My trash is my treasure
I finally found the term for something I've been collecting since I was little: ephemera!
All my scrap papers, post-it notes, movie tickets, brochures, receipts, business cards, and more have been piling up for years. A few months ago, when I began wanting to document and organize my collections, I started searching for a good way to sort my ephemera. I eventually landed on junk journaling, and was so excited to give it a try. I severely overestimated my creative abilities, and the end result was unsatisfying, to say the least.
I needed a way to display my items all the items in one place, without damaging them, and where I could see the front and back of each item, if applicable. Framing or hanging things up on my walls was out of the question due to the amount of items, as were photo/card boxes, since my pieces range from tiny valet tickets to large pamphlets. Eventually I found my answer.
I bought a 3" wide three-ring binder off of Amazon, as well as different sizes of clear protectors: nine pocket, like the type used for trading cards, two pocket, the type for recipe cards, and the standard 8 1/2" by 11". The outside of the binder isn't too pretty, just plain white, but since it has a slot on the front I may try putting something in there to make it a little more whimsical.
Now my collection is organized neatly, and easily browsed. It's also easier to put items away as I collect them, whereas before they'd unceremoniously gather in piles.
The definition of ephemera, according to Merriam-Webster, is "something of no lasting significance." It is exactly for that reason that I see collecting ephemera as an art. I love picking up pieces of my everyday life and memorializing it. It's my way of documenting "I went here" and "I did this thing." I think more people should try collecting ephemera.