Old scrapbooks

DubaiSis · #1 03-24-2012, 05:23 AM

Here's a question for you (ok a series of questions): how long do you keep scrap books and other mementos from your childhood? What do you do when it's time to say goodbye? I've started packing up stuff from my childhood for the umpteenth time and wondering why I'm doing it but don't know what my alternative is.

I thought about photographing the pages, but I don't think I'd look at those any more than I look at the actual scrapbook. I would put the pictures on Facebook, and everyone could be impressed for about 5 minutes with my swimming ribbons from 5th grade. And then what? Do we have to keep the tangible proof of our history forever? But do you really just throw away the proof of every proud moment of your childhood?

This is an easy one for my husband. You don't throw away anything EVER, but being the one doing most of the packing (and later unpacking!) I think there has to be some room for compromise.

Senusret I · #2 03-24-2012, 11:28 AM

Things I have from my childhood 0-18:

My senior memory book (which is basically a scrapbook)
A few shoebox-sized plastic bins with programs, some awards, school newspapers, old essays, etc.
Yearbooks
Photos upon photos upon photos. Most are in photo albums but a lot are in boxes.

I plan on keeping these things indefinitely.

Things I have not kept:

Report cards (maybe my mom did?)
Awards
Plaques
Medals
School T-shirts which do not fit and were not turned into throw pillows

I do not miss these things, though I do wish I had kept my awards in a binder, just to glance at every now and then.

33girl · #3 03-24-2012, 11:33 AM

Being from the pre-everyone gets an award for putting your shoes on the right feet era helps a great deal. I still have all my report cards and my trophy I got for a poster contest at age 7. I also have a book that has a pocket to put band programs etc in for each year of high school.

These things don't take up enough space that I would have ever had to start a thread about it.

DubaiSis · #4 03-24-2012, 11:51 AM

As I get ready to move my entire life to the other side of the planet (again) packing up stuff that I haven't looked at since the last time I moved triggered my need to clear out. But I have some guilt about not wanting to keep this stuff. I've compromised by photographing a few of the things, but when I couldn't be compelled to even look at each page of this particular scrap book, I decided it was time. The amount of crap in your life becomes exponentially less important when you have to think about what it costs per kilo to ship it by boat for 2-3 months.

AOII Angel · #5 03-24-2012, 12:06 PM

I'm with you, DS. I have less and less attachment to things every time I move. I still have my AOII scrapbook, but it may be on the chopping block if I decide to scan it into the computer. My mind is my memory book. I'm a reverse hoarder! I HATE clutter.

WCsweet<3 · #6 03-24-2012, 01:58 PM

Considering my boyfriend and I inherited everything his mom didn't want to keep but didn't want to throw away, I suggest really going through everything. Boyfriend's dad died when he was a teenager and we have all of his scrapbooks from college and high school. Sure some of them are great to keep, love some of the graduation pictures and the 1980s rural Kansas wedding shots, but the random zoo pictures? We have seen Lions and Zebras.

We are still going through momentos two years later. I'm on the less is more team.

lovespink88 · #7 03-24-2012, 02:28 PM

Relevant thread for me as I will be doing a giant purge of everything I do not need on the weekend of April 27-29 (I'm so committed to doing this, I set a date!!!) I will be moving out of my parents home soon after, so it will be the perfect time to sort out what kind of things I am going to keep.

When I first moved back from college, I thought I did a pretty good job of cleaning out everything I didn't want anymore, but lately I've been feeling a little cramped in space, so clearly a lot more has to go.

Here's what I plan on keeping
- TONS of pictures--I have 2.5 300 picture photo albums filled. One is high school pictures and the other is college (yup, I made prints of pictures despite being in the facebook era!!!) I also think there's a box of pictures post high school
- One binder each for grade school, high school, and college momentos. I already put this together when I did another big (but apparently not big enough) purge of things when I moved back from college. I kept things like graduation programs, graduation ribbons/tassels, class photos, certificates, awards, diplomas, etc.
- A box of other random keepsakes (again, this is already what I did back when I graduated) I think it's mostly little gifts/ceramic figurines that were given to me when I was born
- All my yearbooks

Overall, I plan on keeping no more than 1 big storage container of keepsakes. As of right now, I think I could fill about 3/4, so I have a little bit of room.

There's so many things that I'm getting rid of soon--I don't know WHY I hung on to them...i.e my prom dresses. Honestly, was I going to wear them again??? No. My trophies are another big thing to get rid of. I must have at least 35 on a shelf above my bed. About half of them are the kind where EVERYONE gets a trophy lol, but there's a good amount of legit awards. The most important ones will get saved (plaques for individual awards from high school, 4 year athlete medal, golf & softball letters, MVP ribbons from tournaments), but I really don't need to save my t-ball trophy circa 1994. And cutting down on clothes will be good. Yes, I like to have a big variety on my closet, but really, there's stuff I pass up all the time that I just don't wear. Those things can easily be donated.

DubaiSis · #8 03-24-2012, 02:40 PM

Don't get me started on prom dresses, wedding dresses, etc. If you sell them immediately after the original use, it will have WAY more value since it will still be in style. My husband would not let me sell my wedding dress, even though he knew we wouldn't be having kids and my nieces will all be 9 feet tall. So when we moved to the other side of the planet I sold it for $50. Thankfully, it fit the girl perfectly and she was able to have a lovely wedding dress that she otherwise wouldn't have been able to afford. But the result is the same - I don't need a wedding dress and there is no value in keeping it. And it took up space for 5 years in the interim.

And I may be a bit sociopathic, but I have a thing about throwing stuff away because someday it's going to end up belonging to a dead person and then nobody can throw it out because it belonged to a dead person.

NinjaPoodle · #9 03-24-2012, 07:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DubaiSis

Here's a question for you (ok a series of questions): how long do you keep scrap books and other mementos from your childhood? What do you do when it's time to say goodbye? I've started packing up stuff from my childhood for the umpteenth time and wondering why I'm doing it but don't know what my alternative is.

I thought about photographing the pages, but I don't think I'd look at those any more than I look at the actual scrapbook. I would put the pictures on Facebook, and everyone could be impressed for about 5 minutes with my swimming ribbons from 5th grade. And then what? Do we have to keep the tangible proof of our history forever? But do you really just throw away the proof of every proud moment of your childhood?

This is an easy one for my husband. You don't throw away anything EVER, but being the one doing most of the packing (and later unpacking!) I think there has to be some room for compromise.

Facebook will not last forever. I say keep them and if you have children, pass them on with the family bibles, important photos, etc.

AGDee · #10 03-24-2012, 08:42 PM

My brother and I got a kick out of going through that kind of stuff that my mom had saved on us. There was this "Horrorscopes" satire horoscope column I wrote for the junior high newspaper, stories and essays we had written which we found hilarious, etc. We sifted through them and had a great time doing it. I have one box of stuff of my own, which includes photo albums. I have one file cabinet drawer for each of my kids, with only the best/most fun items in there.

I don't like clutter either and have thrown out things like my corsage from prom, thinking "Why in the world would I save this?"

DubaiSis · #11 03-25-2012, 02:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NinjaPoodle

Facebook will not last forever. I say keep them and if you have children, pass them on with the family bibles, important photos, etc.

I understand what you're saying, and I don't only have them on Facebook, but there are no bibles here (my husband used to steal the Gideon bibles from hotels - he was on a mission to have one of every color but I made him get rid of them) and no kids. One of my sisters was disappointed about me getting rid of a particularly cute picture of me, and if she'd like to come get it from my place, she is ever so much more than welcome to.

And so that I don't sound like a complete scrooge, it was just the scrap book that only had a few pictures in it that I got rid of. I still have 6 or 8 photo albums. And I don't know how many pictures on the wall. I am the daughter of a photographer after all.

NinjaPoodle · #12 03-25-2012, 04:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DubaiSis

I understand what you're saying, and I don't only have them on Facebook, but there are no bibles here (my husband used to steal the Gideon bibles from hotels - he was on a mission to have one of every color but I made him get rid of them) and no kids. One of my sisters was disappointed about me getting rid of a particularly cute picture of me, and if she'd like to come get it from my place, she is ever so much more than welcome to.

And so that I don't sound like a complete scrooge, it was just the scrap book that only had a few pictures in it that I got rid of. I still have 6 or 8 photo albums. And I don't know how many pictures on the wall. I am the daughter of a photographer after all.