all too fat for it! - and my Gdcs haven't been christened.

We've been fairly ruthless with other clutter lately - stacks has gone to tip or charity shop, but some things are just too hard to offload.

Dana,chuck the lot out!

Funnily enough I have just taken my birthday cards down off the mantelpiece as it was my birthday last week. I went to put them in the big wicker basket next to the settee to 'deal' with them later and found last year's cards were still there! I've thrown both lots out except for 2 that were written by grandchildren who couldn't write in previous years. Now feel a bit guilty realising I threw the one out from my dad who is 90. It might be the last one he sends me but I've thought that for a few years. Decided if I'm not going to actually look at things then it's not fair on the family to keep them until I die and then they have to throw them out!

Gosh Jezebel, that's a massive amount of cards - I thought. Then I did a bit of maths - married 37 years, X number of occasions and X number of family members likely to send them on each occasion, plus the bereavement,get well retirement cards = Ta dah! drum roll ......... too many for me to count! Maybe even matches your 1000. I think I must get a grip. I meant to start this afternoon but the loft was unbearable hot, so good reason to put off the deed. Basically I must be just a sentimental saddo!

Them all !!

Cleared the attic out recently had lots of my adult children's birthday cards , plus others, read gem all, kept significant ones, and added nearly 1,000 to the recycling X

I go through the cards (and a few letters) and chuck out those which are not appealing but keep the rest. They fit into a couple of boot/shoe boxes and really don't take up that much space.
Now and again I go through them for a little read/nostalgia fest, then put them away again.

Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and get rid! If you move house, will you be happy to move them from one attic to another? It's really hard to get rid of these things that mean a lot but ..................... Good luck

Haha Lupatria, I had better not delay or I'll find I can't get in the loft either! Although that would mean the issue is then sorted, I suppose.

If you don't bin them then some day someone else will have to. Do you want to share these with anyone else? I had similar decision with my husband's and my own letters to each other. Pretty crazy some of them but totally wonderful and so reminiscent of years of daft joy. I bit the bullet and burnt them recently. Painful but it still feels like the right decision.

I purchased a lovely box that has floral design on it, it's about 12x10" I sat one afternoon and went through my cards and just selected the ones for special occasions i.e. 40th 50th etc and GCs drawings and I've written " memories"on the box in pretty pink pen.Ive discarded all the others. Easy Peasy.

my mother kept every card that my father sent her - my sister and i found them when we were clearing the house after they died.
i keep the birthday cards up for a week and then they're in the bin - same with christmas cards.
the only cards i've kept are from my 21st birthday all those years ago and from my wedding although i've been divorced for 22 years now. these cards are up in the loft and i can't get up into the loft now!