I am inviting you to take a weekly journey with me called Picture My Memories. The idea is for us to take pictures of stuff that we own and creatively share the memories associated with that item. Some of you may want to do this to get rid of clutter and others may want to create an archive of some of your most precious possessions but the idea is to capture those memories!
Every Friday night, starting this Friday, at 10pm central time I will post my picture and memory or feature a creative way a reader shared theirs. Then I will include a place for you to link to your posts sharing your memories. This is a great activity for creating a journal of memories to pass down to others. For the complete guidelines click here!
I recently wrote about ways we can can reduce sentimental clutter by photographing our memories. I think a majority of us hold on to stuff because we are attached to the memory not the item. I shared how I took a picture of the outfit I wore on the first date with my husband and then donated the clothes because they were no longer worn for the last 6 years! Laura shared how she let go of her stuffie but held on to the memory by taking a picture and creating a sign that said “I love my brother!”
I also mentioned the importance of documenting these memories even if we don’t want to get rid of them. Have you thought about the things that you might lose if you had a flood or fire? Wouldn’t it be nice to at least have a picture of the item and a description of the memory attached to it?
Wouldn’t it be nice to not just pass on STUFF to our loved ones but the memories that go with them? What good is passing on Great-Grandma’s tea set unless you tell the recipient that she loved to have tea at exactly 10 every morning and when you were visiting you had a tea party and how much that meant to you. See, without the memories it is just STUFF. We need to share those little tid-bits of info about our lives!
So, will you join me this weekend in documenting our memories?
Will you be participating to try to get rid of some sentimental clutter?
Or, are you wanting to preserve memories in case of a natural disaster?
Please help spread the word, the more the merrier, we can inspire each other!
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I LOVE this idea! I actually did this specifically for my Christmas “stuff” a year or so ago. I wanted my family to know why I kept the old broken rocking horse — because it’s one of the only things I have from my grandmother that she had out at Christmas as well so I feel a holiday connection to her. And, I don’t consider it sentimental clutter since it fits neatly in my storage bins and only comes out once a year.
I love the idea of doing this with other items! How wonderful! Count me in!