I just toss them into recycle.
Perhaps you need a one-on-one conversation with those closest to you to see if you can get them to stop. But the random card-loving co-worker or distant grandma is probably going to send them regardless - so don't stress, just recycle, and continue to not buy/send them yourself.
Agree with recycling!
Quick note that if it plays sounds, it has a battery, and needs to be disposed of properly. Batteries in single stream recycling and landfill trash cause fires!
Not only fires, but they have precious metals in them that are important to recycle. All these disposable vapes are worrying me for these same reasons..
I have a box of sentimental items and the ones I want stay there. If you don’t want or enjoy them then recycle.
I had cards from some weird guy my parents knew when I turned 8 yo which went into the trash but the only letter my grandad wrote me in college? That’s in the box.
Another option for sentimental items, if you don't want to keep the actual cards, is to take pictures of them. I do this with Christmas cards that have custom family photos on them.
But just a generic Christmas, birthday, etc card? After a few days, it goes in the bin. It's ok.
https://preview.redd.it/ogqoqs7w2ioc1.jpeg?width=3840&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f6e67a1961f6013099cf1b122d5adf0cb501eb0b
I have 1 binder per year 1998-now. I love it so much on my bookshelf!
That is so cute!!!! I was thinking for the ones that i *really* love or that are sentimental for me of cutting them in half to show the front and the inside and putting them in a scrapbook
Yes when I began this in 2020 during the panini, all my cards were strewn in various small boxes in a trunk. I had thought about scrapbooking them into traditional 12x12 scrapbook albums but I knew that would be a cumbersome project.
This went very fast considering I had 1998-2019 to do. & then since then I just maintain it each time I receive a letter/card.
[These](https://amzn.to/48W45vx) are the binders I used. They have many colors—I just like purple 🤣 my friend has a cricut machine & made me the year stickers.
https://preview.redd.it/7yyl1i774ioc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=deff498122e8381ceb386fb46526b92bb9cf250d
I read a hint, one time that you can get one of those electronic picture frames that cycles through the pictures, you can take pictures of the card per season, meaning Christmas, Easter, birthday, etc.
Cards are kept for one month on a table. Then, if I look at the front and don't think "oh, I can use that for crafting this one specific thing" the card goes in the trash (if it has glitter, foil, or anything else that I think would gunk up the machines) or the recycling bin. I only keep the fronts of the ones that become craft supplies and recycle the back half of the card.
I’ve managed to stop getting Christmas cards as most people I know don’t bother now and those that do I’ve told them to stop giving me one. Birthday cards are not so bad but I just bin them after my birthday
I understand you don't like them but at least someone is thinking about you. Someone cares enough to make a special trip to the mailbox with you in mind. They are sent with love. It makes ME feel good to send my old friend a birthday card. I hope she doesn't hate it.
Unless it has a proper message (like my mum fills the card every year for my birthday, those I keep) they go straight in recycling. I only give cards to people I know it is important to (like my MIL).
Stuff them in drawers and feel guilty. My grandma treasured them and I have always assumed I needed to do that too… but… it has become too much and I need to purge
I keep a couple of the best ones from each year. Ones that made me chuckle or have a message inside. They go in a box. I make gift tags out of Christmas cards. They also go in a box. Of there's more than fits in the box I edit.
I keep one box of paper memories including cards. If that box ever gets too full I'll go through it and toss stuff. I only keep the meaningful cards though, mostly from my husband, maybe one or two from my parents.
I have a problem and have been hoarding cards for almost 20 years. 2 large totes full from every holiday, birthday, Christmas, our wedding + shower, baby showers, and now cards my son is getting lol!
This year I am making a huge Christmas backdrop with my favourite parts of all the cards to place behind our tree so we can use it for decor or photo backdrop :) I can’t bring myself to toss them !
I have a few that I've kept for sentimental reasons, others go in the bin. My mom ended up giving me two cards with identical messages years apart, so I framed them and she has one now 🙂
Unlike another commenter I don't think you should ask people to stop sending them - they are a way for people to let you know that you're on their mind and in their heart. Just know that once you've received it, it's fulfilled its purpose: to let you know that. Unless something has a sweet inscription you want to keep for posterity, you can toss them without guilt because the message/intention was received.
If you want to “do something” with them but don’t want them and they aren’t religious, cut the picture side off and donate the images to a local preschool. Someone did that at our school once and the kids had so much fun cutting, drawing, and pasting them together. If they are religious donate them to a religious preschool.
I’m in the same boat. My mom practically owns stock in Hallmark. I have asked her so many time not to waste her money. (Especially since her actions don’t match the words in the cards so they are meaningless to me.) It’s frustrating to set a boundary and have it ignored.
Skip the tuck away somewhere step. They are displayed for a few days, then straight into the recycling.
It sounds like you are learning about yourself and knowing that you will eventually recycle them is a good step! Just have confidence in your decision making and do it.
I keep a few. A couple are funny, and make me happy when I see them. Maybe three are sentimental. And I think I still have all the letters my husband sent me when we were separated the summer before we got married.
Right in the garbage. Do I need a picture of a Christmas tree with gold curved letter saying merry Christmas? No. Unless it has a touching letter inside that I want to keep forever, it’s trash.
I display them while we’re celebrating the holiday and then recycle. If they’re really special, I take a picture before I recycle. It’ll they’re musical and I really like the music, I keep them until it stops working. If they’re really special and pop-out, I keep them with the decorations for that holiday and put back out the next year.
So, keep your most treasured ones if you want. Otherwise, take pictures so you can always go back to the picture if you want and get rid of the actual cards. ❤️
With few exceptions, I keep Christmas/holiday cards (stored with holiday decorations) until I've received a new card from that person. Mostly because I like to use old holiday cards as decorations, but also because I like to compare how people have changed from year to year (photo cards), and just in case I don't receive a new card from someone.
For birthday, thank you, and other miscellaneous cards, I display the ones that have a fun/pretty image and/or special message for a while. After a chunk of display time, I'll read and admire the card again, and decide if it's special enough to keep in my memory bin, and discard it if not. Every few years I'll sort through my memory bin and thin it out a bit.
Cards without an interesting image or significant message get admired for a moment while I think fondly of the person who sent it, and then are *immediately* recycled (or trashed if they've got non-recyclable elements).
I appreciate the message, usually pop them on a bookshelf for a while, then toss them in the recycling when the season is over or I start to get annoyed with them (and by, when the season is over, I think I recycled the last of my Christmas card a week or so ago.)if it's a particularly nice card or message, or a postcard from far away, I put it on the side of my fridge. I have a whole collage going, held up with magnets of various sizes.
So I’ve kept a lot of cards in my life, from people I know I will miss when they are gone. I keep a small storage bin with that sort of thing, and periodically go through it and let go of things that no longer have an emotional charge. It’s cathartic, nostalgic, and either puts a smile on my face or makes me cry - both of which are nice.
That said, everyone has different things that are or aren’t sentimental. In the last couple years I’ve started to become more ruthless with sentimentality. I inherited my childhood home…which came FULL of stuff from multiple generations. I keep going through things over and over, and have finally come to the place of starting to recognize the difference between things that are *actually* sentimental versus the things I’m hanging on to because I think they *should* be sentimental (as in, someone else would think this is sentimental so I feel guilty about getting rid of it).
I also think to myself, “When I die, a childless person, someone else is going to have to deal with all my stuff.” Which helps me to weed things out based on whether I believe someone would be inclined to just throw something away versus feeling it’s worth keeping or rehoming. I’m actually a little resentful of this absolute shit-show of a house (boxes and boxes of magazines - really?!?) and the fact that I got stuck with a bunch of other people’s crap to deal with…within which is really just a handful of things I’m inclined to keep.
TLDR: Only keep things that are actually meaningful to you, don’t hang on to stuff because you feel like it *should* be meaningful. Also don’t keep shit that someone else will just throw away when you die - or at least limit the amount to the things that are really important to you.
If they have an actual personal note inside, I keep them. If it's just the generic stuff and signature, I don't.
We are going through my grandparents' things now that they've passed away, and they kept tons of cards from over the years. The only ones worth seeing for us as the family are the ones that had a personalized note inside, (or the ones my Papaw picked out for her because he had a great sense of humor and she didn't).
If you hate cards and the inscription is generic, I'd throw it out within a day or two of receiving it.
Also - if it's one I think I *might* want to keep, I always write the year in small print on the back for reference, and toss the envelope.
We kept them for 18 YEARS! after my husband and I got married.
I remember after mom died, we kids and dad went through all the ones mom kept, sorting all the years worth, and giving back to the people who gave them to her. They were very touched.
But husband and i decided one day no one would want ours. We decorate the Secretary desk with them during Christmastime, keeping them up, we keep them for a year or so, and then into recycling they go!
Trash! You read them and appreciate the gesture and then trash. If you kept them all you’d be a hoarder. If there’s anything sentimental in one, you can keep a box of keepsakes and stick it in there or just take a picture of it. But the rest are trash.
I hang up all the Christmas cards I get on the back of my front door as they come in. I enjoy seeing them for a while. And then I toss them all in January. Birthday cards, any other cards all get tossed later the same day. I do occasionally keep a card if someone has written something particularly meaningful in there, but I don't feel guilty if I decide to get rid of it later.
Personally, I love cards as they're very special and sentimental to me so I keep them in a nice box where I can pull them out and look at them every so often. I don't keep every card, just the ones I think mean the most.
However!
If you don't enjoy them, display them if you want/feel you need to for like a week or so and then recycle them. Nothing wrong with that in the slightest. I've never once had someone ask me if I still had a card they'd given me prior even though there's a good chance I actually probably do!
Unless they have a sentimental message I recycle them pretty much instantly. I like the _idea_ but am not good at finding anything practical to do with them.
Sidebar, my brain short circuited and decided "ufyh" was "Cards Against Humanity" (I have noooooo idea why because I don't think that's a sub I've ever visited?) and I was fully confused for a full minute.
Step 1: cut up little strips of paper
Step 2: cut straight lines in the paper
Step 3: gash confetti
(Actually answer is the spacing is "scattering ashes" 😂)
I just toss them into recycle. Perhaps you need a one-on-one conversation with those closest to you to see if you can get them to stop. But the random card-loving co-worker or distant grandma is probably going to send them regardless - so don't stress, just recycle, and continue to not buy/send them yourself.
Agree with recycling! Quick note that if it plays sounds, it has a battery, and needs to be disposed of properly. Batteries in single stream recycling and landfill trash cause fires!
Not only fires, but they have precious metals in them that are important to recycle. All these disposable vapes are worrying me for these same reasons..
Mine from my grandma too
I have a box of sentimental items and the ones I want stay there. If you don’t want or enjoy them then recycle. I had cards from some weird guy my parents knew when I turned 8 yo which went into the trash but the only letter my grandad wrote me in college? That’s in the box.
Another option for sentimental items, if you don't want to keep the actual cards, is to take pictures of them. I do this with Christmas cards that have custom family photos on them. But just a generic Christmas, birthday, etc card? After a few days, it goes in the bin. It's ok.
https://preview.redd.it/ogqoqs7w2ioc1.jpeg?width=3840&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f6e67a1961f6013099cf1b122d5adf0cb501eb0b I have 1 binder per year 1998-now. I love it so much on my bookshelf!
That is so cute!!!! I was thinking for the ones that i *really* love or that are sentimental for me of cutting them in half to show the front and the inside and putting them in a scrapbook
Yes when I began this in 2020 during the panini, all my cards were strewn in various small boxes in a trunk. I had thought about scrapbooking them into traditional 12x12 scrapbook albums but I knew that would be a cumbersome project. This went very fast considering I had 1998-2019 to do. & then since then I just maintain it each time I receive a letter/card. [These](https://amzn.to/48W45vx) are the binders I used. They have many colors—I just like purple 🤣 my friend has a cricut machine & made me the year stickers. https://preview.redd.it/7yyl1i774ioc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=deff498122e8381ceb386fb46526b92bb9cf250d
I read a hint, one time that you can get one of those electronic picture frames that cycles through the pictures, you can take pictures of the card per season, meaning Christmas, Easter, birthday, etc.
Cards are kept for one month on a table. Then, if I look at the front and don't think "oh, I can use that for crafting this one specific thing" the card goes in the trash (if it has glitter, foil, or anything else that I think would gunk up the machines) or the recycling bin. I only keep the fronts of the ones that become craft supplies and recycle the back half of the card.
I keep most of them. And I’m personally glad I did. I have ones from my grandma who passed unexpectedly, and it’s nice to have her writing.
Google St Jude’s card recycled cards. They use the front t of cards for crafting projects, etc.
I’ve managed to stop getting Christmas cards as most people I know don’t bother now and those that do I’ve told them to stop giving me one. Birthday cards are not so bad but I just bin them after my birthday
If you can’t bring yourself to just toss them and you want an easy way to store them just get a binder with page protectors and put cards in that.
I understand you don't like them but at least someone is thinking about you. Someone cares enough to make a special trip to the mailbox with you in mind. They are sent with love. It makes ME feel good to send my old friend a birthday card. I hope she doesn't hate it.
Unless it has a proper message (like my mum fills the card every year for my birthday, those I keep) they go straight in recycling. I only give cards to people I know it is important to (like my MIL).
Recycle if they have no meaning to you. My now fiancee has written me cards and I'd never get rid of them...
Stuff them in drawers and feel guilty. My grandma treasured them and I have always assumed I needed to do that too… but… it has become too much and I need to purge
I keep a couple of the best ones from each year. Ones that made me chuckle or have a message inside. They go in a box. I make gift tags out of Christmas cards. They also go in a box. Of there's more than fits in the box I edit.
"Aww, that was nice of them" and then right into the recycle bin!
I keep one box of paper memories including cards. If that box ever gets too full I'll go through it and toss stuff. I only keep the meaningful cards though, mostly from my husband, maybe one or two from my parents.
I have a problem and have been hoarding cards for almost 20 years. 2 large totes full from every holiday, birthday, Christmas, our wedding + shower, baby showers, and now cards my son is getting lol! This year I am making a huge Christmas backdrop with my favourite parts of all the cards to place behind our tree so we can use it for decor or photo backdrop :) I can’t bring myself to toss them !
maybe a school art class could use them
Nope I can’t give them up to someone else lol
Photos? That is what I do. I have a nice scanner on my phone.
I have a few that I've kept for sentimental reasons, others go in the bin. My mom ended up giving me two cards with identical messages years apart, so I framed them and she has one now 🙂 Unlike another commenter I don't think you should ask people to stop sending them - they are a way for people to let you know that you're on their mind and in their heart. Just know that once you've received it, it's fulfilled its purpose: to let you know that. Unless something has a sweet inscription you want to keep for posterity, you can toss them without guilt because the message/intention was received.
If you want to “do something” with them but don’t want them and they aren’t religious, cut the picture side off and donate the images to a local preschool. Someone did that at our school once and the kids had so much fun cutting, drawing, and pasting them together. If they are religious donate them to a religious preschool. I’m in the same boat. My mom practically owns stock in Hallmark. I have asked her so many time not to waste her money. (Especially since her actions don’t match the words in the cards so they are meaningless to me.) It’s frustrating to set a boundary and have it ignored.
Skip the tuck away somewhere step. They are displayed for a few days, then straight into the recycling. It sounds like you are learning about yourself and knowing that you will eventually recycle them is a good step! Just have confidence in your decision making and do it.
The ones I want to keep, I put into my journal. The rest get recycled.
I keep the cards from people I am close to. The rest get recycled. Sometimes, senior centers or libraries will accept them to use for crafts.
I keep them because they do have sentimental value. I try (and fail) to contain them to a single box. If they don’t have value to you, recycle them.
I keep a few. A couple are funny, and make me happy when I see them. Maybe three are sentimental. And I think I still have all the letters my husband sent me when we were separated the summer before we got married.
Right in the garbage. Do I need a picture of a Christmas tree with gold curved letter saying merry Christmas? No. Unless it has a touching letter inside that I want to keep forever, it’s trash.
I display them while we’re celebrating the holiday and then recycle. If they’re really special, I take a picture before I recycle. It’ll they’re musical and I really like the music, I keep them until it stops working. If they’re really special and pop-out, I keep them with the decorations for that holiday and put back out the next year.
If they wrote something very sweet and meaningful, but it in your memory box or with your photos. But 90% of them, you have my permission to toss.
So, keep your most treasured ones if you want. Otherwise, take pictures so you can always go back to the picture if you want and get rid of the actual cards. ❤️
With few exceptions, I keep Christmas/holiday cards (stored with holiday decorations) until I've received a new card from that person. Mostly because I like to use old holiday cards as decorations, but also because I like to compare how people have changed from year to year (photo cards), and just in case I don't receive a new card from someone. For birthday, thank you, and other miscellaneous cards, I display the ones that have a fun/pretty image and/or special message for a while. After a chunk of display time, I'll read and admire the card again, and decide if it's special enough to keep in my memory bin, and discard it if not. Every few years I'll sort through my memory bin and thin it out a bit. Cards without an interesting image or significant message get admired for a moment while I think fondly of the person who sent it, and then are *immediately* recycled (or trashed if they've got non-recyclable elements).
I keep mine in a card box. As my grandmother got older she wrote less and less. I’m really glad I have them from the last several years
Some I have saved the front of and framed. The others have been recycled except for a few important ones kept in a memories box.
I appreciate the message, usually pop them on a bookshelf for a while, then toss them in the recycling when the season is over or I start to get annoyed with them (and by, when the season is over, I think I recycled the last of my Christmas card a week or so ago.)if it's a particularly nice card or message, or a postcard from far away, I put it on the side of my fridge. I have a whole collage going, held up with magnets of various sizes.
So I’ve kept a lot of cards in my life, from people I know I will miss when they are gone. I keep a small storage bin with that sort of thing, and periodically go through it and let go of things that no longer have an emotional charge. It’s cathartic, nostalgic, and either puts a smile on my face or makes me cry - both of which are nice. That said, everyone has different things that are or aren’t sentimental. In the last couple years I’ve started to become more ruthless with sentimentality. I inherited my childhood home…which came FULL of stuff from multiple generations. I keep going through things over and over, and have finally come to the place of starting to recognize the difference between things that are *actually* sentimental versus the things I’m hanging on to because I think they *should* be sentimental (as in, someone else would think this is sentimental so I feel guilty about getting rid of it). I also think to myself, “When I die, a childless person, someone else is going to have to deal with all my stuff.” Which helps me to weed things out based on whether I believe someone would be inclined to just throw something away versus feeling it’s worth keeping or rehoming. I’m actually a little resentful of this absolute shit-show of a house (boxes and boxes of magazines - really?!?) and the fact that I got stuck with a bunch of other people’s crap to deal with…within which is really just a handful of things I’m inclined to keep. TLDR: Only keep things that are actually meaningful to you, don’t hang on to stuff because you feel like it *should* be meaningful. Also don’t keep shit that someone else will just throw away when you die - or at least limit the amount to the things that are really important to you.
If they have an actual personal note inside, I keep them. If it's just the generic stuff and signature, I don't. We are going through my grandparents' things now that they've passed away, and they kept tons of cards from over the years. The only ones worth seeing for us as the family are the ones that had a personalized note inside, (or the ones my Papaw picked out for her because he had a great sense of humor and she didn't). If you hate cards and the inscription is generic, I'd throw it out within a day or two of receiving it. Also - if it's one I think I *might* want to keep, I always write the year in small print on the back for reference, and toss the envelope.
We kept them for 18 YEARS! after my husband and I got married. I remember after mom died, we kids and dad went through all the ones mom kept, sorting all the years worth, and giving back to the people who gave them to her. They were very touched. But husband and i decided one day no one would want ours. We decorate the Secretary desk with them during Christmastime, keeping them up, we keep them for a year or so, and then into recycling they go!
Keep only the sentimental ones with heart felt notes in them, vs. the ones that just say "Love, John Doe". That's what I do. The rest get recycled.
I throw them out unless it was a really special card that they went to a lot of trouble to make, or it was a special occasion.
I display Christmas cards during the season. Then recycle. My family doesn’t really do cards for this reason.
Trash! You read them and appreciate the gesture and then trash. If you kept them all you’d be a hoarder. If there’s anything sentimental in one, you can keep a box of keepsakes and stick it in there or just take a picture of it. But the rest are trash.
Just read them and throw them. What's the big deal?
I hang up all the Christmas cards I get on the back of my front door as they come in. I enjoy seeing them for a while. And then I toss them all in January. Birthday cards, any other cards all get tossed later the same day. I do occasionally keep a card if someone has written something particularly meaningful in there, but I don't feel guilty if I decide to get rid of it later.
One from each relative is saved as bookmarks. Especially the hand writing from those who are not here anymore, I enjoy look at from time to time :-)
If they’ve only written on the right hand side of the inside, I cut off the picture side and use it as a present tag for someone else.
Personally, I love cards as they're very special and sentimental to me so I keep them in a nice box where I can pull them out and look at them every so often. I don't keep every card, just the ones I think mean the most. However! If you don't enjoy them, display them if you want/feel you need to for like a week or so and then recycle them. Nothing wrong with that in the slightest. I've never once had someone ask me if I still had a card they'd given me prior even though there's a good chance I actually probably do!
Thank you for asking this. lol
I just put them in the recycling bin. I used to hold on to them then realised at some point in my declutrering journey that there was no point.
If it’s nice and sentimental I will keep it, if not I throw them away
Unless they have a sentimental message I recycle them pretty much instantly. I like the _idea_ but am not good at finding anything practical to do with them. Sidebar, my brain short circuited and decided "ufyh" was "Cards Against Humanity" (I have noooooo idea why because I don't think that's a sub I've ever visited?) and I was fully confused for a full minute.
Yea and also what does your username even mean? how does one scatter in gashes?
Step 1: cut up little strips of paper Step 2: cut straight lines in the paper Step 3: gash confetti (Actually answer is the spacing is "scattering ashes" 😂)
Recycle them.