jejemunk
Crayons
Posts: 15
Country I live in is: Canada
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Post by jejemunk on May 21, 2019 1:32:18 GMT
Wondering how everyone stores and/or organizes their correspondence.
I've got a couple rubbermaid totes full and recently acquired some index card filing cabinets in which I've begun to store letters and postcards. by sender if it's a long correspondence or just by type if it's from postcrossing. And it got me wondering how others do it!
Also starting to feel the weight of such a large volume of old letters laying around, some from pen pals with whom I only exchanged a few letters and otherwise stacks of holiday cards on which there's no real sentiment other than a name... How much do you all keep or for how long?
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Post by tramplingrose on May 21, 2019 2:29:54 GMT
Good question...I'm trying to declutter a bit, and figuring out what to do with all my letters has been a challenge.
I've got a basket that is full to the point I can't add anything else to it, but I'm trying to decide what I should do with the few letters from penpals that I didn't "click" with. I hate to throw them out (it feels "wrong" to throw away personal correspondence), but at the same time, if I don't have much of a connection with those people any more, do I really need to keep their letters?
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jejemunk
Crayons
Posts: 15
Country I live in is: Canada
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Post by jejemunk on May 21, 2019 3:28:23 GMT
Good question...I'm trying to declutter a bit, and figuring out what to do with all my letters has been a challenge. I've got a basket that is full to the point I can't add anything else to it, but I'm trying to decide what I should do with the few letters from penpals that I didn't "click" with. I hate to throw them out (it feels "wrong" to throw away personal correspondence), but at the same time, if I don't have much of a connection with those people any more, do I really need to keep their letters? This is much what I'm stuck on. Perhaps to keep a few of them, if interesting points were made or the letters lovingly decorated? It also feels a bit wrong to me to throw away personal correspondence but then, if they didn't click they probably won't bring me happy memories to look back on in the future either...
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Post by distractedmom on May 21, 2019 13:04:37 GMT
During my last clean out, I threw away all of the envelopes, but kept the letters. I unfolded all of the letters and that has saved me a lot of space. I still feel guilty about throwing away those envelopes though.
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escorpio
Pencils
Posts: 93
Looking for Penpals?: Perhaps. It depends...
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Post by escorpio on May 21, 2019 13:18:23 GMT
I also find it hard to throw out letters that were written to me personally, but it also depends on the length of the correspondance. However, I recently reconnected with a woman I wrote to like 15 years ago, we exchanged around 25 letters, so I still have them from way back. She had moved around a lot and my letters to her were lost.
The letters I have I keep in stacks and around each stack I tied a ribbon of some sort (whatever I found in textile fiber) and it makes it possible to reduce the height of the stack. It works for now, for the amount of penpals I have.
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Post by Mia on May 21, 2019 22:34:17 GMT
So far, I have kept everything. I have still letters from my childhood and early 20s. Those don't take up that much space.
Postcrossing - I have 3 large shoeboxes full of officials, and another three from the forum exchanges.
Failed correspondences take up another couple of shoeboxes. I am pondering what to do about them.
For all, apart from my childhood/early 20s letters, I have kept the letters in their envelopes with stamps still attached. I would like perhaps to digitise these letters, with a view to storing them more out of the way.
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Post by hoyabella on May 28, 2019 6:58:03 GMT
About 12 years ago I threw away all my letters, except those from my longest-time penfriend. My goal was decluttering but since I kept all the useless stuff, disposing of mail did not make a difference... Now I wish I had kept it all, even letters of those with whom I do no longer correspond, even those with whom I did not click; in the very least I'd like to look at the beautiful stationery or penmanship, if the content was not great. About envelopes, once I used to give them to my father, who collected stamps, so envelopes were not really something I klinged to and I still have the same attitude. Now that dad is not interested in stamps, I keep them, separated from the letters. The sheets are grouped according to sender in an accordion folder so it is easier to read them
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jejemunk
Crayons
Posts: 15
Country I live in is: Canada
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Post by jejemunk on Jun 1, 2019 1:17:24 GMT
bit.ly/2IfeyIp (link to photo of card cabinets, will direct to google photos, couldn't make it work without shortening and couldn't insert as photo) My index card cabinets are coming along! The 5"x8" is perfect for postcards and most letters that I receive that are either card shaped or A5/B5 paper folded in half. I have been slowly going through my rubbermaid totes and finding letters from long running pen pals and random postcards to file away The top cabinet is just the right size for photos and so I've got some No. 10 (regular letter size) envelopes in there....but they are just in a stack not so wonderfully organized like the lower cabinet. Now the real irony here is I will now prefer to receive only postcard sized letters so I can file them appropriately, but I personally prefer to send No. 10 sized envelopes!
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Post by graeae on Jun 1, 2019 5:03:30 GMT
I find it so hard to keep my stationary area organized but recently invested in some mini boxes that I obtained from a local store. So far, I have a box for failed correspondences and some mini boxes devoted to my closest pen pals . I like to keep envelopes because I know how time consuming they can be to prepare; so I like to attach them and everything that came with it. It is sometimes hard to put everything back in the envelope so that helps me save some space. I have a box for Postcrossing cards, I want to organize them in a better way rather than piling them in a box. So I will get folders and organize them into categories such as GF series, city postcards, country map postcards, fine arts postcard, quotation postcard, or miscellaneous postcards and finally my favorite postcards! I know some of them are my favorite and the last thing I want is to neglect.
I may have been the unlucky or lucky one in terms of organizing space and incoming mail since I don’t have that many on going correspondence yet. Hopefully, I will receive some more responds in the near future to clutter more!!! Honestly, there’s something about a little clutter that I favor in these stuff or maybe I’m just messy; who knows!!! ❤️
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Post by alcyone on Jun 1, 2019 22:38:30 GMT
I bought a little duplex document scanner. Once I get it running in Linux right, I'll be cutting off stamps, and then scanning and shredding letters.
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Post by katiel on Jun 2, 2019 0:24:02 GMT
I bought a little duplex document scanner. Once I get it running in Linux right, I'll be cutting off stamps, and then scanning and shredding letters. note to self: use cool stamps, not cool stationery. Got it. 😉
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Post by alcyone on Jun 2, 2019 2:28:37 GMT
I bought a little duplex document scanner. Once I get it running in Linux right, I'll be cutting off stamps, and then scanning and shredding letters. note to self: use cool stamps, not cool stationery. Got it. 😉 Hey, your cool stationery will be scanned... plus I appreciate it while I am reading it .
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Post by emeraldscribbles on Jun 3, 2019 15:24:33 GMT
I once kept letters in their envelopes and in small boxes...that space eventually ran out so now I keep letters unfolded, with their envelopes, in page protectors (one letter/envelope per sleeve) and in 3 ring binders. They seem to take up less space for me that way. I've kept all my correspondence through the years, even childhood penpals from 20 years ago.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jun 5, 2019 22:33:49 GMT
I once kept letters in their envelopes and in small boxes...that space eventually ran out so now I keep letters unfolded, with their envelopes, in page protectors (one letter/envelope per sleeve) and in 3 ring binders. They seem to take up less space for me that way. I've kept all my correspondence through the years, even childhood penpals from 20 years ago. That's the way I do it too I have a small plastic storage box on my desk which is meant to keep things like rice packets etc all neat & tidy in the cupboard but which I commandeered for my incoming mail I write the date the letter arrives (IN: date) and then once I reply to it I write OUT: date and then file it away in a ring binder in that particular pal's section. It's working so far as I don't have loads and loads of letters to store just yet.
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Post by rosesnbrambles on Jun 11, 2019 3:09:06 GMT
The stuff from childhood through my early 20s actually ended up in metal tins (the kind that come filled with popcorn especially at Christmas). Those were stored in the envelope with the stamp attached. Six months or so ago I went through them and cut off stamps for a teen girl I know who collects stamps. She actually gets all my stamps and has gifted her grandfather some of the duplicates of international stamps I've passed along to her. Letters from last year and this year are in a file box where people I correspond with regularly have their own file. I have a "catch all" file for others. I have considered the page protector/binder set up so it's good to learn that works for some people. My long-term plans for my letters are currently undetermined.
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