Have you ever thought to yourself, “How can I achieve Adult Trinket Management?” For many of us, it is relatively easy to let go of inexpensive items of clutter that we no longer love and need. As you progress through your home decluttering/organization journey, you will naturally start to question why you are keeping items of greater value.
For many of us, the act of collecting is fun. As children, we collected Beanie Babies, Happy Meal toys, and rocks. As we age, the desire to have complete collections can consume us beyond our actual desire for the items being collected.
And once collected, collectibles have both a real and a perceived value.
So what do we do when we look around our homes and see expensive clutter that we lovingly collected and purchased?
- Does the collection still bring you joy?
As we age and our tastes change, it is not necessary to hold onto everything that we have collected over the years. I find it especially difficult to declutter items that took me a long time to acquire like china, figurines, complete book sets, and decorations.
Consider if the collection has served its purpose and if you can now let it go.
- Document the memory.
I have a small scrapbook with pictures of items I have collected over the years that are memorable to me. The stories behind the trinkets I save are what I want my children and future generations to know.
Even though many of the collectible items we save do have monetary value, it is the memory that we recall when we look at that item that holds the most value.
- Look up the monetary value.
Do you want to sell your collectibles? Take inventory of exactly what you have and what condition it is in. Then look the items up on eBay and see what you could reasonably sell them for.
If you want to, sell them now.
China and figurines can be sold through Replacements.com.
If you have more items to sell, I recommend having the company EBTH {Everything But The House} come out for a consultation. EBTH is a full-service, online estate sale company.
- Share your collections with your family.
If you are saving them, who will want these collections in the future? Your children? Family members? Consider gifting the pieces of your collections at the holidays to future recipients so you can both enjoy your collections.
China is an item that is often passed down from generation to generation. If you are not using the china, what about giving each family member a teacup as a Christmas ornament and selling the rest of the china?
For more ideas on how to repurpose, manage and reduce collectibles, listen to the podcast.
