Throwing out old birthday/greeting cards.

[MeanJoePhaser]

I don't know how many of you have ever had to clean up after people for a living, taking out trash or bagging recycling...but a few times I've noticed people have tossed out birthday cards, including one that was passed around for the office to sign.

So how do you feel about that, tossing a well-intentioned gesture into the trash like? Is it okay? Or should they have waited until they got home? Or are they just scumbags who never deserve any kindness again for the rest of their petty lives?

Also, do you throw away old cards? Keep 'em?

 

[MetalPants]

I've kept a couple of birthday cards from my youth. They were given to me by my late grandmothers. They're one of the few things I have left from them. So no, I don't forsee myself throwing them away anytime soon.

 

[Spot's Meow]

I have kept some special cards and if a card is particularly pretty I will keep it for a little while, but honestly I think cards are mostly a waste. I just throw them away. At work they all signed a card for me for a special thing the other day and I almost threw it in the trash at the end of the day, but stopped myself when I thought that they might see it in my trash can and get offended. So I took it home and threw it away.

I usually don't get people cards, especially if I have a gift for them. I will put one of those little sticker tags on it that says TO and FROM.

Now, at my other job, working in some archives, I have been working with a collection where the guy kept 8 entire boxes filled with greeting cards he received. They span the 1940s to the 1980s. They are interesting to look at but it all just seems so unnecessary. Who feels the need to keep every card they've gotten?

 

[Azlynn]

I have every single card from birth onwards. Every birthday, every holiday... I need to start going through and eliminating, but it's a touch intimidating.

 

[JimCasy]

I hate cards. They are just a big waste of money. I'll open a card and toss it on the table, then throw it away next time I clean off the table. If it's one that's been signed by a lot of people, I might keep it a little while, but meh.

And I know for a fact that my dad doesn't read cards all the way through when he buys them, cause one he got me a couple years ago said something about how great it was to be my mom.

 

[Hermiod]

Cards go out in the next batch of recycling in my house.

 

[WillsBabe]

I'm not very good with birthday cards. I usually throw them out the day after, sometimes I don't even put them up... But I do keep special ones - from my husand, or niece, or for special birthdays. I know that sometimes old people take out cards from previous years and put them up again, maybe after the sender has died, or their circle has dimnished. Sometimes, in my maudlin moments I wonder if I will do that, too.

 

[gwud]

I keep cards for the week over my birthday and then throw away all but the most special one or two.

I always keep leaving cards from work and things like that, but the majority get chucked out.

 

[ShamelessMcBundy]

I am nostalgic. My best friend calls me a pack rat. I have kept just about all the cards that my family has given me over the years. I think it's nice to go back and read them. I love trips down memory lane.

 

[K-Star]

Everyone in my family keeps their cards. Around birthdays or holidays the cards we receive get displayed on the fireplace mantle for a while until the holiday or birthday passes, and then we take our cards and store them elsewhere (most of mine are in a box in my room). I especially hold on to handmade cards, like the get-well card my best friend made for me in 6th grade when I was absent with a stomach virus. She drew a picture of Pikachu and had some of our classmates sign it. Also, cards with handwritten messages added are kept (the card my friend gave me on the day of my baptism is still displayed on my desk next to the porcelain angel she gave me.)

The exception to the "remove from mantle when X time passes" rule is the sympathy cards we received when Shadow died. Those stay on the mantle next to his urn and his collar.

 

[Jadzia]

Most I throw away after about 2 weeks, although there are a handful which I have treasured. I really don't like cards though because I've always tended to see them as wasteful, and extortionately priced. Christmas cards I do tend to buy a few of because it just looks mean to not give any when people have bought them for me. Those I receive I cut them up and use the pictured parts as parcel tags for next year's presents, while the rest goes in the recycling box.

 

[K'Ehleyr]

I am nostalgic. My best friend calls me a pack rat. I have kept just about all the cards that my family has given me over the years. I think it's nice to go back and read them. I love trips down memory lane.

Sums it up best for me too

I have a few long distance friends who always put in bits of news and gossip and it's great catching up with those. I also like the friends that every year have a different 'other half' attached
With less important ones I, like Jadzia, use them for tags. We're 'eco warriors'

There was a story over here about two older guys who had exchanged the same Christmas card for decades. Now that's sweet

I like thank you cards too! I always drop a line after an unexpected present or a day out. It's a practise that is fading out and I think it's should be revived! It's a nicer gesture than an email

 

[SmoothieX]

We keep our cards on the mantle of the fireplace like some others here have said. I keep them until I run out of space. Then I throw them out.

I just tossed a couple Valentine's Day cards the other day to make room for get well (foor surgery) cards.

 

[jamestyler]

I'm not a fan of cards and only really send them when I have to (in laws and such). Though there are a few I've kept, such as one from my aunt who made me a card a few years ago and gets stored along with some letters I've kept.

I have my first father day card pinned up behind me. Thats one the things I won't throw away.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

I don't really throw my old greetings cards away. In fact, most of them are kept in a pile and then forgotten about several years later.

To be honest, there have only really been one or two cards which I've felt the need to keep and treasure for any specific reason. And even then, the emotions were temporary, the dilemmas resolved, and the sentiments no longer unique.

 

[Jadzia]

For the past two christmases, one of my friends has made her own cards with special stickers and 3d mountings and glitter, and I did feel a bit guilty about throwing those away because they do take a lot of time and effort.

Does anyone else here receive home made cards? and if so do you feel comfortable about throwing them away?

 

[Zulu Romeo]

For the past two christmases, one of my friends has made her own cards with special stickers and 3d mountings and glitter, and I did feel a bit guilty about throwing those away because they do take a lot of time and effort.

Does anyone else here receive home made cards? and if so do you feel comfortable about throwing them away?

I've received the occasional home-made greetings card, mostly for Christmas though. They were from the sort of good people who tend to put their own personal touches and efforts into everything they do, rather than cop out and blow a load of cash at [insert franchise shop name here]. While their cards eventually end up in the same storage pile as the other greetings cards, I do make sure that they don't get damaged. I would feel guilty about throwing them away completely at first thought, though.

 

[Warp Coil]

When I receive cards during the holidays or on my birthday, I make sure to take out any money that's inside them, then I put all the cards into a pile on the table. They'll sit there for several weeks, and then I eventually throw them out.

 

[Mr. B]

I generally keep them in a junk drawer. It's not much hassle to keep them since they take up so little space.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I am haphazard about keeping cards. I rarely throw them out deliberately but somehow they seem to end up disappearing though I know there are several in the hallway cupboard at the moment.

When my children were little I would keep them for a while and when I had a bunch of them I would give them to their teacher to put in the craft box.

When I was little my mother saved cards and gave them to my grandmother. My grandmother made a cover for our swapcard albums out of them. She pasted the cards onto cardboard and then covered it with thick plastic and stitched around the edges, She used hat elastic to keep the albums in. There was enough room in the cover for 8 albums. I still have my swapcard album cover though it is in bad condition.