Decluttering for Dementia: Paper Clutter

“The only thing I kept was a collection of assorted trinkets stored in a shoebox: the clarinet cap that had belonged to the boy with leukemia, the key chain with the gold star, my Steif mouse from Dr. Salinger’s menagerie.” Betsy Lerner, Shred Sisters 

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There are no clear statistics on how many Americans have memory boxes, although an informal survey of Artifcts community members and friends found that 100 percent of those asked did indeed have a memory box, bin, or even a drawer. The most minimalist among us even had a memory box (or two!).  

Memory boxes are widely used for bereavement support, family history preservation, and dementia care, where the content of the memory box can help patients remember past people and events. Choices abound for those looking for a specific type of box for a specific purpose, as detailed in our Boxes Abound! ARTIcles story. 

We’ve seen over the years how no two memory boxes are alike—the contents of Amy Shred’s box as quoted above are different from the contents of your box, my box, etc. We all have certain things that we hold on to for different reasons. The contents of our memory boxes are reminders of our past, connections to people, places, and events near and dear to us. Most memory boxes are overflowing with heart value, even if the financial value is dubious at best. Case in point, the now-disintegrating rose petals our co-founder Heather has kept for the past eight years. Pure heart value.  

Preserve and Share the Memories 

The whole point of creating and storing a memory box is to keep the memories safe for years to come. But how will anyone know WHAT those items are, let alone the memories that led you to keep them. Neither ‘stuff’ nor photos can talk, and all too often our carefully preserved and curated boxes become a mystery to the next generation, often ending up in a trash or recycling bin. 

We can do better than that!  

We challenge you over the five days to pick one item a day from your memory box and Artifct it on the spot. With Artifcts, there is no story burden, you can come back and edit and add to the story as often as you want! “My husband gave me this rose on our first date,” is all the story you need to connect those petals that are now floating around your memory box to a cherished memory. 

Challenge accepted? Great!  

Follow our easy steps below to ensure your memories, stories, and memory box contents are digitally preserved and contextualized for the next generation. 

1. 1. 1. Pick an object! Don’t stress over where to start first. What is the first item you see when you open your memory box?
      2. Snap a photo. If you’re up to it, you can add a related audio or video clip, too, or record something new. 
      3. Add a short story. Even a simple fact of WHAT the item is may be enough to get you started. 
      4. Save! You’re done. Now you can privately share your Artifct with family and friends.  

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Imagine if one day you inherited Amy Shred’s memory box, and you discovered the clarinet mouthpiece. You KNOW your mom didn’t play clarinet, but there’s a mouthpiece in her memory box. What gives?  

This is one of the many superpowers of Artifcts—Artifcts lets you contextualize and give voice to your memories, stories, and histories on your terms.  No more guess work or made-up stories in our endless attempts to connect dots and find meaning in the things we keep.  

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Interested in additional ARTIcles? You may like the following:

Why One Mom Moved Beyond Memory Boxes and Instagram

Gift Your Loved Ones a Why

© 2025 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Boxes, binders, and bins, oh my! Maybe you know them as keepsake, remembrance, memento, memory, or memorial boxes. Some memory boxes even mirror the binder approach, with tabs by topic, checklists, and pouches for loose keys, thumb drives, and other small and useful or meaningful objects. 

No matter what, before you stick any ‘stuff’ in your box of choice and snap on the lid, Artifct it to remember what it is and why it mattered. Unlike boxes, Artifcts are:

• • • Instantly and perpetually organized and searchable 
    • Fireproof and waterproof
    • Able to combine text, video, audio, and photos for every item
    • Easily shareable and accessible online to anyone you choose, anywhere, anytime 
    • Do not take up space or require dusting

And, obviously, the stuff inside your Artifcts collection will not run the risk of outlasting your memories like a box full of stuff will. The memories are captured and preserved. You are no longer the single point of failure, the family keeper of the memories behind the mementos. Breathe a sigh of relief!

Keepsake Box Options Abound

For those of us who relish holding onto those curated items that mean the most, we’ve tried to distill here what we’ve learned about the variety of boxes available. A common search on Google is "acid-free keepsake box," which tells you people care about keeping items for the long haul.

Many major retailers, like Crate and Barrel, The Container Store, Pottery Barn, Target, Hallmark, and Amazon, sell at least one or two. So, we know there’s demand, people are looking for them. We suspect from how they are marketed that a box makes for a simple and obvious gift for special occasions. You’ll see below that the options and qualities vary. There is something for most needs, styles, and price points! 

(Listed in alphabetical order.) 

• • Akin offers custom boxes that fit and showcase the curated items you have chosen to help tell your story - whether it’s memorabilia, journals, photographs, documents, records, or more. What further sets Akin apart is that it offers services bundled around the box for custom-designed books and genealogy research to help commemorate family stories and ancestral histories.

"Present and preserve your keepsakes as opposed to hiding them away. A curated memorabilia box not only holds your most treasured pieces, it should tell their origin story—beautifully and archivally—so they can be cherished and shared for years to come," explained Renee Innis, Akin Founder.

• • Archival Methods offers archival boxes as well as a whole product category for “object storage.” They have additional custom options for fitting objects more snuggly in the boxes, too. Check them out on Allies in 'Stuff' for a discount code!
  • Etsy is a logical choice for creative and custom options you’ve never even knew existed, offering a breathtaking variety of sizes, styles, and materials to match your purpose or occasion.
  • Infinity Trunk is new to this list since we first published this article. If you need more space like the cedar trunks of old, and truly want a box that is fireproof (and will not be damanged by the water to put out that fire either), this is the box for you. And if it burns, still protecting your items, they will even replace the box for free! Designed and built by expert engineers in Chicago.
  • Nokbox is about functional preparedness, organizing critical information about your life in a box. Keep in mind that if you’re going to store and rely on hardcopy, however, we strongly encourage: (1) fireproof, and know what that covers, (2) never put passwords into a single physical, open access, hardcopy location, and (3) use a digital equivalent for all your life documentation (such as a digital vault from Trustworthy). Digital options are less vulnerable, easier to update, and accessible from anywhere.
  • Petite Keep offers more traditional aesthetics for its boxes, sort of a Pottery Barn or Draper James feel, with customization for initials, patterns, and more.
  • Savor, in contrast to Petite Keep, offers a cleaner, more basic style like you might find from archival-quality sources. Its collection has expanded to offer drawers for vertically oriented boxes, built-in envelopes, and more to cover whatever ‘stuff’ you might have in mind to combine.  

Need we say it again? Just as we tell you “Before you store it, Artifct it," before you box that, Artifct that, too. And slip your Artifcts collection QR code inside or as a sticker on the box for safe keeping of all those stories, videos, and more from your Artifcts collection. Your future self will thank you! And if you need a little help getting started, check out Artifcts concierge options. ->

Before We Go, a Word to the Wise: Know What You’re Buying

Archival does not always mean archival. What? Yes; sad truth. Sometimes archival only means the paper is acid free, for example. And if you are a proponent of recycled paper, you have another potential recipe for disaster once you shut objects inside and create a little microclimate for terrible things to brew.

If you are popping items into a box that you truly cherish, do the homework on your archival products, or speak to a professional. You can contact nationwide companies like Archival Methods—one of our Allies in 'Stuff'—and Gaylord Archival or seek out archivists in your local area for guidance, products, and services.

The same goes for fireproof. Look up the certification on any product that you plan to purchase and see what it was tested to withstand.

Happy Artifcting!

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You might also enjoy a guest article shared here on Artifcts in response to this story: 

Why One Mom Moved Beyond Memory Boxes and Instagram

© 2025 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Artifcts is grateful to Arti Community member @Buchalgi for sharing her sweet story of bringing Artifcts into the birthday celebrations with her mother. Do not miss the final words of this story. They are everything.

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What do you get your 85-year-old mother for her birthday? She doesn’t need a thing. She doesn’t want a thing.

Does she want to go out for the day and have lunch or go shopping? No, not really.

So, what does she love? Well, she loves her friends, her family, and telling stories about the past. Bingo! I decided to fly down and spend a day last week asking her about things that I’ve seen in her home, but never knew the story behind them, and then, Artifct them!

We started the day with me choosing 5 items in her house.

It started with the green metal plate on the wall. I remember that plate forever, in all the homes we’ve lived in, always on the wall. I never knew the origin or who gave it to her, or why, or when. She told me how the plate was a gift from her grandmother who had come back from her honeymoon in Isreal in 1968. She wanted to bring something back for her eldest granddaughter (my mother) and her husband. My mother remembered the level of detail to say they were all together on Cozine Street in Brooklyn and I was there (aged 19 months) wearing a pink & white dress that she had bought me to celebrate their wedding. She told the story like it was yesterday and delighted in the fact that I was typing as fast as I could to keep up with the details.

Next was the candy dish. I have seen this dish on every end table or coffee table for as many years as I can remember. It was usually filled with hard candy but got filled with better candy when company was coming. And I can remember reaching into it for a hand full of M&Ms on many occasions. I didn’t know that the dish was given to my mom and dad as a gift when they got their first place, and I didn’t know it was a hand-me-down gift from my grandparents who also received it as a gift for their first apartment. It was from the Fostoria Glass Company in 1952. They closed in 1986 after 100 years in business, but I imagine their pieces have a place in a lot of family histories.

We went on to talk about Nana’s hot chocolate pot, the framed family photos found in a box, the baby record books with beautiful illustrations, the favorite pieces of artwork, and so much more. Hours had gone by. I was tired and she wasn’t. She was elated. She honestly loved that I asked for these stories. This is how we celebrated her birthday, but who got the gift?

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Mother's Day Surprise!

We always honor Mother's Day with our deepest sale of the year at Artifcts.

We love our men, don’t get us wrong, but it’s more often than not the women who:

- Keep our homes and lives decluttered and organized on a daily basis
- Play the role of family keeper and the memories, birthdays, and family history that entails
- Become the caregiver, even when still raising their own children
- In the end, take on the role of estate executor to clean-out the homes of our loved one’s when they pass.

This year, in addition to our 30% off sale, we are also offering a special gift FREE with any purchase of a bundled Artifcts membership + virtual conicerge session. We will ship our premier Artifct That! Kit to the destination of choice, gifting ready. Just look for the "Bundle & Save" at checkout!

© 2025 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.