I was chatting with a client today and she told me that she had recently enjoyed reading Corinne Grant’s book “Lessons in Letting Go”. I wrote about it here a year ago as I was impressed by Corinne’s honesty and bravery in sharing her difficulties with hoarding.

One of the techniques that Corinne found helpful was to take a photograph of the item before letting it go, selling it or donating to charity. This tool can be especially useful if the item is really big, takes up a lot of space that you don’t have, and you know that you won’t use it again….yet somehow the memories and feelings it evokes seem to stop you from letting go of the item.

The photograph could be incorporated into a 3D frame with other small related items of memorabilia. If you put it on display, you will always be reminded of the person, a time in your life or the event  and the memories from that time.

Here is a short review of the book…

“It took a year to drag myself out of the mess. A year in which I lost my dearest friend and then promptly lost my way. A year in which I ran away overseas, came back and then ran away again. A year in which I learnt to let go, learnt to forgive and learnt to grow up. It was a big year. It was a lot of work. And I head-butted two people. Accidentally.

Lessons in Letting Go is an honest, moving and often uproariously funny memoir of the year in which Corinne Grant decides to do something about her hoarding. From every scrunchie she’s ever owned, to every pencil case and magazine, it’s time for it all to go. Problem is, getting rid of the stuff turns out to be much harder than she initially thought.

This delightful memoir is about hoarding and about how the things we hold on to can end up dictating our lives. Warm, funny, candid and insightful, Lessons in Letting Go is about the pain – but also the necessity and the joy – in learning to let go.”