Cleaning and organization experts say that when you clean out your closets, you should get rid of anything you haven’t worn in the last year. While that advice is good for helping us get rid of that out-of-style dress or those pants that never fit correctly, it’s not helpful for figuring out what to do with the meaningful pieces with which we just can’t part. You know what we’re talking about: the jerseys, the souvenir T-shirts, the Scout uniforms and the baby clothes that hold memories of our children, our friends, and the best parts of our past.

Should we just hold on to them forever, always pushing them to the back of the closet? No! We should take inspiration from Toni Reese, and turn them into a memory we can hug. Now that we’ve seen this brilliant and meaningful idea, we know what we’ll be doing with our old clothing now. Watch.

And here’s another mom who started a memory bear business: