What’s in your Attic? Are you storing memorabilia boxes in your closet, basement, attic, or storage unit (or all the above)? If so, I imagine most readers barely mention a dozen items in their memorabilia box – out of how many items? I want to inspire you to declutter your memorabilia boxes and actually visit your history more often.
Memorabilia – Why Bother?
At some point, it dawned on us that we would be not be passing on ‘treasures’ to our children so much as burdens. How would they know what mattered to us? And why should they care? If our kids were practical (and they are), and they managed to assess the value of our items, they would then be burdened with the ugly process of selling not just things, but our things. That just seemed like a shitty thing to do to someone, especially our children.
I asked my grandma if she wanted me to buy the family farm where she had lived for 70 years. She said absolutely not. I was surprised really and it made me wonder how many people don’t ask about such things. Now, death wasn’t really the driving motivator for lightening our load because we’re young. Moving regularly, however, allowed us to get very annoyed by our stupid crap.
Back to death though..my grandma died leaving so much stuff that there was no option but to do an estate sale. Items were hastily sold and sometimes for much less than they could’ve garnered on eBay or Craigslist. We also saw a close friend struggle over his inheritance of antiques that he didn’t really want but couldn’t bring himself to sell. He ended up paying storage fees for many years and maybe still does. What parent would want to put that expense on their children?
TLDL: Take a Picture and Upload it to Screensaver. Boom! Your Memorabilia.
Modernize Your Memorabilia
We’ve managed to eliminate most of our Memorabilia boxes. We have some memorabilia remaining because we were taking our time virtualizing. Even living abroad now in SE Asia, we enjoy our favorite treasures much more and we see memories on a daily / weekly / monthly basis. Let me tell you how you can, too.
Reduce by 20%
When we started downsizing, we treated our childhood memory boxes like everything else. We try to achieve a 20% reduction every single time we purge an area whether it be a toolbox, a room, a closet, or a make-up bag.
Turn Valuable items into Cash
Unused items and memorabilia takes up square footage and storage is not cheap. If it’s in your house and you’re not using it or looking at it, you are storing it. Sell those items with a monetary value first. We sold our Star trek toys, a 50 yo GI Joe, 40 year old casino coins, and a gold graduation ring. Turn those items you’re storing in your house into CASH and then put the cash into interest bearing accounts.
We could sell our items and replace them with identical, mint-condition versions from eBay for no increase in replacement costs.
Sell what is valuable, donate what has no value or meaning, and scan or photograph the rest. This is probably the longest part of the process, or it can be. See how we reduced our footprint. I photographed all of my photos with my iPhone, which was good enough. Still, it takes time. Every time you look at your pictures ask yourself, ‘Who really cares?’.
Our ‘now’ and our future, are busy enough without bringing the past along on every journey.
Last week is Old News
Technology is practically unusable after 2-3 years. I can’t even recall my life two years ago. We live in a time where everyday seems to produce advancements and understanding. Learn new things, use new tools and grow. Flexibility and adaptivity are good for the body and the brain.
Upload Photos to a TV Screensaver
When we’re done digitizing our history, we can view it with technology which goes with us where we go. Apple TV and Roku ++ give us access to all of our past memories. Apple allows us to see our memories on our screensaver in random cycle.
Make New Memories
Our photos and treasures are digitized and safe for years to come. Valuables have been turned into cash and that cash is earning interest. Fond memories and meaningful moments are easy for our kids to manage because they are ‘bites’ and not bits. Our children won’t be burdened with our excess and most importantly, by freeing ourselves from the weight of our past, we have given ourselves time making new memories.
xo – Bar
