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I am such a sentimental person that I hate to even throw away the gift tags from Christmas presents I’ve received. My husband is the complete opposite and has been known to finish reading a card as he drops it into the trash can.
Most of you probably live somewhere in the middle of that spectrum, so here’s a simple way I’ve found to organize my sentimental items!
Sentimental items could be things like:
- birthday and anniversary cards
- mementos from trips and events
- artwork, school projects and papers from your children
While I love the idea of creating binders for different categories and preserving cards in page protectors, I know I won’t maintain a system like that. Here’s what I’ve done – I purchased several decorative boxes from Dollar General to store all my items. I love that they can double as décor and don’t have to be hidden away like an ugly plastic bin.
Here are the different categories of my keepsakes:
- childhood mementos: cards, notes and various papers that I’ve hung on to all these years
- cards from friends, blog readers and blogging buddies
- cards and gift tags (yep) from my family
- cards, notes and mementos from my husband, Paul
I’d like to say that I immediately put items in their proper boxes, but the truth is that I keep a little stack on a shelf in my home office. Every so often I sort the stack and put them away.
Even with a large stack, it only takes a few minutes to sort and dump them in the boxes. I used my handy label maker to label the back of the boxes for easy reference.
You can find these boxes at stores like Home Goods or TJ Maxx, but I love the price and the selection at Dollar General. I’ve also used a box like this to contain a care package type gift, and it was a really nice alternative to a gift basket.
You Might Also Enjoy:
- How To Organize Warranties, Manuals and Household Documents
- My Recipe Organization Binder
- The Secret to an Organized Life
- Why I Am Not A Minimalist
If you want even more organization inspiration, click the Organization tab at the top of my site for a complete index of all the organizing projects on the blog!
Come Home For Comfort 
I definitely need a better system to store my sentimental items in
This is such an encouraging idea, Whitney! I am trying to save less and less, but I do have, for example, a shoebox size plastic box In a closet) where I keep seasonal vintage paper items (cards and other paper treasures) to display. I’ve been meaning to sort through that box again and get rid of some things. Putting them in a decorative box like this would be a wonderful incentive. Thanks for sharing!
Great system! I lean more towards Paul and tend to get rid of a lot of things. But I do love to keep anything handwritten from family and friends – thank yous, cards, notes with my name on them, etc!
I’m m
I’m very sentimental as well. I like your idea for storage. For me I still need to pare stuff down, but I have such a hard time deciding what to let go of! Any advice? Thanks for always being practical & about “real life.” I appreciate you, Whitney 💗
I’m right there with you! I think you just have to decide what is truly feasible and practical for your home. It’s a good idea to periodically go through your things and re-evaluate whether you want to keep certain items. Hope that helps! ❤