Mundane Monday #56 – Culling Cards and Renewed Energy

Posted on by Miriam

I’m on a declutter frenzy.  For years I’ve hoarded cards, birthday cards for both myself and the rest of the family, anniversary cards, you name it, I’ve kept it.  Sweet memories of occasions celebrated.  There were so many of them I thought it was time to start culling.

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When I looked at the cards all I could see was the past. Words frozen in time.   Beautiful words and sincere wishes but did they natter today?   Why was I holding onto them?  Will these cards make a difference in our life now or in a few years?

What matters today are actions.  What matters now are words spoken, phone calls made, friendships fostered over the years and love strengthened through shared experiences.

I realised I don’t have to hold onto these cards to have that in my life.  What is important is what I do today.  Being a good mum, picking up the phone and calling an old girlfriend, reconnecting with my sister after a year of feeling torn, loving my husband today and not needing to read the words in old cards to know how he feels.

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I’ll be honest.  There were some cards I couldn’t part with.  Hand made ones, made with love and filled with photos of memorable times together.  These are more than cards, they’re like a mini photo album, a snapshot in time. So a special few I kept aside.

Today the sun was shining.  I opened the windows, warm air flowed through the house.  The decking was hosed off, the outdoor furniture on it, old and tired, was reoiled and varnished.  Cobwebs were banished.  Hubbs and I (and Harry as supervisor) worked as a team.  The more mundane chores were accomplished the more the energy seemed to grow.

In response to Mundane Monday Challenge #56

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The decluttering will continue. The cards were just the start but somehow it seemed the most poignant.  I’ve always believed a good spring clean is a threshold for new energy which leads to:

  • Making way for new things and experiences to appear in my life
  • Shifting the focus from the past to the present
  • Freeing up spaces to help me find my path again.

So today after I flicked through these cards I did a huge cull and released them from the house.  The past is the past.  Today is what I’m living for and what I’m focusing on.

May we all live our lives today in the present moment, and enjoy making memories, whether routine or mundane, and cherishing the special people in our lives.

64 thoughts on “Mundane Monday #56 – Culling Cards and Renewed Energy”

  1. Being a sentimental fool that I am, emotional attachment to things typical for me. I feel sad upon knowing you have to part ways with those cards. I could never do that if I will be in your place but you do a point that today is more important than yesterday. This post is one of my favorites, keep it up!

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    1. I’m pretty sentimental myself. And I must admit I thought twice about throwing them out, but then I realised that if I kept everything that meant anything to me I wouldn’t have any room for what matters today. Sometimes the time is just right for things to move on. Thanks for commenting. 🙂

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  4. I have a problem with this sort of thing. I keep everything. I have a large box for each of my 2 kids full of every piece of artwork since preschool scribbles! And cards… yes, lots of those. Small memories from my kids’ birthday parties. Andmuch more. Too much stuff! My house is too small for me to keep every little thing but I can’t help myself!

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  5. Getting rid of things that haven’t been used in ages is a great feeling. Like you I’ve held onto cards and still do, especially when they’re from people I care about. That’s a tougher sell for me..:)

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  6. What a great piece of advice, Miriam. I struggle to part with cards as well but manage to set them free eventually. I think you’re right, we need to let go and stop looking at the past so that we can be in the present and look to our future.

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  8. Great job. I always grit my teeth to get through the mundane, but I always feel so good when I’m through, and the details look so much better.

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  9. I’m wanting to do the same thing but just can’t bring myself to do it. What am I hoping to gain by holding onto these things? What will I lose if I throw them away? Well done you for tackling this head on!

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  11. It’s always hard to decide what to do with things like that. I tend not to throw things away, which is why I now live surrounded by mountains of books, bits of paper, children’s art projects and a million other things and spend each day in danger of being buried in an avalanche.

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  12. Shoot that’s such a liberating thing to do…but how do you get over the nostaligic memory trail each throws up….well I have that trouble at least…or is it an affliction? Either way they always end up back in the box until next time. Hmm, my approach is not in the least liberating is it 🤔 Must take your advice on this one methinks.

    Great post again Miriam 🙃

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    1. Oh yeah, it does leave a nostalgic trail. I read through them all, chose the hand made ones I really loved and then just ditched the rest. Kind of figure I have the real deal here, my kids are growing up and what’s important is them now, not how they were. Thanks Gary. 🙂

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      1. I find its often a case of the only time some things are looked at is when a clear out starts, they come out…nostalgia hits…they get put back out of sentimental reasons and only appear the next time a clear out is thought about. I guess that tells the story really and should be the indicator to say its boxed up because you don’t look at these anymore. I shall try your approach 🙂

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        2. So right…it must in some ways be very liberating too. The use it or lose it approach and declutter. I think the only time that happens is during a house move when stresses are already high without having to decide what goes into the scrap pile. I imagine decluttering really helps that too 🙃

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  13. I can so relate to the card thing. I have bags of them. I’ve gone through them several times and I just can’t part with them. I used to be the kind of person that kept everything. But that’s changed…so maybe it’s time to revisit those cards and a lot of other things I’ve kept through the years. Great post Miriam…one that has me thinking. 🙂 I also think you may have inspired a future blog post for me. 🙂

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    1. Glad to hear, Nikki. I used to be that person too, who kept everything. And I think a lot of us tend to hoard all those priceless cards and memories. Not sure if it’s a way of keeping things alive but I finally realised keeping them was pointless. It really did feel kind of liberating.

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  14. My generation is not with cards. I think it was nice to receive a card from someone from far away. Now those cards are memories. I wonder what memories I will have. I think this blog will be mine.
    Hugs, Miriam ❤

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  15. I find cards the most difficult thing to get rid of when de-cluttering. Like you, I feel an attachment to the sentiments they express and to their senders who took time to think of me and my wife and to compose a message to us. Letters I keep, simply because they come so seldom now, thanks to the internet. But you’re right about action being key; making a phone call to thank a sender, texting to let a sender know the card arrived and was much appreciated, writing a card in return — all of these mean more than keeping the card does because they send the feelings that inspired the card back out into the world. We need more of that kind of energy cycling around among our friends and families. We especially need to be in charge of releasing some of that energy. Gear post, here, Miriam. Great reminder to reach out. Thank you.

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    1. You’ve described what I was feeling perfectly Patrick. It’s all about giving and receiving, taking the love and sentiments and putting them back out there and not just holding onto things. So glad you enjoyed my post Patrick, thanks for your wonderful comment.

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    1. You have a great memory Jithin! My finger nail is almost all healed now. And yes, the view from our front living room looks out onto green hills and is pretty amazing, thanks. 🙂

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  17. Decluttering must be catching. For me, it’s been old tax returns, bank statements and payslips that have been sitting in a pile. Now they’re in another pile, ready to be shredded. It’s very freeing to clear out and make space in your home. I really need to do the cards too, but I won’t be tossing the ones my mother makes. She does exquisite parchment craft cards and I know how many hours each one takes to make.

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  19. I’m a card keeper too and cull them from time to time. Quite a while ago I decided to sort cards into a box for each family member. I will give my daughters their box later and they can cull their own cards from when they were little.

    There are some great de-cluttering posts on Houz. One in particular by a person who lost everything in a fire. Also do you know about Evernote – when you get to storing notes and scraps of notes etc. It has a great search capacity. A guy I work with swears by it. You could scan the inside of some of the cards and throw some more out if you wanted but that would take time.

    I have to go though my book case next. I have been buying good title novels at the op shop and not getting to read them so I need to cull those. I can always get titles at the library.

    I am really glad you connected with your sister again.

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    1. That’s a good idea sorting the cards for each family member. I always check with my kids before throwing stuff out, I know there are some things they like to keep.
      I must look into Evernote, I think I’ve heard of it but don’t really know much about it. Thanks for that.
      As for books, that’s another thing that I used to hoard. But years ago I started culling as I had so many and storage was getting to be a problem. Gave some to charity , took some to book swap stores and gave some to friends. These days the library is a great resource and I don’t tend to buy as many. Occasionally I’ll buy an inspirational one that I can read over and over, though I’m finding I have less time these days to read these days, unfortunately. Have a great week Louise. 🙂

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  20. Sometimes you just have to clear out the things to clear your head. It’s like turning the soil when you’re preparing a garden. 🙂

    I was like that with the kids’ drawings, too. I resorted to taking pictures of their pictures and posting them on a blog for them, so they could have the memories, without the clutter. 🙂

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  21. Reminds me of a song, holding on and letting go. It is always good to hold on to something that you cherish a lot, but it is wiser to let go of it if it’s a perish to you. The last line reached deep in my heart
    “So today after I flicked through these cards I did a huge cull and released them from the house. The past is the past. Today is what I’m living for and what I’m focusing on.” Nailed it dear 🙂 – Cezane

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  23. I’m a huge fan of decluttering, both with our material stuff and our emotional stuff. It lowers stress, raises our moods and encourages optimism about the future. All good things, in my opinion! Keep up the good work!

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  24. Yay you did it! Good for you. I feel that way about books, and before I moved from LA to NY, I gave away two big boxes of books. 🙂 It wasn’t easy and I felt so great, especially b/c I gave them to the public library. What a nice experience. Blessings to you Miriam…lots of grace, love and easy joy.

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  25. Pingback: Mundane Monday Challenge #57 | PhoTrablogger

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