I am the kind of person who likes to periodically have a big de-clutter, and it is interesting, that I look at things and think "what exactly am I keeping them for?" and I can be quite ruthless - I have to say I've never missed any of the things I've given or thrown away.

I think to be honest, it's about transitional objects isn't it - we keep things to help us cope with moving our lives forwards, but once we've moved on, we don't need them anymore.