What did you do with your STUFF?
 

I am in the process of cleaning out and packing up for a move as part of a divorce. And I have a question. What did you do with the marriage stuff, wedding album, 16 X 20 portrait, etc. I will keep the frame that the portrait is in because I know it's expensive, but an Art Leather album, although engraved, is REALLY expensive. Is it really just trash now? Do people keep them for awhile, forever, what? It's not such a conflict-ridden separation that it merits a burning party or anything ;) But I also don't know that I need to continue to lug around this photo album, even if it is worth hundreds of dollars.

Am I correct that you have no children? Because I will say that my parents' wedding album meant something to us long after it ceased to mean anything to them.

Anyway, there are surely pictures in the album that you want, right? Like, you and your family? Maybe your parents? The bridesmaids? Etc. I would hang onto it for that reason, because some of those may mean something to you for a long time.

I second DBB's thinking.

Okay, I know that the changes are probably, NOPE, NADA, NO WAY!

But there are couples who divorce and then remarry....;)

Put it in a Box. You will know when the time is right to get rid of it. Packing for a move is the WORST reason to get rid of anything, IMO.

See, that's why I came to you guys. I am not a hoarder AT ALL and really hate when I hold onto stuff that I really should have gotten rid of sooner, only to pitch after having moved it 3 or 4 times. I held onto my wedding dress for 6 years because my husband thought it was a travesty to sell it. Thankfully it was still in style when I finally did sell it and the girl who bought it from me (off Craig's List) fit it perfectly and it was definitely all she could afford. But in the mean time it hung there taking up space for no reason.

No, I don't have kids, and in the case of nieces, all of them are or will be 10 feet tall and stick thin (my other siblings married into superior gene pools), so there would have been no one to hand down that dress to. But you're right about the pictures. It's not that big a space-eater to just hold onto it for a couple years. If I throw it away in 5 years after not opening it once, c'est la vie.

I concur- as someone who has been divorced twice. When the emotions surrounding it subside, the reality is, it is a significant event in your life and you might not want to destroy all evidence of it. There ARE pics in that album of other loved ones. We used the one of my mom in her mother of the bride dress for her obituary picture because it was one of the last ones we took of her without oxygen tubing and it was a great picture.