How long should you keep cards?

Just toss them, i kept mine and you know what i did with them after i read them once. Nothing, i threw them away. They are a nice jesture but I have no use for them once they are given to me and read.

I’ve never thrown away a card. I’ve got quite a box. Although I will throw out everything else. I figure when I die it may mean something to someone, and then they can throw them out.

I save a few if they have personal notes. Periodically I clean up, once every five years or so, and toss the others in the woodburning stove with the old bills and mail. I get heat out of them as a final gift and their spirit drifts off into the sunset. I don’t throw them in the trash. It seems disrespectful. (I know that’s silly.)
I still have the card my Dad sent me before he died.

Save only the ones that are especially memorable for you.

I’ve saved cards from my husband that are very special. He always buys serious cards..never funny ones. I also have saved cards from my two daughters where they’ve written in them. Those I cherish. Basically, tho, I’m a thrower & I don’t keep other cards around.

“Should”? It’s entirely up to you. Cards don’t come with either an obligatory keep or an expiration date. My mother kept some cards for more than 60 years; my sons sometime toss them the day they arrive. I find it very hard to throw them away, myself. I like Lupin’s suggestion.

For most significant card-giving occasions, my husband and I usually get each other two cards, one “silly” and one “sincere.” Sometimes it is hard to tell which is which. I think I have all of those.

Saving stuff that’s lost it’s purpose is tedious and mentally straining. Special cards (truly hilarious or long penned out personal messages) should be culled from the almost-blank “Thank You,” note garb. To further save space, clip out the good parts and collage it in with a photo album, favorite concert tickets, et cetera. Recycle the unworthy or adaptively reuse it (cut/paste and make a new card out of old card parts).
And Seventh Sense, you’d better not be related to me because if I was your relative I’d think, “Why did so-and-so keep all this crap?,” and throw it away without a second glance. Things have more meaning in small batches——no one is going to think boxes and boxes of papers, notes, et cetera is anything but junk. A small shoe box worth, sure.

I save special ones, and every one I get from my husband.

Here’s the information, straight from the dalooniometron.

Length of time to keep cards

Birthday cards: 3 months
Graduation cards: 48 days
Valentines cards: 12 days, 13 hours and 7 minutes.
Mothers day cards: 7 days, if with flowers, 21 days, if with flowers and chocolates, 36 days.
Holiday cards must be kept at least 21 days after the holiday.
Fathers day cards may be thrown out as soon as everyone’s back is turned.

The penalties for breaking these rules are severe. I wouldn’t do it, if I were you.

I save greeting cards from people who matter (ie not the Christmas cards from my family’s dentist’s office) in a box. They are fun to look through later; like seeing VDay cards from my dad to my mom before they were married where he wrote her poems, as well as the ones I wrote to my parents and brother when I was little. It’s quite sentimental.

I would have to agree with daloon and then dispose of them as Lupin has stated. For things that daloon has not accounted for then reference Lupin’s post above.