I probably am - Throw/give away old one

My uncle never threw anything away. When he died and we cleared out the house we found under his bed boxes and boxes of used razor blades amongst all the other other stuff.

I used to be the horder while DH has always been the opposite, so I've slowly come to accept his way of thinking, even if not to that extent. If there is something I want to keep for whatever reason, I keep it. Our parents' generation were horders because of need, our children have become the throw away generation because they can.

My DH had stents put in his legs and his feet were swollen so he was trying on all his shoes to see which were the comfiest. He found a pair and walked around the kitchen with them on. I was sitting pissing myself laughing because he’d had them that long that the sole had come away from one of the shoes. No wonder they were comfy! One of them was flapping. He made me keep the other one in case he ever needed it!!

My motto is "if in doubt throw it out". When my mum died I had less than a week (I live abroad) to clear out her home and was very impressed how well it went. I was so grateful that she never hoarded stuff and promised myself that I would always try to do the same. I keep some very special items but not very many.

My OH is terrible he keeps everything. Spare rooms full of junk so is outbuilding. I put my foot down last week and told him to sort all the good stuff out for a friend who does car boots and to bin the rest. Three boxes of good stuff and about eight black bags of rubbish

My late DH was just the same. Couldn't get in the garage for old computers, VHS recorders, TVs, electric drills and other tools that no longer worked. Cardboard boxes for above items, old hoovers, wires, plugs, cables. Screws, nails, offcuts of wood. The broken parts of a loo he had repaired. A home beer brewing kit, used once in the 70s. The study was just the same. He also kept sentimental bits and pieces from when we cleared out his parents' house, including furniture I wouldn't give house room too.

I didn't dare touch anything, and and any mention of clearing out and going to the tip was met with a firm refusal.

Every magazine he bought also had to be kept, just in case there was a useful article that he might need one day. The day never came, of course.
However I did manage to reduce the pile of magazines but by bit, and he never noticed. I would remove a few every week from the pile in the living room to the pile in the study. Then if he didn't notice them missing, the pile in the study would gradually disappear into the recycling! He never did notice!

He died two years ago and I am still finding bits. I got a skip last year and cleared the garage, but gave the half dozen old bikes and all his tools to a charity which refurbishes them and sends them out to third world countries. My window cleaner also took quite a lot of things, took them to a car boot sale and gave me a share of the proceeds.

But I'd still much rather he were still with me, and all his rubbish!

?bluesapphire
I agree and life’s too short to get so fussed about these things. I just don’t think I’ll mention his razor again and see if he bins it himself. After reading all your posts I think maybe I’ll cut him some slack (this week at least) ?

A lot of these things that we think are junk can be very sellable. It’s amazing what people will buy on eBay or car boot sales. Even empty appliance boxes sell. Those sheds and garages full of hoarded rubbish can be a little gold mine.

I cannot get rid of my old mobile phones. They are all in pristine condition, sitting in their original packaging and even though I’ll never use them again for some reason I can’t part with them. I’m ruthless with everything else though.

I had most of my old mobile phones because when they packed up I couldn't get into them to do a factory reset and delete all my information. I wondered if a strong magnet might work....

Then, last Advent, the local church had a collection of old mobile phones. They said all data would be deleted. Phones which could still be made to work would be given to needy or third world recipients and otherwise they would be dismantled and recycled. They got a whole shoeboxful from me!

Now I'm waiting for a similar collection of glasses - I've got another shoebox full of them. As I have said before, we have no charity shops in Germany, at least not around here.

I can relate to a lot on this thread. My better half & I are hoping to move house shortly but both dreading the sorting out and throwing out stuff part. Over the years we have accumulated a lot of 'stuff', including 'it might come in handy one day stuff'. In the last few months he has twice filled his truck with stuff for the tip as he just went on a bit of a rampage through the house, shed and garage saying if he was ruthless it would make things easier later. My contribution to aforementioned truck tip runs was a few bags of old videos, DVDs & CDs, a bag of clothes I'd already sorted to go and another bag of miscellaneous knick knacks etc. Admittedly he didn't give me much notice but I have now been warned more runs will be done before the move and told get rid of anything I don't want or need. I've been saying for about a year I need to have a blitz on ebaying some bits so that has moved to a higher priority on my 'to do' list (not just to get a few quid for myself, but I always put a 10-100% donation of the final value fee to our local animal charity. I would imagine they will struggle with the recent crisis overtaking people's lives so anything I can raise for them will help - might make it easy to add to the listings and not hoard stuff). I don't like the thought of leaving a nightmare for him or anyone else to have to sort out when I die so need to just bite the bullet and have a major sort out. Will use some of the tips and sayings I've read to help keep me motivated and your stories of inherited nightmares to modify future behaviour.