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Sentimental Journey: What To Pass, What To Keep When You Declutter

As you might have read already, I have begun to declutter my kitchen and living room areas as a ride-along with my husband's doing some painting in those rooms.  What to do, what to do-- I actually need to let go of items that were given to me, or harder yet, bequeathed to me, by people dear to me.  And the odd memento of some place and time that I will never more visit.  Dishes, mostly.  Please let me know what you think in the Comments below.  Would you give away something your |Grandmother gave you as a gift?  Would you give away a piece of bone china that you never use, that is missing a lid, but that is your all-time favourite Royal Albert pattern, and belonged to your Mom?



The first article of some sentimental value is a pinwheel crystal pilsner glass.  Pilsner is a kind of brew for a beer.  It is a fancy beer glass. 

 There were six of them at one time, wedding gifts from an auntie. There are three remaining (not bad in our house for something that landed here forty-eight years ago).  We do not drink beer any more. 

 It is too long to re-purpose as a dessert glass, and doesn't work extremely well as a vase either, although that is a possibility.  

What do you think?

Keep for sentiment's sake?

Give away?

If you are family, do you want it?

Any other ideas?




This is the bone china coffee pot that belonged to my mom.  It is Royal Albert "Silver Birch" pattern, which I like very much, but it is a knock-off of the regular coffee pot from the 1940s, and not quite as grand.  I can't find a lid online but I see that the tea pot lid is replaceable for $50 on Ebay. $50!

We don't drink coffee.  Does anyone serve their guests coffee in these pots any more? (I mean, besides at Church 'teas'-- do they even have church teas any more?)

Some arty folks would use this as a flower pot I suppose.  Is it worth it to advertise it on EBay and then wait six months for someone to buy it for $30?  If you are family, do you want it?  There are some cups, saucers and a cream/sugar that go with it.  Any other ideas?



 A china tea mug that my Grandmother gave to me one time when we lived in Saskatchewan and visited her in Vancouver.  Grandma was very precious to me.  However, I haven't seen this mug for the past six years, and so it is safe to say that it doesn't evoke any real feelings.  Family want it?
 A gift mug from a client who went to Hawaii.  It is always nice to see these sorts of little "appreciate-you" mementos, but the fact is that it sits up in the top cupboard unused and un-heralded.  I need the space.  The ex-client is now on my Facebook and we appreciate each other.  I don't think this gets kept.  hehe.
 A going-away gift I received from the Saskatoon women's shelter that I worked at for a few years, many years ago.  I just now took it out of the plastic bag it had lived in.  It is a very nice mug.  But Interval House has a website if I need to remember my times there.  Does anyone out there want this mug?  I would happily send it to you for the cost of shipping.

This is not exactly 'mine' to give away since it is a souvenir Ed brought back from his trip to Europe.  Like his 43 tee-shirts, it will likely live here as long as we do, but I will move it into his man cave out of the kitchen.  Phil, do you want this?  You were on the same trip as your Dad.

I don't think I will be going through all the minutia (nice word for 'junk') on this page, but you never know.  I know that some of you are organizational whizzes and I truly appreciate your ideas, offers, comments, and suggestions below.  Not just for these particular items, but for how to declutter in general-- what has worked for you?  Thank you!

If this interested you, you might want to read the previous post called Organic Granny Declutters-Simplifies-Minimizes 

For Family (Zirkwitz-Ritter-Rempel-Sanders) I plan to transfer our Genealogy information to this blog.  For the granddaughters and sons, we plan to write a little more about our life experiences.  All to come.  In the meantime, here are a couple of articles that you might want to read about our life long ago and far away:

Our Experiences of Being Contestants on a TV Quiz Show (1970s- Vancouver)

Food Trends Through My Life (1950- 2000s)

Some Things To Do With Grandkids in Edmonton (including photos of grandkids)

Read Me A Story: How Being Read Aloud To Shaped My Life (more grandkid pictures)

A Prairie Gal's Walk On Vancouver Island

Taking a Trip Back in Time With Pinterest (some family photos)

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