A little follow up to the recent post From Junk Drawer to Charging Station :
I finally put to use something I learned years ago when I was obsessed with Minimalism and was reading everything I could get my hands on about it (if you want to see my posts related to this obsession they are filed under this blog post category – My Minimalism Journey ).
I read somewhere that if you are struggling with getting rid of something sentimental, that does not really add anything to your current life but you are just keeping it because it holds memories, you can take a picture of it to remember it, then let it go.
While John and I were purging our mega junk drawer and countertop area above the junk drawer which had become a hot bed of clutter, I was faced with making a decision on what to do with this mug that I created like 25 years ago in one of those “paint your own ceramics” classes we attended for a friend’s birthday party.
It was such a fun memory of painting that mug with friends and my late husband.
I was never really clear though if my finished mug was really “food safe”, ha, so I used it for years as a pen holder. It was actually a poor excuse for a pen holder as the mug is too small to hold very many pens, but I kept it around for sentimental reasons.
Well this weekend I did it: I took a photo of it and let the mug go! It was a big thing for me.
I’ll close this post with some recent photos John took while over his Dad’s house of Mike and Goose, his father’s miniature Miniature Schnauzer (who needs a haircut but is so adorable!)
We are never sure if Mike is actually happy that his “grandpa” now has his own Miniature Schnauzer. Mike liked that days when he went to stay at his “grandpa’s” house and it was just him getting all the attention!
tierneycreates 
You’ve inspired me but darn, that’s a cute cup!!!
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It was a cute but not functional cup – ha! Thanks for reading 😀
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So cute!
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Thanks!
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This reminds me that someday I need to write about receiving a bag of collector spoons from my grandmother’s estate and realizing that I didn’t want the spoons but I had bought them for her over the years and she had written little notes about me on the spoons’ containers. Long story short, guess who has a bag of spoons and a bag of spoon containers?
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That would be a great story! It so so difficult to get rid of items with such powerful sentimental value, even when we don’t want them!
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I do the same with cards. I keep them around for a while, but then, take a picture of the inside and out and toss them, so they don’t clutter my space.
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That is a great idea!
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thanks for sharing this – I have been thinking a lot about minimalism lately and it reminds me this is a process – and it can vary per item
did you send this mug to a thrift store or just toss it?
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Oh great question and I did not think to include that in the story – I donated it to the thrift shop as I thought perhaps another schnauzer person would enjoy it. Hopefully it is food safe (ha!) if they want to use it as actual mug!
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I am glad yo hear it was donated – 🙂
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I too have done that over my years – from furniture to smaller objects – it was hard doing that to one of a specialised chair that was popular when TV was introduced – you sat on a separate chair that still matched the rest of the settee – it was dam uncomfortable but I’d hauled it around for decades….
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Ah! So it works as you do not still have to haul around that settee – you can just check out the photo! 🙂
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Well done on taking that difficult decision
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Thank you 😀
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I feel that way about things I kept from my Mum’s home.. Maybe the photo solution would work for me
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It is an option to consider. It was difficult but I was okay in a little while 🙂
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Ha! I read this just in time! I recently ran across a picture someone doing museum conservation of an embroidered piece (from a kit!) just like one I made in the 1970s. I got rid of mine years ago (we’ve moved too many times and still kept too much stuff) but for just a minute I missed it and wanted to go to ebay and see if I could replace it. Yikes! Wish I’d taken a picture of it, though.
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It’s hard when we have those sentimental moments! I do like this picture idea! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
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Mike and Goose are just adorable!! It is a hard thing to let go of stuff that has sentimental meaning, but feel really good when it’s done in a positive way. It is a super cute mug – great idea taking a picture of it!
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I know they are cuties! Yes, it’s hard and I am glad I just took the photo, thanks so much for your comments 😀
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