As seen in the Dayton Daily News on April 11, 2015.
I am working with a woman who recently got divorced. We are reducing and organizing her belongings so she can quickly get settled into her new home.
While working in her basement, we discovered her wedding dress. It had been preserved by a company soon after her wedding.
She smiled and said, “I guess that can go now.” As I was taking it away she said, “Wait, should I open it and look at it one last time?”
I smiled and said, “Only if you’re curious to see if it’s really in here.”
She got a puzzled look on her face. Clearly she had never heard of the wedding dress cleaning scam.
Years ago, it was discovered that companies, who were suppose to be preserving wedding dresses, were actually selling the dresses and then handing over weighted boxes without the dress.
Brides were told by the scammers, “Once you open the box, your dress will no longer be preserved.” Brides wouldn’t open it, which is why the crime would go undetected for many years. If it was discovered that the box was empty, scammers were long gone.
My client chose to donate her dress without opening the box. In hindsight, she wished she would have sold the dress while it was still in style. She could have used that money, plus the money spent to preserve it, on something she needed at the time.
She was holding onto her dress to serve as a memory of her special day. The dress was really just a memento, not her memory, since she was able to talk about her wedding without seeing the dress.
Ironically, it really didn’t matter if her dress was inside the box or not. She just thought she needed it.
How many of you have something taking up space in your home that you never look at?
Are you holding onto things just because you have the room to store them? Unfortunately, everything you own costs you time, space or money to keep.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed and stressed because you own too many things, stop saving things you no longer need. Let someone else benefit from items that served a purpose in your life.
You’ll feel better with fewer things to take care of. Plus, your item can be purposeful again and can help make a memory for someone else.