Minimalism and Sentimental Items - 3 Tips for Handling Sentimental Items as a Minimalist

Hi, everyone! 

I made a video on my YouTube channel recently talking about my top three tips for handling sentimental items as a minimalist, as well as giving you a little peek into my personal collection of sentimental items. If you would like to watch that video, you can do so here. However, I wanted to put those tips up here as well, to provide a written version you can come back to and read over if you ever feel you need them, without having to watch a video. 

Before I get into the tips, however, I want to give a little introduction and talk about minimalism and sentimental items, because I feel like that can often times be a controversial subject in the minimalist community. 

My opinion on the topic is this: minimalism is meant to be a tool to help improve your life, not something you use to deprive yourself or make yourself miserable. So if there are items in your life that would simply be too painful for you to let go of, there is absolutely no reason for you to put yourself through that pain. It's okay to keep some items just to look through them and remember and reminisce, even if they don't have a practical purpose. To me, the problem is not having a small collection of items that are truly special to you and really bring you joy, but rather, the problem is when we have so many items that we label as sentimental, that we become so overwhelmed and burdened by them that we can't even enjoy them anymore. 

So these tips I'm about to give are not to make you feel like you cannot keep any sentimental items, or tell you you have to get rid of every sentimental item you own - but rather, they are to help guide and encourage if you're struggling with feeling overwhelmed and burdened by your sentimental items. 

Now that I've said that, let's get into the tips! 

Tip #1: Keep only the absolute most sentimental items, and not just any item you feel slightly attached too. 

I used to keep everything from movie ticket stubs, to receipts from special occasions, to scraps of paper that some of my favorite children had scribbled on. Because of this, I had many, many items that I thought were sentimental, but a few years later, I would have no idea what they were from, or, if I did, I didn't even care about them anymore. Not only does this add a lot of clutter to your life, but it devalues the truly special items. If you keep EVERYTHING that could potentially be sentimental, you can't truly cherish the best ones. So whether you're decluttering your sentimental items, or trying to evaluate what new ones to allow into your life, only keep the ones that mean the absolute most to you, and let the other, less significant ones, go. 

Tip #2: Take photographs instead of taking keepsakes or souvenirs. 

This one is pretty self explanatory, but I truly do believe that a photograph of the experience that you cherish is far more special than an item that has to be stored in a box in your closet or under your bed. If you change your focus from collecting souvenirs to collecting photographs, not only will you be bringing a lot less clutter into your life, but you will also have a beautiful collection of pictures you can look back on and reminisce with at any time.  

Tip #3: Give yourself time to let go of things. 

When I first decluttered my sentimental items, there were several things that I kept, that, when I went back some months later to declutter again, I found myself wondering why I had thought they were special enough to keep. I think sometimes we need to keep certain sentimental items at certain times because of where we are emotionally or how we're processing the memory associated with it, but then at another point in our lives, we may no longer feel that we need them. So if you're struggling to let go of something, just keep it for now, and come back to in it a few months. You may still feel you need it, in which case, keep it - or you may be like me, and wonder why you kept it in the first place - in which case, you can let it go. But give yourself time to do that - minimalism is a journey, not a race or a competition. 

So those are my three tips for how to handle sentimental items as a minimalist. I hope they were helpful to you, and again, if you'd like to watch the video, you can do so below.

Until next time, 

Sierra