Memorabilia: How much to keep?

When we look back at history and hear stories about our past, we tend to feel connected to something larger in our lives. We make sure to keep items such as medals or trophies that reflect past accomplishments or Christmas card photos that reflect great times with our families and friends. Photos, scrapbooking and digital records of our loved ones are just a few ways to keep them in our lives, and with the holiday season fast approaching, we will be adding even more items to our collections.

From an organizing perspective, when we talk about the dreaded "memorabilia," we're often referring to an area of organizing where everyone is behind schedule. I could probably walk into every home in the Napa Valley and deal just with everyone's "stuff" for the rest of my adult life. Most of us have way too much stuff. We find ways to deal with it, for example, getting involved with Creative Memories scrapbooking or mastering electronically organized photos or by framing our awards. However, sometimes it seems that just keeping up with the memorabilia denies us a greater experience of that person or event. Giving yourself parameters and an actual structure in which to take, store and eventually use these items, will make you feel less guilty when you need to part with certain items in order to make room to add other ones to your collection.

It's important to use the proper organizing supplies to store and preserve items for all to enjoy in the years that follow. I worked with a wonderful businesswoman last week in Berkeley. She has two kids, ages 4 and 7, who had various sizes of shoe boxes that were stuffed with photos. Since the kids have no desire to put the photos into books, I suggested she weed out the photos that are just so-so, and buy some large acid-free photo boxes that are divided into fours. It's best to label the back of each photo with a proper photo pen. Write the date, place and names of people in the photo and put them into envelopes to store in the boxes. This is all she had to do to feel that she was keeping up with things and didn't have to spend hours arranging them into a photo album.

I can easily give you more quick tips such as: immediately purge the bad photos, take fewer photos or keep only what's useful. Something else to consider is that if we have so many things that remind us of the past, we may have a really hard time living in the present. We desire deeper, richer connections, which is why we have collected so many things. It's better not to spend your day being buried in all the stuff that may remind you of the past. I find it interesting that when people look at photos of the past, there's often some sort of sadness that enters the heart. By glorifying the past, it takes away from the quality of their experience in the present. Keep things that make you feel good and you will have more of that experience in the here and now.

Lanna Nakone is the author of "Organizing for Your Brain Type" and "Every Child Has a Thinking Style." Her Web site is www.organizedworld.com. She can be reached by e-mail or by calling 524-9896.