While cleaning/organizing my desk today, I realized I’m sentimental in both a functional and not-so-functional way. Yes, my fondness for British literary movies should have been a clue, but let me give you two examples from my office to prove my point.

Exhibit One:

Functional collection of Hello Kitty/Sanrio clips from the 1980s. I did break one of the smaller ones, it was blue with angels or something with wings… a few years back and had to toss it. The big one is scarred with bite marks—don’t ask—but I’ve kept them all these decades. They been put to use and clipped on desk organizers in between jobs.

Exhibit Two:

My old disks: better than the floppy ones, but still completely outdated. Yes, my first four manuscripts, college assignments, and assorted poetry from the early 1990s are contained on them. But most of those documents can also be found in my filing cabinet, on paper.

Do I have a computer with the appropriate disk drive? No.

Will I ever use these disks again? No.

Can I throw them away? No.

What are you hanging on to from years, decades, or centuries past?