Tips: decluttering childhood toys and mementos

Decluttering things from your childhood is hard. I can get very emotional and not easy. In the recent year, I had to let go of some things that took too many spaces in my home or in my parents’ basement. Here are some tips that worked for me.

1. When I got rid of something that was very special, or hard to part with, I would take a picture to remind myself of that item.

2. Keep in mind that the item is not the memory.

3. Designate a box for the mementos. When it’s full, it’s time to decide what you keep and what you don’t.

4. Don’t feel bad about not keeping everything (see #2). For my school stuff, I mostly kept report cards, some significant research or art project. Don’t feel guilty of not keeping something.

5. Display your memories. It serves nothing to have them buried in a box in the back of a closet.

(link to the 2019 my collection display)

6. Ask yourself if you really need to keep letters and mementos from an old friend, ex or people you don’t even remember. In my case the answer was NO.

7. Give yourself permission to get rid of bad photos. Back in the days of film photography, you would often get a bad picture (blurry, all white or black, etc.) and I’ve always felt obligated to keep them all because they were part of a set (in my mind).

8. Seing how much money some toys are can help you part with them. I made quite a few dollars with mine. I sold most of my Little Ponies, one baby pony I disliked sold for 30-ish dollar! It motivated me to sell more stuff like my Kitty Kitty Kitten ($30), a playful hair Kitty Surprise ($10-ish) and a dress up puppy surprise ($10-ish, but more than the Kitty Surprise).  Now I just kept my favourite toys.

9. Having less, makes the other thing “pop” more. It also makes room for the things that are the most important to you.

10. Put all the artworks in a binder (if those can fit in a regular binder). Or get one of those school memory book.

My school memory book from Regal, back in the days. It has pockets and all great info my mom filled out.

A binder I recently put together to get all my non-school stuff in one place.

Also including my CEGEP (college) buss passes.

11. Don’t do too much in one sitting. It can be overwhelming. Start with 15-20 minutes periods.

12. If you have many mementos about one event, try to limit to one or two if you can.

13. Repurpose items. You can make an old t-shirt into a quilt or wall art