How to let go of things and throw out not needed stuff Updat

amother

Mon, Jan 01 2024, 4:58 pm

So I know it's almost a year since this thread was last posted , and Bh I have really decluttered a lot but as time passes there are always some items that just pile up again and need to declutter (which I have gone over this thread numerous times)

Now I came to this huge folder which contained certificates of all kinds which I am not sure what to do
this includes mine , dh, dd, ds, and includes

certificates of being a good girl , in school 1 , 2 3, 4st etc. grade

award of excelling in middos

congradulation on parsha test etc....

report cards , english and hebrew ,

diploma (which I already have my job but....)

bachelors ,

and many more
on one hand I know I grew out of it already on other hand feel connected to those meories and it feels good getting thoise awards ?

how do I do this ?

mushkamothers

Mon, Jan 01 2024, 5:41 pm

In the future take a photo of child holding their award and then throw out award.
You can still take photos of it now

Do not throw out degrees or diplomas. That goes with your other documents like birth certificates etc

You can also just keep it all. Sentimental paper items are the hardest and the last category in Marie kondo method. No need to ditch now

amother

Candycane

Mon, Jan 01 2024, 5:46 pm

amother OP wrote:

In our family each person has a binder with clear sheet protecters. Certificates and things of nostalgia are put into the sheet protectors. If the binder gets too full, it has to he thinned out because we only have one per person on the bookshelf.
The best part is, that we can actually sit and remember nostalgically when we want. Everything is in one binder and we know where it is at all times.

amother

Mon, Jan 01 2024, 5:52 pm

mushkamothers wrote:

Can't keep it all. Just too many papers. Some from camp some from an online test taken as a kid like brachos challenge. the pucture idea though was helpfull

zaq

Mon, Jan 01 2024, 7:08 pm

My own certificates from grade school I dumped when I started college. Once you have a high school diploma, a certificate stating that you were (or were not) at the top of your class in third grade or eighth grade is worth its weight in scrap paper. Diplomas, however, you keep forever.

I had a folder for each of my children, into which I put all those "middos award" and "masmid of the week" certificates, report cards, honor roll certificates, SAT score reports, and a very select assortment of compositions, test papers, book reports and the like. At the end of the year, I reviewed the collection and pared it down to the best, cutest, or funniest two or three papers per year plus report cards. After eighth grade I pared it down even further, keeping one report card from preschool, the final one from elementary, and the grade school diploma. The preschool diploma I dumped. After HS, I kept the HS diplomas, of course, and maybe one or two term papers. When the kids got married I gave them their folders to do with as they liked.

Look at it this way: You're a mother of children; maybe you also have a degree and a job of some sort. Of what relevance to your current life is a certificate attesting to the fact that 20 or 30 years ago you were "Yaldah Tovah Yerushalayim"? Trust me, nobody cares unless you're a major public figure like a head of state or Nobel Prize winner, in which case all that paper clutter can go into a museum exhibit about your life after 120. Even so, they will not display or even want all 32 of your honor roll certificates; one or two will more than suffice.