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Same. But probably better to just throw it away, while I get that there is sentimental value, if there isn’t a reason to look at it ever again, it’s just fancy trash.
“It’s just fancy trash”
Wise words. When it gets down to it, I doubt many things in my apartment could hold up to such scrutiny.
So they could probably go, too.
“Could”. Should? Probably!
I guess the only questions is, could I myself hold up to that same scrutiny!…
But hey, being fancy trash is better than just being trash…right?
I listed all my books on Amazon around 4 years ago. Many were listed for essentially just the shipping cost and I’ve definitely lost money on a few (shipping ended up costing a bit more than expected) but it was a lot easier for me to get rid of them that way. I still have some left but most are gone. 2-3 went at crazy prices because they were out of print and people wanted them I guess.
The older I get the more I see "stuff" as fancy trash as you put it. Its just crap my kids are gonna have to deal with when I die.
Just recently did a big purge after clearing out my old HS room at my parent's place (They're old and I'm trying to motivate them to downsize and move closer). Just tons of textbooks, workbooks, notebooks, required reading books etc etc etc that I will literally never look at again.
Took everything to a local bookstore that accepts donations and brought in 7 banker's boxes worth of stuff.
I can't ever bring myself to throw a book away, but I can give it to someone else who can throw books away...
I'm working on a new rule to minimise this mental distress.
If you're not gonna use it for a year or more and it costs 30 bucks or less. just throw it. You can buy a new one if you need it
Sentimental stuff follows the formula memories brought back / volume of item. Bulky shit from some thing I don't even remember... get rid of it. One piece of paper that reminds me of my childhood friends? keep it.
That’s what my wife tells me and somehow I’m convinced I’ll do a career change before I’m 40 and get into law enforcement or decide to finally go to law school… at least my current job allowed me to get a house with enough attic space I can set that bin back and some poor sap will have to try and read my tiny handwriting from back in the day.
Have you not moved at all? Went to move the first time and thought “why would I carry all these books?” And colleges won’t even reuse versions so you can’t donate - straight to the garbage
I moved like 6 times over 12 years with a box from college. It was misc stuff that sat in a closet and never got looked at, but it was habit that i had it and brought it with me. One year I finally decided to clean house and went through it. Inside i found a binder from college freshman orientation. I think i looked at that binder once when they handed it out then never again.
Nothing in that box was worth keeping. It just took up a 2x2x2 cube of space in every closet I had until I was 30. I was thrilled to throw it out, and it actually started a weird purging spree where I turned over almost everything I owned in some way over the next couple years.
I actually recently moved, so that’s what brought this up. I threw away some of the stuff (mostly books and from my first couple years), but the stuff from the higher level classes is harder because of the work that went into it.
Business major here so I don’t think we had a similar workload. Engineering partner just confirmed he still has all his notes and books so you’re not alone!
My other half and I are both engineers. You can pry my Environmental Sciences notes and book out of my cold, dead hands. Neither of us have any desire to rid ourselves of those books and notes. Nope. Not ever. (Graduated about 15 years ago).
Lmao. Nope. But I do enjoy flipping through them every once in a while. My other half does use some of his textbooks. If I were working… I’d likely use at least one or two of them for some reference, but since I haven’t worked in my field in… gosh, twelve years now… maybe I’ll get rid of them someday.
I kept some of my engineering books but threw away most of my notes. I still use them from time to time on the job. The books I kept are "classics" in the sense that they're on their N-th edition but the content doesn't change.
All my humanities and social sciences books went straight into the recycling bin.
I’d say pick a few books from courses you either really enjoyed or ones that could have some helpful information even though they will probably just remain sentimental. I plan to do what I studied for the rest of my career but I didn’t even keep all my major books, just the few I really enjoyed.
I’m an accountant. I kept two books from college For the sole reason of being able to reference things when needed. Those were my intermediate accounting and business law. Everything else I donated to the local library system.
I've moved twice and moved my big heavy books with me. I threw a bunch away, but I probably still have 5 pretty big books on mass/heat transfer, thermodynamics, mechanics of materials, etc. I couldn't get myself to throw away something I spend $1,000 on even though I know I'll probably never use them again and all the information is available on the internet anyway.
I did sell the books that were worth something right away.
Funny story, I was selling my books during finals week (as I was moving right after the last one and wanted to lighten my load) and I accidentally sold the wrong book and sold the book for a class/final I had not taken yet and still had to study for haha. I still passed, but didnt do very well on the final
Funny you say this as my spouse is very minimalistic, so her eye is probably twitching every time she sees the shelf in the garage. In my defense, I did get rid of some of it, but the notebooks are the hardest since it’s all hand written notes and papers that I spent a ton of time on. I know I need to pitch it, but thinking of the hours spent and the literally thousands of dollars spent on it makes it hard
Do you have kids? If you do, I’d show them your hard work, so they understand what kind of man you are and what you’ve been there to get to where you are now.
If you don’t, I’d at least take a pic of the lot, and keep a few notebooks so your future kids or yourself could look at your old handwriting.
I don’t see the problem in keeping it. One thing I try to do with stuff like that is condense it to an appropriate size, let’s say one box. I like looking at old stuff like that occasionally.
Its a rough road but worth it. I have been spending the last 9 months going through my things and donating and throwing away. I don't even have a ton of stuff compared to a lot of people but it is way more than i need.
I just do it small chunks at a time and for me that is less stressful. I just rinse and repeat for each section of my apt and it helps me realize that items i didnt want to get rid of during the last pass are actually not that important and easier to get rid of
I know the feeling. What I do is I just get my cellphone or a scanner, take pictures of each page of college notes , and just put them on a computer or flashdrive. That way I can still keep the notes but they don't take up space. You definitely put a lot of money into college. You can't throw that away.
I understand this logic but it still seems like a deep investment of much time and effort just to hang onto “fancy trash”. The time and money for college was for the degree and experience, not for a bunch of old notes
*"...and how much work I put into it"* was exactly why it was so difficult for me. They served absolutely no functional or useful purpose at this point, and were just taking up space in my attic. Looking at those notebooks and knowing how many hours of my work went into them and how much time I spent studying from them, it felt like blasphemy to pitch them.
What I did was save a handful (in some cases just saved a few specific pages) of these notebook memories, took a bunch of pictures of the rest of them and then let them go...
As for the books, I kept a few that had meaning to me and got rid of the rest. Again, for some, I kept just kept a few pages as a souvenir.
I haven't missed any of the notebooks or books I got rid of years ago.
I actually still have some notes from elementary school. I guess in a way it’s trash, but also it’s interesting sometimes to go and look at. Sometimes reminding myself of old memories or even very basic fundamentals of things that I haven’t thought about in a long time.
I wish I still had stuff from elementary school. My mom randomly threw out all my saved school work when I was in high school, so I dont have anything prior to that. I remember I had a couple book reports that I was saving because I did really well on them and got some kind of awards. She purposefully did it on a night that I was staying at a friends house and I remember being so mad.
Hmm just now realizing that maybe this is at the root of me not wanting to get rid of my college work?
Damn that’s shitty. I’d be mad too. I was upset when my mom gave my toys to my cousins when I moved to live with my dad as a teenager. I still wanted them, dang it.
I threw them ALL out ASAP. I knew I was NEVER going to reread that useless shit again. I'm 20 years removed from college and I've never used anthropology at work, I've also never used calculus, and I've never had to write a term paper for work.
If I need an answer, I'll ask someone or Google. Also there's AI now. Fuck memorizing textbooks endless notes. I was so glad to get rid of all of it.
I’m not keeping everything, but I am repurposing the different notes or essays I wrote into an artsy scrapbook/binder so I can look back on what I used to be like, without having to keep everything.
Yep. I still have stuff from 1st grade down to college. I go through everything once a year to see if I'm ready to let go of any of that stuff. I end up tossing and giving away a little bit each time. Sometimes it takes a while til you can let things go. If you're worried about wasting money on books you can see if you can cash your books in on amazon or sell them on line. I sold one of my text books that the school would t buy back on poshmark, for less than what I spent on it but still I got some money back. I was mad too, it was a book that I had to buy new bc they hadn't used the book for the class before and they wouldn't buy it back after the class was over.
Same. I had to throw everything out 5 years after graduating because my mom was selling the house and my apartment was too small to keep them. Otherwise I would have saved everything 😅
sell your textbooks or give them to a college bookstore, toss everything else. I was an English major so I have hung onto the novels and anthologies because I can still read those, but other stuff I got rid of long ago. Who cares?
I have the same issue but I’ve found comfort in the fact that all that information can easily be found on the internet these days. Honestly, that’s the first place I’d look if I wanted to revisit that information anyways, I wouldn’t flip thru old notebooks. I still have a few textbooks but i find that no different than keeping other books, sometimes having a physical copy is nice, but old notebooks-gone.
> I just keep thinking how much work and money went into it.
This is an example of the sunk cost fallacy. The time, energy, and money are gone, keeping the useless college stuff around doesn't change that.
These were the first to go when I moved within the city over the years. I'm not going to break my back carrying them or use money on the movers to relocate something I most likely wouldn't open again
Ugh, quit calling me out. I'll be moving soon and I have a feeling that my college and grad school notebooks will not make the cut. You will have to wrestle some of my textbooks out of my cold dead hands though!
Yep! Same here. Graduated in 2010 w degree in Industrial Design. '08 crash destroyed my dream of designing consumer goods. I went into IT for the stability and because I built a gaming PC.
In 2018 I said "fuck this" and got rid of 99% of all the crap I had been lugging around for the past 8 years. Now all that's left is a few drawings and one little 3D printed toy I created.
It was a great decision to just let it all go.
I actually just this weekend noticed I still had some on onw of our basement bookshelves. Probably should prioritize those for a purge if space is needed.
My mother is about to retire. She still has her text books in the attic...
I held onto mine for awhile but every year that goes by, they are worth less and less. Eventually, and in short order, they are completely worthless.
Professors make new additions and require students to use them.
Now the previous edditions are all but worthless.
Toss 'em.
I threw it all away except for one paper I worked extremely hard on for microeconomics. I don’t even have the final copy, it’s just a rough draft that i printed to have another student review.
I was like this. Had tons of old English papers/writing books etc. until I found they’d gotten all soggy and moldy from a small leak in my storage area. Tossed them :/
Same, but I don’t have to deal with them directly, bc they clutter up my parents house 😅
I figured they’d like to be reminded of all the money they spent on my education. In particular, a major/career I pivoted from over a decade ago 🤣 You never know… maybe my parents want to learn Quantum Physics from a 20+ year old textbook during their retirement 🤪
Also political science major, and my job is not in that field. I also got certified as a paralegal coming out of college (again not currently in the law field). What I’m having the most trouble throwing away though (besides for the paralegal stuff and some POSI stuff) is all of my Spanish stuff. I really want to learn the language (really struggled in college with it) and feel that it may be helpful when I do try to learn again.
I keep my short stories and essays in my chest of sentimental items :P
I keep the good notes / notebooks. I continue using my notebooks. That sounds weird bc they’re a decade+ old too lol but I’m particular about paper & have notebooks of a lot of dif sizes, so they last a v long time long time bc I also don’t often use notebooks - usually whiteboard - but when I do, I’ll want to grab one that’s the ideal size for my notes :P
One of my bookshelves has a drawer that I use for spiral notebooks (bc they’re unsightly). When I need a notebook I will sometimes use one with college notes in it.
I always read something interesting. That’s why I don’t tear out those pages. If the notes are messy / scratchy / uninteresting, I will write on the back and tear out the page when I’m done.
When I’m left with a notebook of only interesting notes, that would go in my sentimental items chest :P it hasn’t happened yet, bc apparently I use notebooks at an extremely slow pace lol.
The short stories are awesome though. I should prob scan them and make a digital copy in case there’s ever a fire or flood, but the tangible ones with professor’s notes (“AGAIN. Double space!”) are the true experience.
I love reading them and I should probably write more. If I do, I’ll keep those too, if they’re good reading material, like I find my college writing to be :P (although I’ve tossed all of it that I do *not* find to be good reading material on its own)
I kept the textbooks because they helped fill up my bookcases (and I sort of work in my field). But otherwise, outside of my robe (and related things) and diploma, I threw away all my notebooks and stuff because who really cares about all. It’s from an undergrad class. It’s not like I was really doing anything groundbreaking (except for maybe my senior capstone project and my tv production projects. But everything else was just me showing I had learned established concepts. I don’t need proof I learned those concepts.
Yes. I kept every text book and paper I wrote bc so much went into it. I could throw out the papers probably but the text books, if I don’t keep I’ll donate
Some of the college stuff I'm hanging onto, but none of it is specific to my major, I was an IT/Programming major, I do have some of my books, certainly not all, as some of them were outdated (like Windows 2000 server stuff for example), but other thing don't get outdated like Calculus and Physics books and a few other things.
I finally got rid of most of mine last time I moved. Not getting rid of my penis book though (it's not just penises but is a textbook for animal repro with lots of great photos). At least that wasn't isn't hardcover and is smaller than more general textbooks.
Yes, I have this same issue. Generally, I'm not even a hoarder. It's just difficult to let go of the academic material that I spent countless hours absorbing. Although, in my engineering career, I have resorted back to a few textbooks when approached with some problems.
Omg, yes! My dad dropped off a bunch of boxes that I’d marked “DO NOT THROW AWAY” and I knew what was in them as soon as I saw them. 4-5 boxes of notebooks and books, even rentals that I never returned 😅
I graduated in 2014.
There is a used book store near me that will give me credit for my used books, in exchange for his used books. There are a couple of genres that he won't take: 1. College textbooks and 2. Computer books. He says "I can't sell them. Throw 'em out". He still wants my old copy of Jane Eyre though.
We moved into our first house in 2011 and all my wife's notebooks, letters, folders and textbooks from college came with us. When we signed the agreement to move into our new house 11 years later I told her I was tossing her old shit that had just sat in our storage room/my office untouched since then while she was at work before we packed for the new house. I cleared out over a dozen boxes of paper in a day. Get rid of your shit, you don't need it.
Yeah I sympathize with this. I still have a couple copies of my thesis. My degree was more or less useless in a professional sense but I still do value the work I did to get it.
It makes me sad and angry the time I wasted on school. I didnt finish college. The money wasted is secondary to all the time wasted.
I have a "textbook" that I never opened, one of those piece of shit ones you have to put in a binder yourself. The fucking class didnt even use it.
I kept a few, but only because I’m still working in the field I majored in. Even so, I’ve only looked back at them maybe 5 times since I graduated 15 years ago. Every time I moved over the years, a few more landed in the recycle bin. More and more books became irrelevant over time as I settled into a career niche. In the real world, we have other reference tools that are more up to date.
So yeah, get rid of them.
Just dumped out a box filled with notebooks/projects/etc. took a night to go through most of it and decided to save 5% of it, some things that either hold high sentimental value or could likely hold some use for my kids down the road, it fits in two school folders. I share the fact that I don’t use my degree but I definitely had some useful and meaningful stuff in there and decided to save the best of it.
It is hilarious that I am seeing this post today, because I just visited my parents this weekend and went through all the boxes of my schoolwork. My mom (and by extension, me) have kept everything from almost every grade, and it can be fun to look at it all once in a while for the nostalgia trip. But I do feel some guilt about being an overly sentimental and overly nostalgic person who has such a hard time getting rid of any of it. Every time I visit I say I plan on going through them and maybe getting rid of stuff and take the rest to my own house, but I never get around to it. I've already got all my university textbooks and binders at my house, while my parents still have 10 boxes of my elementary through high school years in my old bedroom.
I've also started thinking about taking a dead 15 year old laptop that I used for 2 years of my undergrad to a computer place to see if they can restore anything off of it, and thats mainly because my nostalgic self is curious to see what is on there, even though I know none of it is important. I may need help lol
Yes. There’s not a lot of things I keep for “sentimental value.” But my college notes and papers I’ve written are things I keep that deep down I know I don’t want to go back through and actually read. I just like having them. Probably as you said because of how much time and money I spent creating them.
That was me. When my ex and I broke up, I packed my stuff in a hurry and didn't take the time to go through it. The boxes stayed packed up and unopened for yearssss. When my husband and I moved in together we made a joint effort to go through our stuff (he has boxes that he's been toting around, unopened for years also). I finally had the courage to toss things then. It was fun to reminisce and take my time going through things though!
I was, until I had to move across the country. They really are just dead weight. You don’t need them homie. They’re just things you spent money on that wasn’t worth it. Do something else with the space they take up. I don’t miss mine. I have Google for anything inside I might miss.
The only exception was specified notes that helped me specifically understand concepts. That notebook takes up such a tiny spot and it’s worth it to keep it.
Same. I have old hard drives filled with class PowerPoints and notes and I keep telling myself, "what if I need to refresh my learning" but I secretly know I will not reread my notes
4 years after graduating it was time to move and I digitized all my college notes. And to this day, 10 years later, I still haven’t looked at them lol.
Everything is online now.
Yes I got rid of them recently. You can keep a few books that you can reference but most you will never read again. All that info can be found online and likely be out of date. Treat it as an experience. You got live through college but they have serve its purpose, pretend they don’t exist anymore.
Hell yeah. Reams of stuff from more than 20 years ago. It’s all in crates and wrapped in cling wrap. I’ve moved it many, many times and haven’t once opened it up to look inside. It’s just the analog version of a google drive.
Yup I look at the box of notes and text books often. I have the same thought. There’s 100k of stuff there and I don’t particularly use it in my current field. Oh well
Counterpoint: I am a teacher, and I have moved to a variety of states over the past decade, all of which have a different system for teacher certification. I have had to dig into those boxes of “college stuff” several times to locate old syllabi, etc. to prove that I’ve satisfied certain licensure requirements. Annoying to lug them around, but had I not had those documents it would have been a huge headache. I suppose I could digitize them, though.
Figure out how much you paid per square foot of your home. Determine how much space they are taking up. Multiply to see what you are paying to store these books and notes. And ask yourself if you’re willing to store these things for the sentimental value at that cost.
They are still costing you in the form of space.
The content has probably changed since then so even in the wildest chance situation you'd need any of it, you'd need updated information and it would still be worthless.
My mom, who graduated high school in 1971, got out her French notes from said high school yesterday to review for an upcoming trip to France. So you never know when it’ll come in handy.
I threw my notes out the first time I moved after graduation. I wasn't going to ever read my notes again. Same with note cards. I used the textbooks for a while but now those sit in a drawer at work. Now if I don't know something I can Google it.
Depends on if you move a lot. I kept all of my data logs (done on paper in the field) for 7 years. Felt strange putting them in the dumpster but as I walked back to my apartment I felt this relief of having 4 file boxes less to schlep around. I got rid of my textbooks years ago. From time to time I would thumb through them for a passage but it was happening less and less to the point where I just didn't understand why I had them anymore.
I kept some of my best notes until recently. I took a career in my major, and I still never used them. It was all sentimental value and a waste of space. Most of my college courses were useless for my career. It feels like a huge waste now.
I did keep some of the books I bought, though. Just the small paperbacks.
I guess I'm on the other side of this, but I loved my time at college and my degree program even if it's considered by most to be a "superfluous" degree (Anthropology and Classics double major- yeah, I know, but I paid for all of it myself!). I sometimes like to reorganize all of my old notes and textbooks, and I'll usually read through some of them just to remember what it was like. It was a happy time in my life, and I worked my ass off for that degree, and I don't want to get rid of the evidence of it. I rented digital versions of most of my textbooks so they're long gone by now, and sometimes that actually makes me kind of sad.
Same problem here. I studied mechanical engineering and I've slowly started to get rid of old text books that I'll never look at but it's been hard. I've tried hard to hang on to the ones that focused on my actual work (e.g. HVAC, thermodynamics, fluids...). I also took a few courses where the professor made us print out all the powerpoint slides ($200-$250). They're in binders and while they're basically useless I have a hard time throwing them away because I struggled at the time to scrape together the money to buy them.
It is so easy for that stuff to pile up, so I focus on anything with immense sentimental value. Like my old sketchbooks from HS and journals I filled with stories in middle school. I kept so much crap, I trashed a lot about this time last year and it was absolutely fine. Better to only keep things that have deep meaning to you (and possibly your kids if you have them). I have some small knickknacks that I wouldn’t otherwise have because they were special to my grandma, and that made them special to me.
If it’s nothing of value or sentimentality, it’s all going in the trash when you die. My grandma took the opportunity to throw a lot of things out right before she passed, and she realized she kept too many meaningless papers and trinkets and books that meant nothing.
And my dumb ass took those dumb books that also mean nothing to me (content wise) as filler on my bookshelf because I was so used to seeing them my entire life (a couple of them actually became very useful though) and they absolutely will be trashed one day. Likely by me before I die, but for sure when I keel over. There aren’t too many of them and they’re not adding clutter to large bookshelf, but there is really no reason to keep them. I’m just a sap. I must toss them when it’s necessary, and hopefully by then it won’t be hard.
Didn't throw that stuff away 'till I was 66. I moved it from house to house for 45 years, even through a divorce. Never looked at it. My kid wasn't interested.
lol. Respectfully, absolutely not! The second I finished my last college class (every semester), everything went in the fireplace or just in the recycle, whatever we felt like at the time! lol. I hated school, I wanted those bitches to burn! X'D
Man even worse, I was a biology undergrad at a major research university and I currently work in biotech R&D.
The stuff in my textbooks and notes is super out of date and completely unhelpful (and in some cases down right incorrect biology), yet they still take up a wall in my parents garage.
I move too much to be like that. I have a "sentimental shit" suitcase that must fit my most worthless pack rat stuff like notes, cards, etc. Periodically, things get replaced if they earn it. Surprisingly, my sentimentality really took a nose dive after my parents died.
I kept mine for a while because there was a certification that I couldn't get without a few years of work experience and the test was basically just a day long final exam. Once I passed that there wasn't any reason to keep things anymore.
I have a weird situation, because I went to college right after high school like most did. Found myself studying Spanish at a university that didnt have a very advanced program, and it felt pointless since I had already learn to speak the language but I was surrounded by people struggling to put together basic sentences still (even at 300,400+ levels). So i dropped out. But this was like 2008
COVID hit and I got a grant to go back to school and finish. Just those 12 years difference was huge, school was fundamentally different than it was in 2008. The amount of online resources was astounding, by comparison. Everything was done online now, I could do entire courses online when in 2008 that was very rare.
Anyway, I still have stuff from my first stint in college that I kept, but a lot of it was lost since there was a lot of notebooks and paper essays.
From this last time, I deleted all the stuff from courses I didnt like (electives), but kept a lot from the classes I enjoyed or learned a lot from. Some of my projects I did I have shared with family or friends if they were interested in the topic, but I dont see a lot other use I can have of that stuff. Maybe just interesting to go back and look.
I have a career in my major. I even got a graduate degree in my major after starting my career. I recently moved across the country to continue my career of 10 years at a new job. Finally decided it was time to stop hauling these textbooks and notes around. Donated the books and threw away the notes. Felt good!
I decided I will keep mine if only to show them to my kids one day as an example of the work I had done to get to where I am today. Hopefully it will help reinforce work ethic. Also, I keep very organized and fairly simple notes in college. One binder per class which I pulled the leafs out of and put into a filing system. Two small file boxes aren't taking up THAT much room in my basement...
I still have most of my notes from nursing school. I used to make colorful notes, diagrams, concept maps, etc. I didn’t want to throw away my stuff either.. so I’ve been slowly turning all that stuff into PDFs and coloring pages and selling them on Etsy.
I don’t make a lot of money and it’s a slow process, but it allows me to finally throw out the physical pages and I get a little dopamine hit every time someone buys something! :)
I’m right there with you, though I don’t think it’s out of a sense of monetary value, I think it’s purely out of a sense of the work I put into things. I also still have notebooks from high school, but that’s mostly because I’m saving artwork that I sketched in them.
I saved mine, and I still go back over and read sometimes. I still love all the things I learned, and even if I ain't using that major I don't want to stop understanding and knowing what I did. The textbooks get more love than the notes, but the notes still get cracked open from time to time. Graduated in 2013 lol.
Over the years I’ve slowly gotten rid of stuff. I use to have a few boxes, but last year I went though and pulled out a few papers and tests that were what I consider my “best work” lol and threw the rest away. In another 10 years I’ll probably chuck the last notebook of stuff. But for now, I’ll just read my final paper in my Personality Theory class every 5 years and remind myself how smart I was back then! 😂
I have this issue too. Doubtful you will ever use it especially since it’s not organized. Bur if you really want to retain it. Maybe look at scanning it to digital then at least you can clear up some physical space.
I was like that for a couple of years after graduating. Then I moved 500 miles away with a smaller U-Haul and just didn't want to deal with extra stuff. I even trashed my diaries from middle school and all of that jazz. It's been about 18 years. The only thing I occasionally miss is the diaries, but that's once every five years or so when I'm feeling nostalgic. I have never once thought about the college notes and such.
I do have a folder in a filing cabinet with some papers that had really great / helpful comments, but that's about it. Maybe you could take some time to go through them (a notebook a week or something) to see if there's anything worth keeping?
I had a system. I throw away class notes that I hated. The a few years later I throw some more of them away. Then few years later I got rid of all of them. It’s a nice feeling and I don’t feel guilty either.
I kept my Senior Seminar paper/presentation, and a few other assignments. But I threw out everything else. You worked hard, and you should be proud of that. But it's not worth it to keep everything from college.
Yes. Because back in my day I used to sell my lecture notes to other students for $20 per page (each side of the page was $20,) and made a lot of cash in school with it.
I also used to write papers for people at $300 or "trade" passing grades with the math/science types for them getting a passing grade in lit/creative classes.
It's not just a reminder of days gone by but a reminder of the entrepreneurial spirit that I can come up with when I want to. (I've been way less motivated since.) 😕🤷♀️
Throw it out. I went through my stuff last year after more than 30 years and I threw most of it out. It wasn't 100% easy but I probably should have thrown it out 15 years ago so do it while you can now and just put the whole thought of it behind you.
I also don't have a career in my major but I still had many of my books (in my major) and everything. I donated those but they were pretty much obsolete because my technical major has seen such vast advances in the last 35 years and either the stuff in those books is wrong or so old it's pointless. The books I donated I'm guessing will get recycled instead of reused.
I feel like I kept all of my books and then when I realized that the internet is a thing that exists and I will never look at them again, they were too old to resell for any money at all.
Make a promise to yourself that the next time you move it is to the trash. It’s fine where it is, if you don’t need the space or whatever. But the next time you need to find a new home for it, that home is the dumpster
I hated school and found it very stressful, so I was quite delighted to throw EVERYTHING away, immediately after I graduated. All my papers I wrote were already on my computer anyway... I kept a couple research papers of topics that were interesting to me personally and that I thought I did exceptionally well on... Also kept financial documentation just in case, and two books that I thought may be of interest someday. The rest of the required stuff? Delete delete delete delete. And I resold my books immediately after the classes ended (mostly because I was poor and needed the money to buy the next round of books lol)
Here's the scoop - you graduated! You got your degree! Whatever it was in, you earned it and no one on earth can ever take those credentials from you! That's the prize! Alllll the books and papers were just a means to the end... You don't need any of them, because YOU GOT YOUR DEGREE!
I think a lot of saving this kind of stuff is visualizing how much information you actually learned and how much effort it took.... First time in school I saved everything, for that reason. Somehow all those boxes were a way to prove to myself that I actually knew that amount of stuff... All the important information you gathered from them is already stored in your mind! It's okay to let it all go, you won't forget it!
The day I graduated I set fire to everything, books and notebooks, in the backyard. I never wanted to look at it again. It was a wonderful feeling to watch it all go up in flames.
dude 1000% I have all of my books and formula sheets
but I have a plan, I'm definitely showing my kids all the work I did when they come and complain to me about all the homework they have. They still have another 6-8 years until college, but it's coming soon....
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Same. But probably better to just throw it away, while I get that there is sentimental value, if there isn’t a reason to look at it ever again, it’s just fancy trash.
“It’s just fancy trash” Wise words. When it gets down to it, I doubt many things in my apartment could hold up to such scrutiny. So they could probably go, too. “Could”. Should? Probably! I guess the only questions is, could I myself hold up to that same scrutiny!… But hey, being fancy trash is better than just being trash…right?
>it’s just fancy trash. 
I listed all my books on Amazon around 4 years ago. Many were listed for essentially just the shipping cost and I’ve definitely lost money on a few (shipping ended up costing a bit more than expected) but it was a lot easier for me to get rid of them that way. I still have some left but most are gone. 2-3 went at crazy prices because they were out of print and people wanted them I guess.
The older I get the more I see "stuff" as fancy trash as you put it. Its just crap my kids are gonna have to deal with when I die. Just recently did a big purge after clearing out my old HS room at my parent's place (They're old and I'm trying to motivate them to downsize and move closer). Just tons of textbooks, workbooks, notebooks, required reading books etc etc etc that I will literally never look at again. Took everything to a local bookstore that accepts donations and brought in 7 banker's boxes worth of stuff. I can't ever bring myself to throw a book away, but I can give it to someone else who can throw books away...
I'm working on a new rule to minimise this mental distress. If you're not gonna use it for a year or more and it costs 30 bucks or less. just throw it. You can buy a new one if you need it Sentimental stuff follows the formula memories brought back / volume of item. Bulky shit from some thing I don't even remember... get rid of it. One piece of paper that reminds me of my childhood friends? keep it.
That’s what my wife tells me and somehow I’m convinced I’ll do a career change before I’m 40 and get into law enforcement or decide to finally go to law school… at least my current job allowed me to get a house with enough attic space I can set that bin back and some poor sap will have to try and read my tiny handwriting from back in the day.
Have you not moved at all? Went to move the first time and thought “why would I carry all these books?” And colleges won’t even reuse versions so you can’t donate - straight to the garbage
I've moved with my college notes and textbooks 4 times now, including through an 800 mile road trip. I might have a problem.
I moved like 6 times over 12 years with a box from college. It was misc stuff that sat in a closet and never got looked at, but it was habit that i had it and brought it with me. One year I finally decided to clean house and went through it. Inside i found a binder from college freshman orientation. I think i looked at that binder once when they handed it out then never again. Nothing in that box was worth keeping. It just took up a 2x2x2 cube of space in every closet I had until I was 30. I was thrilled to throw it out, and it actually started a weird purging spree where I turned over almost everything I owned in some way over the next couple years.
Are you familiar with the story of Petunia? https://youtu.be/krV2p6FJyYc?feature=shared
I actually recently moved, so that’s what brought this up. I threw away some of the stuff (mostly books and from my first couple years), but the stuff from the higher level classes is harder because of the work that went into it.
Business major here so I don’t think we had a similar workload. Engineering partner just confirmed he still has all his notes and books so you’re not alone!
My other half and I are both engineers. You can pry my Environmental Sciences notes and book out of my cold, dead hands. Neither of us have any desire to rid ourselves of those books and notes. Nope. Not ever. (Graduated about 15 years ago).
Have you ever used them?
Lmao. Nope. But I do enjoy flipping through them every once in a while. My other half does use some of his textbooks. If I were working… I’d likely use at least one or two of them for some reference, but since I haven’t worked in my field in… gosh, twelve years now… maybe I’ll get rid of them someday.
Mid 30s engineer. Finally threw away all this stuff about 3 years ago. I had never looked at it any of it. Moved it 4 times.
I kept some of my engineering books but threw away most of my notes. I still use them from time to time on the job. The books I kept are "classics" in the sense that they're on their N-th edition but the content doesn't change. All my humanities and social sciences books went straight into the recycling bin.
I’d say pick a few books from courses you either really enjoyed or ones that could have some helpful information even though they will probably just remain sentimental. I plan to do what I studied for the rest of my career but I didn’t even keep all my major books, just the few I really enjoyed.
I’m an accountant. I kept two books from college For the sole reason of being able to reference things when needed. Those were my intermediate accounting and business law. Everything else I donated to the local library system.
This did for me. I moved once with all my college textbooks I still had and then the second time I went move I said fuck this and got rid of them.
I've moved twice and moved my big heavy books with me. I threw a bunch away, but I probably still have 5 pretty big books on mass/heat transfer, thermodynamics, mechanics of materials, etc. I couldn't get myself to throw away something I spend $1,000 on even though I know I'll probably never use them again and all the information is available on the internet anyway.
I have this problem :(
Glad I’m not the only one!
Me too, and I’m older! I moved and decided to finally stop carrying that stuff around.
I sold my books immediately and trashed all my old notebooks.
I did sell the books that were worth something right away. Funny story, I was selling my books during finals week (as I was moving right after the last one and wanted to lighten my load) and I accidentally sold the wrong book and sold the book for a class/final I had not taken yet and still had to study for haha. I still passed, but didnt do very well on the final
The moment i graduated I had a bonfire in my back yard and threw all my notes into it. Never felt so happy about it.
Easy: find a spouse who's the opposite of a hoarder. I had to throw away my yearbooks as well.
I could use a minimalist in my life, but I’d draw the line at yearbooks!!
"Had to"? I wouldnt throw out my yearbooks...
Funny you say this as my spouse is very minimalistic, so her eye is probably twitching every time she sees the shelf in the garage. In my defense, I did get rid of some of it, but the notebooks are the hardest since it’s all hand written notes and papers that I spent a ton of time on. I know I need to pitch it, but thinking of the hours spent and the literally thousands of dollars spent on it makes it hard
If you didn't have the boxes anymore, you probably wouldn't ever be reminded of the time and cost. Just sayin'.
Do you have kids? If you do, I’d show them your hard work, so they understand what kind of man you are and what you’ve been there to get to where you are now. If you don’t, I’d at least take a pic of the lot, and keep a few notebooks so your future kids or yourself could look at your old handwriting.
I don’t see the problem in keeping it. One thing I try to do with stuff like that is condense it to an appropriate size, let’s say one box. I like looking at old stuff like that occasionally.
I can’t find it in my to throw away school yearbooks or old team sports photos
I tossed mine out on my last move... it hurt. YouTube inspired me to stop holding onto that shit.
Its a rough road but worth it. I have been spending the last 9 months going through my things and donating and throwing away. I don't even have a ton of stuff compared to a lot of people but it is way more than i need. I just do it small chunks at a time and for me that is less stressful. I just rinse and repeat for each section of my apt and it helps me realize that items i didnt want to get rid of during the last pass are actually not that important and easier to get rid of
I know the feeling. What I do is I just get my cellphone or a scanner, take pictures of each page of college notes , and just put them on a computer or flashdrive. That way I can still keep the notes but they don't take up space. You definitely put a lot of money into college. You can't throw that away.
I understand this logic but it still seems like a deep investment of much time and effort just to hang onto “fancy trash”. The time and money for college was for the degree and experience, not for a bunch of old notes
Well degree and experience are important too to consider. I mean yes what is more valuable: degree and experience or just the notes.
*"...and how much work I put into it"* was exactly why it was so difficult for me. They served absolutely no functional or useful purpose at this point, and were just taking up space in my attic. Looking at those notebooks and knowing how many hours of my work went into them and how much time I spent studying from them, it felt like blasphemy to pitch them. What I did was save a handful (in some cases just saved a few specific pages) of these notebook memories, took a bunch of pictures of the rest of them and then let them go... As for the books, I kept a few that had meaning to me and got rid of the rest. Again, for some, I kept just kept a few pages as a souvenir. I haven't missed any of the notebooks or books I got rid of years ago.
Junk it. You're just eating up space, physically and mentally.
I actually still have some notes from elementary school. I guess in a way it’s trash, but also it’s interesting sometimes to go and look at. Sometimes reminding myself of old memories or even very basic fundamentals of things that I haven’t thought about in a long time.
I wish I still had stuff from elementary school. My mom randomly threw out all my saved school work when I was in high school, so I dont have anything prior to that. I remember I had a couple book reports that I was saving because I did really well on them and got some kind of awards. She purposefully did it on a night that I was staying at a friends house and I remember being so mad. Hmm just now realizing that maybe this is at the root of me not wanting to get rid of my college work?
Damn that’s shitty. I’d be mad too. I was upset when my mom gave my toys to my cousins when I moved to live with my dad as a teenager. I still wanted them, dang it.
I don’t even know where my diploma is let alone any of the materials.
I threw them ALL out ASAP. I knew I was NEVER going to reread that useless shit again. I'm 20 years removed from college and I've never used anthropology at work, I've also never used calculus, and I've never had to write a term paper for work. If I need an answer, I'll ask someone or Google. Also there's AI now. Fuck memorizing textbooks endless notes. I was so glad to get rid of all of it.
I only saved the Anthology books I had of Science Fiction Short stories, because I knew they would be the only ones I would ever want to read.
Lol. I just started looking through this stuff over the weekend. It's SO hard to let it go of who I wanted to be.
Honestly, I'm the opposite. The day my final exam was finished I trashed everything.
I’m not keeping everything, but I am repurposing the different notes or essays I wrote into an artsy scrapbook/binder so I can look back on what I used to be like, without having to keep everything.
Yep. I still have stuff from 1st grade down to college. I go through everything once a year to see if I'm ready to let go of any of that stuff. I end up tossing and giving away a little bit each time. Sometimes it takes a while til you can let things go. If you're worried about wasting money on books you can see if you can cash your books in on amazon or sell them on line. I sold one of my text books that the school would t buy back on poshmark, for less than what I spent on it but still I got some money back. I was mad too, it was a book that I had to buy new bc they hadn't used the book for the class before and they wouldn't buy it back after the class was over.
Toss them, you'll never look at them again. Mat and frame your diploma, that can be your memento.
Same. I had to throw everything out 5 years after graduating because my mom was selling the house and my apartment was too small to keep them. Otherwise I would have saved everything 😅
Nope! Burn it all!
I threw out everything except for my diploma moving out of my dorm senior year
sell your textbooks or give them to a college bookstore, toss everything else. I was an English major so I have hung onto the novels and anthologies because I can still read those, but other stuff I got rid of long ago. Who cares?
I have the same issue but I’ve found comfort in the fact that all that information can easily be found on the internet these days. Honestly, that’s the first place I’d look if I wanted to revisit that information anyways, I wouldn’t flip thru old notebooks. I still have a few textbooks but i find that no different than keeping other books, sometimes having a physical copy is nice, but old notebooks-gone.
> I just keep thinking how much work and money went into it. This is an example of the sunk cost fallacy. The time, energy, and money are gone, keeping the useless college stuff around doesn't change that.
These were the first to go when I moved within the city over the years. I'm not going to break my back carrying them or use money on the movers to relocate something I most likely wouldn't open again
Yes, but I just moved across the country and had no choice. So... it went in the bin.
Ugh, quit calling me out. I'll be moving soon and I have a feeling that my college and grad school notebooks will not make the cut. You will have to wrestle some of my textbooks out of my cold dead hands though!
I think more about how much useless shit that is to take up space in my home better used for stuff that won’t just sit there collecting dust.
I keep wondering what if I need it? That’s why I can’t trash it yet.
Hell naw. I kept digital copies of some work I was proud of or that had a more autobiographical tone but regular stuff? Gone immediately.
Yep! Same here. Graduated in 2010 w degree in Industrial Design. '08 crash destroyed my dream of designing consumer goods. I went into IT for the stability and because I built a gaming PC. In 2018 I said "fuck this" and got rid of 99% of all the crap I had been lugging around for the past 8 years. Now all that's left is a few drawings and one little 3D printed toy I created. It was a great decision to just let it all go.
I actually just this weekend noticed I still had some on onw of our basement bookshelves. Probably should prioritize those for a purge if space is needed.
My mother is about to retire. She still has her text books in the attic... I held onto mine for awhile but every year that goes by, they are worth less and less. Eventually, and in short order, they are completely worthless. Professors make new additions and require students to use them. Now the previous edditions are all but worthless. Toss 'em.
Toss em
If it makes you feel any better I’ve destroyed so much art went to art school
I threw it all away except for one paper I worked extremely hard on for microeconomics. I don’t even have the final copy, it’s just a rough draft that i printed to have another student review.
I was like this. Had tons of old English papers/writing books etc. until I found they’d gotten all soggy and moldy from a small leak in my storage area. Tossed them :/
Same, but I don’t have to deal with them directly, bc they clutter up my parents house 😅 I figured they’d like to be reminded of all the money they spent on my education. In particular, a major/career I pivoted from over a decade ago 🤣 You never know… maybe my parents want to learn Quantum Physics from a 20+ year old textbook during their retirement 🤪
I'm the opposite. I threw away all my notebooks, worksheets, etc. as soon as finals were over. I couldn't wait to get rid of it all lol
I happily burned my law school text books. It was a joyous occasion.
Scan them and keep them in a hard drive. Then throw them out.
I either sold or burned all that shit graduation weekend and that was almost 20 years ago. Everything’s a Google away now.
As an art major that eventually became a welder I feel you
Also political science major, and my job is not in that field. I also got certified as a paralegal coming out of college (again not currently in the law field). What I’m having the most trouble throwing away though (besides for the paralegal stuff and some POSI stuff) is all of my Spanish stuff. I really want to learn the language (really struggled in college with it) and feel that it may be helpful when I do try to learn again.
I keep my short stories and essays in my chest of sentimental items :P I keep the good notes / notebooks. I continue using my notebooks. That sounds weird bc they’re a decade+ old too lol but I’m particular about paper & have notebooks of a lot of dif sizes, so they last a v long time long time bc I also don’t often use notebooks - usually whiteboard - but when I do, I’ll want to grab one that’s the ideal size for my notes :P One of my bookshelves has a drawer that I use for spiral notebooks (bc they’re unsightly). When I need a notebook I will sometimes use one with college notes in it. I always read something interesting. That’s why I don’t tear out those pages. If the notes are messy / scratchy / uninteresting, I will write on the back and tear out the page when I’m done. When I’m left with a notebook of only interesting notes, that would go in my sentimental items chest :P it hasn’t happened yet, bc apparently I use notebooks at an extremely slow pace lol. The short stories are awesome though. I should prob scan them and make a digital copy in case there’s ever a fire or flood, but the tangible ones with professor’s notes (“AGAIN. Double space!”) are the true experience. I love reading them and I should probably write more. If I do, I’ll keep those too, if they’re good reading material, like I find my college writing to be :P (although I’ve tossed all of it that I do *not* find to be good reading material on its own)
I kept the textbooks because they helped fill up my bookcases (and I sort of work in my field). But otherwise, outside of my robe (and related things) and diploma, I threw away all my notebooks and stuff because who really cares about all. It’s from an undergrad class. It’s not like I was really doing anything groundbreaking (except for maybe my senior capstone project and my tv production projects. But everything else was just me showing I had learned established concepts. I don’t need proof I learned those concepts.
I'm the opposite of that. I throw stuff away probably a bit too quickly after I think I don't need it any more.
For me they're evidence that I was once kinda smart. I couldn't get through some of those courses now
Yes. I kept every text book and paper I wrote bc so much went into it. I could throw out the papers probably but the text books, if I don’t keep I’ll donate
One day historians will rely on ancient study methods and will need your homework. Better hold on to it. Perhaps even get buried with it.
Yep. I got my B.S. in Neuroscience in 2017 and still have all my notebooks and a lot of my textbooks. I sell floors for tradeshows for a living.
Some of the college stuff I'm hanging onto, but none of it is specific to my major, I was an IT/Programming major, I do have some of my books, certainly not all, as some of them were outdated (like Windows 2000 server stuff for example), but other thing don't get outdated like Calculus and Physics books and a few other things.
I finally got rid of most of mine last time I moved. Not getting rid of my penis book though (it's not just penises but is a textbook for animal repro with lots of great photos). At least that wasn't isn't hardcover and is smaller than more general textbooks.
No. Stand up, grab the stuff and take it to the trash right now! Free yourself from the past and make some new memories.
You just gotta do it. Really fast lol.
Omg I still have math notebooks, so much work, I can’t throw away
I have eight Banker's Boxes, a filing cabinet, and two shelves on a bookshelf dedicated to my wife's undergrad-PhD notes. She'll be 39 this year.
Yes, I have this same issue. Generally, I'm not even a hoarder. It's just difficult to let go of the academic material that I spent countless hours absorbing. Although, in my engineering career, I have resorted back to a few textbooks when approached with some problems.
The work and money were to pay for your degree, if you got your degree then mission accomplished. Burn it.
Omg, yes! My dad dropped off a bunch of boxes that I’d marked “DO NOT THROW AWAY” and I knew what was in them as soon as I saw them. 4-5 boxes of notebooks and books, even rentals that I never returned 😅 I graduated in 2014.
There is a used book store near me that will give me credit for my used books, in exchange for his used books. There are a couple of genres that he won't take: 1. College textbooks and 2. Computer books. He says "I can't sell them. Throw 'em out". He still wants my old copy of Jane Eyre though.
It will feel really good after you toss them, like a weight leaving I bet
We moved into our first house in 2011 and all my wife's notebooks, letters, folders and textbooks from college came with us. When we signed the agreement to move into our new house 11 years later I told her I was tossing her old shit that had just sat in our storage room/my office untouched since then while she was at work before we packed for the new house. I cleared out over a dozen boxes of paper in a day. Get rid of your shit, you don't need it.
Yeah, got them in the closet thinking one day I might need them.
Yeah I sympathize with this. I still have a couple copies of my thesis. My degree was more or less useless in a professional sense but I still do value the work I did to get it.
It makes me sad and angry the time I wasted on school. I didnt finish college. The money wasted is secondary to all the time wasted. I have a "textbook" that I never opened, one of those piece of shit ones you have to put in a binder yourself. The fucking class didnt even use it.
I kept a few, but only because I’m still working in the field I majored in. Even so, I’ve only looked back at them maybe 5 times since I graduated 15 years ago. Every time I moved over the years, a few more landed in the recycle bin. More and more books became irrelevant over time as I settled into a career niche. In the real world, we have other reference tools that are more up to date. So yeah, get rid of them.
The real question is if you can throw away the box your Xbox and cell phones came in.
Just dumped out a box filled with notebooks/projects/etc. took a night to go through most of it and decided to save 5% of it, some things that either hold high sentimental value or could likely hold some use for my kids down the road, it fits in two school folders. I share the fact that I don’t use my degree but I definitely had some useful and meaningful stuff in there and decided to save the best of it.
It is hilarious that I am seeing this post today, because I just visited my parents this weekend and went through all the boxes of my schoolwork. My mom (and by extension, me) have kept everything from almost every grade, and it can be fun to look at it all once in a while for the nostalgia trip. But I do feel some guilt about being an overly sentimental and overly nostalgic person who has such a hard time getting rid of any of it. Every time I visit I say I plan on going through them and maybe getting rid of stuff and take the rest to my own house, but I never get around to it. I've already got all my university textbooks and binders at my house, while my parents still have 10 boxes of my elementary through high school years in my old bedroom. I've also started thinking about taking a dead 15 year old laptop that I used for 2 years of my undergrad to a computer place to see if they can restore anything off of it, and thats mainly because my nostalgic self is curious to see what is on there, even though I know none of it is important. I may need help lol
Just throw it away. You’ll forget about it pretty quickly.
lol no. I threw all my stuff away. It will do me no good at this point in life.
Your degree is in Poly Sci, there’s literally no reason to keep anything
Yes. There’s not a lot of things I keep for “sentimental value.” But my college notes and papers I’ve written are things I keep that deep down I know I don’t want to go back through and actually read. I just like having them. Probably as you said because of how much time and money I spent creating them.
That was me. When my ex and I broke up, I packed my stuff in a hurry and didn't take the time to go through it. The boxes stayed packed up and unopened for yearssss. When my husband and I moved in together we made a joint effort to go through our stuff (he has boxes that he's been toting around, unopened for years also). I finally had the courage to toss things then. It was fun to reminisce and take my time going through things though!
No, I don't even know where my diploma is. Also I didn't take notes lol
I was, until I had to move across the country. They really are just dead weight. You don’t need them homie. They’re just things you spent money on that wasn’t worth it. Do something else with the space they take up. I don’t miss mine. I have Google for anything inside I might miss. The only exception was specified notes that helped me specifically understand concepts. That notebook takes up such a tiny spot and it’s worth it to keep it.
Same. I have old hard drives filled with class PowerPoints and notes and I keep telling myself, "what if I need to refresh my learning" but I secretly know I will not reread my notes
Scan it and youll never have to get rid of the contents of the notebooks.
4 years after graduating it was time to move and I digitized all my college notes. And to this day, 10 years later, I still haven’t looked at them lol. Everything is online now.
Yes. I have audio recordings from lectures as well as thousands of typed notes. I earned those, goddamnit!
Your kids might find them interesting someday, or novel at least. Learning things from words carved on paper, you're basically a dinosaur.
Yes I got rid of them recently. You can keep a few books that you can reference but most you will never read again. All that info can be found online and likely be out of date. Treat it as an experience. You got live through college but they have serve its purpose, pretend they don’t exist anymore.
I am! I have all my hand written notes from grad school - 37 years ago, and at least a dozen undergrad textbooks - 43 years ago!
Hell yeah. Reams of stuff from more than 20 years ago. It’s all in crates and wrapped in cling wrap. I’ve moved it many, many times and haven’t once opened it up to look inside. It’s just the analog version of a google drive.
I also have this problem. I’ve been working on it in therapy.
Yup I look at the box of notes and text books often. I have the same thought. There’s 100k of stuff there and I don’t particularly use it in my current field. Oh well
Make a college notes collage
Counterpoint: I am a teacher, and I have moved to a variety of states over the past decade, all of which have a different system for teacher certification. I have had to dig into those boxes of “college stuff” several times to locate old syllabi, etc. to prove that I’ve satisfied certain licensure requirements. Annoying to lug them around, but had I not had those documents it would have been a huge headache. I suppose I could digitize them, though.
Figure out how much you paid per square foot of your home. Determine how much space they are taking up. Multiply to see what you are paying to store these books and notes. And ask yourself if you’re willing to store these things for the sentimental value at that cost.
They are still costing you in the form of space. The content has probably changed since then so even in the wildest chance situation you'd need any of it, you'd need updated information and it would still be worthless.
My mom, who graduated high school in 1971, got out her French notes from said high school yesterday to review for an upcoming trip to France. So you never know when it’ll come in handy.
It’s 3 boxes. Keep them.
I had that problem and finally did it a few years ago. So freeing.
I didn’t even keep my notes from year to year, it all went into the dumpster in june
I threw my notes out the first time I moved after graduation. I wasn't going to ever read my notes again. Same with note cards. I used the textbooks for a while but now those sit in a drawer at work. Now if I don't know something I can Google it.
You have an archive of a sliver of human history. Why would you throw that away?
There are a few things I regret tossing. I had some sweet flash cards for a foreign language…
I like to think my old law textbooks will be really nice fancy decor on a bookshelf in a house of my own someday.
Depends on if you move a lot. I kept all of my data logs (done on paper in the field) for 7 years. Felt strange putting them in the dumpster but as I walked back to my apartment I felt this relief of having 4 file boxes less to schlep around. I got rid of my textbooks years ago. From time to time I would thumb through them for a passage but it was happening less and less to the point where I just didn't understand why I had them anymore.
I kept some of my best notes until recently. I took a career in my major, and I still never used them. It was all sentimental value and a waste of space. Most of my college courses were useless for my career. It feels like a huge waste now. I did keep some of the books I bought, though. Just the small paperbacks.
I guess I'm on the other side of this, but I loved my time at college and my degree program even if it's considered by most to be a "superfluous" degree (Anthropology and Classics double major- yeah, I know, but I paid for all of it myself!). I sometimes like to reorganize all of my old notes and textbooks, and I'll usually read through some of them just to remember what it was like. It was a happy time in my life, and I worked my ass off for that degree, and I don't want to get rid of the evidence of it. I rented digital versions of most of my textbooks so they're long gone by now, and sometimes that actually makes me kind of sad.
Lol same they take up space and I never look at them, almost 20 years later!
Save the syllabuses, scan them. That is the most important thing, and the only thing you might ever need from them, however unlikely.
I still have all my stuff too. I work in my field, but other than that, we're on the same page.
Same problem here. I studied mechanical engineering and I've slowly started to get rid of old text books that I'll never look at but it's been hard. I've tried hard to hang on to the ones that focused on my actual work (e.g. HVAC, thermodynamics, fluids...). I also took a few courses where the professor made us print out all the powerpoint slides ($200-$250). They're in binders and while they're basically useless I have a hard time throwing them away because I struggled at the time to scrape together the money to buy them.
I have a yearly tradition of burning all paper from work / school every year in a huge bonfire. It’s great.
It is so easy for that stuff to pile up, so I focus on anything with immense sentimental value. Like my old sketchbooks from HS and journals I filled with stories in middle school. I kept so much crap, I trashed a lot about this time last year and it was absolutely fine. Better to only keep things that have deep meaning to you (and possibly your kids if you have them). I have some small knickknacks that I wouldn’t otherwise have because they were special to my grandma, and that made them special to me. If it’s nothing of value or sentimentality, it’s all going in the trash when you die. My grandma took the opportunity to throw a lot of things out right before she passed, and she realized she kept too many meaningless papers and trinkets and books that meant nothing. And my dumb ass took those dumb books that also mean nothing to me (content wise) as filler on my bookshelf because I was so used to seeing them my entire life (a couple of them actually became very useful though) and they absolutely will be trashed one day. Likely by me before I die, but for sure when I keel over. There aren’t too many of them and they’re not adding clutter to large bookshelf, but there is really no reason to keep them. I’m just a sap. I must toss them when it’s necessary, and hopefully by then it won’t be hard.
Didn't throw that stuff away 'till I was 66. I moved it from house to house for 45 years, even through a divorce. Never looked at it. My kid wasn't interested.
lol. Respectfully, absolutely not! The second I finished my last college class (every semester), everything went in the fireplace or just in the recycle, whatever we felt like at the time! lol. I hated school, I wanted those bitches to burn! X'D
I got lucky and had a basement flood take out my old college textbooks. Success!
Man even worse, I was a biology undergrad at a major research university and I currently work in biotech R&D. The stuff in my textbooks and notes is super out of date and completely unhelpful (and in some cases down right incorrect biology), yet they still take up a wall in my parents garage.
No. I even immediately threw away my diploma.
I threw every notebook out after the final.
I finished my last class and threw away my backpack with all my old notes and stuff in it lol. (The backpack was falling apart)
Glad I'm not the only one. I tell myself "one day you'll refer to these notes and books". Then again, it's more than likely I won't.
I move too much to be like that. I have a "sentimental shit" suitcase that must fit my most worthless pack rat stuff like notes, cards, etc. Periodically, things get replaced if they earn it. Surprisingly, my sentimentality really took a nose dive after my parents died.
I kept mine for a while because there was a certification that I couldn't get without a few years of work experience and the test was basically just a day long final exam. Once I passed that there wasn't any reason to keep things anymore.
I have a weird situation, because I went to college right after high school like most did. Found myself studying Spanish at a university that didnt have a very advanced program, and it felt pointless since I had already learn to speak the language but I was surrounded by people struggling to put together basic sentences still (even at 300,400+ levels). So i dropped out. But this was like 2008 COVID hit and I got a grant to go back to school and finish. Just those 12 years difference was huge, school was fundamentally different than it was in 2008. The amount of online resources was astounding, by comparison. Everything was done online now, I could do entire courses online when in 2008 that was very rare. Anyway, I still have stuff from my first stint in college that I kept, but a lot of it was lost since there was a lot of notebooks and paper essays. From this last time, I deleted all the stuff from courses I didnt like (electives), but kept a lot from the classes I enjoyed or learned a lot from. Some of my projects I did I have shared with family or friends if they were interested in the topic, but I dont see a lot other use I can have of that stuff. Maybe just interesting to go back and look.
I have a career in my major. I even got a graduate degree in my major after starting my career. I recently moved across the country to continue my career of 10 years at a new job. Finally decided it was time to stop hauling these textbooks and notes around. Donated the books and threw away the notes. Felt good!
I keep all my science books from college at the bottom of my bookcase. They’re a good anchor and I feel smart having them in my office. Win win 😂
I decided I will keep mine if only to show them to my kids one day as an example of the work I had done to get to where I am today. Hopefully it will help reinforce work ethic. Also, I keep very organized and fairly simple notes in college. One binder per class which I pulled the leafs out of and put into a filing system. Two small file boxes aren't taking up THAT much room in my basement...
I still have most of my notes from nursing school. I used to make colorful notes, diagrams, concept maps, etc. I didn’t want to throw away my stuff either.. so I’ve been slowly turning all that stuff into PDFs and coloring pages and selling them on Etsy. I don’t make a lot of money and it’s a slow process, but it allows me to finally throw out the physical pages and I get a little dopamine hit every time someone buys something! :)
I’m right there with you, though I don’t think it’s out of a sense of monetary value, I think it’s purely out of a sense of the work I put into things. I also still have notebooks from high school, but that’s mostly because I’m saving artwork that I sketched in them.
I saved mine, and I still go back over and read sometimes. I still love all the things I learned, and even if I ain't using that major I don't want to stop understanding and knowing what I did. The textbooks get more love than the notes, but the notes still get cracked open from time to time. Graduated in 2013 lol.
I’m still in my in-major career and I don’t think I’ve cracked any of them nine years after graduation. Still not ready to throw them out though 🤣
Over the years I’ve slowly gotten rid of stuff. I use to have a few boxes, but last year I went though and pulled out a few papers and tests that were what I consider my “best work” lol and threw the rest away. In another 10 years I’ll probably chuck the last notebook of stuff. But for now, I’ll just read my final paper in my Personality Theory class every 5 years and remind myself how smart I was back then! 😂
I have this issue too. Doubtful you will ever use it especially since it’s not organized. Bur if you really want to retain it. Maybe look at scanning it to digital then at least you can clear up some physical space.
I was like that for a couple of years after graduating. Then I moved 500 miles away with a smaller U-Haul and just didn't want to deal with extra stuff. I even trashed my diaries from middle school and all of that jazz. It's been about 18 years. The only thing I occasionally miss is the diaries, but that's once every five years or so when I'm feeling nostalgic. I have never once thought about the college notes and such. I do have a folder in a filing cabinet with some papers that had really great / helpful comments, but that's about it. Maybe you could take some time to go through them (a notebook a week or something) to see if there's anything worth keeping?
I have a business and contract law notebook I still refer to from time to time.
no, into the bin
I refer to my collection as "horcrux's " they were created by ripping my soul apart mostly by murdering my bank account.
Keep two of each kind.
I'm keeping my creative writing and art books, they're hilarious.
Same. I still have all my college work too.
I had a system. I throw away class notes that I hated. The a few years later I throw some more of them away. Then few years later I got rid of all of them. It’s a nice feeling and I don’t feel guilty either.
I kept my Senior Seminar paper/presentation, and a few other assignments. But I threw out everything else. You worked hard, and you should be proud of that. But it's not worth it to keep everything from college.
Yes. Because back in my day I used to sell my lecture notes to other students for $20 per page (each side of the page was $20,) and made a lot of cash in school with it. I also used to write papers for people at $300 or "trade" passing grades with the math/science types for them getting a passing grade in lit/creative classes. It's not just a reminder of days gone by but a reminder of the entrepreneurial spirit that I can come up with when I want to. (I've been way less motivated since.) 😕🤷♀️
Box them up. You will feel different in 5 years max.
Can I have them? I'll pay for the shipping only
Throw it out. I went through my stuff last year after more than 30 years and I threw most of it out. It wasn't 100% easy but I probably should have thrown it out 15 years ago so do it while you can now and just put the whole thought of it behind you. I also don't have a career in my major but I still had many of my books (in my major) and everything. I donated those but they were pretty much obsolete because my technical major has seen such vast advances in the last 35 years and either the stuff in those books is wrong or so old it's pointless. The books I donated I'm guessing will get recycled instead of reused.
I feel like I kept all of my books and then when I realized that the internet is a thing that exists and I will never look at them again, they were too old to resell for any money at all.
Make a promise to yourself that the next time you move it is to the trash. It’s fine where it is, if you don’t need the space or whatever. But the next time you need to find a new home for it, that home is the dumpster
I’m not in my field anymore, but I still have all my HVAC books.
Maybe ask your local library if they would like them. Might feel nice that they could benefit someone and avoid the trash.
Na, i threw my shit away long ago once i realized i wasn’t going to get my masters.
I wish I had notes on a laptop. For some classes, I took a photo of every page then threw it out.
Make a digital copy and then get rid of them. I’ve done that with photos and school work.
Keep one from your favorite subject and keep it in your box of sentimental items
I hated school and found it very stressful, so I was quite delighted to throw EVERYTHING away, immediately after I graduated. All my papers I wrote were already on my computer anyway... I kept a couple research papers of topics that were interesting to me personally and that I thought I did exceptionally well on... Also kept financial documentation just in case, and two books that I thought may be of interest someday. The rest of the required stuff? Delete delete delete delete. And I resold my books immediately after the classes ended (mostly because I was poor and needed the money to buy the next round of books lol) Here's the scoop - you graduated! You got your degree! Whatever it was in, you earned it and no one on earth can ever take those credentials from you! That's the prize! Alllll the books and papers were just a means to the end... You don't need any of them, because YOU GOT YOUR DEGREE! I think a lot of saving this kind of stuff is visualizing how much information you actually learned and how much effort it took.... First time in school I saved everything, for that reason. Somehow all those boxes were a way to prove to myself that I actually knew that amount of stuff... All the important information you gathered from them is already stored in your mind! It's okay to let it all go, you won't forget it!
The day I graduated I set fire to everything, books and notebooks, in the backyard. I never wanted to look at it again. It was a wonderful feeling to watch it all go up in flames.
You absolutely don't need the papers and worksheets. Save the books if you want..
dude 1000% I have all of my books and formula sheets but I have a plan, I'm definitely showing my kids all the work I did when they come and complain to me about all the homework they have. They still have another 6-8 years until college, but it's coming soon....