Do you keep a souvenir if you've forgotten what it was supposed to remind you of?

I toss things if I cannot recall why they were important once in the past.

But that rarely happens,, which is why I have lots of crap that I need to clean out, like stuff from when I went to Italy ten years ago.

I can’t think of any memento I’ve kept that I can’t connect to its place or person. I don’t collect lots of trinkets and odds and ends, so I don’t tend to end up with so many souvenirs that I forget their origins.

I think if I’ve forgotten why I collected something, I wouldn’t have a problem parting with it.

I am not as sentimental as I once was and I don’t have many souvenirs. I keep photographs instead and entry tickets to places have visited.

I remember when I was in my late teens I was best man at my friends wedding and I kept a little silver wedding bell as a memento. This was lost at some point during a house move then my friend divorced and many years later he died of cancer. I had almost forgotten the little silver wedding bell. I’m not sure it is important anymore.

I’m lucky to have the space so I’m a bit of a saver. If someone gives me something I will keep it – almost like a sign of respect. So far, most items still have their provenance written in my brain (or in black sharpie on the object’s bottom).
If you have totally forgotten the meaning you can pass it to someone else where it will pick up a new meaning: “Aunt Jeruba gave me this porcelain cup. I keep flowers in it.”

I would hold onto those things for a while probably. I’d hope I would remember, or just feel badly about getting rid of it, knowing I had saved it for sentimental reasons. This is why I tell people don’t by me anything. Lol. Not anymore anyway. Not random stuff for my house that I don’t need. Don’t get me wrong, people still buy me gifts and I love it, but I just don’t want it to be something that winds up in a closet. I don’t want that for them or me.

I’m a pack rat. I keep all kinds of trinkets. I have a Mt. St. Helens belt buckle my dad gave me. It’s so heavy, I never wear it. A collectable, but who do I give it too? Maybe I’ll figure out who someday…
I’m a guy so anything I keep is usually practical.

I keep a lot of things. I can’t point to anything I’ve kept that I don’t remember why, but I also have a box in my closet of a bunch of tiny trinkets and ticket stubs, etc. I’m sure there are things in there which, if I were to pull it all out again, I wouldn’t remember the significance of…

I don’t like getting rid of things, either. Some of the things I remember most from childhood were the things I was told to get rid of, or were gotten rid of for me (I have a parent who used to—actually still does—go through cycles of “I want to purge! Everything must go!”)... I’m pretty sure I would have been a pack rat anyway, but I’m not sure those experiences help me any!

I don’t have lots, but I remember what each is.

I will keep any souvenir just because of their economic value, the lack sentimental value or memory won’t make me discard a souvenir.

I have tons of little rocks that I have picked up on trips. I mostly don’t remember where I got them, but I think they are beautiful and have some of them in bowls, and some of them set up in little “altar” like settings. I also have pine cones and acorns for the same reason, but I love to look at them, so it doesn’t really matter where they came from.

Yes, I have boxes of them, even a lock of hair from when I was one that my mom saved. And even at my rapidly advancing age I think I remember what every one my knickknacks represents.