The Evenings with Artifcts Series, Fall 2022

Today we’re excited to share a trio of new Artifcts features with you.

Over the course of eight in-person conference appearances during 2024 and approximately 80 hours of interviews, we discovered opportunities to fine tune how you Artifct so we support you even more during and after you’ve created those Artifcts.

As always, we placed ease-of-use and privacy at the heart of each new feature.

More than that, we never lose sight of the humanity behind the stuff we collect. This isn’t about every pot, pan, curtain, lamp, couch, and fork. Sometimes stuff is just stuff. But we know stuff can enrich our lives as easily as it can also cause conflict and division. Let Artifcts support you along the way.

Now, let’s explore the latest from Artifcts!

Private Notes 

We’ve come to realize that sometimes you want to share your Artifcts with others, but you want to include details you’d prefer to keep to yourself. So, what’s one to do? 

Now at Artifcts you have an optional field titled, 'Private notes.' It’s exactly as it sounds. Whatever you type there will not be visible to others if you share the Artifct. The exception of course is if you give someone “Full Control” over your Artifct (versus the default “View” access or other “Edit” access).

This new field is on the “Full form” when you create or edit Artifcts, directly after the “Story or Description,” making it a natural extension of what you have to say about anything you Artifct. 

Customizable Reports  

It was professionals in appraising and estate management who first approached us about downloading customized reports on Artifcts. Later, this request was seconded by professional home organizers and move managers. Finally, individuals, several of whom were working on their wills, asked for the same. 

Now you can do just that, create custom reports, no matter your “why.” When you click 'Download,' you’ll be prompted to select the fields and related files you want to download, too, ensuring you can download only the information you need, when you need it.

As show below, we’ve simplified matters by choosing the Artifct title and description by default, offering a select all option, and reducing your download size by allowing you to exclude photos, videos, and documentation when you do not need them. 

Artifcts Up Next Report 

We consider this saving the best for last: the new Artifcts Up Next report.

The truth of the matter is that at the end of the day, digitizing the stories and financial value by creating Artifcts addresses one set of needs, but you still must deal with the physical stuff in the room, sorting it and often re-homing it, too.

When you Artifct, there’s just one optional field we show you on the 'Quick form' because we think it’s that important. It’s called 'In the future.' As the name suggests, we urge you to consider what’s next for everything you Artifct. Your options are: 

• • • Sell. You can even set a custom reminder and Artifcts will email you.  
    • Bequeath. Adding details to whom is optional. 
    • Donate. Here, too, adding details is optional. 
    • Keep in the family. We hope your “Description or story” offers a compelling reason. 
    • As you wish. Meaning, “I won’t haunt you. Don’t keep it in storage for the next 30 years on my account.” 
    • It’s too late. Enjoy the memories. I already got rid of it. Do not go looking for it. 

When you download the new Artifcts Up Next report, it will give you a checklist of all your Artifcts, sorted by the ‘In the Future’ category. You can then work through the list yourself, with family, or with an organizing, estate, or move management professional to get the ‘stuff’ where it needs to go next.

We have an open door!

Is there something you wish Artifcts could do or help you with? Is there a feature driving you a bit crazy or confusing you in any way? You can write us a Support@Artifcts.com. And be sure to catch up on past product updates, too!

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Helpful resources as you get started and continue enjoying Artifcting:

Quick Start Guide

Inspiration Lists

FAQs & Videos on YouTube

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© 2025 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

If you want to elevate an item to heirloom status, Webster’s dictionary says pass it down, generation after generation.  

But solidifying an object’s place in your family history requires a little more tender loving care than that alone.

For every heirloom, we recommend you: 

• • • Preserve essential facts. What is it? How did you come to possess it? And closely related, where did it come from? Which side of the family?
    • Be specific. Why should anyone care about this object? The why is critical. Why does it matter to you and your family? 
    • Create awareness that this object even exists. If you’ve tucked it away or added it to a shelf or cabinet, never pausing to share its origin or story, no one will be able to raise their hand to say, “Yes, I want this” when the time comes to pass it down. Instead, it will easily slide into the discard pile. 
    • Provide and/or transfer relevance and context. When @Grandmom’s rolls recipe from the early 1900s was reborn and brought out for everyday enjoyment engraved in her mother’s handwriting on a cutting board, a whole new generation took interest in the recipe’s origin.

These points all build up to a key conclusion: You need a story for the heirloom.

Your story might be a poignant 5 words, “My father gave me this.” And knowing you, and that your father passed away when you were only 9 years old, your family understands a lot in those 5 words.

Or your story may be much longer and follow a beginning-middle-end story arc, pulling in the reader as you evoke in them the emotional or sentimental value and appreciation for the item that you feel.

Here are two very different examples of family heirlooms and their stories, one a traditional family heirloom, the other a modern heirloom, an object acquired now that the owner hopes will last for generations more.

The knitting needles with no story

Elizabeth is a passionate genealogist. Her globetrotting, history and life loving self has seen a lot and collected even more. While her home and the mementos within may be a living testament to her fascinating life, she is also a family keeper.

Despite being a genealogist, she’s inherited heirlooms without necessarily giving much thought to their origins or their futures.

Case in a point: her beloved knitting needles. Elizabeth brought her knitting needles to an Arti Afternoon, an event with one of the founders of Artifcts during which participants share items show and tell style. Elizabeth volunteered to go first.

“I brought these, because I love them, but they don’t really have a story.”

Our co-founder Ellen nodded, encouragingly. “Objects don’t have to have deep stories to share them and Artifct them. It’s enough to let your family know you love them and what you want to do with them one day. But I have a question: What are those?”

You see, Ellen didn’t even know what the objects were that Elizabeth was holding. 

With a startled laugh, Elizabeth replied, “Oh, they are knitting needles.”

“Knitting needles?” Ellen said with a questioning look.

“Yes. They’re made of whale bone.”

“Whale bone,” repeated Ellen, thinking to herself she was starting to sound like an echo.

“Yes, my Yankee grandmother lived in Connecticut and was an accomplished knitter. Hers was a whaling village. I’ve had family in that area since the early 1600s.” Elizabeth went on, “I love how the needles feel in my hands, so much nicer than plastic.”

With a smile, Ellen turned to the group, “Who here thinks these needles have no story?” 

Smiles and laughs returned all around. These needles have a great story and are a sweet family heirloom and dose of national history all in one. 

A 50-year-old Yugoslavian stool

From the Artifcts collection of our co-founder Ellen Goodwin.

You know the stools that students used to sit on back in the day - four fixed metal legs, a circular wooden top that spins? Picture them in a chemistry lab. Picture them in Yugoslavia, built from iron and native oak, handmade, and in the "brutalist style."

What style is that, you ask? You know brutalist style from many government buildings in the US, your travels through Eastern Europe and the former states of the USSR, and the movies. Think large cement minimalist buildings, the opposite of beautiful aesthetics. If you have a home with a lot of personality already, a splash of simplicity in the "brutalist" fashion may be just what you need. Or at least that’s how I think of it. 

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and that's the case here. I think it’s more fun to sit on a stool with history than a modern, lighter weight, less durable replica or alternative. You get to feel connected to another time and culture. That's what the stool means to me, a collector who is curating my home to feel uniquely us.

And if you think it’s strange to fixate on the charm or design of a stool, blame my mom. She had this really cool antique stool in a corner that always had one type of draping plant or another perched on it. I wanted something like that, that felt homey and less ordinary, I guess.

And that makes this 1970s Yugoslavian creation a keeper. Will my daughter want it ever in her home, transforming it into a modern family heirloom? Maybe. For now, it’s a stool with a story that Mom picked out.

(By the way, the fact that the company reselling the stool has an icon that's a laughing grandma smoking a cigarette amuses as much as mystifies me. And that, friends, adds further charm to my 50-year-old Yugoslavian stool.)

Ready to tell the stories of your heirlooms?

If you need some prompts to get started telling the stories of your heirlooms, we always recommend what author Jeff Greenwald taught us: Start with something true.

In the story of the knitting needles, simply answering “What is it?” was enough to unravel a story that the owner had never recognized was there all along. And now, with the story known and Artifcted, it’s exponentially more likely those needles will stay in the family.

When creating an Artifct, click the lightbulb icon in the story/description field to get other prompts and our downloadable worksheet.

Here are some other tried and true heirloom storytelling prompts from genealogist and author Deborah Holman:

• • • The first time I saw this object, I felt ________. 
    • This object reminds me of ________. 
    • If this object could talk, it would say ________. 
    • This heirloom is important because ________. 

And we have a special bonus for you. Deborah has shared with the Arti Community her Heirloom Storytelling Worksheet. Download it free now.

Happy Artifcting!

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© 2025 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

If you want to simplify your life and maybe enjoy some of the reported benefits of a minimalist lifestyle without adopting a minimalist lifestyle, you may be asking yourself (or Google): “Where do I start?”

Inspired by an article from the LA Times published in March 2024 in which professional organizer Regina Lark claimed that the average US household has 300,000 items, we thought the easiest place for some to start is there – with the excess, the unused, the damaged, the forgotten, the just-in-case from 20 years ago. We think this approach is valid even if in all likelihood your home, like ours, has far fewer than 300,000 items inside.

The relevant point is finding simplicity in less. From the clutter and chaos, you can gain clarity as to what 'stuff' matters to you, a theme near and dear to us here at Artifcts. You can reduce time-consuming decisions you make every day, too. If you have 5 pairs of pants to choose from, how hard can it be for you or your kids to get dressed in the morning? And just maybe you’ll also stop yourself from spending money on things you already own but can’t find, like items number 78 and 83 in our list below.

We invite you to take a stroll around your home with this wildly varied home decluttering list to see where you find opportunities to simplify by reducing the volume of stuff that’s claimed a place in those drawers, closets, and shelves. Here and there we’ve added some commentary where we simply couldn’t resist. Like anything, decluttering takes practice, like building up a muscle. Enjoy, and good luck! 

108 Objects to Declutter from Your Home

Why 108 objects? Author Jeff Greenwald, in his book 108 Beloved Objects: Letting Go of Stuff, Keeping Our Stories, explains, “The number is deeply significant in Eastern spiritual practice, and beyond… the number of prayer beads on a malla (a Buddhist rosary), the number of yoga postures in a full cycle,” and so on. Because of the deep global resonance of this number and the efforts here at Artifcts to help change our relationships with our ‘stuff’ and each other, we think 108 is the perfect number for our decluttering list.

We’re breaking away from a room-by-room approach with our list. In doing so, we hope to unleash creative and unexpected freeform association of items that might help you declutter items that did not make the list or have been very much “out of sight, out of mind.” 

Ready? Here we go!

1.     Lightbulbs – You don’t even have a socket for that one anymore! 

2.     Boxes, the cardboard variety; and no, it doesn’t matter if it’s a “really nice box” 

3.     Bins, the plastic kind this time

4.     Rugs 

5.     Fidget gadgets 

6.     Suitcases – If your kid isn't even a teen yet, and you think they are packing up for college in those, reconsider how else you could use the space.

7.     Picture frames 

8.     User manuals 

9.     Candles

10.   Cookbooks 

11.   Party decorations 

12.   Pens and markers – Do they work? How many 100s do you need? 

13.   Remotes from gadgets you no longer own 

14.   Pots for plants 

15.   Decorative pillows – Well, maybe keep the pillow, rehome the case?

16.   Baseball hats 

17.   Pads of paper / notebooks 

18.   Cleaning supplies and tools 

19.   Retired and retirement-ready linens 

20.   Bottle openers 

21.   Koozies 

22.   T-shirts and sweatshirts 

23.   Chapsticks 

24.   Coasters 

25.   Glassware 

26.   Scrunchies – If you know, you know.

27.   Old sports equipment 

28.   Ice packs 

29.   Rubber bands – Beyond the fun aesthetics of a rubber band ball, how many do you need? And you know they will become brittle and break.

30.   Shorts (or other clothing) long out of style, stained, or otherwise in disrepair 

31.    Belts 

32.   Coins – Cash it in! 

33.   Musical instrument lesson books 

34.   Fine silver, you never use 

35.   Fine china, you also never use 

36.   Pottery 

37.   Bookmarks 

38.   Greeting cards 

39.   Business cards, too 

40.   Rechargeable batteries, because they stopped holding a charge 

41.   Regular batteries in sizes you haven't used in decades 

42.   Foam rollers and massage devices

43.   Coffee making apparatus, including pods that are long-since stale 

44.   Coffee mugs 

45.   Hygiene products (spares and expired, from consumables like cosmetics to tools like toothbrushes, hairbrushes, and combs) 

46.   Socks

47.   Keys 

48.   Craft supplies, the should’ve, would’ve, could’ve never started, unfinished or dried up

49.   Handbags 

50.   Fishing tackle 

51.   Nail polish 

52.   Aprons 

53.   Magazines and pages torn from them 

54.   Dog toys 

55.   Pet beds 

56.   Lamps 

57.   Baby blankets 

58.   Spare buttons and thread 

59.   Kitchen appliances you never use and utensils, too – What’s jamming that drawer?

60.   Spices, so old they may not poison you but they certainly won’t add the flavor you’re expecting 

61.   Travel-sized everything 

62.   School report cards  – Scan and Artifct them first! 

63.   Awards, professional and childhood 

64.   Games and/or pieces left from them 

65.   Take-out containers and utensils 

66.   Blankets

67.   Stuffed animals

68.   Boxes of tea – Added to this list, with love, on request of both of the husbands of the cofounders of Artifcts.

69.   Holiday stuff, the one off, the past it's prime, the "when did we celebrate that?" 

70.   Kid artwork 

71.   Magnets 

72.   Unmatched socks 

73.   Décor 

74.   VHS and cassette tapes – Say it with us: digitize, digitize, digitize.

75.   Miscellaneous workshop scraps (wood, metal, wire, etc.) 

76.   Miscellaneous home repair and renovation materials (tiles, bricks, etc.) 

77.   Books 

78.   Blenders – True story, our cofounder Heather found SIX of them at her dad’s house.

79.   Record player 

80.   Reusable shopping bags 

81.   Plastic shopping bags 

82.   Costumes 

83.   Reusable water bottles 

84.   Windshield wipers, for the car you don’t even own anymore 

85.   Vases

86.   Watches 

87.   Travel pillows 

88.   Gift bags 

89.   Costume jewelry 

90.   Placemats, tablecloths, and chargers 

91.   Extension cords - Who are you, Clark Griswald? 

92.   Eyeglasses 

93.   Old computers 

94.   Postcards 

95.   Cutting boards 

96.   Key chains 

97.   Dried (and dusty) flora 

98.   Membership cards 

99.   Cameras 

100.  Cords, cables, and chargers  

101.  Swag from your employer

102.  Paint 

103.  Travel mementos from who-remembers-where 

104.  Sunglasses 

105.  Cake pans of all varieties 

106.  Shoes 

107.   Covid-era face masks 

108.  Ticket stubs, playbills, brochures – ephemera of life 

Your reward for reading all 108 is this free download to take with you around the house. As always, if you’re having trouble letting go, "Artifct that!" to keep the memories. You can download our DIY checklist to jot down all the items you want to Artifct as you declutter, too.

And please remember to recycle, upcycle, rehome! Download Artifcts' Going Green guides to inspire and support you. Depending on where you live, you may have a reuse center where you can donate goods in addition to traditional charities.

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You may also enjoy these related ARTIcles by Artifcts in our decluttering & organizing theme:

Do You Know What You Own?

What to Do with All That Sport Stuff

Letting Go of Sentimental Items: Green Light, Yellow Light, Red Light

© 2025 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.