What do I do with all my holiday souvenirs?

Call your local scrapbook club and hire someone to arrange them for you.

If you are not into scrap booking a beautiful box is a quick way to do this. I think it would be quite a nice idea to have little boxes filled with stuff and memories. (But I would throw out the dead moth).

I keep them in a box. How much space do they really take up? Label the box of course. Five or ten years from now you will want to go back and won’t have a clue where you were or what you did. There are three parts to a trip: anticipation, participation and recollection*. You want to enjoy all 3. I have poor memory and need help with the third part.
*(I heard this on NPR but I forgot who was talking about it. They called it “super autobiographical memory to describe people who can remember everything that happens to them.)

Throw them away or burn them for warmth.

I figure you can always throw them away and burn them for warmth if you are desperate. But once you do, you cannot get them back. They are gone.

My Dad, who lived through the depression, used to have a charm penny that said: “Keep me and never go broke”. He found comfort in that statement. Well 20 pounds of paper has the same heating value as a gallon of heating oil, worth about $3.50 today. If you keep the papers for now, at worst case you know you will have heat during dire times.
If you really don’t have the room and they only bring unpleasant memories, then get rid of them. But if you keep them you will always have a way to stay warm.

@raginloli 20 pounds of paper = 140,000 BTU = 41 kWhr = 147 MJ. How much does that cost in Germany? I heard you pay the equivalent of $0.20 per kWhr for electricity. Is that correct? If true, the papers would be worth even more.

Maybe put some of the together in a memory box? Wow, is it hard to find an image of one that is not dripping with treacle. If it’s done tastefully, without all the lace and platitudes, it can be nice. If you are going to hire a scrapbooker, ask to see some examples of their work to ensure that you have the same aesthetic tastes. Scrapbooking is a weird, weird world.

This is another good idea. If all of your souvenirs are paper, you might even get a glass top for a coffee table you already have, and pin them between the table and glass.

Thanks for the ideas guys!! I have a few months’ worth of stuff here. Very interesting to remember all the chateaux and museums I visited! @YARNLADY My aunt is a very keen scrapbooker—she has been trying to get me into it for ages. I might ask her for a little bit of help when she’s down next. Just need something cheap and easy to sort out the clutter over the holidays as I am moving next year :)

I have a memory box with little things that remind me of my boyfriend, a yoyo for example, or letters. Just reminds me of times worth remembering.Had the same for my ex and it was a positive event for me to throw those things out, so if you ever feel really negatively about europe you could always destroy that box, or put in a whole swarm of moths.

Go to an office supply store today. Get one of those big D-ring style notebooks. Then get a box of top loading, clear sheet protectors like these. Then just put the individual items into the clear pockets.

All finished in 10 minutes time.

I’m glad this Q popped up again. It reminded me of some good ideas.

So @iphigeneia, What finally happened? Did you save the stuff?
Did you make it back to Europe?
You know how we love follow-ups.