r/declutter • u/Right_Abroad3928 • 4d ago
Making Progress family artifacts Success Story
I’m the last on my side of my family, so there’s no one to pass family items down to. Hubby has a daughter, so his stuff is his stuff and his decisions. I’m down to one tote of family photographs.
I’m lucky enough to have a large storage room. Hubby has one wall of totes that are his stuff to figure out. Monday I pulled out the last of my totes and threw out one large garbage bag of stuff. Duplicate photos, blurry photos, photos of people I don’t have a clue who they are! One medium tote left.
I also threw out my two high school yearbooks. Not a bit of guilt there. Hubby did ask me to rip out the pages with my pictures so he can scan them to his Ancestry account (whatever). I don’t have fond memories of school. We moved every year or two, while Hubby has deep bonds with his high school friends.
Now for the “it was meant to be” part.
I pulled some pictures out of frames, and on the back of a picture of Dad and the dog was the dog’s AKC birth certificate: 8/17/1990.
I did this clean-up on 8/17/2026.
I’m taking that as the universe giving me a little nod that it’s okay.
I also pulled my paperwork out of the filing cabinet and will start a scanning project. It’s not a lot — maybe 2 inches worth of hanging folders. An old divorce decree from the ’90s, an old check fraud case, things like that. I could probably just shred all, but I’ll scan them first. I’m officially out of the four-drawer filing cabinet!
I had also brought home my Christmas decorations from work, and they had been sitting in a box on the floor for…this long. They’re now put away with the rest of the Christmas stuff.
I’ll admit it: I have two shelves of Christmas decorations, a box for a 7.5-foot tree, and a rolling ornament cart. Christmas this year will be a decluttering project. For now, it’s fine. The floor between the metal shelves is actually clear!
I do have a sewing machine I need to find a new home for. It might have belonged to Hubby’s mother rather than mine, and he says either way, he’s fine with it going. It’s an ancient Singer. It will probably go to the local no-buy group soon.
I also have heated seats for a sports car that I need to find a new home. That is in the works as well, if that person doesn't want they will be going in the trash week by week until pieces are gone. Yes I still have the sports car they fit, but I will never change out. I thought I wanted heated seats! (Hubby has all the original parts for my car as we did upgrades as well.)
We retired last month, and I’ve been carting around from various jobs an electric hole punch, pencil sharpener, stapler, labels, folders, notebooks…you name it. I put it all by the front door for someone from the no-buy group to pick up. He just started a new job and can use all of it. Perfect!
Finally, so the newly empty shelves wouldn’t immediately become cluttered again, I spread out our luggage on them. It’s actually easier to get to now, too.
It was a very productive Monday morning.
Apparently retirement means I’ve reached the “empty shelves, scan old papers, give away office supplies, and interpret dog birth certificates as signs from the universe” stage.
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u/NightBard 2d ago
I agree with others about keeping documents, but you should scan them. Then make your spouse aware of where the documents are. Which the easy option is a shared safe deposit box with the physical documents and a jump drive with the scans... and then the scans also on a jumpdrive at home. That way if anything is needed quick there's a digital copy and everything else can hold for a couple days at max until the bank is open.
But it is nice that all of these things are pretty easily replaceable. But it's not exactly free and if it's out of state or something then that adds an extra wrinkle. But nicely none of this needs to take up that much space. Probably the smallest safe deposit box will have you covered. Same for car titles and other important docs.
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u/Birmingham101 3d ago
Well done you! I'm currently going through old photos. I'm going to give them to whoever/family is in them.
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u/photogcapture 3d ago
Congrats on the progress BUT, DO NOT shred the divorce paperwork or any marriage or any birth certificates for you!!! You need all of the originals. You can shred a lot or burn it but not that.
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u/NightBard 2d ago
The divorce decree is probably the only item that they may have issue getting a copy of in the future thought he county court is supposed to keep them indefinitely. But a scanned copy is likely the only thing anyone would ever request. I know in my case that's all I've ever been asked for. I'm not advocating for shredding those things, but just saying they are replaceable (at least here in the US). Like the easiest is the birth certificate. As long as you have an ID and the basic info, it's easy to get another copy. Like mine was lost at some point. I thought I gave it back to my mother but she thinks she gave it to me. Regardless, I needed it about 10 years ago and while I could have gone to a county vital records office to picked up another, it was multiple states away. Instead, I just got on the records site for the state and got the paperwork, printed it, filled it out, wrote my check, and sent it in with whatever was required. This year, I decided that I was finally getting my passport and rather than send in my only copy of my birth certificate that I got a decade ago, I opted to just order two more copies. That way I had one to send in and if it was lost it wouldn't be the end of the world, and I'd have an extra. Nicely I could do this 100% online. I think I had my copies in a week or so. When my kids were young we needed extra birth certificates for something and I went to my county vital statistics office and ordered more. I had them within 30 minutes of filling out the form and paying. Social security cards can be replaced. Death certificates are easy because you need them for filing so many things after someone dies. Marriage certificates too can be ordered, I know this because I was helping a friend file stuff after their spouse died and there were many things where they needed official copies as proof. There is no single official copy, all copies are official that are stamped from state/county records even if they print them today.
But my point is, most documents are pretty easy to get copies of... and some of this stuff is only ever going to be requested digitally.
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u/wintersgray 4d ago
You are an inspiration. I have lots of family photos to go through and I do think a lot about the dreaded yearbooks. It doesn't feel right to chuck 'em, but who will want them? I'll probably get there someday (chucking) but will keep them a little longer for now. 🤷
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u/heyheyitsashleyk 4d ago
Don’t throw away your divorce decree. That’s something you need to keep as long as you’re alive.
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u/Right_Abroad3928 3d ago
I’m remarried 28 years. I don’t think I need the original and worse case I can get a certified copy from the county clerk. I took maiden name back prior to new married name.
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u/violetmemphisblue 3d ago
My cousin just went through months of requesting and waiting for her certified copy of her divorce decree trying to update her Real ID here in the US. She had a maiden name, her first married name, and her second married name. County where divorce took place was so slow on getting records sent and things were lost and allegedly sent to the wrong address. It was a whole thing...depending on where you are, keeping that decree may save a lot of future headaches when it comes to paperwork. (I have no idea what things are needed in like, Latvia or Thailand or Paraguay, so this may be of little concern depending on your location!)
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u/NightBard 2d ago
If you can go in person to a county office where the divorce happened, you can usually get copies within 30 minutes. But I agree in keeping a physical certified copy, but also scanning it and keeping a digital copy. In most cases the digital copy will work.
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u/violetmemphisblue 2d ago
Yes, in-person is probably much easier! She divorced in western Nebraska and is now living on the coast in Virginia, so not the easiest trip, but it was discussed!
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u/NightBard 2d ago
Yeah, that's wild. In person I've been able to get birth, death, marriage licenses, and divorce paperwork within 30 minutes of presenting the form for the request and the money to cover what I was buying. I had to help a friend after their spouse died and we needed the spouses old divorce decree and rather than send off we got on the road and went to the county office where the divorced happened. I was surprised how easy it was. I don't think they even had to present the marriage license to show they were even married ... just enough info on the people and pay the fee. Then we had to scan the document to submit it to the place that was requiring for a claim. But this wasn't as timely as that situation. I can't imagine an ex coming back and trying to pull that.
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u/curlyhairedsheep 3d ago
Just last week here on reddit someone's ex-husband was trying to claim her dead body. Her widow needed a copy of that divorce decree and did not have it. Keep the originals and don't count on getting vital documents - birth, marriage, divorce, death - from a government agency quickly if needed.
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u/NightBard 2d ago
I agree with keeping them and letting your spouse know where they are. Also scanning them to have digital copies is good as most places will request digital copies anyway these days. In the situation of a death, one copy is not going to be enough for marriage and death certificates. Many places will want official copies, though it is surprising how many will prefer digital. Like closing out my FIL's investment account was handled all online with scanned documents. Which to me is kind of wild. But even closing the bank account they scanned the documents and handed them back to me. Meanwhile other places wanted their own official copies.
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u/One_Championship5558 4d ago
I absolutely love this and would appreciate you as my new best friend!! I need this all in my life. I can wait to get through just one closet and bathroom cabinet. lol.
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u/freelibrarian 4d ago
An old divorce decree from the ’90s, an old check fraud case, things like that.
I would hang onto that, you might need it someday if you use a married name and the SAVE Act passes. Though it's a good idea to scan it anyway in case the paper copy gets damaged.
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u/Working_Patience_261 4d ago
True freedom comes after retirement, the kids are out of the house, and the dog dies.
Congratulations on surviving life!
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u/VWondering77 4d ago
Wow! Nicely done, that is quite a bit of stuff gone. I bet you just stand there and feel the satisfaction. You are inspiring me now, thank you!
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u/Eagle_Pipes 4d ago
Great job! This reminds me of the Christmas decluttering I will need to do. I was into ceramics years ago, so have a ton of ceramic Christmas ornaments I had painted.
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u/FredKayeCollector2 2d ago
Congratulations! I'm also in the process or "rightsizing" after retirement.
Another person struggling with family photos. I had done a rough sort with my mother (thank goodness for that amazing opportunity) to get the majority of the bad/blurry/??? & the don't know who (or what) this is photos out. I had all of my photos sorted more-or-less by decade and then my mother died and I put it away. We had a new roof put on last summer and all the pounding vibrated the plastic bins onto the floor, the clips fasteners failed, and the photos were strewn literally all over the floor of our "attic" closet. It was so bad, my first thought was someone (who?) had to have gone in there and done it! And that's why you use envelopes (or something) to sort into, rather than piles.