Do you hold on to keepsakes from past partners?

[MikeysGrrrl]

The other day my husband and I were in a taxi and the driver had on some radio talk show and the topic was about mementos/keepsakes from past relationships. The scenario we heard while we were in the cab was that the wife was holding onto pictures of her and an ex from years ago and her husband found them and was feeling quite jealous about it. Listeners were calling in and suggesting that she make copies of the pictures, hide the originals and rip up the copies in front of him.

I turned to my husband and shook my head in disbelief, I felt that dealing with that situation by being deceitful would only lead to further problems down the road. We talked about it once we were out of the cab and he agreed.

Neither myself nor my husband have held on to mementos or keepsakes from past relationships, so no photo's, gifts etc. Even though I don't believe in holding on to items from pervious relationships, I can completely understand why someone else would want to.

So it got me wondering if other people do hold on to those things and whether or not it's something your partner knows about or minds? Or perhaps you don't but your partner does? Just curious how others feel about this or how they would handle the situation that I described above?

[Cumberbatch2012]

No, after my last horrible break up I deleted all his photos from my computer and I gave him all the actual printed photos I had of him.  I also donated everything else, like a Valentine's Day snow globe and a hoodie, that he gave me to Goodwill.  No memories are good memories, I say.

[ponycake]

I'm definitely one to hold onto pictures and some things from past relationships if they were good ones. I don't know why. I like memories I guess. They're in a box in my room at my parent's house so my SO wouldn't come across it anyway. Just never took it with me or got rid of it when I moved out years ago. Even though I get it I don't think I'd be understanding in reverse!

[Tap Dancer]

Nope! When a relationship is over, everything gets trashed (or donated).

[shimmlight]

I haven't had any past partners, only my current one, however I guess the nearest thing I've done to that is kept a Christmas card from my crush about four years ago. He finds it funny because its the most basic nothingy card ever but it meant the world to me when I was 14 xD

[Baby_Honeycomb]

I used to keep a little box I called my relationship-box. I kept pictures and letters, little gifts but when I moved last year I threw it away - all of it and it felt better than I thought it would. Moving was like starting over and hanging on to the past often blocks the future. So I rather keep the good memories but make a clear cut where necessary.
I tried to see it the other way round to and nope... I hate it when I come around my man's place and find stuff of his ex therefore - over is over and needs to be gone.

Send via Tapatalk on my Galaxy - blame autocorrect for every mistake

[Trinity]

If it was a bad relationship, all the stuff gets sold/donated or returned to the person. Otherwise, I think it's worth keeping as long as it doesn't stir up bad emotions.

[Beldarna]

I have kept pictures and so has my boyfriend and neither of us has a problem with it. I've seen some of his pics of his exes and he has seen pictures of mine. They're part of our separate history and to throw them away feels like throwing away and denying parts of our lives that ment something for us back then.
The only thing I've asked him to do, was to not hang up a very beautiful painting his best friend made for him many years before I came a long in his life as it portrays him with one of his exes. Instead it's in one of his drawers and I'm perfectly fine with that.

[Moony]

Depends on the item xD Pictures I deleted/threw away. He gave me a Vera Bradley bag and some really nice American Eagle goodies that I still wear xD It's been a while since we dated but I really like those gifts! I am not currently with anyone but I imagine they would probably not ask me where I got those items haha!

[UrocyonFox]

For me it depended on how the relationship ended or what a gift means. The man I dated that slept with my sister, abused me, crushed my self esteem? No. Nothing. I trashed it all. I remember how good it felt taking anything valuable to him and stuffing it into his chest and then everything that might be considered "sentimental" was burned, torn up, or destroyed in a violent matter (I used it as a stress release and saw it as a total self cleansing/purge)

I dated a guy who was very clingy and whiny and needy and he would buy me tons of stuff to "buy my love". Anything that was sentimental I just threw away but things like videogames or dvds I kept because I don't relate them to that individual at all.
Funny enough gifts from girlfriends were a little harder to give up. Alot of the gifts I got from girlfriends were sentimental, even items that normally wouldn't be. I realized they were making me sad to have them around and I had to get rid of them. However with those items I gave them to other friends or family.

I did have one girlfriend that really broke my heart and as strong and confident as I am now I still feel a pull at my heart when I think about her. I actually did hold on to items from her for a while and eventually lost or got rid of them.

Pictures are a completely different thing. I think pictures are nothing but sentiment, they're memories, and can be really painful to keep around.

[June]

Things that are just sentimental like photos I throw away or delete. Some gifts that had some sentimental value were also thrown or given away. Some other gifts that I really liked (the gifts themselves, not the fact that they were given to my by someone I liked or loved) I kept, unless they had something written on them.
Even if I had kept photos, I would get rid of them before I start a new relationship because I wouldn't like my partner to keep pictures, gifts and other mementos from their exes.

[True]

Just from one, The only guy I was with for a serious amount of time with. We live on different ends of the state, so on top of regular communication via internet and phone calls. We also regularly wrote each other letters, I have all of those, then he came up for my prom so I have the corsage, carefully dried with our prom tickets in there as well. among some other pictures. He lived with me for about a year after that and any jewelry he bought me is now in there too. and then we planned on moving out, things fell through and he couldn't afford to return here. I couldn't continue being in a long distance relationship so now were just extra close friends.

I haven't dated anyone since him, and hes had one or two girlfriends since me but none of them have lasted more then a few weeks. We agree that we matched really well. We loved each other, we would fight but it wouldn't linger, we were both really goofy and good to each other. It still kinda breaks my heart a little bit. But Iv gotten over it. I think Iv changed too much for anything to happen seriously between us again.

Oh xD and to add to the actual question, I wouldn't keep it a secret from a new lover if I had one, I'm the type of person who gets all itchy in side if im actively hiding something. But it wouldn't work between me and someone else if they were going to get jealous over something that happened "EVER" between me and some other person. In my opinion they have no right to feel that way, if they were not even in the picture, especially if they expect me to relive every experience i had with my former bf. Those are my precious memories, I don't think I should feel obligated to share them with someone new unless i wish too, and I know I would never xD. I just think its crazy when I hear of a friends, or my sisters newest bf, getting all bent out of shape and mad at them for something they did in the past.

[kaoskat]

*shrugs* I keep things from my exes if it's stuff I'd want anyway. If not I get rid of it. Not as momentos exactly but because it's my stuff ad I like it. And I keep pictures. Of everything. Everywhere. I have an addiction to photographs in general.

[moonsugar]

I wouldn't have a problem with my partner keeping keepsakes from previous girlfriends at all. I have a locking necklace from a previous relationship that I don't think I'll ever wear again, which makes me a little sad, because it meant a lot to me for a long time. I keep it in the drawer under my vanity mirror in my bedroom, and still look upon it fondly.

My current partner and I exchange a lot of small keepsakes, little things that we find or make for each other. He has a tiny shrine built out of them near his desktop monitor

[Leave a Whisper]

yes I do. I've held onto several things, and I've given several things away. just because something ended badly does not mean it started badly.