Mother’s day was last weekend, and if you are like me, and your mom passed away, this post is to honor the loved ones (a mother, father, or relative) in your life. Here’s a question for you on the topic: What memorabilia should you keep to honor your loved ones after they pass? There are lots of items you can keep to remind you of a loved one’s life. Here are my favorites if you are at a loss on what to keep.
First and foremost, remember to keep only items that remind you of happy memories or something that reminds you of the person you are honoring.
Items that bring you sadness can easily be sold or donated. Remember let those SAD items go. You don’t need to be remembered of them. I give you permission to let go.
If you are someone who likes to watch recorded loved ones, a video is the best keepsake. It helps you recall the memories and circumstances of a particular event. It also helps you see the interaction others have with the loved one.
No MORE THAN 5 Items from a Collection
If your loved one is a collector of small figurines, I suggest to only keep no more than five figurines. The rest you can distribute to other relatives, sell them online or at a consignment shop, or donate them to a charity. Check out my Charitable Donations page that lists many charities.
Photos in Albums
If you like photos and look at them often (like a few times a year). I recommend keeping the photos. But, ONLY the best ones. Get rid of any blurry ones. To truly honor your loved ones, place them in an album that honors them. Then get rid of the rest. I created a scrapbook for my kids and my brother’s kids that had photos and sayings from my father’s life. They truly appreciated it. I also created an ancestor’s scrapbook with photo names and years included from old photos of my mother’s and father’s family. Every relative that comes over wants to see this scrapbook. It’s a great conversation piece.
Writings and Journals
If your loved one was an eloquent writer, and he or she wrote stories. Feel free to keep the best ones. Keep the ones that are the best and get them professional bonded. I found this site called Wert Bookbinding. (not an affiliate) They have a “Short Run On Demand Hardcover Casebinding”. If your loved one had a private journal, you may not want to share it and that’s OK. But if it was just a daily writing journal or a workshop notes, you can pick their quotes out of the papers and make it into a unique picture frame with your loved one’s photo included in it. Hanging it on the wall so everyone can see it.
Turn Clothing into a treasured item
If your loved one wore lots of t-shirts that you treasure, transform them into a variety of items to treasure. Campus Quilt Company is one site that can help you. (not an affiliate)
Keeping furniture can be a slippery sloop
I don’t recommend keeping every piece of furniture unless you are moving into a new home and you have nothing. But, if a few pieces that you can use and will fit in your home, feel free to keep them. We usually don’t have the same style as our parents when it comes to furniture so instead, donate it to a charity or sell it on Craig’s List. (not an affiliate)
Keep ONLY the best pieces of Jewelry
Keeping gold and other pieces of jewelry can be tricky. If you don’t the gold piece of jewelry, take it to a jewelry store and get it redesigned into something you love that will honor the loved one. I did this with an earring that my mother had from my grandmother. My mom had only one earring so I took it to be turned into a ring. It looks beautiful and when I look at it, it reminds me of my mom and my grandma.
Also, for the mismatched gold pieces, go to a cash for gold place and get cash for them. Why keep something that you can’t even wear? I went to the jewelry store and traded in the pieces and then, with the cash, I paid for the ring I mentioned above.
If you need help with getting rid of costume jewelry, check out the link above. I wrote a post about places to donate jewelry.
I hope this helps you decide on what memorabilia to keep that will remind you of your loved ones. Let’s continue the conversation: How did you honor your loved ones when they passed? Please share below. I would love to hear from you.
Please note these are affiliate links through Amazon, and at no additional cost to you, I will earn affiliate fees if you decide to make a purchase.
My aunt made a lovely shadowbox of special keepsakes after my uncle died. It makes her smile whenever she looks at it! She also donated his musical instruments to a local school. They even put up a thank you plaque in his honor in the music room! So much better than giving them to family members who would never use them.
That’s a great idea. I love to hear it when people find places to donate their precious items and the place/people actually appreciate it. Thanks for sharing.
The idea of being selective and creative about what objects you choose to keep is so helpful. We can’t keep everything or we’ll become overwhelmed and overloaded with the stuff of someone else’s life. You’ve given some great parameters about how to make those choices. Recently, I had to empty my family’s home of almost 60 years. It was helpful that other family members wanted some of the things. I kept some things, but not too much. To me, it’s more the memories, and less the stuff, that are the true treasures.
These are great tips on only keeping things that give you happy memories. After my mother passed, I donated many things that held sad memories, or had no sentimental meaning at all. For me, the most important memorabilia were some favorite photographs, which I now have on display in my home. Great tips!
I think people often overlook the fact that (as you said) yes, they can break up a collection. Depends on what it is, of course, but whoever’s collection it was probably didn’t even like ALL the individual pieces! Speaking of which, just because they owned it doesn’t make it worth keeping. I tell clients that if they actually knew the person (let’s say a parent) but they don’t recognize the object (it was not something they used all the time, or displayed, or talked about, or, apparently, loved) they don’t have to keep it. There are other reasons, too, for getting rid of things, but some folks seem to feel like they’re obligatory custodians of loved ones’ stuff. There isn’t a law.
I agree, Hazel. Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.
We kept my husband’s grandparents’ bedroom furniture and have been using it for 20 years. Now that we’ve decided to update the house, we hired someone to refurbish and modernize the dresser and transform it into a dining room buffet. We are so excited to have such a special keepsake, but also happy that we have been able to make it work in our home, rather than have it be a burden. Excellent advice.
Sabrina, you just may have inspired my next project! My mom passed away 20 years ago this coming December, and though we have lots of photos and many of them are in albums, I think I’d like to choose a collection of highlights and have a photo book made for my dad and my siblings. Thank you!
I’m glad it inspired you, Janet. All my relative truly loved the gift. =)
Well, I haven’t done that. Yet. But reading your post again made me wonder why I didn’t tell you about my special ring. My mother lost the diamond from her engagement ring when I was very small, or maybe even before I was born, I have no idea. She never wore it, but always kept it. When she passed, my sister wanted her wedding ring (which she’s still wearing over 20 years later) so I got her engagement ring. I told my husband I’d like to get it set with a sapphire, which was my mother’s birthstone. It was just one of those things you say in passing and never think about again, so I was totally surprised when he had it done without telling me. It’s one of my cherished possessions, and I now have a daughter-in-law who was also born in September, so I know it will stay in the family when I’m gone.