Page 54 - Harnett Life Fall 2021

Coming to the End of a

Sentimental Journey

By Jessie Jones, Extension FCS Agent

Many of us have inherited items from relatives who have genuinely makes you happy or brings you joy, keep it. Second,
passed or over the years started collections, either intention- it’s okay to discard, sell, or donate items, so don’t feel guilty
ally or unintentionally. Now we have shelves, cabinets, and about getting rid of items. It’s better to remove items from your
even rooms cluttered with these items, or what some would home than letting items overtake your home. Here are a few
call junk. We tend to hang onto these items because they elicit steps you can take to help decide what will stay and what will
some sort of memory or emotion, and that is the key difference go:
between sentimental clutter (pictures, possessions of loved
ones, childhood items) and basic clutter (torn/stained clothing, 1. Decide How Much Room You Have: It is important to de-
broken toys, random books). To quote Dr. Julie Holland of the cide in the beginning how much room you want to devote to
New York University School of Medicine, “Sentimental clutter the items you want to keep. For example, you can dedicate 10
is the adult equivalent of a teddy bear.” percent of shelf space to these items. Think about going into
a really nice cake shop – every piece of cake might make you
Letting go of sentimental items is tough! Keeping ALL those happy, but you want to decide which piece of cake you actually
items, or not removing basic clutter, can lead to a home becom- want to try. It’s the same with sentimental items – too many
ing overrun and become a health concern. Excessive clutter things can diminish the quality of having them at all.
can lead to insect and rodent infestations, trip and fall hazards 2. Free Up Space in Your Home: For every one item you bring
if in walkways, and - most dangerous - is a fire hazard. Some in your home, one or two items leave your home.
individuals may even limit visits from family and friends or 3. Pick Representative Items: One easy way to reduce sen-
live alone due to clutter. timental clutter is to pick good representative items of your
How can we “declutter” sentimental clutter? First, it’s impor- collections and keep one or two favorites instead of the entire
tant to understand not all items are necessarily clutter - if it collection. For example, if you have hundreds of pictures of

Page 54 Harnett Life ~ Fall 2021