It's Week 1 of the Spring Cure, and if you've been following along, you know that right now is the assessment and inspiration stage. It's not time to purge (yet), but your outbox may already be ready and waiting. Before you start filling it up, though, consider taking inspiration from Lisa Congdon's A Collection a Day project and photographing any cherished collections that you might be ready to part with.
In an ideal world, we'd all have plenty of space for our collections of antique thread spools and vintage salt and pepper shakers, but it's a sad fact of modern life that these collections – which start off with a few beloved objects – can often get out of control, cluttering up our small spaces and becoming oppressive... and, ironically, causing more grief than the joy they originally provided.
If you're ready to let long-unused objects go, taking the time to artfully photograph them will, as the home organization pros always say, "honor" them. Then you can let them go to a deserving home with miles of shelves and a new owner whose dusting arm never gets tired. You'll be left with your memories and a beautiful piece of art. Everyone wins.
See the collections that Lisa Congdon has documented so far this year at A Collection a Day.
Images: Lisa Congdon
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I just started doing this myself! I recently moved and found so many treasures I had been holding on to for so long but were stashed away in boxes. I decided what I could part with and with a little bitter-sweetness put them for sale on the old internet. It's sad to see them go but I like to think they might end up in a happy new home :)
http://www.etsy.com/shop/MonoNoAwareShop
Or we could send them to Odile in NY!
I get this, I do... but it seems a *bit* like displaying a photo of an ex. I think, on some days, seeing the pics would just make me pine. But I am a piner! :)
While certainly ONE issue I have with parting ways with beloved objects is coming to terms with the actual parting, my next issue is "How?" Maxwell taught me LONG ago that it often helps to soften the blow by selling things off, even for token amounts, and that certainly has helped. But it is a HUGE time commitment to list and manage the sales on Craigs and Ebay. And Ebay ain't free... nothing to offer, I guess, just ventin'!
My partner and I started doing this a few years ago, and it's been very helpful. Our apartment is 600 sq ft, one can't keep everything. We found that for many items, what we wanted was to remember it. Once photographed it could be sold or donated.
Oh, but NO! What's the point of a collection if you don't keep it?! ;^)
The pernicious thing about collections is when you collect SPECIAL things that resonate for you in one category but onlookers think you MUST HAVE every iteration of "cat sculpture" or "strawberries" or "robots" or whatever, so you acquire things you would NOT collect.
It took me a year, off and on, to complete the most gratifying house-cleaning project in 2009. I downloaded my favorite songs from my entire CD collection onto my computer hard drive. Cleaned up loads of space and clutter.
So, you no longer have an actual collection of cherished, rare, valuable or significant objects, but instead, a collection of photos of cherished, rare, etc., etc.? In what universe does that make any sense?
A "collection" isn't the same as "random objects that you've been toting around since 6th grade". I collection WWI era posters--not reproductions, not photos of WWI era posters.
And why have a photo of a flower when you can have real flowers with scent and texture? Why not just have photos of pets, kids, lovers? The real ones are so messy!
And because I've just noticed--is every commenter at AT now selling something or pushing their blog? Make it stop.
If you love your collections, set them free. If they come back they're yours; if they don't they never were or just buy new stuff!
I still have plenty of things, especially the ones that mean something to me. But every lamp acquired at a thrift shop, packaging from interesting foods bought in other countries, the board games we never played more but bought because they looked neat, textiles that I have no room for, do not absolutely love, but keep because "someday" I might find a use for them, etc., etc., had to go. I am much happier with space to entertain friends, and now that I am not bound to those many things I feel free. Your mileage may vary, of course.
@FantasticMrFaux: Did you even read the post? She's not saying you should get rid of your precious posters, just that if you have a lot of collectibles that take up too much room, assemble 'em, take a cool photo, then move them along.
Sheesh. Sometimes it seems like people come here just to invent ways to get in a snit. Perspective: it's just stuff, not world hunger we're talking about.
Collectibles and collections aren't exactly the same thing, to my mind. I think that if you enjoy collecting, why do you have give it up? Most people rotate the display, or de-accession the less interesting or less valuable things as they grow as collectors. "Too much room" is pretty subjective.
This post must have been for people who like Pez dispensers, not Rookwood pottery.
THANK YOU ! You have just freed my soul. I've not had a clue what to do with my treasures that keep starting anew, interests I didn't even know I had but find a reason to rescue as a theme...can do, for a moment, photograph is forever, storage doesn't need to be.
When my parents were moving out of the house where my sisters and I grew up, my mom had us do this with the toys and other stuff stored there. Made it easier to get rid of those teddy bears, dolls, ribbons won at the state fair, etc. to know that I could still get a nostalgic glance at them - or share them with my future children - via photo.