One of the biggest challenges of downsizing is determining what to part with. When you’re a collector wondering how to downsize, this challenge is even more difficult. You’ve put a lot of thought and love into your collectibles, so parting with them can feel very personal. Here are some tips on how to decide what to keep and what to part with, and how to preserve the memories of the items you’re letting go of using Thingealogy.
Questions to Ask When Deciding What to Keep
Take some time to think about each item and take note of your emotions while doing so. Your emotions may indicate a special attachment to an item, or they may be reflexive, based on the simple fact that you’ve owned the item for a long time. Here are some questions to help you make the best decisions:
- Do I enjoy looking at this item or collection?
- Do I have enough space to display this item or collection?
- Do I currently display this item or collection, or is it tucked away?
- Am I willing and able to take care of this collection into the future?
Maintaining and displaying collections takes time and effort as well as space. Give some thought to why you might want to keep the items and what factors are involved to help you decide what to keep and what to let go of.
Choose Your Most Valued Treasures
You may have many items lovingly gathered and cared for over a lifetime. Consider the answers to the questions above and identify what makes the most important items special. What are the stories behind these items? For example, did you inherit a collection of china cups from your mother? Or did you get a teacup as a wedding gift and that started you on the path of collecting them for momentous occasions through your life?
One strategy for deciding what to keep is to determine which collectibles have the strongest memories, and keep them. Alternatively, consider keeping a few items out of each collection that has the most importance. For example, let’s say you have a collection of owls which started with a fun gift from a friend. You now have 30 owls in a cabinet, but none have significant meaning to you beyond the first one you received from your friend. You can let this collection go and simply retain the one that has more personal meaning.
Give Your Collectibles Away to Loved Ones
Giving your collectibles to loved ones may make it a bit easier to part with them. Be sure to tell the stories associated with each collection so the items will have meaning to the people you gift them to. Parting with these precious items may be easier when you know they will be lovingly cared for. And you have the added benefit of being able to visit them when you gift them to someone you know!
Take Your Time
You may have a need or a desire to downsize, but you don’t need to complete the exercise in one day. Plan to spend some time going through your collections to think through your decisions. Perhaps set aside increments of 15 or 30 minutes. If you become overwhelmed or have trouble making a decision, stop, and go back to it the next day.
Taking your time will allow you to think through the decisions of what will stay and what will go. And acknowledging the emotions of this exercise can make it easier to manage them so you think more clearly about how to downsize.
Record the Stories of Your Items
If you do decide to give items to loved ones, sell them, or even donate them, give some thought to the stories behind each piece and why you cared for each item for so long. Even more important than the item you collected is the story that came with it: your friend who lovingly gave you a special book when you were grieving a loss, your daughter who gave you a figurine to celebrate your retirement, your mother who gave you a pendant to celebrate the birth of your first child. . . . Each is a precious memory.
Before you give anything away, take photos of each item and record its story. You can use Thingealogy to organize the photos and accompanying audio recordings and text describing the story behind each item. Saving the memories and the stories behind each item in your collection will make it easier to part with the physical items.
Determining how to downsize collections gathered over a lifetime can be an emotionally challenging exercise. But by employing these tips, you can make the best decisions of what to let go of while retaining the stories and memories behind your collections.
Thingealogy® is a free story-telling app that helps you preserve the memories of your collectibles. Download the app, and try it out for yourself!
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