Get Rid of Your “sentimental” Trash
My grandmother Jewel has accumulated many things in her life. Some of the items were beautiful antiques and some were bought from the Dollar Tree, but all of these things were jumbled up all over the house, making it difficult to tell (at least at first glance) what was what.
Even before her death, I never left Jewel’s house without taking one or more of my belongings with me. Plates, bakeware, decorations that she no longer wore, and needle-tipped pillows were the most common, but sometimes she gave me what she no longer needed, like the cake pan set shown on TV. , or a scratched frying pan. When she died, I lost the ability to discern between the treasure – what she wanted me to have – and what she was just getting rid of.
This is why the skillet has lived in my kitchen for so long, coming out of the cupboard once a year to ruin a great cake. It was originally non-stick (I think) but definitely hasn’t been for a while. I’ve never been able to bake a whole bunch of cake out of it. I finally threw it away and I feel much better.
People are not what they give you
I don’t know how things are with other families, but mine tends to be overly sentimental about every little gift, every sign of affection. When I was five years old, I wrapped some stones that I found in the playground and gave them to my grandfather for his birthday. He put them in a glass cabinet. I think they are still in the glass case. One Christmas I ordered my grandmother a nice sugar cookie. They were in the shape of mittens, and the names of her grandchildren were engraved on the sweet cuffs. They were never eaten because she couldn’t eat anything with one of our names.
These are lovely stories – and I plan to go after those stones – but this special family compulsion doesn’t always help when it extends to every little thing that any other family member has ever given any family member. My grandmother is not in this gummy cake pan and treats her like she is downright disrespectful to her memory. Once I decided I didn’t want to think about Grandma every time I ruined a perfectly good cake in this horrible frying pan, it was easy to get rid of it. (Jewel didn’t want to be associated with bad cakes anyway. She loved cakes.)
Think how you were given this thing
If you find yourself holding an object that does not “cause joy,” but feel guilty about letting it go for some sentimental reason, think about how it came into your life. Has the person who gave it to you moved? It’s probably okay to throw it away. They said, “If you don’t take it, will I just give it to you?” You are clean!
Even if it was a gift, you do not have to keep every gift that someone close to you gave you. Not all gifts are designed to last a lifetime, and it is harmful to cling to an object that clutters your home or no longer functions as it should. All it does is generate a tiny bit of resentment towards the object and the person who gave it to you.
So get rid of it and save what has real, true sentimental value. Things that make you remember the person involved with the thing, not sticky baking equipment that takes up too much space in your closet and ruins cakes. Nobody wants to be associated with a spoiled cake.