A graphic of children's shelves containing a trophy, awards and sentimental items
Episode 32 – Keeping what is truly special within your children’s sentimental items

In this podcast, Lesley and Ingrid explore how sentimental we are about our children's sentimental items and how we can tackle the huge volumes that come through our door so our homes don't become overwhelmed.
Our children bring such special memories home particularly in the early years of their lives. Sometimes the amounts can mean that our homes become overwhelmed with children's sentimental items and we struggle to work out how to keep them under control so we can find the truly special things when we want to.
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Transcript of this podcast episode
Intro  0:07  
Welcome to today's episode of The Declutter Hub Podcast, your channel for super easy, no nonsense advice on how to declutter and organise your home. Please welcome your host, professional organisers, Ingrid Jansen, and Lesley Spellman.

Ingrid  0:25  
Hello, and welcome listeners to Episode 32 of the Declutter Hub Podcast. I'm Ingrid. 

Lesley  0:31  
And I'm Lesley. 

Ingrid  0:32  
If you have clutter and want to sort it out, this is the show for you. In today's episode, Lesley and I are talking about how to sort out the truly special items belonging to your children. Anybody that got children knows that every day the kids come home with special things. today's podcast is about sorting through those items to make sure you don't feel overwhelmed. So your house isn't overtaken by sentimental items. That this is a big one, Lesley, this is a big

Lesley  1:03  
one. This is a big one, isn't it? And hard, you know, hard. This is where you know, our heart the hardest part of our job, when we see that people's homes are becoming overtaken by sentimental items. And we have to hopefully try and convince them to lose some of those. And that's their choice. And so we are not there to say what's important and what's special and what is not. But we are there to question and to make people think a little bit about doing things in a slightly different way. And so what we're trying to do in today's podcasts is maybe talk about some of the things that we do with our own individual clients, when we see that overwhelmed when we see boxes and boxes of artwork and score books and cards and trophies and medals and clothes and sleep suits and shoes and things like that from the children that are just meaning that they can't use rooms for other purposes.

Ingrid  2:03  
Yeah, true. Absolutely. So much stuff. And everything, absolutely everything is kept. And it just feels completely overwhelming. And they can't see anymore. What's really special. And what's really important. And I think we're there to guide and encourage and motivate and make some structure and get some structure into it. Because sometimes it's hundreds of all introduced gigantic boxes and everything is there. So when you actually want to find something, you can't find it anymore, because all the things that you mentioned are all in one as well. They're not sorted out or even not sorted that into different categories, or different years or so you can see the progress. It's all just everywhere.

Lesley  2:54  
I know that certain, I think the reason why, because we were just chatting about it when we before we came live. And I think the difficulty is and what we have the benefit of when we're working one to one with a client is understanding their family life and understanding at that point, what makes them tick, and the sort of the uniqueness of their family. And so that's why it's quite difficult to do a podcast, which is general. So I just want to say before we start, there are some things that are generalisations that you may think are a little bit ridiculous that we're suggesting, because that wouldn't work for your family or your child because of a specific situation. But we're trying to do something that might be general. So these might not work for everybody. And we absolutely know that there are certain things that are very special about individual children, even within your own family, you know, you might have three kids and all of them are very different. And you want to keep different things for each individual child. I mean, I know I certainly have that. So So yeah, it's a difficult one to talk about psychology in a general way. But we're going to try

Ingrid  3:53  
yet we're going to try because we know how important it is. And how wonderful it is that when you do bring structure, and you let go of some of the items that are not so important. And you can really find those treasures, how much joy it brings to people.

Lesley  4:11  
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. It's about your the bottom line is the overarching thing here is quality over quantity. So what we're trying to find here is we're trying to find, make sure that everything that you keep is truly special. And I say it has to give you that emotional response when you see it. It has to be like Oh, I love that. And I remember it takes you straight back to a very special moment in their life in your children's or yours then lives. And that those are the things that are really important. And we're going to talk about certain things that are maybe not quite so important. So let's get stuck straight in and talk about the number one really with a lot of people. Yes, yes.

Ingrid  4:52  
cards from every birthday. Yeah,

Lesley  4:57  
now Yeah, exactly. So if we're talking to specifically about children, there's a lot of things, they have probably the same number of birthdays between zero and 18. I would say, most people, so there's is that 80? Yes, there's lots of birthdays. There's, you know, those the things that they have that is, you know, religious things christening until the communions, bar mitzvahs, all of those things as well happen and move in schools. Congratulations on your driving test. There's lots and lots of things that people get cards for. Yeah, and so. And if you keep all of those cards, again, it becomes overwhelming. And if you take one child, and then you might have two or three children, you multiply that out, and then you've got yourself and you've got your partner. And, you know, all of a sudden, you've got potentially 1000s of cards, I mean, we literally see boxes and boxes of 1000s of cards, don't we from people, and that is not special anymore. That is where quantity is absolutely overtaken quality. And you know, you might think to yourself, I'm gonna look at look through the mall. But when you do look through the mall, then you'll see which ones are special and which ones are not. So this is the time to look through the mall, and to decide which ones you're going to keep. So just wanted to throw a couple of things in here with the birthday cards in particular. So when people send cards, you know, I mean, people that card sending is definitely going down, isn't it, we've spoken about this further sort of Christmas cards and things like that, as well. The amount of people are sending cards now for different reasons, you know, because we can do things digitally. Because postage is so expensive things like that, the amount of people that are sending cards is definitely diminishing. But nevertheless, for children's birthdays, and birthday parties and things like that, you're gonna probably get 20 to 30 cards from every child in the class. Now, this sounds quite mean. And so these things do sound quite mean. But well, you know, whether you're the kind of the kind of person who sends a card with a real emotion behind it, or whether you're a person that sends a card, because you kind of have to. So the kind of to Ingrid, happy birthday, love les les kind of card? I'm not a great, you know, I'm not one that's very, I definitely think about what's on the front of the card and try and make it funny and things like that, or emotion. But you know, the, the message is probably not that special for me. I'm not really, but some people? I don't know, I'm trying to say really, obviously, at the time that I send it. Yes, it's special to send that Oh, that's really nice. But that moment goes quickly, doesn't it once the time has passed. But then there are other people who truly, truly think really long and hard about what card is sending. Right, a beautiful message in there. You know, really think about and they love sending and receiving cards. Those are the ones that are special, I think,

Ingrid  7:43  
yeah, I think somebody said something very sensible to me, they said, after birthday, we keep the cards up for a week on the mantelpiece. And then we take them all off, we look at them again. And just the to so and so from so and so with no very special message, they are being recycled. And the ones that are from have a wonderful message or include a photo or a special thing or letter or is from somebody really dear to you. Those are the ones that are being kept. Yeah, so maybe maybe that's the way to do it.

Lesley  8:18  
Yeah, I mean, it's hard, isn't it? It's just all I don't I don't quite know what the best way is, could you annotate cards, it's, you know, when children are going through years, you know, they're, it's hard when you took when your child is six now is having such a lovely time with their best friend, and you never think that's going to end? Because you're right, you're living it in the moment, aren't you? And you think, Oh, they've got such a special relationship. But then all of a sudden, when they're 11. And these kids are like, what else beats them anymore? Because they're not in my friendship group or whatever, then they have you have those warm, fuzzy feelings, but they don't. And so the other thing that we need to think about with cards is whose memory is it? Is it your memory? Or is it their memory? And that's really important to remember, when we're thinking about sentimental items of children. What are we planning to do with that? Are we keeping it for ourselves so that we can look back on our children's sixth birthday card? Six birthday cards? Or are we planning to pass that on to them when they become 18? Because the chances are, those kids are not going to want them, your children are not going to want all that stuff when they get to 18. And they will want them to be kept at your your house. New home? Yeah. Obviously. I mean, we talked about birthday cards and lots of other cards that people keep as well. But you've really got to think about the events and whether it's special. You know, if it's a you know, a lot of people will send you know, keep sorry, and birth cards, maybe even first birthday cards. And those are the things that are a little bit different, aren't they? But you know, 678 years old from all the class, less important. Yeah, I know it sounds harsh, doesn't it? Particularly if you've got a six, seven or an eight year old? And you're living that at the moment, but once they become 18 or 23 or 30 then it's not going to be as special?

Ingrid  9:58  
Yeah, yeah, and One little tip aside, if you do decide to keep some cars from a certain birthday, if it's the first birthday, or the sixth birthday, do a little elastic band around them. So they actually stay together and they're not in the blue, so it's easier. So the ones you keep are then already contained in one kind of stick together. But I agree with you, Lesley, you know, especially It's same with Christmas cards as well. You get from the whole class some years. And the might only decide to keep the ones from their best friends at the time, while the rest of the class, they're just, you know, they see them every day, it's fine. And maybe that's easier. So it's, I think it's all about phasing this.

Lesley  10:42  
Yeah, and as I think cause is potentially something that you need to we're going to talk about other things in a minute, that phase and yet we we need to use a phased approach with, but I think cards is probably something that you need to tackle. Within a week or two, you have that actual event. Yeah, otherwise, you are going to become completely overwhelmed by them.

Ingrid  11:03  
Yeah, yep. Right, or let's move on to clothing. And we've not made it easy for ourselves in this podcast, have we? Let's move on to clothing and shoes, then. Oh, boy.

Lesley  11:17  
And we no doubt whether there are so many people who feel so connected to items of clothing that their children wore, particularly when they're younger, that find it so difficult to let go of those memories in inverted commas. Yeah, yeah. And what happens then is that those items end up in a beanbag or in a box in the loft, and stay there for years and years and years. So what's our advice on that? It's a tricky one, isn't it? I think that, again, it's about the passage of time, and it's about thinking of what is truly special and is going to be memorable. You know, we have got now people obviously, with younger children, I mean, my, my, my youngest son is 16. And we've got a digital record then of all of his childhood, because that's when we got a digital camera and he was born. So that makes things easier. iPhones, were snapping our kids all the time. And for me, it's much more important to see your child in a photo and a beautiful outfit than it is to keep the outfit itself. Now that's not for everything, not for every clothing item. Because obviously there are going to be some things that you're going to want to keep. But you've got to be really quite ruthless. Otherwise, again, clothes and it's going to become completely overwhelming. Once you multiply that out by child by 18 years. I mean, you're probably not gonna keep things for 18 years, but you probably will keep things for six or seven years. It's definitely we're definitely talking early years when they have those really cute little outfits that were given by people or that they wore for your friend's wedding. Or they you know, and they look so cute, and it's so hard to let go of that. But you've got those memories tucked up somewhere in your mind or on a photograph often that's that's the important thing. Yeah, but then there's going to be no brainers isn't that there's going to be the shoes outfit that they came up Hospital in. Yeah, you know, those kinds of things that are absolute no brainers that are really, truly special. And

Ingrid  13:17  
that's what I've done. So I've got a box in my love for each of my children. And I've got their first little shoes, I've got their lovely little blankets, their first cuddly toy, and their first outfit. And then I think I've kept like, a special t shirt from a school trip they went on to that they really enjoyed and I think I've got like their brownies or their scouting jumper with all the badges because they were very proud of working hard for that. But I'm really I've always tried to let clothes have another life either in the charity shop or with my sister with friends. So I've tried to move that on. And I've only kept the very, very special items. Because otherwise you know

Lesley  14:05  
it Yeah, exactly. I mean, I've got I've got a kind of cupboard so my youngest son has got a space in his wardrobe, which is our sort of sentimental clothing for the kids kind of space. So they've actually hung rather than boxed up. And so the only thing you know exactly the same as you we've got scouts, that kind of things. They're quite cute. I've also got the you know, when the kids leave primary school and secondary school and they scribble all over the shirts and things you know everyone signs that they're quite cute as well as special little some, you know, not summer camps, but little holiday clubs and things that they went on that were truly special. We've got those as well. I've got Leah's First Holy Communion dress, your Christening Gowns, obviously you know things like that are kept and the only other thing that you've probably not thought about because you're not met crazy football fans in your house as we've got a football, Manchester City Football kits from, you know, three months to 30 Yes, I will be tired if I ever got rid of any football shirts, but they are quite cute. That's quite a cute little thing if you've got a little football fan that's gone to the football Hill time. Yeah, and those are the things that potentially people do keep, but a standard jumper. But But again, you know, as we said at the beginning of the podcast, you know what's special in your life, you know, so towards I can look at that. And I can think of my youngest son, you know, and my daughter who both went to football, football, it is a part of a chronicle of their life. And it's important, it's cute to see that, you know, the other boy that went out, you know, that kind of thing. And other things are not, you know, just a standard pair of jeans, not like cute. Yeah, yeah.

Ingrid  15:43  
Yeah. So Lesley, let's now then talk about artwork. I mean, they come the kids come home every day with so much stuff in preschool and nursery that reception four or five, six pieces of, of drawing that they all find wonderful. But it's just a lot. It's a lot. And if

Lesley  16:05  
and to be fair, it is wonderful. Of course, of course, that's where it but it is overwhelming. Again, it's overwhelming. And you know, and it has all those kind of like sequins and bits of rice and pasta that fall off and you don't always, oh, oh, we're gonna put this and, you know, you have to be excited. I mean, it's something that does diminish. And so I think the message is, you know, definitely enjoy it while it's happening. Because these kids are not gonna be young forever. And so it's something that you should enjoy and embrace. But equally, you can't let those pieces of artwork take over your life. Because I always, you know, and this is, you know, I've got, you know, I've got a 23 year old, 20 year old 16 year old, so I'm way past all that. But I still get, you know, I still remember it like it was yesterday, you know, I mean? And, you know, and I've got all those pieces as well. And I think what I've got is a nice, you know, nice memories of special things that they've got, yeah, I think this sounds really harsh. But those what they do at school, or preschool or playgroup, or whatever, is they draw, that's what they do in the same way that we go to work, make the dinner and do our chores, and all that boring stuff they draw didn't have to mean and so they're doing that every day. So every single component of that is not a very special thing. Does that make sense? Yeah.

Ingrid  17:23  
Yeah, definitely. I think what for me, I was always quite ruthless. So when they came in with a whole stack, I would already if it were just scribbling without anything important. I was, you know, already recycle that straightaway. But the special ones that wants that, you know, told a story that were really lovely, or that make me laugh, or were really, really good. And you know, what you want the ones that are good, you know, that was when a date is put on and when the name is put on, and that hangs on the fridge for a while or stays out on the mantelpiece for a while. Those are the ones that I thought, you know, those ones are kept.

Lesley  18:01  
Yeah, exactly. And I think it's really important as well, if there is something that's special, because your memory kind of, especially when you're as old as if your memory fades, you can't remember which child it was, or whatever. And it's really important, if something if there is a memory associated with that, and it is a special occasion to say that on the back of the thing to say who it who drew it, when it was, what the occasion was, and if there's anything special so that people can you know, and then you can pass those memories down through generations as well. But yeah, so it's about finding it. But all this is about finding a balance. And so what we're not suggesting here is, is just check out all your children's artwork in this manner. That is not what we're saying, at all. There's so many people that are so overwhelmed with stuff and find it difficult to sort out the quality from the quantity and sort out the truly special things because they feel in some way that they're doing their child a disservice by getting rid of them. So yeah, and also, some kids do put pressure on the parents as well to keep things that that is true as well and Why are you throwing that away? And, you know, so you have to you know, that's part of your parental responsibility to kind of manage that as well I guess.

Ingrid  19:11  
Yeah. And also if you find it really hard in the moment, what you can always do is maybe have a certain point in the year or maybe over Christmastime and in the summertime kind of go okay, what have you done in that if you really find it, you can't do it at that moment. Say okay, twice a year I'm gonna go through the work that I've done so far. And then you can already pick out the ones it's much easier than because it's not in the in the moment there itself there and then

Lesley  19:37  
I think I think the problem with that is you're coming at this Ingrid with as a professional organiser. So you will do that to me and you will do you will say right, okay, summer time, and I'm actually finished school let's do the annual go through of the artwork and you know, the school books and everything. But that's why I think for people that are less organised or a little more chaotic life or you know I can't say busy because you're very busy. But you know what I mean that those kind of organisational things are not the most important thing in that, you know, we do that naturally, because it's the kind of people that we are. But a lot of the people that we'll be talking to on the podcast won't be like that. And so perhaps it needs to be tackled at source as well. Okay. Yeah. And you know, and some people say, you know, if, if you have put it on the mental mantelpiece for three weeks, or a month or something like that, then it's had its moment, it's had its special moment, and then it can go, you know, to me, and so you've had a, we were talking the other day about cost per wear and stuff. It's the same kind of thing, isn't it? It's had its moment, and it doesn't need to be. There's so many different ways of tackling this. But the most important thing is that you annotate it so you can retain those memories, because our memories do fade sadly, as they get older. Yeah. And that you are absolutely looking at the quantity quality, the most important items.

Ingrid  20:52  
Yeah. Okay. So let's talk about schoolbooks, then, every year, in July, help plastic back, anywhere between about six and 13 books coming.

Lesley  21:07  
That's very specific six to 13.

Ingrid  21:11  
I think I counted them the other day. And it was,

Lesley  21:14  
well, it well, I just thought, you know,

Ingrid  21:17  
I don't keep them I'm sorry. I wanted them to know, I take out the pages that I read, you know, with a photo where they're playing with their friends, or, for me, the interesting thing is not about that they can do a math some and they've got to take from the teacher saying the end, they did a good job. For me, I love seeing when they had a school, that school trip a photo, or when my daughter did a fantastic piece of artwork on the tower of the Tower Bridge. Love that. That's what I took out. So I take it out. And then I put them all together in one plastic wallet and write down year five, this was to teacher and I can then look back and immediately because I don't want to have a pile of 13 workbooks. I'm sorry.

Lesley  22:06  
I agree. And that's, and that's a fantastic way of doing it actually. And I never thought of doing it that way. I think my my take on this is there are some things. And this is again, this is where this is a generalisation about children. Yeah, but there's it for for many children, there's a standard way that they go through their education, they do maths in, right through when they progress through that, reading, writing, and so on. And so that's great. And so nothing is necessarily that all of that progress is fantastic, but it's not exceptional or different. Does that make sense? Yeah. And so if they've done maths, and they've kind of kept up, and that's fine. But there are there are going to be some people, you know, if your child has really, really struggled with reading, or writing or math and has had a breakthrough, at some point, that's a different thing. Yeah, they'll struggle with dyslexia or, and you know, what those things are, where all of a sudden maths or English or writing becomes really, really special. And everything is a breakthrough and a special moment, that's going to be different. But in general, if you if your child is just going through in a sort of standard, if there is such a thing way, then there are going to be some things that are more more interesting than maths and science and history and geography. Because they're just things that we've been told to write, I think it's the creative writing pieces that I would pull out. And so where you get a bit of them in it, so that those are typically creative writing English books, if they do some any kind of religion, or, you know, sort of what do they call it Skills for Life type, that kind of thing. Those are the things where their personality comes out. And those are the things that I would keep over and above science. But then to be fair, our kids are more artsy than they are scientific. And so, you know, so maybe I'm been taking so I don't know what the answer is, or you might be loved to see what chemical I'm not very scientific myself. symbols they were using in your five or whatever that is, do not to me, You know what that is, but what you can't do is you can't keep all of them because there's English sighs between six and 13 books very specific. Times. 14 years they're at school do not mean and so that's a lot of books per child. You know, that's how many is that?

Ingrid  24:20  
I can't even calculate that. That's a lot of books.

Lesley  24:23  
Hundreds 100. That's

Ingrid  24:24  
what I mean. I did I must have made because in reception, I had one book and they already almost did the organising and sorting for me, so I've kept the whole book. But after that when they get all the different subjects and all the different books, it's like, okay, wow, the schoolbooks is much too much. And I I love seeing the photos that the teachers put in another project that data when they were doing a presentation or for me, that's the thing I love but if it's something different for you, listeners, you do whatever you want. This is exactly this is your general podcast with general information. It Do you think maths, the maths book is the most important thing that your child done? Keep the maths books, but then question why you're keeping everything else.

Lesley  25:07  
Yeah, exactly that. Yeah. So it's difficult sometimes, you know, when we're working with clients, it's almost asking for permission, because there's a guilt associated with getting rid of those kinds of things. And you almost feel as if you're doing your child a disservice by letting go of certain things in their life. And the fact of the matter is, the child's going to make progress that child's going to make progress through and into their adult life. And they're probably not going to care less about the maths book from year five, due to mean. And so is it your memory again? Is it your memory? Or is it their memory, that that's an important sort of delineate delineation really to make? So that would be our take on schoolbooks? You know, let's tackle them when they come in, you can either do what Ingrid suggested, which is pull out the really important pages, which is going to take those volumes down even more, or at the very least, make sure you're not keeping books, where it's just like going through the motions of writing things that the teachers have told them.

Ingrid  26:03  
Yeah, yeah. All right, cool. Can we talk about certificates and badges, now, they get them in sports, they get them in their clubs, they get them for good behaviour, or an excellent award in school. I've got swimming and gymnastics certificates and badges. I mean, it just goes on and on.

Lesley  26:28  
It does, it does. And again, it's about looking at that. And it's about a phased approach, isn't it. So, you know, if your child's about to become an Olympian swimmer, then obviously, it's relevant. And it's going to be interesting to look back and look at when they did the 100 metre spatch. But if you're like, my kids, I got them to the mile was very, very grateful that swimming lessons was over for the rest of my life. How many years of my life have been taken out by swimming lessons, but anyway, that's going to be different, it's going to be different. If your kids, you know, your child has swimmer, or they're a runner, then these things are going to be really relevant. If they're just doing the standard thing of going through, you know, uh, not excelling, then at that spot, perhaps it's not quite as important. You know, the ones that they get every week from school, very, very cute, you know, this goes into secondary school as well, where they get postcards home, you know, it depends on where you're at, some of them are going to be a huge colossal thing, if your child's not getting many postcards from from secondary school, if they get one, it's going to be a huge deal. But if they, if they're kind of you know, superstars and they get 20 a year, not quite as special. And so you have to sort of sort out, which are the truly special ones, and which means I'm saying, you know, and, and often it's not, they did a great piece of piece of maths work. It's the kind of, they were so polite when they came in and said, thank you to me at the end of the lesson, you know, and it's, you know, those certificates are kind of star the week type things. They're not always they did a great piece of maths, or they're, they're more about personality, and, you know, behaviour and attitude and things like that. And, you know, I would warm towards the attitude ones rather than the mass ones.

Ingrid  28:08  
Yeah, yeah, I think I agree with you. And what I did as maybe a tip for your listeners is I actually have a books file, where I keep the certificates and badges separately. So they're not in mixed in with all the other memorabilia, because I think the certificates and badges are really special. And that will probably take me a while to to declutter some of those. And let's soak some of those because I absolutely love you know, it's so proud, you know, and when, when they come home with a certificate and a badge, it's on the mental piece for display for a while before it actually goes into the books. Because I think it's really important for kids that, you know, they that they can see that their hard works paid off or something like that. So I think it's lovely. Oh, it's lovely. Yeah, it's

Lesley  28:52  
just, you know, it's just the passage of time. And again, just to come back to it again, if you've got that under control, what we are not suggesting at all, is that you get rid of sentimental items that you don't need to get rid of. Yeah, this is absolutely about if you are overwhelmed, and if you've got too many, or if you're doubting or if you're struggling to make those decisions. That's what this podcast is about. It's not about us being hardball and saying you must get rid of your sentimental items. And I really sentimental. We've got different ways of doing things. You know, we've got kids of course, we love progress. We love it. That's what makes us tick at the end of the day. That's the important thing in life. And it's important to have records of those, but not too many records.

Ingrid  29:34  
Yeah, not everything every scribble they've ever done in their lives. medals and trophies. Last one I think we're going to discuss in this podcast, isn't it Lesley?

Lesley  29:46  
Yeah, exactly. I think it's the same thing again really is a certificates, isn't it? You know what it truly special? So I know, Nathan, my son, he's played football since he was five or whatever. And he's we and those football champions. They get them every year. As for taking part, don't they? You know, so they might get one that's like Player of the Year, which will be a special one, or they might get one just to say it took part in the team this year. So they do give out the trophies. So, which is the important one, so Nathan has chosen that he doesn't want those anymore at 16 on a shelf, he's not quite ready to part with them. So he's put them in a sort of holding area. Let's call it a holding area is wardrobe which I'm not very happy about. But anyway. Like, you know, it's like just put them there for a little while, like, Okay, fine. But you know, for him, it means that he can still see them every day and but he's, but they're not on display. So I think he feels that they don't represent Him now as a 16 year old. And so. So yeah, it's things like that. So again, it's about quality over quantity. Do you have to keep every trophy and every medal because if you've got a football and child or a gymnastic, I'm just trying to think what are the ones that they give trophies out for? Well, all of the all of the above, you know, cricket and lacrosse and tennis and blah, blah, there's lots of trophies given out and again, it can be quite overwhelming.

Ingrid  31:01  
For me. The main thing here is, if you're really overwhelmed, try if you can categorise a little bit into the things we spoken about cards to one sides, clothing and shoes to one thing, artwork, schoolbooks certificates, medals and trophies. And then within each category, see if you can pare it down a little bit and keep the stuff that makes your heart sing that floats your boat that makes you so proud. That makes the kids proud. And then I think you've got a far better grip on having all of that memorabilia at home and in a maybe some sort of structure system it can be a boxes can be a box shop can be a crate can be a box with a lid. I think that's it's less important. I think it's far more important that you subcategorize so we actually can find something if you need something. Oh, yeah, definitely.

Lesley  31:49  
Definitely. If you want to just yeah, if you're just having a chat about things, and it's nice to be able to get your hands on things. Yeah. I don't know about you, but it's really made me feel quite sort of emotion. Yeah. high emotional. Yeah. Oh, my lovely kids and their trophies. I work and everything. Yeah. So, but yeah, not enough to go through my sentimental boxes and categorise them in the meticulous way that you have a grid. I'm like, I'm failing again. And my professional organiser duties, everything's just chucked in a box is labelled and have got a box each, but it does maybe need some slight categorization. So maybe one day when I've got a spare, you know, but that's what's nice, you know, when you've got those, and you can spend the time going through them. What a lovely day that is. Your child. Yeah, so

Ingrid  32:36  
I'm gonna I'm gonna be honest with you. My books are a little bit overflowing. Oh,

Lesley  32:43  
are you talking about the kind of categorization I'm like, Oh, my word. I'm so bad. And sudden, you're like, yes, I've got this categories. I'm like, oh, no, fail again. Lesley Spellman. But anyway, but we digress, we need to stop. And I've loved doing this podcast because it's given me that warm, fuzzy feeling inside about my own children and about their special things that they've done over the years, even though they're old now. So I hope it's given you a little bit of food for thought. Few generalisations in there. Please don't take those to heart, we know that every child and what makes every child tick is different. And what makes you tick as a parent is different as well. Really important to remember that. But we know that it's something that parents in general find really, really difficult. And so we wanted to tackle some of the most important parts of that. So hope that has been helpful.

Ingrid  33:36  
Yeah, thank you so much for for listening today. And that's it for this episode. And if you'd like to get more tips and advice, please follow us on social media. We're on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook and have a lively supportive Facebook group community where we chat all things clutter, and we'd love to see you there. If you don't want to miss the next weekly episode, subscribe to the declutter hub podcast on iTunes, Spotify and Stitcher, and it will pop into your notifications each Friday. See you next time.

Outro  34:07  
Thanks for listening to this week's episode of the Declutter Hub Podcast. Check out declutterhub.com For more inspiration, and don't forget to tune in next week.
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Episode 392 – The clutter advice I’d give my 30-year-old self

Episode 391 – Hosting kids’ parties without clutter

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Episode 392 – The clutter advice I’d give my 30-year-old self

Episode 391 – Hosting kids’ parties without clutter

Episode 390 – 10 changes that make the biggest impact in your home

Episode 387 – Our 2025 year in review – the big Declutter Hub round-up

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JoAnn Massad says:

11 October 2020 at 8:42 PM

I discourage use of rubber bands for holding papers (or anything) together because they degrade and become sticky, adhering to the very items you are trying to protect and keep together. 🙁

Reply
Episode 32 – Keeping what is truly special within your children’s sentimental items

Episode 392 – The clutter advice I’d give my 30-year-old self

Episode 391 – Hosting kids’ parties without clutter

Episode 392 – The clutter advice I’d give my 30-year-old self

Episode 391 – Hosting kids’ parties without clutter

Episode 390 – 10 changes that make the biggest impact in your home

Episode 387 – Our 2025 year in review – the big Declutter Hub round-up

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