As you read this, I’m wending my way back from New York to Portland. I probably have some souvenirs with me. In this guest-post from Nina at Queercents, she discusses why souvenirs aren’t a good idea.
Last weekend, Jeanine and I cleaned the garage. We still can’t get two cars in the two-car garage, but it’s a two-part project to be continued this weekend. We did end up with a carload of “stuff” to take to Goodwill. As we were loading the Volvo, Jeanine noted there was enough merchandise for a garage sale.
The saying goes, “Never say never.” But I’m N-E-V-E-R having another garage sale in my lifetime. I belong to the Suze Orman school of thought on this topic. Donate and take the tax deduction. Orman writes:
Financially speaking, I can’t make any sense out of garage sales. You have to invest a lot of time to hold one, when you could simply take all your unwanted stuff down to the local charity (or even ask them to come cart it away for you) and claim the donation as a tax deduction. Do you really want to spend a weekend holding a garage sale — with no guarantee you will clear out everything you don’t want — when you can spend an hour or two gathering up your stuff and making a donation whose tax value will likely exceed the value of your garage sale’s proceeds?
In less than 20 minutes, I was there and back (with receipt in hand) and the garage is one step closer to housing the Volvo.
One of the items that didn’t get carted off to Goodwill was the piece of pottery pictured here. Jeanine started to put it in the pile and I said, “You’ve got be kidding me.” It’s not that I love the bowl — after all, it does have a picture of a moose on it. Rather, it represents something that Jeanine just had to buy to commemorate our summer trip to Jackson Hole in 2005.
I live by the motto of Jeanine’s ex-girlfriend. Debbie says, “Most things purchased on vacation don’t translate once they’re home.” In other words, the Hawaiian shirt bought in Honolulu doesn’t make sense back in Topeka and the trinket from Costa Rica looks silly sitting on the dresser in Danbury.
So whenever we are traveling and Jeanine has the urge to purchase a memory, I remind her of the Debbie rule. The moose bowl was one such item and even though we were in our woodsy mode inspired by the views of the Grand Tetons, I knew for sure that it wasn’t going to “translate” back home in Newport. But $69 later, Jeanine was having the bowl boxed up in the gift shop.
We never argue about money. We do disagree from time to time. Mostly it stems from these types of purchases. In my opinion, it’s not worth a fight or even a discussion; rather, it’s easier to just let Jeanine be Jeanine. After all, she was being sentimental by wanting something to cherish our vacation. I would never want to squash this romantic expression. For this reason, I probably even offered to buy the bowl. I don’t quite remember.
But buying the bowl and getting rid of the bowl are two different things. We are going to enjoy that damn bowl forever! It’s a matter of principle. The bowl is back in the house looking silly as ever.
Does anyone have any souvenir regrets they want to share? I’m always looking for examples to build my “it doesn’t translate” case.
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I like to get a Christmas Ornament, and you can remember the trip when you decorate your tree each year, or a nice magnet for the fridge (cheap)..I regret neither of these as they are not too pricey, and the memories attached are priceless.
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just as i pack everything but the girl (she left) and the kitchen sink (it’s attached to the wall), in order to make it all fit in half a container, this post falls into my rss reader. i’m relocating to another country, which i previously visited for a week in december. and during that week i bought a crazy amount of souvenirs and local crafts for friends and girlfriend. she eventually left for the same country, leaving most of my gifts to gather dust. crazy… that was crazy.
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I like to get clothing (making sure it’s something I’ll actually wear) as a souvenir. I agree that things that are made to be just a souvenir aren’t generally worth it, but being able to wear my scarf from Italy, or carry my bag from Ecuador is awesome.
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My wife, who never wears hats except in winter has twice purchased hats while on vacation. Both were long term decisions, and at least one if not both were then custom made by the artist. One has never been worn back home and the other (since it is a winter hat) has been used only from time to time.
My daughter has made better use of the cowboy hat, playing dress up, bought when at a convention in Oklahoma then I have ever.
But – I do have a growing collection of sand. displayed in soft drink bottles bought at the local and filled with the local sand. Obviously this began with the black sands of Hawaii and the red sands around Las Vegas but has been added to by my sons travel to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. On the same shelf is a flat stone I took off the bottom of a lake in the Appalachians. These Natural Finds – while not disturbing protected areas are great reminders for me of fun vacations.
(its bad luck to take the lava rocks from Hawaii but not the sand)
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How about souvenir success?
A 12″x18″ postcard of First Flight from Kitty Hawk. Framed and matted, and hanging in our dining room. $3 postcard $65 for framing.
Good memories and inspiration
‘Never Give Up!’
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I love holding garage sales and I used to make a lot of money at them. I don’t buy stuff I don’t need anymore the way I used to though, so there’s not enough stuff to sell at garage sales anymore. This is a good thing, but I do kind of miss having garage sales. I like meeting people, I like organizing things for sale and selling them. We are moving now and I am selling just a few items on craigslist, not nearly as much fun. But I can see how if you didn’t enjoy having garage sales it would be better to donate the items.
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Does anyone know if Canadians can donate their junk and get a tax receipt?
Mike
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Poster #9 (Awesome) brought up the problem of other people giving you souveniers from their trips, and what do you do with them?
While the thought is nice, I usually don’t really want a souvenier from someone else’s trip — it means nothing to me, since I wasn’t there. Of course, I’ve been guilty of bringing people back stuff from my trips too, so I’m definitely a hypocrite here, LOL. (My mother actually returned a bunch of stuff I got for her in Japan — it doesn’t fit her decor at all, which I should have realized. I ended up not wanting them either, couldn’t sell them on eBay or Craig’s List, so I donated them to Goodwill.)
Anyway — as for the Disney stuff that Awesome’s grandma is giving her (or him — I can’t tell) — DONATE IT TO GOODWILL! Sell it on eBay! You don’t need to keep all this stuff just because Grandma gave it to you!!! Does she inspect your closet regularly to make sure you have all her gifts? I didn’t think so….Keep one or two, and wear them around her occasionally….But sentimentality isn’t a good reason to keep unwanted clutter around…
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Discussing the souvenirs, and journal–my Mom has kept a journal since 1970. When they traveled overseas to visit me, she bought post cards from each community that interested her, and wrote her thoughts on the post cards. She then mailed it locally from the post office, to herself. When she got home, she had her reflections of each site for her journal, and mounted them in her journal.
She also found a kitchenware site in Germany which had an unusual assortment of pots, pans, and utensils not readily available in the states. She bought a large number of the pots and pans, shipped them home, and had a ready supply of unusual wedding gifts for casual acquaintances for the next several years.
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Awesome post! The only thing worse than regular souvenirs are kid souvenirs. These pieces of crap literally have no value whatsoever and the kids get sick of the stuff before the trip is even over. Additionally, the kid souvenirs are usually way over priced!!! …now if I can just get my GF to agree without getting into an argument.
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I like postcards because they’re inexpensive, give us better photographs of the places than I could take, and work well in a scrapbook. Even better would be if I would actually write on the back and document what I think / feel / experience on vacation.
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One of my best “souvenirs” is a journal I wrote while spending the summer in Europe. My only regret is that the entries became more sporatic near the end. It’s amazing to open it and see “Ah yes, I remember that day in Florence,” or think “That’s right, we nearly got eaten by mosquitoes in Sweden.”
I thought about buying something on my honeymoon, almost wish I had. We got a thank-you present for our best man, which was a special candle (made locally and with a great smell) and maple syrup (we were in New England). He and his wife love candles and we figure syrup normally comes in handy at some point. I should have gotten a candle for myself. Or maybe one of the lovely bohemian outfits in the store. But I didn’t and that’s ok.
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My husband and I have a tradition to get an ornament on all of our vacations. It is something small, easy to pack, and doesn’t take up too much storage space at home. Then at Christmas we decorate our tree and reminisce about all our vacations and special times together.
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When I travel I only get three souvenirs: postcards, a shot glass, and a photo album of the destination where I am. I love to take pictures so I have loads of pictures from my travels and when I get home I develop the photos, label the photos, organize them and put them into the album along with the postcards. When friends and family come over they can pick an album and can look at the back of the photos. The shot glasses are kept on the shelf and bring back memories when my friends and I use them.
I love going to flea markets, yard sales, and thrift stores. I have had yard sales in the past but they are too much work. I simply donate all my unwanted items to families and children who need them in my local area.
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