How to Declutter Sentimental Items (The 5 Item Legacy List)

Comments · 529

• TH

  @TheMinimalMom · 2 years ago · pinned

  Thank YOU for watching and thank you Helix Sleep for sponsoring! Click here <a href="https://helixsleep.com/minimalmom">https://helixsleep.com/minimalmom</a> to get 30% off an Elite or Luxe mattress (plus two FREE pillows!) – or take 25% off sitewide – during their Fourth of July Sale. If you miss this limited time offer, you can still get 20% off using my link! Offers subject to change. Have a great day!!! - Dawn

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• CI

  @cindiiscurious · 2 years ago

  My mom died when I was 13, 34 years ago. I moved boxes of her memories all throughout my 20’s and 30’s. I changed my perspective to - what might my daughter want from my mom? I narrowed it down to one memory box of clearly cool items that represented her, since my kids would never meet her. That my mom and her mom died young of a genetic disease that I may have, I’ve always kept the perspective toward making things easier for my kids in terms of “stuff”.

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• SL

  @slo_tangled · 2 years ago

  Cool story about my wedding dress (from 50+ years ago). My kids or grandkids didn’t want it. My friend’s daughter is the costume manager of a non-profit theater group. They were putting on The Sound of Music and needed a vintage-y dress for Maria. My dress fit the bill and they happily accepted it. I got to see the production and Maria wearing my dress-SOOO fun. And The Sound of Music is my favorite musical-so icing on the cake. The dress is now part of their costume department and may be used for different productions in the future. It makes me so happy!

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• CI

  @CindDJo · 2 years ago

  I always remember a story that Peter Walsh shared about a shirt he had from his grandfather. &nbsp;He had so many memories of his grandfather wearing the shirt. &nbsp;He even had a picture of them fishing and his grandfather was wearing the shirt. &nbsp;Peter decided to take only a small piece of the shirt and make a mat for a photo the fishing photo. &nbsp;He displayed the photo in a nice frame with the shirt as the mat. &nbsp;He still has a small piece of the shirt but now it has context. &nbsp;I guess the point is this; if it&apos;s significant enough, find a &nbsp;way to honor it. &nbsp;Don&apos;t just put an old shirt in the back of your closet.

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• SH

  @sherryfisher6048 · 2 years ago

  I’m 63…my wedding dress had its stages. Haha. It first hung in mom’s closet. When the kids were about 5, I cut part of the skirt off and altered it some myself so they could play dress up in it. About 5 years later I took it apart and the skirt became a Christmas tree skirt. Then that transformed into 2 pillows. Finally…the trash! &nbsp;It had a fun run!

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• AB

  @abbyabell1251 · 2 years ago

  Dawn, I think a huge part of your legacy too is how you have helped so many of us declutter and be able to curate homes full of things we truly treasure. I think your channel is part of your legacy list! ❤️ Your advice and calming presence are treasured by so many. ☺️

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• SU

  @susanm.3029 · 2 years ago

  I have 5 children all grown and on their own. &nbsp;One Christmas I made memory boxes for each of them. It took me 4 months to go through all my photos. In the end, each of them had a box with every photo every taken of them that I had. Some were with family/friends we had lost. &nbsp;I added a coffee/hot cocoa mug along with their favorite snacks. All 5 opened their gift at the same time. &nbsp;They spent the next day going through them together. The laughter and tears from the dining room table was amazing.

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• LB

  @LBforThee · 2 years ago

  When I was decluttering &apos;big time&apos; I took digital pictures of unused sentimental items. I also prayed over all items...that the next &apos;steward of my stuff&apos; will be blessed &amp; have a happy life. Doing these 2 things made &amp; still makes letting go a breeze! ♡

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• AP

  @aprilhoover3481 · 2 years ago

  On yearbooks: &nbsp;My husband and I each had yearbooks from 7th grade through college. I also had my parents&apos; yearbooks for the same period, plus a few from family members. We also had a yearbook for every year of Hub&apos;s lengthy teaching career. We had LOTS of yearbooks. &nbsp;They lived in the bottom two shelves of our bookcase. One day we had a surprise Kitten Diarrhea Incident where tiny, poopy feet climbed all over our yearbook collection. It was a nightmare. Every yearbook went in the trash. This was 3-4 years ago and we haven&apos;t missed a single one. It&apos;s a relief to have them gone. They aren&apos;t as valuable as you might think.

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• PL

  @plotTwist-s6w · 2 years ago

  Having lost my son a few years ago &amp; having a daughter that is a minimalist has helped me declutter tremendously. &nbsp;Along the way of purging and doing &quot;Swedish death cleaning&quot; &nbsp;I have no issues putting most everything in a burn pile. &nbsp;Yearbooks, photos that no one will recognize, memories...all burned. &nbsp;It&apos;s so freeing. Anything that someone could use or benefit from, I have donated or given away.

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• LI

  @liliandaven5380 · 2 years ago

  I kept a spoon from my dad when he passed. That´s it ,that really captured him. He ate oat meal every morning my whole life with that spoon. Everything else either went to the trash or if we could use it in our home for practical use- we would keep it. But that spoon. That was &quot;him&quot;💖

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• SA

  @sadiedom · 2 years ago

  I donated my wedding dress to be used for Angel dresses. My niece was born with an extremely rare disease and she took her last breath in my arms at 18 months. &nbsp;The hospital gave her a beautiful dress, so I was happy to give mine for other families. &nbsp;🙏

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