I've still got the "Good Luck" card I was given by my old colleagues when I was made redundant. I was about to throw it out, but somehow it seems impolite to the people I've not even seen for over three months, and probably will never see again. It started me thinking about other "junk" I've kept:

• Old Christmas and birthday cards from years ago. I used to keep all of them, but now I just keep a few from people I've not seen for ages.
• Old love-letters from girls so far in the past I wouldn't even recognise them any more.
• Tickets to shows and events I've been to. Not just romantic ones, all kinds.
• Email and IM from everyone ever. I even have a load of texts backed up, but only romantic ones.
• Pictures of most meals I've cooked in the last 5 years ?!
• Pointless keepsakes from holidays.
• Gifts from friends and relatives.

So, am I "normal" or do only total freaks hang on to the receipt for some sexy nightwear bought 4 years ago for an ex-girlfriend?!

I'm especially concerned about the old love-letters. How would you feel if your partner was keeping a stash of romantic old memories?

When it comes to girls, once it's properly over, or it's well and truly over for them, I like to cut them out of my life completely. I delete contact details and text messages, throw out anything they may have left or given to me, and generally remove all trace of them. I find it hard to move on otherwise.

There are a couple of exceptions though. I keep tickets to almost everything unless I lose them. Concerts,movies, sporting events, what ever. Even if it was with some girl I'm not with anymore I still keep the ticket. For some reason, it doesn't make me sad-it makes me happy to think of the time we had. If I stumble across a phone number or text or a possession etc then it makes me sad that we aren't together anymore.

I think photos of all meals is pretty strange, but I can relate to the cards- I've got two from colleagues from when I left for new Zealand a while back.

I hate clutter though, so possessions are rarely kept!

I used to keep a lot more than I do now.

That was until I realised that the memories I have are in my head and keeping a christmas card, used cinema ticket, etc... will only take up room and collect dust.

Now I keep a few things that mean more to me.

I do have a collection of get well cards went to me from the people in my primary school when I was in hospital 16 years ago

I'm a really bad hoarder, I even hoard well outdated software. I try to clear it all out each year.

You're not the only one.

I've kept:

• Every bit of work I've ever done in secondary school, six form and med school.
• Every birthday card I've had.
• Every love-letter/valentines card since I was a teenager.
• Receipts for every item I've ever bought in the last five years.
• Emails and IMs from loved ones. All of them.
• Knick-knacks and toys from my childhood.
• A huge stack of various coins now outdated

With school work, I find it difficult to chuck away something I used to work hard for. Those exercise books are filled as much with blood and sweat as ink. In sixth form, I worked even harder, so even more important to keep the work. Sometimes comes in handy too. Med school - TBH I've never looked back at those notes as I always go back to the same source (books) when I trying to re-learn about something.

With Birthday cards, I feel guilty if I throw them out. Ditto with certain ugly gifts from friends and family.

Receipts sounds strange but it's only for things like my external HDD, my mini-fridge or other item I spent money on that I would not be happy spending again if the item failed within twelve months/whatever the guarantee period is. I do purge the relevant ones every year.

Love letters/emails are for those days when I put on the pink shades and think back through all the clever/stupid stuff I've done in my life. I remember trying to impress a girl by pretending the letter was from an admirer and *I* was the friend of said admirer that could decode the letter. It didn't work but it reminds me of the kind of person I used to be. I still have my power rangers diary from when I

Knick-knacks include things like those toys you used to collect from cereal boxes, or my Power Rangers diary.

The coins thing is because I don't know how to get rid of them. My dad used to store spare change in these huge empty whisky bottles (they're about a metre tall!). They're full of old 1p/2p/5p/10p/20p/50p coins.

I still have a load of old school books, including some projects from primary. I've come close to recycling them a few times, but I just can't do it! Like you say; it's the thought of all the work that went into them. They're currently stashed under the guest bed.

It's slightly reasuring to know I'm not the only one. Trouble is, I'm only middle-aged and the house is half full of this stuff. By the time I'm old the house will be so stuffed of tat, I'll feel like a Womble.

Your metre-high stack of coins might be worth over £1000 just as scrap metal, although that's a crime. It would probably take you a year to just sort them all!

I too am a hoarder.

Every PC Gamer I got when I was younger (don't read em anymore, and they're vastly outdated)
Every CPC/CS i've had.
Every mouse (=/) i've had.
Every love letter and valentines card from a girlfriend (slash ex)
Every dirty home movie/photo sesh i've done with a girlfriend (slash ex... though they've probably got more than me =/)
Every CD i've ever owned.*
Every DVD i've ever owned.*
Every piece of music i've played.
Every opera score i've performed in.
All computer components i've managed to glean from old rigs, including coming up on ten IDE HDDs and a Geforce 2.
Every computer game i've bought.

So yeah... you're pretty normal. Memories fade, but lossless PNG is forever. Or things that you keep in a box. They too are forever.

*Not that they go out of date... But there's some embarassing stuff there!

Junk is junk. If I can use whatever something is, I'll keep it. If not, bin time

I'm not really one for hoarding stuff that has no purpose. That's not to say I don't still own some reminders and keepsakes of things from my past, but I tend to scrap book them so although I still have them, they're all in some sort of order, with commentary, rather than just cluttering up drawers.

I said a bit, but I'm worse than that, but I don't keep everything...

If it looks useful it'll get put in a box (my portable man draw for those McIntyre fans).
I still feel awkward about throwing cards away, I usually give them to Mum and she'll cut them up and use them in something arty...
I have all my MSN logs back to about 2003 when I started using IM.

I tend to hold on to lots of things, and then have massive clear outs and fill four or five bin bags...

I keep cards etc from the wife as she'd get upset if I binned them, most other things get recycled.
I do seem to hoard computer & gadget stuff though.

Sentimental junk? Hmm, I don't have much of that. A few cards from special birthdays, the odd cuddly toy bought by Best Beloved.

Normal junk? That's a different story. I find it really hard to chuck stuff out. BB is as bad, so our house is literally overflowing with stuff we don't need or use any more. It's not a large house, so it gets hard to move about sometimes.

I'm planning a real purge over the summer. There'll be a golden rule: have you used or looked at it in the past three years? If you haven't it goes to the tip or the charity shops.

That's the plan. More likely, I'll end up shuffling the heaps of stuff about as usual.

I have a 1 year rule for craft stuff, everything else is 6 months.....

My Mister still has car parts for a car that he hasn't owned for years, as well as random computer bits that "might come in handy one day"

Not bothered a bit!!

It's a bit of a fools game to consider yourself "secure" in a relationship with someone who is the sum of their past, and be threatened by some words on paper that are no longer meant or (in most cases) relevant.

I used to collect a lot, but regularly moving, especially cross-continent, means that I throw most stuff out now. I still have a couple of small things, but generally everything that doesn't remind me of my current girlfriend has gone.

I used to collect magazines etc. but, because of the weight and storage space required, they now get thrown in the bin, once I've finished reading them.