Thanks for the Memories or Please pass the Clutter?

As the weather starts to turn, I've found myself on a Decluttering Mission around my house. It's amazing how almost therapeutic it feels to see large stacks of "stuff" make their way to other homes (the trash, Goodwill, friends/family, etc.). And wow! I didn't realize this bedroom was so spacious!!!

So, the latest items to fall under my scope are my old journals from junior high/high school/college. Which got me to thinking: Is there any value to keeping these?

The FlyLady, who is both helpful and very inspirational, says, "All these things (old report cards, magazines you are saving just for one article, etc.) are doing, is creating more chaos and clutter. "

Without coming out and actually saying it, I think she's saying the chance that you will become famous, and people will be climbing over themselves just to get a hold of your old love notes, or swim trophies, is not real likely. So why let them take up your valuable space?

Well I tend to agree with this, for the most part, I'm finding myself having a very hard time tossing the journals. And what's really weird is that I've never considered myself to be "a journaler". So let me preface these particular journals by saying this: These were the ones my English teacher made me do. You know the ones: Fill 8 spiral notebook pages by the time she/he was to collect them, and you would get an "A" for that assignment. This meant some pages were: "3 sentences to go. Now 2 sentences to go" and the biggest handwriting you could get away with.

But in amongst these entries, are the soul-searching, gut-wrenching teenage angst of growing up: "He walked by my locker today, and SMILED!" or "I can't believe he likes that silly (insert 80s girl name here). Why can't he like me?" Or, "We had the best time over Christmas break. My whole family got together..." Or, "My grandma died today. I've never seen my Dad that upset." This is my take on life from 1983-1992.

How can I just toss this in the recycle bin? Granted these journals as a collected lot don't take up a lot of space, but for sheer "usefulness", they don't rank very high, and thus, FlyLady would say, "Out it goes!"

What do you guys think? Keep or toss?
k~