Ways to Organize Memorabilia

We all have memorabilia of some sort; These are collections or objects that remind us of important people or events in our lives.

Does This Item Spark Joy? 

1. Lay all your items or like you did with other collections.
2. Look at each item and ask if it sparks joy or makes you happy. Does it remind you of a certain event or person? Does it give you happy memories?
3. If there are items you no longer want, see if you can hand these down to someone else. If it is from a collection, put them on eBay or trade them so you get a return on their worth.
4. Keep track of items you have if you want to stay on top of your collection. I like using a spreadsheet to write all items in a collecting. Using a tool like Airtable is a good idea. For photos, keep backups of old photos by scanning them digitally.
5. Display your items. Memorabilia can be great to display. Photos can be put in scrapbooks. Collections can be displayed creatively.

What Collections Do You Keep? 

One collection that is important to me is a glass frog collection from my grandmother. I like to display it on a shelf, but I could find a better way to display it. The glass frogs were originally in a glass case which is a nice way to keep them protected. Right now, the glass frogs sit on a glass lily pad. I am not sure if the glass lily pad was my grandmother’s, but it works perfectly for the glass frogs and helps give the collection a story.

Some other things I collect include autographed items and ticket stubs. I will do a longer blog post with my collections.

How do you store your memorabilia? 

Ways to Organize Clothing

What are some ways to organize clothing? It is essential to keep your clothing organized. Just by cleaning out your closet, you can help figure out your personal style and what you love.

Get rid of the unnessecary.

Outdated clothes? Clothes that have holes? Jeans that don’t fit? Toss them out! I recommend emptying your closet and making piles of clothes you no longer want, clothes you want to keep and clothes you aren’t sure of.

Use the handy infographic above I found on Pinterest to decide what to keep and what to toss.

Take care of what you love.

The capsule wardrobe theory recommends keeping 37 items you love. This doesn’t always mean keeping expensive items, but you should choose clothes that are high quality and you wear every day.

Take care of clothing you have so it lasts longer. I like this laundry chart above. Make sure to read instructions for washing clothes so they don’t wear out quickly. If you have items that have imperfections or missing pieces, fix them.

Give the items you keep a home.

Now, it is time to put all your clothing back. It can be a lot of fun to arrange your closet and clothing. Try color coordinating hangers by assigning different types of clothing a different color or arranging by season. I like to arrange my clothes by color in my closet or arrange items from light to dark.

In the Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, the author recommends folding clothes and storing them vertically. You don’t have to do this, but I find some items benefit from folding while others work on a hanger. I keep clothes I wear for working out or sleeping in folded in a drawer while clothes I wear go in my closet on a hanger.

Accessories can be arranged using creative methods. Shoes can be arranged in shoe boxes with a photo of the shoe on the outside. Boots can be kept in shape by putting rolled up magazines inside them when not in use. If you have multiple scarves, hang them on a hanger.

In the next entry, I will talk about how I am personally trying to organize my clothing.

What are your tips for organizing clothes? Let me know in the comments or even use hashtag #mythreadofthought with photos.