Archiving Your Life

It’s All About The Sort – I Did It Too

So, I mentioned earlier that I know exactly what it feels like to be facing a garage/attic/basement/any storage space full of boxes and things, right? Stick with me – I have a bonus for you at the end of this blog!

Earlier this year I did my own Swedish Death Cleanse. If you are not familiar with the term, here is a quick summary of what it means:

döstädning = death cleanse

This decluttering practice from Sweden is meant to relieve a burden on family after one’s passing. Essentially, a family or a person goes through their things, room by room and discards anything that does not have real meaning. The idea is, if it doesn’t have meaning, it has no worth.

The practice is viewed as a liberating, but time consuming practice.

It can be very enjoyable to review items and share memories with family and then evaluate if it should be kept or discarded. Private items such as diaries or love letters should be discarded if they might cause your loved ones harm or unhappiness. Destruction of such items is actually promoted.

There. That’s a Swedish Death Cleanse. Now you know.

Look, I am not an old person nor am I near death but I had to do this cleanse. I had SO MUCH STUFF in my garage that I have been storing and bringing with me whenever I relocated.

Personal stuff I had been hanging onto since … well … the 1960’s when I was a little kid.

And guess what? Before I got in there and really sorted through it, I would not have been able to describe exactly what the stuff was except that it was SUPER IMPORTANT and THE STORY OF MY LIFE.

Ahem. Yeah. NO.

You want the truth?

The boxes and trunks I had so reverently set aside and cared for through multiple moves were mostly old stuff and things that I really didn’t need to keep. These boxes and trunks full of stuff did NOT reflect the story of my life. And to think I paid movers to schlepp this stuff every time I moved!

I was fortunate to be able to block out a day or so to actually go through all of this stuff that has been taking up so much space. All that space devoted to stuff I didn’t need to keep – FOR YEARS!

This so-called death cleanse was driven by the need to reclaim my garage for a real, practical purpose.

I needed the space in my garage for me – for real purposes.

Am I speaking to you yet? Am I telling your story too?

Here what I found when I went through the Decluttering and Sorting steps:

  • School work – elementary through university
  • My drawings and art work from childhood
  • Annual calendars going back to the 1970’s
  • Letters going back to elementary school
  • Notes (the kind you passed in class)
  • Photos
  • Yearbooks going back to middle school
  • Scrapbooks
  • Mementos
  • Love letters
  • Certificates
  • Reception response cards
  • Wedding planning stuff
  • Financial documents going back to my first job
  • Career stuff – highlights and lowlights

And what did I learn?

Well, it was both fun and tedious, to be honest with you.

It was tedious to look at boxes and boxes of stuff I didn’t even know I had and now wondered why the heck I did! It was fun to rediscover my younger self at so many different ages. So many fun memories made me laugh out loud and smile.

More than anything, I was astounded at the stuff I kept and didn’t really need. Things I didn’t LOVE, NEED or USE but for some reason, thought I would need some day. Like my third grade paper on Native Americans or my college paper on Byzantine Art … really?

This was an important exercise for me to go through. I learned what was important to me and important enough to keep and protect. So many items (photos and papers) were rotting because I had not properly protected them. Don’t let that happen to you.

I went through the steps in ✷ A FREE COPY ✷ Start Archiving 101 to start protecting what I wanted to keep and eventually had an EDIT box to work through.

Using Editing steps I developed, I was able to whittle 3 trunks and 5 boxesof stuff into 2 small photos boxes and 1 small trunk of items worth keeping– many of which I now have on display because they tell my story.

I actually plan on repeating this exercise once a decade until I have one tiny cigar box of precious mementos left. Memories take no space friends – we just need a few precious things to trigger them.

I’ll share more about the EDIT process later.

Until then, Happy Archiving!

How is your archiving going??

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Archiving Your Life

Why I Love Archiving!

Why I am Here

I promised to share some of my story and how I became interested in archiving. Here it is!

Most of you probably inherited artifacts and things from generations past — I did not.

My parents came to the U.S. independently and by themselves after World War II. They married in California after meeting and getting engaged in England. This makes me a 1st generation American and a Native Californian – two things I am very proud of!

My parents came from loving and established families but the turmoil of the Second World War and its aftermath didn’t allow them to bring much with them when they came to the U.S. A few artifacts like jewelry, watches and photos were really all they brought when they sailed separately to America in 1950 and 1951.

Absence = Longing

Since all of my relatives were in Europe, childhood friends became like extended family to me, and their homes, like my second homes. I loved playing in basements or attics and seeing “old” things like furniture and antiques. My friends would share their stories “Oh, that old bed was my grandma’s … she travelled from Maine to California in the 20’s.”

I just loved seeing all kinds of old stuff and hearing the stories behind them because we didn’t have that in the home I grew up in. We had the stories, just not the stuff that went with it.

My parents were always interested in exploring their new home state and learning as much as possible about their new country, so we were always (every Sunday after church!) going to museums and historical sites. Vacations were all about discovering the Old West and the old Rancho Californio lifestyle.

And So It Began

I think my appreciation for archiving and displaying the things that matter grew from my immediate family history and a hunger to know more.

As the years went on, my parents were able to get copies of their family albums and bring them to California so now my older family history is within grasp. Those albums and artifacts felt rich and important to me.

That’s why it is so sad to see others’ family albums and photos at flea markets and estate sales. All of those stories … lost.

So it really has become a personal mission and passion for me to help people tell and display their stories – to share and honor their history.

 I Want To Help You Do the Same

Decluttering and a preliminary Sort is just the first step, Fellow Archivist!

Please reach out with any questions or comments about your journey — I really want to see your progress and success on this first step into archiving!

BTW – the image above is of the July 4, 1950 Cunard Liner menu, the day the ship sailed into New York Harbor from England. This is the day my Dad arrived in America. He took the train to LA a week or so later where a job awaited him. Another story, another time.

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Archiving Your Life

Get Started! Clear Out That …

Hey there Fellow Archivist!

You have decided to tackle some corner of your world where you know important stuff resides. But you are not quite sure what it is, where it is and what value it has.

You do have a challenge ahead of you -- to protect what matters. But first you have to identify and find out what matters.

I know exactly what this challenge feels like:

✔︎  Overwhelmed by boxes and things

✔︎  Weighed down by cramped attic, basement, garage, drawers, boxes, storage units

✔︎  Worried about precious things getting damaged – uh, where are they again?

✔︎  Fretting over lack of space or accumulated clutter

✔︎  Guilt about how you are storing heirlooms

✔︎  Not understanding the context and provenance of your items

✔︎  You don’t love, need or use all of those items you are storing!

You are probably wondering what you are going to do with all of the stuff you have (once you find it, that is) — things like:

  • photos, slides, movies, videos
  • trophies
  • documents – birth certificates, marriage certificates, deeds, diplomas, etc.
  • heirlooms
  • keepsakes from vacations and trips
  • clothing, uniforms
  • medals (military and sport)
  • collections: anything from thimbles to letters

This is the stuff we're talking about, right? The stuff that is blocking your entrance into the garage or attic or basement?

I have tackled the same thing. I put it off, tried to ignore it but then, when I tried to remember exactly what all that stuff was ... well I had to sort it out.

Look, I have done the work, lived through the challenge and successful outcome -- I can help you get it done too!

Fellow Archivist, take the first step into archiving to declutter, sort, edit and finally display the heirlooms and mementos that really matter.

I spent 30 years in the corporate world organizing and displaying information to communicate and tell a story. Storytelling through visual display is a skill I can share -- and want to share with you.

I also know a thing or two about how to protect the things that matter. I served as Archivist for my local historical society and also served on its board for a number of years. I am a current member of of the California Society of Archivists and am also brushing up on all the latest techniques through a year-long Library Science program I am taking on Archives & Digital Collections.

In other words, Friends, I’ve got you covered.

I have done the work, researched options and studied what museums and historical societies do – I have solution options that work. I also understand what you are going through. As you will see if you try my products or courses, I share my own experiences and how I solved my own real archiving problems.

I want to share this knowledge with you so you can create your own storytelling archives.

Get ready to enjoy your first result– a cleared out closet, corner, attic, basement or garage – yes!

Start here

Reach out with questions via email or post on the Archiving Options page – I’ll be on the lookout for your questions.

info@archivingoptions.com

Cheers, Deirdre