Should I let go of the past completely?

Dear Nanay,

Just want to ask, what should I do with an engagement ring that was never given to its recipient?  No proposal was ever made and the relationship has ended. I have found someone new and am in the process of courting her and trying to win her love. This is a new beginning for me and I want to let go of everything from my previous relationship, including the engagement ring.  Hope you can help me, Nanay, on what to do with the engagement ring.  Maraming salamat po.  — MR. BEAN

Dear Mr. Bean,

I guess what you do with the engagement ring will depend on your beliefs.  Will it always bother you if you give it to your new fiancée?  Are you the type of person who feels that since this ring was meant for another person then you should not give it to your current girlfriend?

If you really want to just let go of everything connected with your past relationship, then perhaps it will be better if you disposed of the ring instead of giving it to your new girlfriend. The easiest thing you can do is to just sell it or trade it in for a nicer ring. Now you have to realize that if you sell it to a store, you probably will not get the full value of the ring because the store has to make money too.  If you sell it to another person, you might get closer to the full value of the ring but it will probably be more difficult to sell it directly to the end user. You may have to post ads online or in the classified ads or better yet, find someone who knows someone who may be interested in buying the ring from you.

On the other hand, if it does not really bother you that the ring was originally “meant for someone else” maybe you can just save it and give it to your new girlfriend.  This might be an especially good option if knowing that ring was originally for someone else doesn’t bother you and if nobody else knows you bought the ring in the first place.

Disposing of or selling something like an engagement ring will either be not easy or will cost money.  So you should really look into all your options and decide which way you will go.  For example, you may prefer not to give the old ring to your new fiancée but if trading it in or selling it to buy a new ring will cost you like 20 or 30 percent of the ring’s value, you might want to reconsider your options.  It may not be worth the financial hit you will have to take just to give your girlfriend a new ring when the one you have is perfectly fine.

So at the end of the day, my suggestion is for you to look at your options, see how much you can get for the ring, and then make a decision if you should just give the same ring or if you should go ahead and buy a new ring for your new fiancée.

Sincerely,

Nanay

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How do I dispose of blessed religious items?

Dear Nanay,

Could you again give me information on how to give away or dispose of blessed religious items? — MAS

Dear Mas,

You have an excellent question as I have received numerous e-mails regarding the disposal of religious items.

I think the bottom line is to treat the items with respect and to make sure that they don’t just end up in the trash.

One of the suggested ways to dispose of the items is to bury them in the ground.  You can wrap up the item nicely, dig a hole and just bury it there.

Sincerely,

Nanay

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