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When you’re trying to get rid of clutter from the house, it’s those items that have sentimental value that will really slow you down. Most of the time, people end up getting rid of half their stuff but still have a cluttered house because they keep everything that has sentimental value. The problem is, if you really want to keep a clean and tidy house, you have to be ruthless and get rid of at least some of those things. If you’re spending ages sat around trying to decide what to get rid of, here are some simple ways to get rid of sentimental clutter.

Keep It

That sounds pretty counterproductive, but keeping things doesn’t necessarily mean keeping them in the house. There are going to be some things that you just can’t part with, but if they’re taking up too much room in the house, why not put them in storage somewhere. Check self-storage prices in the local area and find an affordable unit where you can keep the things that you just can’t bring yourself to get rid of. However, that’s not an excuse to just take everything and stick it in storage. That should be a last resort reserved for the items that you keep after going through the rest of these steps.

Why Is It Sentimental?

When you pick up an item, ask yourself why it has sentimental value. Most of the time, it has value because it is associated with a certain person or place. The item itself doesn’t necessarily have value. In those cases, you’ll still have those memories without the object itself so sometimes, you can get rid of them.

Gifts

Gifts are one of the worst offenders when it comes to sentimental clutter. People often keep gifts not because they actually want them, but because they’re worried about the gift giver coming to the house and realizing that it’s gone. The thing is, they probably won’t be offended if you get rid of something they gave you years ago. The other thing to remember is that it’s yours to do what you like with. You can’t let those feelings of guilt stop you from decluttering your house.

Photos

Boxes of old photographs are another thing that people often hoard. Of course, you don’t just want to chuck them all away because they hold a lot of special memories. But that doesn’t mean you need to keep all of the original copies. You can save yourself a whole lot of space if you scan the originals and make a digital copy of all of those photographs and then get rid of them. Some, particularly very old ones, might be worth keeping but you can still clear out the majority of them and make a lot more space for yourself.

Getting rid of sentimental clutter is always difficult and it’s easy to just give up and keep it all. But if you do that, you aren’t really decluttering your home. Work out what is actually worth keeping, put that in storage, and then clear out the rest. You’ll feel a lot better for it.