Out of Chaos an organizing newsletter
Unpacking your Goodies
It’s lovely to inherit things from you family. Grandma’s secretary, with all those nifty drawers, Aunt Edna’s burl-wood china cabinet: These things are heirlooms and they can be beautiful and meaningful, and often valuable, but if you take them (and you should only agree to take them if you actually love them and want them) then you must really possess them.
What do I mean by possess? You don’t want Aunt Edna’s china cabinet to look like it did when it was in Aunt Edna’s house; you aren’t running a museum, it’s your new china cabinet. Fill it with your wedding china—or your kid’s pottery. Desks are the worst: I’ve seen drawers filled with 75 years worth of calling cards in desks that have been handed down over the generations. It’s great to keep cool mementos of your forbearers, but don’t get caught up in sentiment—space is too precious! Frame the deed to the (long-gone) family farm, don’t leave it in the desk taking up valuable space you need for your own papers.
Go ahead and keep the tortoise-shell hairpins you found in your Great Aunt Sally’s vanity, but keep them in your memento box so that you use the vanity for your Nars lipsticks and all those fancy skin creams you splurged on.