Tri-Valley Mortgage News

Do you or someone you know hang onto every knick knack ever given to you or every art project made by your children? Do you feel like you're being suffocated by all the "stuff" accumulated over the years? If so, first know that you're not crazy. Secondly, there are ways to climb out from under it all.

Why do we hang onto this kind of clutter when we might otherwise have everything else under control? The reason starts to become clearer when we realize that most of our days are spent doing rather mundane tasks and routines. Nostalgia reminds us of our significance in the world and that our lives are unique and worthwhile.

However collecting and keeping these sentimental items can easily get out of hand and the clutter can take over your space. Keeping too many items can actually keep us stuck in the past and in extreme cases, can keep us from positively moving forward with our lives.

The fact is, the more items you stockpile, the less significant each item becomes due to sheer volume. The key is to keep the clutter under control and only keep those things that are truly valuable representations of who you are and what makes you unique. Here are a few tips help you do just that:

• First get some empty boxes and collect all the items you could never bear to part with. Get everything together in one centralized location.
• Sort everything you've collected. You could sort by era, by person, or by type of object (ie: photos, kids art, trophies, etc.).
• Evaluate and make an honest decision about what you can realistically display in your home and still keep an orderly appearance. If your trophies and awards are the most significant to you, then keep them but group them attractively perhaps on a shelf in your office or family room.
• For the items that didn't "make the cut" decide what you will do with them. One of the best ideas I've used is to take pictures of certain items and put them into a scrapbook or photo album where you can also write details of why that item is/was significant to you.

It is possible to part with items you don't have space for but still preserve the memories associated with them. And more often than not, the memory is infinitely more valuable than the item.