Sentimental clutter is stressful. Stacks of sentimental pieces of paper with no practical use can send a sentimental slob right over the edge.
Personally, I’ve pretty much gotten over that.
Pretty much.
I tend (which means it’s not a plan, just something that happens) to display the current year’s Christmas cards for the month of December and then shove them in a box of Christmas decorations when we reclaim the house after the holiday season. The next year (when I assumed I’d finally be ready to deal with this issue), I pull them out and groan. Do I keep them? Where? Or do I really stick somebody’s carefully posed family Christmas picture in the recycling?
I honestly don’t remember what I did with last year’s cards this year. I know there have been years when I pitched them and years when they were placed in a big envelope and hidden (like an unintentional time-capsule) in some random, logical-but-n0t-memorable spot.
Anyway, in my recent post about things I don’t keep, there was great discussion in the comments about greeting cards. A few ideas stuck out as extra-helpful and I decided to put them in their own post! Ti even sent me pictures to use!
Ti said:
I notice a lot of people have said cards were a problem for them. Just in case it helps: for my wedding and bridal shower I knew I wanted to keep my cards but I wouldn’t look at them in a box. So I punched holes in the spines of all of them and tied them into a “book” with ribbon. Its so much easier to enjoy them and I can keep them upright on my shelf where they take up almost no space definitely a worth while project if cards are one of those sentimental things you want to keep.
Her examples are in the picture at the top of the post. She also sent some details:
I just used a normal single hole punch. For each book, I picked a card that was a pretty average size and punched three even holes. I used that one as a template for the rest to make sure the holes were even. I lined them all up on the bottom edge to give it a sturdy base so I can keep it on my shelf. So cards that were too tall I just put the holes down farther rather than centered and for really short cards I only did one or two holes 🙂 I tied it slightly loose with ribbon so that it was easy to open the cards and Poof! You have a little book of all your well wishes.–Ti McKinney
I’ve been purging lately and found the St. Jude’s charity that uses card fronts of all kinds for crafts with sick kids. This charity made it much easier for me to part with cards. Address:
St. Judes Ranch for Children
Recycled Card Program
100 St. Judes St.
Boulder City NV 89005
Sharon shared the link to the guidelines for submissions. They take many different kinds of greeting cards, not just Christmas!
And for fun, here’s a link to an origami tutorial for making little boxes out of cards that Darlene shared.
As a chronic over-keeper, I’d have to limit myself to the boxes I could make in one session that would fit under a cute little Christmas tree I already had and that could be stored easily in an existing Christmas decor storage container. (I need lots of layers of “contain”ers to keep my Big Ideas under control!)
Now for the kicker. (The Slob Blogger in me just has to say it.) These are all great ideas if you actually use them. As someone whose home was once overstuffed with great and noble and creative and resourceful but UNFINISHED ideas, I also say it’s perfectly fine to just stick the cards in the recycling bin. OR, if you live in an area where recycling isn’t accessible . . . throw them in the trash. Or burn them in your New Year’s bonfire. Or whatever it takes to clear space in your home.
Ideas are awesome. Overwhelming clutter is not.
--Nony
Carrie says
The only idea that appealed to me was the donation to St Jude’s. Even then I need to store them until it seems I have enough cards to mail. I’m sticking with recycling!!
If the note means something, one could scan the card to keep digitally…but then really are you going to look for it on your computer? I know I wouldn’t…I barely look at pictures of my own kids on the computer!!
Paula says
For my wedding guestbook I took photos of the RSVP cards and added them (with photos) of the guests and myself/fiancé, and made a photo book using Shutterfly. Each guest (family) had a page. The guests signed their page, and now I can toss the cards because they are stored IN with the guest book. Maybe you can do something similar by creating a photo book.
celina boulanger says
from what i understand they no longer accept the cards…
i always keep the years cards till next year….and i was thrilled i did that the year mom died…i was able to keep her last card to me and she had happened to write the nicest thing in it…so i keep them…i don’t get tons…
my friend takes the photo cards..(lots and lots of them , she’s popular..lol) and gets a poster frame and makes a collage and those are her living room decorations…she has 4 years so far i think…surrounding herself with those she loves or love her…
wedding, i kept the ones with sentiments written in them in my wedding memery box…not very big
Carrie says
Actually, St Jude’s Ranch does still take some cards, not Hallmark or American Greetings. https://stjudesranch.org/about-us/recycled-card-program/
Annie says
I taped holiday cards with pictures to the door of our garage ( the one going into the house). I smile when I see them. They don’t take up any space and I get to see family and friends kids grow up over the years. The non pic cards I do recycle.
Jo says
I LOVE this idea of taping the photos to the BACK of the door coming in from garage!! Out of the way, out of the house, yet visible daily! Thanks for a completely new idea!
Amy says
I three hole punch the cards we receive and make a book that same way. I make a cover with the year and put our family’s card along with my mailing list of who I sent cards to that year, with addresses, on the top. We enjoy looking through and it also helps to make decisions about who should be on the current mailing list.
Gayle says
I get rid of most of the cards, but keep a few favorites for craft projects. I also keep a few sentimental ones in a file. For the family pictures, I have a “friends” album that I put those in. It is the pocket type, so I can put the new pix over the old ones. We have enjoyed seeing how they have grown over the years.
Kayla @ Shoeaholicnomore says
Cool! I love that you can send them to St Judes. I may have to do that! 🙂
Heather says
I keep the pictures of family and close friends and take them to the back of one of my cabinet doors just for that year.
Cheryl says
Back in the day when we were dirt poor our tree was pretty bare and it made me sad. So I took the cards we received and cut the picture out and wrote the year on the back. I punched a hole near the top and put a ribbon in it and hung them on the tree. Now that we are more established and our tree has plenty of ornaments, I still put those card ornaments on the tree. They remind me that even though we don’t have a lot of money, it could be worse. And even when it was worse, we still did OK.
Dana White says
I love this idea, Cheryl!!
Cheryl says
Thanks!
Ti McKinney says
I’m feeling pretty famous at the moment 😉 Beyond that I like the other ideas in this post too! Thanks all!
Michelle says
scrapbooking and crafting with cards seems like a decent idea. If you care to do those sorts of things. I remember making boxes out of Christmas cards when I was in elementary school. Could make it more adult and cut the picture out and put it on a small crafting box from a craft store and use that for gifts.
Sara says
Last year I punched a hole in each card as it came to put it on a loose binder ring and left it out on a coffee table. I stuck the whole thing in with my Christmas decorations so I could have “one last look” at the beginning of this year’s season. It was a nice way to relive the joy of last year’s cards and made decorating more special…and then I threw those lovely cards away!
We still have all our wedding cards. Next year is 5 years, so I think we’ll have one last look, save any that seem particularly sentimental, and then let them go. I do love the idea of a book for people who want to save cards. All the ideas here are great! I may start putting photo cards on the back of my pantry or cabinets. I love having them up but also notice how much less cluttered the fridge is without them!
Emily says
Nony, I also hate to throw out the old cards without saving the photo ones – some of my family, that’s the only picture I see of them all year. 🙂 So thanks for asking what people do! I like the idea of the book, but wouldn’t have a place to store it right now. I like the idea of taping them on the door – we put ours around the edge of the large mirror in the dining room so we see them every morning at breakfast. 🙂
I work at a library, and our craft person cuts donated cards to make gift tags, decorations, and such. We accept donations all year, so people can drop them off any time and she just stores them for December! I also saw the idea of using someone’s last-year-card as a tag for this-year’s-gift. Cute. 🙂 I may do that next year, if I remember to save all the cards from this year…
Thanks, as always, for validating my brain’s tendencies. 🙂 Love your blog!
Emily
HJ says
I was fretting about this issue with my wedding cards. I figured if I could come up with a solution for those that would be useable for a lifetime, I’d be solid. I think I’m going to take pictures of the outside & inside of each card, and just save the pictures while donating the rest. A select few are going in frames; specifically, someone gave us handmade frames, and by sheer coincidence a couple other someones gave us handmade cards that perfectly fit the frames. So they’re all going together and into a wedding display :). Everything else though! Pictures!
Karla says
I used to recycle the cards and toss most of the photo cards in the garbage. The last 2 years though, our church has been packing shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. We take the fronts of any greeting cards (except “get well” or “sorry for your loss” lol) and tape or glue a message along the lines of “Packed with love by your friends in Grant County, OR. Jesus loves you and so do we!” (something like that anyway) on the blank side, and place it on top of the contents with the picture facing up. So now I take all of them to the church after they’ve been displayed for a reasonable amount of time. I cut the part that has a message/writing off and recycle it.
Melissa says
My husband and I are going over “unintentional time-capsule” and thinking about all the times we’ve opened one of those. That’s such a great way to put it!
TM says
Maybe put the family picture cards in a photo album. 🙂
Alyssa says
I turn the old cards into part of my decorating for the next year!
I punch holes in the top of the card and run string through it, making garlands out of the cards. They keep nicely in a small container and I get to add to it every Christmas. (The little clear sticky wall hooks give me the ability to hang it wherever I want…)