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How do you let go of sentimental items?

Some people are more sentimental than others and for them it is almost impossible to let go of anything they view as precious. Following my blog on decluttering your closet, my sister Valerie wanted to know how do you let go of something like a dress you wore for your baby's christening.

Of course you can keep anything you want to, especially if you have the space. My friend, Christine, whose grown-up children left the house, enables her to turn one of the bedrooms into a walk-in closet. That is a luxury not everybody has and it leaves most of us with overflowing wardrobes with nothing to wear.


I had quite a few items that had sentimental value for me, but I have other ways to treasure those memories. A beautiful, classic dress could be passed down to a daughter or niece, but I am sure most young ladies do not have the same taste as you and they would not wear it. My daughters preferred to play dress-up with some of my dresses.


The best way to keep a memory, is a picture of course and nowadays you can even digitalise your photos. Other ideas are to make a quilt or a wall hanging by cutting up items or keep a piece of material next to the relevant picture. However, when I look at a black and white picture of my mom taken when I was four years old, I remember her dress vividly, down to the colour and type of material. A picture is really all I need.


A few sentimental moments in my life: I remember my mom's dress in Valerie's baptism picture; My wedding day; Bertie's B Ed graduation; My two little girls; My son Conrad's baptism; Alize and Leanne playing dress-up and a family out.


In the decluttering-blog, I also promised to show a few examples of how to mix and match items and how to dress items up or down.

An organised closet really makes my life so much easier. You will always have something appropriate to wear for any occasion by choosing your clothes carefully regarding quality as well as classic styles for basics.


Use accessories and smaller clothing items to add colour and trends and you can always look up to date and not get bored.


Loving kindness till we chat again.

Shirley Rose


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