Do I Need to Keep Everything? Your Guide to What to Keep and What to Toss
- My ARTIST ARCHIVE
- Jun 5, 2019
- 3 min read
Organizing and cataloguing your belongings is a huge undertaking. It can take a lot of time, and a lot of hard work to make it happen. However, the cataloguing process is not just about organizing everything you have. It’s also about reduction, and being able to decipher what actually needs to be kept vs. what you can get rid of.
When you begin reviewing and cataloguing a collection, you will notice that your belongings will typically fall under one of the following categories: Keep, Toss, Donate, Sell, or Destroy. To make it easier, we’ve condensed it into two categories - Keep & Toss.
Keep anything that you want to catalogue, use for Artist donations, or possibly monetize in the future. This includes albums, masters, awards, costumes, photos, articles, and any historical paperwork that references an Artist’s career and achievements. These items are or will be useful for an Artist’s Team, family, and legacy.
Toss anything that is no longer useful, needs to be destroyed, or needs to be donated. This includes old computers; old touring items that will never be used again; old set pieces; old financials and paperwork that is not historical; and anything that is damaged. Basically, anything that can’t or won’t be used again and doesn’t have sentimental or historical value, can go.
We’ve deciphered what needs to be kept, and what needs to be tossed. The next step is getting rid everything that won’t be catalogued.
GARAGE SALE - Have a garage sale for all items that aren’t personal. A garage sale can be an incredibly effective way to get rid of items quickly. You may not get top dollar, but you will be able to unload a lot of items quickly, which can help you save money on the removal process. If your stuff is located at a warehouse, we know a garage sale can be a bit tricky. But, we’ve done it before, so it’s time to be resourceful!
GOODWILL DONATION - Schedule a pick up with GoodWill for anything that has not been sold. If you don’t have enough stuff for a large pickup, load up a car and head to your nearest GoodWill to drop things off. Don’t forget to make an itemized inventory of what is being dropped off as backup for your donation slip. This is helpful for tax purposes.
DUMPSTER or SPECIAL PICKUP - Throw out all the remaining items that are damaged, have no value, can’t be resold or can’t be used again. If you have a lot of stuff to get rid of, and you are located in a residential location, use your special pickup (check with your city for rules and regulations). If you are at a storage facility, order a dumpster. A dumpster will typically cost you a couple hundred dollars pending the size, but you will be able to get rid of everything at one time and it will save an Artist’s team time and money in the long run.
RECYCLE - Look into recycling your old set pieces for metal. Many Artist’s have giant set pieces that were once used, but now sit in storage. People don’t want to get rid of them because they were so expensive to create, but they are rarely reused because the next tour usually has a different aesthetic. Removing these pieces can reduce your storage square footage quickly, and reduce the cost. The value of the metal from the set pieces will likely cover the cost of the dumpster(s) they send to pick them up, which we think is a Win Win!
WIPE/DESTROY - Old computers or software should be wiped clean. Once they are cleared, they can be donated, recycled, sold, or destroyed. Similarly with paperwork, we advise that you shred everything. You can shred things manually, or we suggest looking into a professional document shredding company near you to make sure your private information is destroyed properly.
Hopefully some of our suggestions can help get you started on sorting through everything, and reducing what’s there so you and your Team can get to the fun stuff - cataloguing your collection.
Until next month!
Your Friends
@ My ARTIST ARCHIVE
P.S... Have questions? Wanna hear more about our services or speak to someone regarding scheduling an appointment. Send us an email @ info@myartistarchive.com or fill out the form on our CONTACT page!
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