Need Ideas for Keeping or Not Keeping Cards

I like to save cards too, so I bought each of my girls a pretty box that I found at the party store. I typed up and printed out labels that say "____'s Cards" and glued it to the front of the box. I keep the boxes on the shelf in their closet and put all of the cards they receive in there. I think I will get another one for Christmas cards that I want to keep.

I only keep cards that are from my husband and our son. My husband keeps the cards that I give him too. I bought box to store them in. It is a photo box that I bought at WalMart years and years ago. It is a thick heavy-duty cardboard box with a lid, and has a pretty decorative design on it. The cards all fit in there nicely. I used to keep the box on my nightstand beside the bed, then it was moved to a shelf under my desk. Because it is decorative it can be stored just about anywhere.

I had a storage container for each of my kids and anything having to do with that child went into the storage container. School show programs, newpaper clippings, cards, etc. The kids loved to go through their containers and were allowed to get rid of or add to them at any time.

For your own cards I'd suggest throwing them out unless there's a reason to keep them. I've had to go through my mother in law's house after they passed and the amount of clutter because she kept everything people sent her was terrible. It's not like she really treasured or looked at these things. It was more like an obligation to keep it because someone gave it to her. For my own stuff I'll keep the picture christmas cards until the following year when I replace it with an updated 1.

I am soo sentimental over just about everything else, but this is one area were I've been able to let go.
If there are photo cards of people I really love like familymembers then i treat them like photos and keep them,
if they have a sentimental message from a loved one i keep those too, anything else gets tossed.
I know my husband loves me, i don't need to keep every hallmark card he has given me with a pasted on jewel or a little bow. His love is more than that. so i am able to let go of the card because i figure. I'm keeping him for sure!

I only keep cards that are made by the giver (which is usually my kids) or occasionally one with a special handwritten message in them. I have a box (just a plastic tote) that I keep them all in.
I do keep the ones that are pictures, if they are close family (mine or my husbands siblings and their kids, parents, our own kids) but not all of them. I either put them in the box or put the picture itself in a photo album.

It's a good idea, especially with kid-made cards, to add the date (at least the year) it was given.

Some people scrapbook with the cards they want to keep. I'm not a scrapbooker, so that's just too much for me :D

I'm about to go through my huge box of cards and digitize them. Cards that are just generic with the givers signature go in the trash but anything with a hand written note or drawing is going to get scanned, back and front. You can fit a LOT of cards in a small amount of space that way. I'll probably keep a physical copy of a favorite card from each family member but the rest are going to be scanned and tossed. I've already done the same thing with old voice mails. I've converted them into mp3's and stored them on a disk. It's a digital scrapbook without all the bulk and fluff.

I'm a nostalgia freak and enjoy keeping cards. But to be honest in recent years the ones I keep are a very select few. As far as my kids' cards go I only save the ones they receive from me and their dad, their siblings and grandparents. And those go in a memorabilia box that each of them have. Once they are out of the house they can dispose of them anyway they wish.
As far as Christmas cards are concerned I only save the ones that are beautiful to me which is anything made by my children or cards that have are just a nice scene. I use the picturesque cards as wall art during the holidays. I buy inexpensive frames and make a collage and hang them away from the area that I hang the current year's cards.

If you don't want to just throw away the cards you don't want there are organizations that take card fronts and l remake them into new cards and sell them.

Here's one:

http://www.stjudesranch.org/help_card.php

and you might have a local place that would accept card fronts.

We just moved and I threw a lot of cards away. I kept a handful from special people. What I discovered was 1) I never actually looked at them and 2) how many duplicates there were from year to year - I guess there aren't that many cards to pick from and a card that attracted us one year would continued to do so a year later. I started to look at it like this: a card is a greeting that is on paper - it's really meant to be consumed - so you accept the greeting and toss it. I think that too much stuff can mire you in the past and that's why is good to let go and make room for more new experiences. Good-luck!

Hi Mama
It sounds like you need to scrapbook! Take your cards and make a book out of them, with little labels that have comments, dates, or memories, etc. If you have a card that isn't a photo, but you want to keep it-- use it as part of your wrapping to that person the next year...or use it in a craft. I find that some of my best crafts come from recycled pics and cards. You can also make new cards out of the old ones. Just cut off the front.
Hope that inspires some fun craft time!
-E. M