What to Do with Trinkets You Can’t Seem to Part With

Maximalism design style encourages an abundance of trinkets and knick-knacks in your space, while a minimal aesthetic seeks to avoid such visual clutter. There's no need to discard your sentimental items if you're looking to reduce clutter; instead, find ways to cherish them without creating a chaotic look. Consider these strategies to preserve and organize your meaningful treasures.

As a professional organizer, these are some of my favorite ideas for neatly storing trinkets—or condensing them into a space-saving display—so you can keep your home clutter-free without the need to part with anything sentimental.

Use Minimalist Keepsake Boxes

Perhaps your bookshelves have open space to store things, but you don't necessarily need to see your items on display all the time. Look for simplistic boxes, whether they be wooden, ceramic, or acrylic, that match your decorating scheme. Pop your trinkets into them, stack them on the shelves, and take comfort in the fact that they’re within reach anytime you want to go down memory lane.

Invest in a Curio Cabinet

If you have a collection of figurines, this is your best method to keep them in good condition. Embrace the grandmillennial decor trend and use a cabinet like you’ve probably come across in your grandparent's home. These tall, usually slim, cabinets with shelving, spotlights, and glass doors were so popular for a reason. They keep your trinkets on display while also keeping dust and dirt at bay. It would be extra meaningful to store them in a family heirloom but if one isn’t available to you, you can usually find them at thrift or antique stores.

Build a Shadow Box

One simple and inexpensive way to display a variety of sentimental objects, especially by a specific event, is to place them in a shadow box. To commemorate a vacation, display paper items like boarding passes and ticket stubs alongside small trinkets, like shells from the beach. For personal events, such as a wedding, group together the invitation, some dried flowers from the bouquet or corsage, a few photos, and anything else that you’ve kept from the special day. This way, the items stay protected and can be hung on a wall or contained to a single box on a shelf.

Use Archival Bins

For particularly precious or dated items such as pictures, letters, and newspapers, that are prone to yellowing, consider using a box that’s labeled as archival or acid-free. These specialty organizers are designed to protect and preserve historical contents. You can find them in a variety of sizes and styles. Some are made to store documents, others are large enough for bulky items like a baby blanket. These can kept on a high shelf in a living area, if you’d like easy access to them, or in a closet to stay safe and secure for generations to come.

Put Together Photo Albums or Hang a Gallery Wall

Whether you’ve personally taken hundreds of photos or have inherited them from a family member, you know that these relatively small prints can take up a ton of space in your home. Embark on a weekend organizing project and transfer them from boxes to proper photo albums. Aim for matching albums or keep them in a similar color palette so that they look aesthetic when lined up on shelves. Sort by event, year, or person and properly label the photos so that whoever they get handed down to will know exactly what, when, and where they were taken.

A more obvious way to display your favorites is by creating a gallery wall. As with the albums, try to use coordinating picture frames if you’re trying to minimize visual clutter. Even if that’s not your concern, you’ll significantly cut down on shelf clutter by hanging the frames as opposed to arranging them on surfaces.

Gather Treasures in a Glass Jar

Less precious (but still sweet) trinkets don’t necessarily need to be on full display. Repurpose a large glass jar into a memory box of sorts and fill it with any of the following:

• Sea shells, sand, and coral from tropical vacations
• Matchbooks from all of the restaurants you’ve eaten at
• Thimbles from your thrifting adventures
• Postcards from your travels or from those who sent them to you along their travels
• Tickets from events you’ve attended over the years

The best part of this easy organizing project is that it can also be functional. Need to light a candle? Grab a match from a book in the jar! Additionally, you can use this as a seasonal display if you lack surface space on the fridge or wall to show off all of the holiday cards you receive. Whatever you decide, try to stick to storing things that aren’t fragile in a glass jar so they won’t break. Or, in the case of seashells and coral, carefully arrange and add new pieces to the jar to keep them from cracking.