Blog Description

A French-Inspired Garden and Home by Judith Stringham

Organizing Keepsakes in Baskets

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Organizing objects in baskets 
somehow elevates the items 
from clutter to keepsakes. 

Well, the items chosen for keeping 
after reviewing everything stuffed in 
the basket to get it off the side table 
become keepsakes. 



Periodically, 
items saved for another day 
must be reviewed in my house. 
There comes a day, 
not planned beforehand, 
not on a scheduled day of the week, 
not on a predetermined timetable, 
but just the day comes when the 
clutter must be reviewed... 
for me to keep my sanity. 
I can take clutter only for so long, 
then it screams to be organized. 



Walking through the living room, 
something catches my eye, 
and I know it’s time to review 
the clutter. 



Look at every item in the basket. 
Re-read every torn-out magazine page. 
Drop into the wastebasket those 
pages that no longer have 
staying appeal, 
those pages with furniture, 
architectural details, and color schemes 
that do not quite seem as 
appealing as first glance. 

Relocate those things that 
should be saved with similar items elsewhere. 
Place the collectible coins 
with the other coins. 
Place the newspaper article about 
monarch butterflies with the 
books about butterflies. 

Two hours later, 
keepsakes 
emerge from what once was 
clutter. 


The Martha Stewart Living magazine article 
on blue bulbs stays for handy reference. 

The purple ornate scroll photo frame from 
Temecula, California stays as a 
complement to the small needlepoint pillow 
from Paris, France. 
The pillow fits perfectly in the large section of the 
divided basket. 

The thin blue-print-on-teal notebook of blank pages 
stays in case notes need to be jotted down. 
Can one ever have too many small notebooks 
with blank pages? 

The set of four or five years of 
lavender leather-covered personal monthly calendars stay, 
more for their beautiful covers with 
their luxurious feel than for the 
references to past events. 
They fit perfectly in the small section of the 
divided basket. 

One day someone will buy these at 
an estate sale for their beauty 
and will wonder about the woman whose life 
was chronicled in their pages. 
Ordinary women are mysterious in the future. 
Extraordinary women’s lives are so well documented 
that there is little left about which to wonder. 

For now, these keepsakes made the cut,  
no longer clutter.
Until the next time
organization strikes.
 ❦
~~~~~~~~~~
Please join me at these inspiring sites...
SUNDAY

MONDAY

TUESDAY