General Chat

Ah yes Ann I remember you saying about Tony's mobile phones. Dan has chargers left also, they are on ebay and going maybe one a week on average. There's a couple of monitors and keyboards that need to be sold as well. Quite a lot has gone from the garage, mainly boxes.

Rose mobile phones struck a nerve. You May remember Tony used to mend, buy and sell old mobiles. When he died there was a large drawer full of all the bits. They have now been disposed of but I still have a lot of chargers.

I did manage to take his clothes to a person who lives near me who collects things for several charities. But I still have stuff in the garage that he hoarded, loads of tools including some that belonged to my dad and he died in 2001.

Florence, moving does make you focus. My brother and his wife have lived in the same house for 40 + years and they started de-cluttering by necessity when his MIL died and they ended up with a lot of things as well as their own. He says that he really does not want to leave so much for his children to have to sort out.

I've told my son that if he want's something when I'm gone to keep it and if he doesn't not to feel guilty if he then gets rid of it.

As I am getting older and wiser and have moved twice in 3 years recently, I have become a bit ruthless with decluttering. This house is notable smaller than the privately rented 3 bed house I was living in with an attic space to die for...so huge.

So I went through every box and decided anything I'm not using like old xmas tree decs, old birthday cards(just general) and other general stuff all went to the bin or charity shop.

I have now just 2 large plastic storage boxes with all my say memories/souvenirs that I do want to keep. I have a sewing machine and put all my material into a cool bag and into another all my wool. It fits on the shelf in ,my wardrobe all tidy.

I shred paperwork now on a monthly basis to keep my filing cabinet in order.

I have come to realise that should I pop my clogs tomorrow, my children really wouldn't want old cards from 50 years ago! So I have now condensed everything to make life easier for them when my time is up.

Old keyrings which were holiday souvenirs ...all gone, belong to the past!

I have now just what I need and less of what I don't actually need.

After my mum passed last July, it was a thankless task of going through 85 years of nic nacs, clothes and photos. My mother was a hoarder and so thankful she lived in a small flat but it still took weeks to go through it all.

Yep we all need to be a bit more ruthless!

Florence in the hebrides

Island I am very sorry for your loss. It's especially difficult to let go when there is that emotional attachment to the items also.

Clutter does seem to expand to fill the space available to it that's for sure. When my son ran a business from home I swore that mobile phones he bought and re-sold were breeding in the spare room. Mostly gone now but still a lot of 'bits', packaging and cables and things that need to go, when he has time.

Nightmare :-0
All that fabric with good intentions lying unused for years :-(
My mother was absolutely the worst for clutter, I'm surprised the house walls didn't bow :-0

I used to be good at keeping clutter tidy as I worked from home in a 9'x11' room. don't know how I managed.
Now I have a 3 bed 2 recep house with two persons clutter to cull. My partner passed away a year ago so de-cluttering is a very daunting prospect.
Where does it all come from is my question.

Paper - can't even burn it on the stove because it flutters :-|

There is that namelessone. I know I do sometimes go looking for things I must have got rid of when I moved 15 years ago but still think 'must be here somewhere'.

The problem with de cluttering is that it involves tidying up. So you end up not knowing if the thing you are looking for has gone to a better home or you just can’t remember where you tidied it up to. :-D

Or do you get stuck thinking "maybe I should keep this in case it comes in handy"?

Aside from paperwork ( how long to keep), clothes ( I don't have many and they only go when completely worn out ), books ( fairly easy, did I enjoy and will I read again) I am stuck on deciding on material and crafty things. I bought a sewing machine years ago with the intention of 'sometime' using up interesting bits of material, maybe to make Christmas stockings. But now I have a lot of pain in both hands from carpal tunnel and arthritis I don't see me being able to do it, but am loathe to part with the 'idea' as such.

It would make more room if the things weren't here but...

Any thoughts? do you also struggle to accept your limitations lol.