How To Let Go of Sentimental Clutter

You may never have heard the term “sentimental clutter” before, but I’ll bet you probably have some of it in your home right now. The term refers to those things that no longer have any proper use other than sentimentality but take up valuable space in your home. While keeping tidy very special mementos of family vacations and those gifts you’ve received that hold special meaning can make your home a warm haven, holding on to too much can also become a hinder. These items can be difficult to get rid of, especially if you’ve assigned a tremendous amount of value to them. Because a cluttered home can lead to a cluttered mind, we’re going to explore how to let go of sentimental clutter so that you can free yourself and lighten your load.

Can I Even Remember Why I Have This Thing?

Sentimentality is not a bad thing—until it starts to affect the rest of your life. If you feel bogged down by clutter that you can’t get rid of, it’s time to reexamine these items and whether they are worth keeping or not. If the item itself is something you treasure, you don’t need to throw it away. However, if you have an object sitting around and you can’t even remember why or where you got it, and it’s not a remembrance of an experience or place that has sentimental value to you, you may wish to just remove it so that it’s not cluttering up your home.

Everything Has It’s Place

To me, my home is my nest. A place of rest and comfort—a safe haven to return to. Filled with collections and memories for myself and my family. To this day, my grandkids try to count all the chickens in the kitchen or the glass hearts on the side table in the library. Or, the books in all of their categories. But, one thing I’ve learned to pay attention to is that everything must feel in order to have it’s place. Carefully, grouped together, you can afford to have what might otherwise feel like clutter. I don’t hold on or add to clutter in my home unless there is extremely special meaning attached. And it always feels good when I take the right thing away!

Determine the True Feeling Behind the Object

Not everything we feel attached to is attached to us for a good reason. A common example of this is hanging onto an item or object that you received as a gift that you don’t really enjoy. You may have appreciated the thought behind it, but nothing aside from guilt holds it in place in your home. Your kids may have picked out a trinket when they were children—that they could afford and it just collects dust now. Holding onto anything that you would not miss if there was a fire is probably a good gauge to whether or not it should hold its space. You can give it away and feel good about it becoming someone else’s treasure.

Pass On the Important Things

It can be difficult to know how to let go of sentimental clutter, but one of the best ways to get rid of it is to pass it on. When my daughter built her new home, it gave me great joy to pass on some of my cherished collection of chickens. I’m laughing now, as I think about how my kitchen did not miss any of the ones I gave to her. Rather than unceremoniously dumping it in the garbage, consider that someone else could get some use out of it. A cherished family heirloom (like my chickens) or even your baby’s old clothes may not be doing much for you, but they can continue to be useful to others who may want or need them.

Gather and Let Go

It’s easy to gather and not let go. But stuff piles up. It feels so good when you get rid of stuff you don’t need and throw it out or pass it on. Every time I clean my closets, my garage or my book shelves, I feel a renewed energy and more inner peace. When we hold on to stuff, stuff holds onto us. When we let go, we free up space. As within, so without! If there are many similar items you are holding onto for sentimental reasons, you can save yourself the turmoil of deciding whether to get rid of them by just slowly reducing the number you keep.