As we pack up our main floor for our renovation, I’m coming across souvenirs and trinkets from vacations and travels. Some of them have been hidden in drawers and cabinets unseen for years. Do we keep it or throw it away? Does it get put in a box only to be seen again when we unpack after the renovation, and then tuck it in a drawer not to be seen again until we move? Or do we let go of it now?

The saying goes ‘One man’s junk is another man’s treasure’ but when looking at your own stuff, sometimes it is simultaneously both. Do we need 3 sizes of wine glass sets for more than 6 people each? Do we also need the fun set of patterned wine glasses, and the plastic ones for outside? No, we don’t need them. But will we throw or give any away, or will we keep them? Are they worth holding on to?

I suspect we will be keeping a lot more junk than we should. We’ll see value, be it functional or sentimental, and we’ll hold on to too much stuff. I think we would get rid of a lot more items if we had a critical friend helping us and just asking, “Do you really need to keep that?” In most cases the answer would or should be ‘No’, but for my wife and I, many of these things will end up in a box and back into a drawer or cabinet. Hopefully we’ll be a bit more hesitant to keep some of our boxed junk when it’s time to unpack, and these unnecessary items will be given away to find homes in someone else’s house.

But I’m sure of one thing, we are going to end up keeping far more than we should… Maybe not truly a treasure, but not quite considered junk (yet).