Keeping Your Nostalgia: How to Store Sentimental Items the Right Way

We all have things that we hold near and dear to our hearts. For some, it’s a number of family heirlooms, for others, it’s the nostalgic collections or toys we had growing up. Sentimental items are different for everyone, but they carry a very special meaning. Rather than selling everything or tossing them aside to find room for something new, there are ways to keep your nostalgia. Instead of letting boxes of things pile up in your closets or in a dingy basement, you need to store your sentimental items the right way, especially if you want them to last.

The best way to do this is to set aside some time to go through everything. If that means a whole day, great! If you need a week, that’s okay too. Break it up and just keep moving forward once you start. Eventually you will make progress. Storing your sentimental items will give you more livable space while protecting the things that mean the most to you. That’s why we’ve put together an article on everything you need to do, from start to finish, to store your sentimental items the right way.

Learn to Let Go

In recent years, Marie Kondo has come out with a book, and a Netflix series, that explains the importance of tidying up by decluttering your home and your life. Her method, the KonMari Method, even extends to sentimental items and things you may find hard to let go. Her explanation lies on the fact that you should focus on creating moments and memories rather than holding onto every little thing you’ve acquired throughout the years.

However, that doesn’t mean you need to get rid of absolutely everything that holds any meaning to you. Instead, go through your items and learn how to let go—even if it only means moving things from your home into your self storage unit. Our lives are filled with things and sometimes those things take away from our moments, but they don’t have to. The first step in keeping your nostalgia by learning to let go is to figure out what you can move to your self storage unit.

This might take some time. If you have a lot of sentimental items currently stored in your home, you’ll need to go through them and decide exactly what you want to keep at home and what is okay to be moved to a self storage unit. This isn’t you abandoning them; it’s you freeing up your life to allow more in. Go through all of your sentimental items during this process. This will give you a chance to look at everything you have and see what is really important to you. You may even find that some things that once held sentimental value don’t carry as strong of value anymore. If so, create a sold and donate pile in addition to your self storage pile. Remember, you’re not giving away the memory; you’re just making space for more.

One great option for downsizing your sentimental items is to give them away to a loved one. We don’t want to encourage you pawning off all of your things to your friends, but sometimes, sentimental items can hold value for more than one person. If you’ve had something for a long time, giving it to a loved one is a great way to re-spark the nostalgia and pass along the memories. Baby toys or clothes can be given to a loved one who is expecting, artwork can be given to a friend or family who will actually hang it somewhere, and furniture that’s not being used can be passed on to someone who needs it. Spreading the joy with sentimental items is a great way to keep things close to your heart and share the memories with your closest companions.

Organization

The process of learning to let go is also a great time to start your organization. More often than not, your current sentimental items are strewn about randomly in boxes throughout your home. Some are in the back of closets while others wait alone in a dark basement for years. If you’re going to keep your sentimental items, you should store them the right way… with care. While you’re going through everything and deciding what to keep, what to store, and what to sell or donate, make a list of what you have. Create categories and be detailed. Doing this will help you get organized and figure out what the best way to store each of your sentimental items will be.

Categories also let you see what you have a lot of. It may even make you realize that you have a few different meaningful collections on your hands. However, as with most collections, things are probably kept out of sight and therefore out of mind. Instead, look through each collection and find your favorite item. Take that item out of the pile of the rest and set it aside to be kept in your home and displayed rather than hidden away. Put the rest in your self storage unit in a neatly labeled box or bin. Now when you see the one item from the collection, you’ll think of the sentiment behind the entire collection and be reminded of all of the other pieces you own. The one piece will bring you joy and nostalgia without cluttering your home and taking up valuable living space. Whenever you want to bask in that nostalgia, you’ll know it’s an easy trip to the self storage unit.

Another good idea is creating albums and digitalizing pictures. If you were born before the year 2000, you probably have years and years of photo albums somewhere in your home. How often do you take them out and look through them? We’re not saying get rid of these precious moments, but instead, consider digitalizing them or making one big, concise album. When you digitalize them, you can set them as your desktop’s screensaver and reminisce on special moments every day. When you consolidate them, it’s more likely that you’ll actually flip through a book rather than needing to set aside a full day to get through a few years. You can even create scrapbooks that incorporate small mementos you’ve kept that correspond with milestones in your life or your children’s lives. The rest of the pictures don’t have to be destroyed! Just move them to your self storage unit where they’re safe, secure, and easy to get to whenever you need them.

Packing Sentimental Items for Safekeeping

Once you’ve decided what will stay in your home and what will be moved to your self storage unit, you need to pack each individual item for safekeeping. Doing this will ensure that all of your things are protected and safe both during the move and in storage. If you have any fragile items or antiques, make sure they’re packed with care and wrapped with an extra layer of protection. Use vacuum-sealed bags for any old clothing and load up on heavy-duty plastic storage bins for all of your collections and larger items. Every sentimental item should be stored depending on what it is. Store like things with each other and keep collections together. Remember to stay organized and always keep your bins labeled so that it’s easy to find things when you need them.

If you have a shoebox full of cards, pack them up for easy retrieval and admiring. Head to your craft store and pick up a binder with card inserts. Put all your cards inside the inserts and then pack them away. This is a much easier way to store your cards and will extend their lifespan.

After packing everything up, it’s time to move to your self storage unit. Hopefully, your sentimental items don’t fill an entire moving truck, but if they do, The Lock Up Self Storage has you covered. With all new self storage unit leases, you’re able to use a moving truck free of charge. For those that don’t need a moving truck, we’ve still got great deals on self storage units of all sizes and for all budgets.

The Lock Up Self Storage has low monthly rates, affordable leasing options, and all of the security you want and need in a storage facility. All of our locations are fully equipped with perimeter alarms, motion-sensor lighting systems, coded access gates, and 24/7 video monitoring to protect all of your things, regardless of the time of day. If you’re ready to keep your nostalgia and store your sentimental items the right way, The Lock Up is here to help. Give us a call or browse our available units in your area. If you need any help, don’t hesitate to reach out to our customer service team. We’d be more than happy to help you find the perfect storage unit for your sentimental items and more today!