A college friend called me one night when she was visiting her parents. She was sorting through her childhood memorabilia as her parents were downsized before they moved into a much smaller home out of state. All of her and her siblings’ memorabilia was stored in the basement or in their childhood bedrooms, even though the children hadn’t lived in their parents’ home in 20+ years.
Once her parents made the decision to put the house on the market, they had to consider what they could take to their new and much smaller home. Taking the children’s memorabilia was not an option. The parents generously offered to pay for a storage unit for up to a year so each child could deal with their memorabilia on their own time. After that one year, the cost of the storage unit would be transferred over to the kids if they haven’t dealt with the stuff by then. My friend decided that was a waste of money and decided to pull the band aid off. She flew in to sort through her own stuff immediately so that her parents wouldn’t have to deal with packing and moving it to a storage unit.
I was proud of her for not wanting to go on the storage unit path. Once our stuff is out of sight, it is also out of mind and paying storage fees for things you don’t really want does not makes sense. Before choosing items to keep, she needs to think about where it will go in her condo. She also needs to think about the transportation cost to get it to her home. It was not an easy process for my friend yet dealing with it all now means she will not have to deal with it later. In choosing items to keep, focus on quality, not quantity.
A professional organizer can help to tackle your childhood memorabilia. You know how to reach me.