Childhood Home Mementos: To Keep or Not to Keep?

23 Aug Childhood Home Mementos: To Keep or Not to Keep?

Your childhood home will always have a special place in your heart. As much as you’d like to stay, circumstances change and a move becomes the best decision for the family. The reasons for leaving are plenty: marriage, divorce, a growing family, or parents moving to an assisted living facility.

Whatever the reason, it’s never easy to say goodbye to memories of your childhood home. As you sort through your belongings and decide what to have professional Corona movers bring to your new home, you’ll have to make some tough decisions. Nostalgia increases your feelings of social connectedness with an object, which makes letting go a challenge.

Sentimental clutter, however, is still clutter. Instead of filling your new home with nostalgic clutter, focus on making space for new memories to fill.

Moving On: Mementos to Leave Behind

Short-term Mementos

Birthday cards and event programs are memorable, but you won’t need them forever. It’s okay to keep them for a little while — perhaps stick them to your fridge or tack them to a cork board. After a few weeks, though, it’s time to dispose of them.

Other People’s Memories

The program from a sibling’s wedding or pressed flowers from a baptism reminds you of these special occasions. But it’s important to recognize that these aren’t your memories to keep. Houzz, an online home design community, suggests releasing yourself from other people’s memories and sticking with your own.

Free Stuff

This includes freebies from conferences, trade shows, and fairs. These items might’ve been free but are they still useful? Once you determine that they aren’t, then toss it out! Your new home has no space for broken keychain flashlights.

Inherited Treasures

Parting with gifts from the family is difficult. For instance, your grandmother’s China collection would look great in your new home, perhaps. Do you need it though? It would be better if you gave it to someone who would have a use for it. If you still want something to remember it by, take a photo, write memories on it, and put it in an album.

Items That Stay

Fortunately, not everything has to go to the trash. You can keep a few items from your childhood home, such as:

Beloved Items

Photos can’t capture the feel of some memories. Whether it’s a teddy bear or an old blanket that protected you from nightmares, hang on to these mementos.

Representative Samples

Instead of taking the whole lot of memories in your treasure box, choose one item that represents the rest.

Positive Event Reminders

This includes only the pivotal best days of your life — the days you would re-live over and over again. Examples are your wedding day, the birth of your kids, or closing day for your new house.

Your new home is the best place to make new memories. Make room for them by leaving behind old ones from your childhood home.

While we can’t help you decide which items to toss or keep, we make your move easier by providing seamless moving and packing services. Get in touch with us today to learn more.