My attic cleanout left me with a pile of photos and no clear answer

I was digging through my attic last weekend and found a huge stack of old printed pictures. Part of me wants to keep them because holding a photo feels more special than looking at a screen. But another part thinks I should scan them all and toss the physical copies to free up space. For instance, I have birthday party shots from ten years ago that are fun to see, but they're just sitting in a dusty box. Friends tell me to let go of the clutter, but family says those prints are priceless. I'm stuck between wanting a cleaner home and keeping tangible memories. How do you handle old physical items like photos in your minimalism journey?

4 comments

4 Comments

jennifer20428d ago

milabarnes said "I still feel a little guilty about the tossed blurry dog" and honestly that hit me. Have you thought about just making a photo book instead of scanning everything individually? I did that with my pile and got one hardcover book for like 20 bucks. It sits on my shelf and I actually flip through it sometimes instead of fighting with a dusty box. The rest of the loose prints went in the recycling bin and I don't miss them one bit.

milabarnes3mo ago

My attic cleanout last year had me staring at seven boxes of just photos, it was brutal. I'm such a packrat for this stuff, I found a picture of my cousin's extremely blurry dog from 2004 and my brain went 'but what if we need this'. What I ended up doing was scanning almost everything, which took forever, but then I kept one small box of the real physical ones that make me smile right away. The rest live on a hard drive now. I still feel a little guilty about the tossed blurry dog, but my floor space thanks me.

the_ryan3mo ago

Whoa, you'd actually toss birthday party shots from a decade ago?

miles_garcia3mo agoMost Upvoted

Ever dig through those old pics? @the_ryan, if they're blurry or from people you never see now, just toss em. I only keep the ones that still hit.