Do you currently own anything that you know you should probably sell or give away but you can't out of sentiment?

a Sony ¾” tape machine.

Interesting, because I don’t think of it too often, most things like that I consider as being functional, regardless of their intended purpose, because they remind me of one thing or another, good times and bad.

I’ll have to ponder this one and get back to it if I can come up with anything.

lol, like a song stuck in your head… I guess I do do that particularly with very old t-shirts and high school year books, the shirts are filled with holes and ratty as can be but I always seem to get a sense of well being from them, knowing they’ve lasted so long and through so much. Without a doubt I know I should trash them but every time I set one aside to do so it gets washed, hanged, and folded right back into the pile. The year books are similar, it was a different time, and I don’t need them to relive it or recall the tales long past, I’ve kept in touch with those I wished to (for the most part) and those I haven’t I still remember clearly and keep an eye out for. But something just won’t let me let them go.

When i was 13, i began teaching myself how to play the drums. remember, that was in the late 50s, when we did not have big boom boxes or any loud music. you need loud music to practice playing the drums. so, my dad built me an original boom box of the 50s. it was made of plywood, four feet wide, five feet tall and four feet deep. it contained three 12 inch speakers and an amplifier from an old juke box. my dad worked on this for many weeks and a lot of hours, strictly out of love for me, his son. i practiced with my new old boom box to the music of Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Bo Diddley. my dads boom box served me well. you could hear the music all over my neighborhood. as time passed, i did not need my new old boom box any more. time after time, i have attempted to give it away or take it to the junk yard. my memories will not let me do this. i can still see my dad making this for me and only me. he knew i had a talent and he wanted to be part of it. he did his part and i still have my new old boom box today.

@john65pennington Wonderful imagery it’s to your credit keep it!

Your Dad was good to you! I can see why you wouldn’t want to part with the old boombox.

My china cabinet and hutch/buffet. They are not my style and I really don’t have room for them. The china cabinet was my grandmother’s and the hutch & buffet were my mom’s. The hutch and buffet are not that sentimental to me, but they match the china cabinet.

As for the china cabinet, it is a strong visual representation of my childhood. It was a place of wonder – I never knew what I would find. It was kind of their catch-all. Grandma put trinkets and change in the teacups and displayed other knick-knacks in there. Grandpa stashed things on the top but the molding hid everything. I would stand on the chair and stretch for all I was worth but could never see or much. The drawer was the place to find a pen, paper and other random things like rubber bands or batteries. It had a certain smell when I opened the door. I don’t know what that smell was – a little sweet, a little earthy – but it belonged solely to that cabinet.

I think I have many such items in my possession. Some of them are clothing, some are small keep-sakes that have no monetary value. Fortunately I’m not a hoarder and my house isn’t cluttered, but I think I should get rid of more things more quickly if I don’t need them, because the longer they stay in my home, the longer I seem to attach sentimental value to them Hey! Where’d the glass tiger go wearing the tutu that was on the shelf collecting dust??

@stratman37 – a Sony ¾” tape machine?

That is sweet! But I do have too many of those already.
If it was a 1” RtoR I would offer to buy it from you.

I have a couple of 2” quad reels. I just cant part with them.

My liver.

You’re kidney me.

Read a book recently by a guy that helps people “declutter”. He talked about people who keep boxes of old family pictures that are too valuable to throw out (sentimental value), buy then story them in cardboard boxes on a garage floor that gets wet so they get damaged. Since reading that book, I’ve been trying to think through why I’ve kept textbooks I haven’t used in 30 years (reminds me of college), electronics that don’t work (but I paid $250 that that!), furniture I don’t need (but the kids will need it when they set up their first place!) etc. That process was very helpful in determining the motivation of keeping stuff and has resulted in that start of a lengthy “decluttering” phase.

No there yet, but moving in the right direction.

BTW. This phenomena of hanging on to things due to sentiment applies to investments (like stock) too. Often people will hang on to stocks that are “down” because they are attached to the company name, or their past history, or they can’t bring themselves to believe they just won’t go back up again. Getting in touch with why we sometimes act based on sentiment rather than logic and common sense extends past just keeping old stuff

‘98 Dodge Avenger. My second car which I finally found after a lengthy search. I got her in my senior year of high school and drove her for another 4 years. I faithfully washed and detailed her every week – even in the winter. Finally, being a Dodge, the transmission started to stick amongst other smaller problems. She now sits in the yard and would require a considerable amount of money to get her working properly again. It’s sad to see her just sit there…sometimes, I sit in the car, breathe in the leather and Armorall, and take a trip down memory lane. Just can’t part with her.