Lots of that stuff I barely keep now.  Pictures maybe.  Significant notes maybe.  But mainly it all goes

Thanks God. I know that no one will be interested in it but me but it is hard to trash it.

hahahahaha, that is a typo but I meant Gord ( but if the shoe fits.....).

If it's stuff you haven't missed, needed or looked at in, say, 4 or 5 years, it's likely safe to dispose of it.  Maybe you could challenge yourself-- see if you can whittle the pile of stuff down by 75%.  That way you haven't 'thrown out' all the last 10 yrs, and can also feel good because the pile is significantly smaller.

My mother (Bless her soul) kept everything.

After she died, we sorted through over 90 years of her life and it took weeks. We found the receipt from the hospital from the birth of my eldest brother 74 years previously. We found her tiny WWII nurse's uniforms. As we would move out, she would studiously bundle up every paper, report card, and book we left behind, stowing them in the basement.

Lotta memories in then bundles. It was hard throwing them out, and I was ordered off the job by my big sister for going too slow and keeping too much.

If everybody threw out everything as soon as they had no more use for it, we would have no family or cultural history.  Sort, purge - yes.  But use some discretion.  A receipt for payment for the delivery of a child many years ago - what a reminder of how things have changed, including the value of a dollar.  I think I paid the doctor $125 to deliver each of my kids in the 1960s - and we had a hard time coming up with that kind of money.  We bought hamburger for 3 pounds for a $1.00, and paid $40 a month rent on our apartment. 

Thank you notes - keep, especially those that say something special.  I have one that I received from an out-of-town guest at a church when I was first doing pulpit supply. 

Commercial cards - throw out or donate to a group that can use them for crafts.

Old sermons - apparently there are archieves somewhere (Confences offices?) for these.  They can tell as story about how preaching has changed over the years.   Personally I'd like to have someone review the sermons I heard over the years - I'm sure I first heard concerns about conservation and caring for the earth back in the 40s, and concern about the welcome we give to gays and lesbians back in the 60s, but I hear now that the churches only got on the bandwagon when these became popular causes. 

Tax information - I've heard that you should keep it seven years.  Other bills - I bundle each year, and throw out the next year. 

A few favourite vintage clothes - keep  (you might be invited to a party where everybody is to dress in 60s style).   Other old clothes - recycle.

etc.

Jeeze trash the junk already LOL 

Recycle blah blah blah

Why do people hang on .......

Pick out a very few items that whisper closest to YOUR heart.

For the rest, make a thankful ritual of it, wrap it in your prayers for the continued truth of all the good moments those things represent and burn them, together, as a part of a special "letting go & gratitude" ritual. A spirit friend's good to have around at times like that. And after, for a chat a drink and a laugh!

Ah, Mike, sounds wonderful.

Just think- within three years, odds are everything on your current computer will be lost forever. More and more of our lives , photos, correspondence and videos are stored on computers, which haven't been backed up. Even memories are now disposable.

 I found a good way to get into a squabble with your spouse is to get into a sorting and tossing spree. What he wants to keep I feel is trash and he wants to throw out things that are still good.  He keeps mementos and I keep useful things. And we clash over it;  What is a memento and what is useful.

I keep things that have a monetary value (antique items that belonged to a long dead relative that another relative will want). 

I keep things that have a strong sentimental or historical value (ancient passport, relatives citizenship papers and such like, kids reports and art work)

I dispose of things that neither I nor anyone else will go looking for.  (Send them to an organisation that can use them - womens shelter etc)

The bottom line is - eventually I will die and leave everything.

When we were moving, she found a love letter to Donny Osmond tucked in an old diary. It had writing done backwards and it was the one where she "did it" for the first time. We sat and giggled and laughed. We tossed many things but that we kept.

We tend to keep our momentoes. They are put into albums and stuff. We have the first movie ticket stubs and tickets for trips... we are both real saps.

I'm a terrible hoarder of mementoes myself so I'm probably the last person to give this advice with my nightstand full of old cards, letters, photos ... but I think the 'keep what's meaningful and perhaps junk the rest' is the best advice. Not terribly novel, but a good balance between wanting to clear out some space and not have so much ancilliary stuff you don't look at/use lying around, without having to adopt the 'history is clutter' attitude, which as a historian I just can't buy into, sorry Jes.

Keep 'em.   Your memory is not getting any better.  Some of those dead friends were pretty interesting people.  They made your life what it is.  In a few months your memory may go completely and this stuff 'll be all that stands between them (as well as you)  and oblivion.

Sheesh, qwerty, we think alike. LOL

 We have moved so often we've got rid of a lot of mementos and life sourced artifacts, all significant in their day, but the struggle continues. Life is a journey: why carry bigger loads thatn necessary?

It is the NOW that matters and it contains your whole life history, even if there are bits that you've forgotten. Forgetting is as much a gift as tomorrow's new experiences. Letting go is an art we all can learn to do better... letting go is liberation: it lightens the step as well as the heart. The trick is doing it well.

What Mike said.

But on a practical level (I moved 9 times in 10 years), here are some things I found helpful.  Don't keep anything that has information you can get on the 'net if you need it.  You'll probably forget about it anyway.

Borrow or buy a shredder for things with bank account or credit card numbers -- personal stuff too. 

Get rid of photo albums.  Scan pictures, save to disk and store the originals  in recipe card-type boxes.  Takes up less room storing them.  You can also scan cards and letters.  Throw out the originals though.

I saved all sorts of mementos of my son's childhood, including tests from school etc.  I scanned the drawings and put them on a disk and asked my son if he'd keep anything.  He nixed pretty much all of it, so I just threw it out.  I didn't actually spend time going through it regularily and reminiscing.

Take pictures of sentimental things and keep that instead of the actual item.

If in doubt -- get rid of it.  Find good homes for things or donate stuff to goodwill. 

In retrospect -- I can't remember any of the stuff I got rid of.  At the time it seemed important, but I don't recall it now.

Hope that helps.