Going Down

How come I can go to Orkney and live happily for a month with the contents of one smallish case and a rucksack but feel the need to harbour so much ‘stuff’ at home.
In fairness to myself at least half of it is still HL’s ‘stuff’ that he kept as a memento of our holidays- maps, information sheets , photographs and general memorabilia. It’s all there perfectly orderly collated and stored.
I turn a blind eye to it until I try and look for something specific that I think has been kept and then I almost lose the plot in the search.

After a very pleasant morning with a Merry Widow until we were politely asked to leave as we were spending too long over our coffee and then a pop in to daughter#2 on my walk round the marches, I decided to look for that specific thing , an article about HL and me in a National Daily rag at the time we got married. Could I find it? No! I had every accessible box and folder opened, I was up and down a ladder like a yo yo. I was convinced that I would find it on the top shelf of the bookcase and although I found many things I had completely forgotten about, not the newspaper article.

The question is-when is the right time to get rid of memorabilia and general clutter. Is it before you lose your marbles or should you leave it for someone else to do it after you depart? The second option appeals greatly.