Question of the Day: What Do You Hold Onto?

I’ve held on to things that make me smile and bring back memories. I have my great aunt’s wall clock, the can that held chips in my kitchen when I was a child, and my Easter outfit from when I was 5. Most things are out and displayed.(shadow boxes are fantastic) I’ve also documented stories of all of these items with photographs and stories on my blog.

What do I wish I had kept? I recently came across my husband’s baby book in the wrong box. It contained a few birthday cards from his growing up years. It made me wish I had saved my kid’s cards.

Honestly – not a whole lot. I am not sentimental when it comes to things. I have held on to books that were meaningful to me. I hold on to any family heirlooms but that’s partially because they are few and far between.

My husband, on the other hand, can’t part with anything from his youth. This includes a collection of all computer software he has ever owned – and he owned a lot of video games.

I haven’t figured out what I will save for my own kids. I will probably err on the sentimenal side for their sake… My son wears some of the same clothes that his dad wore thanks to the fact that my mother-in-law preserved them so well.
.-= Liz´s last blog ..Sprouting seeds =-.

I still have the ratty old sheepdog that I’ve been sleeping with since I was two years old. I have a hard time parting with things my parents got me, we never had a lot of money growing up so when they bought me something nice I knew how important it was.

My other big thing is tickets. I have always loved saving tickets from places I go. Amusement parks, museum exhibits, anything really. I keep them in a photobox under my bed. At least I don’t collect anything large!
.-= Erica´s last blog ..Smelly Towel Cleaner: 1st Review & Giveaway! =-.

Like you, I seem to be more sentimental with things that have been passed down to me. I have kept a tub of things from my own and my husband’s childhood. And now, I have started to collect a few things of my children to save. It is mostly with the idea that I will pass them on to them as they grow older. My mom saved very little of mine and I feel kind of sad about that. I would like a good representation of childhood things for each of my kids.
.-= Jennifer Tankersley´s last blog ..list of places to visit to promote earth-awareness in children =-.

Like you I love sentimental items from my grandparents and great-grandparents. I love the history, I love knowing there is a connection between generations and that simple everyday things to them have become treasures to me that I want to pass to my children. I used to hold onto everything when I was a kid and in high school. Then when I was in college I thought of how it was too much stuff. I moved overseas for awhile and developed a simplicity ideal. I hold onto letters and cards from family and friends. I hold onto pictures. I have a few things from childhood that I treasure like my dollhouse. I keep very few things for my kids, mainly awards and journals and certificates. No clothes and toys, because I don’t want to be a pack-rat.
.-= Stacy´s last blog ..When a Parent is Sick =-.

I’m sentimental about anything with my grandparents handwriting (cards, letters, a note) or something written to me by my parents. I have three special things that I kept from my grandmother who I loved dearly: a letter she wrote to me when I was a child telling me that I was the first person she wrote to using the new cherry writing desk from my grandfather, I have the cherrywood writing desk in my library (I asked if I could have when she passed away), and my favorite copy of Little Women with a note in the back from my grandmother. I am very sentimental and I have to be careful what I keep and learn how to display things better.

Hi Mandi!

One thing I hold onto is that I have kept every card or note that my family or friends have ever given me or my children (within reason of course). I have shoe boxes full!! I don’t, unfortunately, have many heirlooms as both sets of my grandparents were deceased by the time I was born and I never met them. The one item I do have that is important to me is my grandmother’s mahogany hope chest that was given to her on her 16th birthday. It was passed on to my mom on her 16th birthday and then to me on mine. I store our quilts in it. Its a beautiful piece that anchors the foot of my bed.

I do collect postcards from the places I’ve traveled or vintage ones I have found in antique stores. I display them in frames and I find them beautiful to look at.

I’m trying, on another note, to preserve more memories from raising my three children. I have found writing my blog has helped with that! I take more pictures, make notes of their milestones and record places we’ve been and things we have done.

My entire childhood is in one bin. I kept stuff from the other countries that I traveled to as a child but that’s about it. I also have one box that has several scrapbooks and all my yearbooks from high school. All the “keepsakes” that I have from when I was born and a couple of my great grandfathers antique elephants I have sitting on a shelf in my bedroom. I’m not a very sentimental person. I do keep some stuff but I don’t have absolutely everything. I keep a couple of art projects from my son’s school year but mostly it gets pitched. The only thing I can say that is my vice is my scrapbook stuff. I have TONS of pictures and I’m always buying stuff for scrapbooking. Its my getaway. As far as milestones for my kids, I actually kept a really good record of everything in their baby book up until they were 5 (and that’s only because the baby book ended! LOL). The only thing I really collect from our travels is pictures, tickets (for the scrapbook), and those pennies you can get flattened! I hate clutter so I hate keeping stuff that isn’t really needed.

I’m not very sentimental about things. I have some things from my grandmother and mother that I love – I’ve kept the things of theirs that I use and love. The things that were given to me that I do not like (except for some of the memories they evoke), I can usually let go. They were so much more to me than the stuff they gave me. And I’m all about no clutter (like the previous post) and just like they were. Thankfully, no one in our family guilts anyone else into keeping sentimental “stuff”. I’ve watched friends get buried in “stuff” that was given to them and I feel like I’m going to smother just seeing it.

I have a few of my daughter’s things from her baby days, but for some reason, those make me sad. I pull them out and see a stain on a sweet little dress that wasn’t there when I packed them away. I see the pages of her baby book yellowing with age and I guess I get sad for the passing of time. I have loved every stage of her life and now that she’s a wife and mommy, I’ve found another favorite stage of being her mom.

I have a tough time getting rid of things people have given me ~ well, things my mom has given me. I have this problem because I don’t know how she’s going to react to me getting rid of it. In fact, we have a convertible crib that my kiddo has never once slept in because she refused to sleep in a crib, and it doesn’t fit in her room due to sloped ceilings. I haven’t gotten rid of it for 4 years for fear of her reaction. She was here for Easter and said I should put it together and sell. What a relief, but silly that I made myself wait so many years with that big old crib taking up space in my bedroom.
.-= Jackie Lee´s last blog ..What’s in the Kitchen? Ham. =-.

Baby clothes and books. I just went through a bunch of the twins clothes from when they were babies. I only keep a couple of outfits each. I have handmade blankets too from my Grandmas and Aunts and Mother in law.
.-= Rana´s last blog ..Post it Note Tuesday =-.

I grew up in a very poor household that didn’t seem to have many prospects. My mother revered books. Books meant learning, learning meant education, and an education was the only way out of poverty. Due to her influence, I view books as almost sacred and have a really hard time parting with them.