Would you keep this?

[Rainey Daye]

I thought as we work on decluttering and simplifying our lives it is sometimes helpful to get the perspective of others. With that in mind I thought I would start this thread. Here you can post a picture or tell us about a certain item that you are either trying to decide whether to keep it or not or that you are wanting to be convinced that you should get rid of it.

I'll go first...

I got married four and a half years ago. It was a cute little wedding in a little country church. Since nobody in the whole wedding party actually lived nearby it was fairly quickly pulled together. The bouquets for myself and my attendants were ones made by some friends of the family. I had given them some color and types of flower ideas, but didn't actually see the flowers till a couple hours before the wedding. They were simple and beautiful. However, I don't feel a strong and particular attachment to my bouquet. The important thing was that we had a beautiful wedding and that we did in fact get married, right? I have some gorgeous pictures from our wedding, a few of which feature my bouquet.

So WHY am I still holding onto my bouquet? It doesn't even look pretty anymore...yet it's been sitting in a tissue-lined shoebox in three different closets since we married!! Tell me it's okay to get rid of it.

Here it is on our wedding day...

And here it is now...kind of bleh, really!!

[Serendipity]

*cheering* toss-those-flowers! toss-those-flowers!

[Ellien C]

chuck it! 

Along similar lines, DHs aunt's gave me a "sugar corsage" for the bridal luncheon. It was lovely flowers but all made of sugar. It's in a box in the basement, I believe bug free. 

[althara]

Toss it. You have a beautiful picture of your bouquet in all it's glory on the day you were married. :)

[clutterwarrior]

Definitely toss them. I can't imagine keeping a dead bunch of flowers for years, but I suppose it must represent to you the happiness you felt on that day. But the photograph of the flowers looking pretty is a much nicer way to remember it.

[ananas]

Do you have a wedding photo album? You could put at least a few of the petals in the pages of the album and then chuck the rest.

[clutterwarrior]

Originally Posted by ananas 

Do you have a wedding photo album? You could put at least a few of the petals in the pages of the album and then chuck the rest.

That's a nice idea.

[sweetjasmine]

I say toss it, too. When my mother passed away a few years ago I kept some miniature roses from her garden and dried them. I finally tossed them a few weeks ago. I don't care for dried flowers anymore and I do have many photographs she sent me over the years of the various flowers in her garden. I treasure those!

[beebalmmama]

Toss it! You've got a nice photo of it which is how you'd want to remember them. Fresh and beautiful!

[Katico]

Originally Posted by ananas 

Do you have a wedding photo album? You could put at least a few of the petals in the pages of the album and then chuck the rest.

This is what i did!  

[cocoanib]

I vote for throw it out.

Just this past week, I tossed mine. It had been sitting in a vase on top of the fridge for 3 years.

We are moving and I figured it was time to let it go.

[BCFD]

I agree...I say toss it (keeping a couple petals is a great idea!)  The only thing I have from my wedding is the cake topper which was two very simple interlocked hearts (nice and flat so it doesn't take up any space) and the cork from the champagne bottle we opened.  :)  Lovely picture of your bouquet and of you and your husband!!!

[Panserbjorne]

You've already gotten answers but I too vote ditch the flowers!!!

[ElliesMomma]

it's bad luck/bad karma to keep dead flowers laying around the house. represents death/decay. 

[accountclosed15]

Keep the pic and toss them. : ) You already have the cute hubby and the memories.

[Panserbjorne]

Originally Posted by ElliesMomma 

it's bad luck/bad karma to keep dead flowers laying around the house. represents death/decay. 

I was thinking this too...bad feng shui.

[EarthyMamaofDaisy]

I agree, as beautiful as dried flowers are I won't keep them in my home because of the death energy.  But the main reason is, they aren't making you happy.  And there's no point in keeping something that doesn't make you feel wonderful to look at it.  So give yourself permission to compost them!

[Crayfish]

 I agree; get rid of it. If you have a fireplace, would it feel like a more "honorable sendoff" to burn it, rather than trash it? But if you don't, then I'd suggest that you trash it.

If you feel the need for a tangible reminder, yeah, you could put a few petals in an envelope and keep them with the album, with photos, or wherever you keep any sentimental papers that you may have.

Crayfish

[Contrariety]

There's also the option to toss it in the compost!

[lucifugous]

Great ideas all around!