Professional organizers make a living by helping people sort, declutter and let go of belongings that no longer serve them. But what happens when the pros themselves get emotionally attached to their stuff?
“I completely understand how sentimentality can make it really challenging to let go of things that remind us of our loved ones, even more now since losing my dad,” Katie Hubbard, a professional organizer at Turn It Tidy, told HuffPost.“It’s perfectly natural to feel that by letting go, you might also be letting go of a part of them, which can be incredibly difficult.”
“I absolutely get emotionally attached to things,” said Dina Smith, a professional organizer and founder of Closet Therapy with Dina. “Sometimes, we form attachments because they hold pieces of our identity, memories, or even aspirations. For me, the hardest items to let go of are gifts from my kids and things that are attached to a pivotal time in my life.”
Just like anyone else, organizers aren’t immune to the pull of sentimental items ― whether it’s children’s artwork, old clothes or family heirlooms. The difference is that they’ve developed thoughtful strategies to navigate those attachments without letting clutter take over.
Here’s how professional organizers handle it when their own belongings tug at their heartstrings.
They reflect on each item’s significance.
“When I feel an emotional attachment but know I don’t need it, I take a moment to think about the significance,” Hubbard said. “I enjoy taking time to reflect on the memory.”
A thoughtful pause allows you to recognize the item and its meaning in your life ― as well as the reason you no longer need it physically in your space.
“If the emotional tug is tied to guilt, fear, or the infamous ‘what ifs,’ I acknowledge the feeling and release the item,” Smith said. “If the emotional tug is from a more positive emotion, such as missing a loved one or fond memories of college T-shirts, I may sit with the feeling a bit longer as a way to honor my sentiment.”
They take photos of emotionally meaningful things.
“‘Keep the memory, not the mess’ is a good way to think about what should and what could go,” said professional organizer Regina Lark.
Fortunately, we have the technology today to easily document and hold on to the memories.
“If possible, before getting rid of an object, I might snap a photo,” Hubbard said. “This way, whenever I find myself thinking about the memory, I can look back at the special moment through my picture.”
You can have a designated album of memory items for easy reference.
“Taking a photo of it is a great way to preserve the memory without taking up any space,” said Lisa Zaslow, a professional organizer with Gotham Organizers.
They prioritize quality over quantity.
“I pride myself on being ‘practically sentimental,’ but even I get tripped up sometimes,” said Tova Weinstock, the professional organizer behind Tidy Tova. “It’s the kid drawings of people that really get me ― when my 5-year-old draws little stick figures of our family members or a self-portrait that minimally looks like him but is maximally adorable.”
She said she chooses to keep a small amount of this artwork to keep the sentimental items manageable and thus truly special.
“When it’s time to chuck a new drawing, I ask myself what the ultimate goal of holding onto it is,” Weinstock said. “Sentimentality is about quality, not quantity. In fact, more quantity makes everything less valuable, in my opinion.”
For parents in a similar boat, she recommended asking “Will my child want to look at this when he’s an adult or when I’m gone? The answer is yes for a few things, but not for a robust collection of sentimentality ― that will become a burden.”
Put simply, the idea is that “less is more.”
“I think it’s all about prioritizing,” said Julie Naylon of No Wire Hangers Professional Organizing. “You can’t keep it all, but you can keep some. Identifying what is truly meaningful for you will help you discard the rest.”
They find new homes for things.
Getting rid of certain items doesn’t mean just throwing them in the garbage. It can be emotionally helpful (not to mention sustainable) to find a new home for these things, whether with someone you know or a stranger.
“If a clothing item has been hanging around for a while and for whatever reason, I’ve decided that it’s time to go, I might give it to my mom, who lives next door ― and since we wear similar colors, she’s happy to take it on,” Lark said. “Or I simply recognize that the item served me well, for the time it spent in my life, and I donate and say buh-bye.”
Consider looking up locations of donation bins in your community or joining your local Buy Nothing group online.
They repurpose sentimental items to be part of daily life.
“Ask yourself, what is the future of this object? Will it sit in a box for the rest of my life?” Naylon urged. “Personally, if possible, I like to use my sentimental items, that way I can think of the memory every time I see it.”
So consider framing some of those old photographs or turning those old keepsake T-shirts into a quilt.
“I strive to use sentimental items daily or display them as decorations,” Hubbard said. “For instance, my dad’s Navy sword could just gather dust in a closet, but I proudly hang it alongside other military decor. This way, it’s not just stored away. I walk by it every day and find inspiration in my memories of my dad.”
She similarly encourages her clients to find creative ways to incorporate cherished items into their daily lives, whether for visual interest or to serve a specific function.
“The result is a home that feels both highly functional and deeply personal ― beautifully honoring the past without being weighed down by it,” noted Bohne Leah, a professional organizer and owner of Be Organized Method.
They ditch the things with negative emotional associations.
“I don’t keep items with negative emotional attachments,” Zaslow said. “I don’t hold on to gifts I don’t like out of guilt. I don’t keep clothes I don’t wear. I don’t feel bad about what I may have paid for them. We all make shopping mistakes.”
Plus, you might be able to recoup some of the cost by listing these items on resale sites like Poshmark, Depop or Facebook Marketplace.
They do regular check-ins.
“If I don’t need the space, and the item has overall positive associations, I tend to keep it ― I may tuck it away in a cabinet or store it neatly,” Zaslow said. “But when the pile of unread New Yorkers is a few inches high, I know I’ll never get to them all. At that point, I’ll rip out a few articles that seem really interesting and will bite the bullet and recycle the stack.”
You can designate set amounts of time, maybe once or twice a year, to check in on items and reevaluate whether they’re still serving you and you still want to hold on to them.
“As I say to my clients, holding on to a few items that you’re attached to isn’t hurting anyone,” Zaslow noted. “At some point, when I need the space for something new, I’ll take the time to really assess an emotionally charged item.”
When sentimentality and practicality are in tension, I remind myself that the love and the stories live in me, not in the object.
- Regina Lark, professional organizer
If you need to find a place to store new additions to your home, that might be a good time to consider whether you could use that big drawer for something else and reexamine its contents.
“I tend to prioritize space and potential storage options,” Smith said. “If I do not have the space to accommodate the excess, I am more likely to get rid of the item.”
They understand it’s OK to keep some things.
“If I feel sentimental about something, and there’s a place to store it that doesn’t interfere with the flow of my everyday needs, I’ll save it,” said professional organizer Barbara Reich of Life Organized.
You don’t have to take an all-or-nothing approach to your stuff.
“It’s perfectly fine to hold on to and enjoy things that you associate with positive emotions,” Zaslow said. “There absolutely are things that I’m emotionally attached to, usually items that remind me of loved ones. A silk robe that was my grandmother’s that’s in my closet even though I know I’ll never wear it. An antique vitamin jar that my sister bought me. And I have no intention of letting them go.”
The key is to figure out what works for you personally.
“My approach is never about erasing memories,” Leah said. “Instead, it’s about creating thoughtful systems ― whether that means preserving photos in archival boxes, displaying a meaningful item in a beautiful way or editing down a collection so it truly reflects what matters most.”
Devise a system that woks for you and your sentimental items, whether it’s a wedding dress, old holiday cards, children’s clothing or a Little League bat.
“There are memories we want to preserve, but don’t need constant reminders of,” Leah said. “These are best kept in thoughtful, well-organized storage ― archival boxes, labeled containers or other systems that protect them without creating clutter.”
They limit the amount of space for sentimental stuff.
“I balance sentimentality with practicality by limiting the space I allow for collecting objects,” Hubbard said. “I firmly believe that if you’re putting items into a box and never taking them out, they may not hold as much importance as you think. That said, I set aside a bin for my keepsakes, and when it starts to overflow, I evaluate what truly matters to me.”
She believes confining her sentimental items to one or two bins ensures that these memories enrich her living space rather than overwhelm it.
“A handful of truly cherished items ― curated with intention ― carry much more weight than a garage full of boxes,” Lark said. “When sentimentality and practicality are in tension, I remind myself that the love and the stories live in me, not in the object.”
If you have children, think about the kinds of things you want to pass down to them without overwhelming them with endless boxes to wade through.
“I allow myself a set amount of memorabilia to honor the things that I find truly valuable and irreplaceable,” Smith said. “Each of my children has a dedicated keepsake box filled with baby blankets, favorite toys, hospital wrist ID, and other things I love.”