Is your house a 'holding bay'?

Half an attic full of stuff (no other word for it) from DD2's flat, plus a bedroom full of hers - just "in case" she does come back from abroad, plus her car on the drive (can't sell it). This includes about a million cds! DS took his stuff away when we had the loft insulated. DD2's went back up there DD1 also has a box or two in the attic, she lives overseas. Plus old toys - very useful when GC come. A pram/pushchair, cot - will there be any more GC? Boxes an d boxes of books, curtains i may or may not use again, i feel depressed just thinking about it.
Listing it has concentrated my mind - must do some decluttering. I am too old to keep clambering up in the attic.

Oh yes, and still "stuff" from MIL's house, she hoarded everything, DH needs to sort it, I have lost the will to do it, have tried

I like the sound of your garden granny-a.

This thread reminds me of husband's "guilty pleasure" TV programme called Pawn Wars (not porn - my children flinch every time I mention their dad's "hobby" LOL) where people bid for lock-ups that have been sold off and then go through the contents (American programme).

We have friends that go to somewhere in Tooting I think and buy unclaimed luggage that is sold off and get a big kick out of trawling through in case (pun) they find something valuable! They also buy for the actual suitcases

Yes, me too, can we swap? Perhaps a bit of windsurfing or whatever will clear my mind

My daughter is having her house extended so I'm hoping a lot of stuff can go to her [one of the reasons for sorting out the family photos]. My son needs to move into a larger house; there's no way he can keep much where he is now. I used to have my ex's motor bikes, but I'm now down to a few lathes and a small steam engine. Childrens clothes/toys come back to me in the hope of them being passed on to my son one day; they live with my childrens toys which the grandchildren now play with. O and A Level artword [lots of it] live in the loft and under the spare bed. Stuff belonging to my ex father in law is in a trunk in the loft. The only thing that does get to me is that it's a family joke how messy my house is. Is it any wonder? Someone I know said her mum told all of her children to move all of their stuff out when they went to uni; I found that a bit harsh .

Perhaps a very practical mum Tegan. My two went off to university and never returned to live in the house but I was left with the things that they didn't need. When I suggested that as they were extra to requirements they could be binned I was told to keep them just in case.

I have got a drawerful of primary school exercise books in a bottom drawer. From the early seventies! Just remembered those! I can't possibly turn those out.

Reading all this has made me think we are not so bad after all.

Like others my worry is the day I/we cannot get into the loft anymore. We do have a reasonable drop down loft ladder that makes it still quite easy at the moment.

Our family swap furniture like other families swap clothes. There always seems to be a piece of furniture somewhere in the house that is on the move between one member and another. Currently we have some bookcases that we will take to DS (200 miles away) next time we visit and will then bring a different bookcase back to replace them

Last year DD somehow got us involved in running an antique business with her, selling at local and national antique fairs. As she lives in a small semi and we have a house with a large workshop most of our stock lives there, but although the shed is weather proof it does get damp and clammy there so some of the stock, anything involving fabric or pictures gets stored indoors, most of that is in a bedroom but, of course some pieces are bought for restoration that and they clutter table tops and worktops all over the house.

We suffer the same as others with offspring's stuff. Both left childhood belongings and university belongings behind. Then got their own homes - took nothing. One DS went to OZ left more stuff with us. The other DS moved house, we stored everything while they waited for new house, but they only took some of it to new home!

Son came back from OZ didn't take anything to his new house. When challenged they explained: " Our houses are our houses, but we leave stuff here because it's home!" What can we say? Except when the downsizing time comes there will be a big clear out! They have been warned! x

I feel for my daughter - her FiL left her MiL and she ended up having to store all his things in her garage. That was five years ago, she has two children and nowhere to store any of her own possessions as they grow. Her house is tiny. SiL doesn't like to push his father, as he is in a bedsit. However, she is now even more worried because after the storms they had the other week she now reckons the roof leaks. Not that she could have done anything, but it makes them feel very responsible, in the same way that I would. She is at a time of her life when she needs room to expand, but doesn't want to interfere. However the poor man's possessions are mouldering away and he doesn't even know, but he has made no attempt to find any alternative storage even though he promised them it would only be short-term.

As all the grown up children have their own houses, we got everything out of the loft and garage [that belonged to them] and asked them to take what they wanted and bin/give to charity shops what was left.They actually wanted very little to keep, but that was up to them, we are not a depository store.Some they took away to sell on Ebay. The large boxes of soft toys had to be thrown away, as years in the loft had done them no good at all, mice had got in and taken chunks of them for nest building! I do think there is a limit as to how many years we can hold onto things for adults with their own houses.

When I downsized, the DSs took what belonged to them and some other stuff they wanted - not very much. Having got rid of all that, I now have a load of GD's possessions in my spare room, most of it on top of the wardrobe. Can't win, can I?

It's dawned on me that one of the reasons why I'm always in a mess is that I need a room for my 'projects'; most of which are on going and never get finished. But I can't do that because the spare bedrooms are still full of my childrens stuff. the last straw was when the S.O. started moving things in [10 pais of shoes at one time]. At least I was able to stop that [phew]. Mind you, I've just spent the last day or so tidying up the computer room [this afternoon I dismantled the pooter and tidied up all the wires]. Then again, I've only got a pooter cause I was given my daughters old one and then a slightly better one that was my sons. And my ex left an amazing stereo system. So it's not all bad, I suppose.

Flickety that sounds like our house. We have a big dining room which only gets used for large gatherings but it generally has 'stuff' going from one child to another loitering. In fact, I heard one daughter telling her husband that they could store something in our dining room until they wanted it

I wouldn't mind but we have to walk through the dining room to get to the lounge and the stairs so we see any 'stuff' all the time!!

Kittylester I acknowledge a fellow feeling, we have a dining hall and that is where most of our stuff accumulates., just where it can be seen when we open the front door.

I did throw a hissy fit just before Christmas and we did clear it for the festive period but the room currently hosts a partially dismantled footstool awaiting recovering, a writing slope requiring a replacement leather work surface and three large sewing boxes, two awaiting final titivation and one that is just too big to take down to the shed the other end of our long garden.

How do people bear the clutter? And how do you know where to find things? I'm currently in my New Year Cleaning and Sorting phase (it passes eventually) where all drawers are tidied, cupboards re-organised and any accumulated clutter is disposed of. I've finished for today, but on Thursday I shall assault the linen cupboard, which is getting out of hand. I'll be wrestling sheets and pillowcases into submission and forcing them to pair up with the appropriate duvet cover then sit in nice tidy piles until needed. I tackled some kitchen cupboards and a pile of table cloths today and they wore me out.

ga please teach me to fold fitted sheets. I try, but it ends in a wrestling match and they get sort of rolled up and stuffed in the cupboard and the door is quickly shut

I have an attic full of left overs and a spare room with 'mum are these sellable' things and since Mum and Dad died the spare room also has a lot of their things to sort sell or keep, still have a gym bench plus all the trimmings, an American football full kit, car wheels, dozens of books, videos, cds records university stuff I cant think what else loads

I so recognise the piles of stuff syndrome although finally got tough with DC's possessions when they each reached 30. I Have sold my house and I have not yet found one to buy. So I'm likely to have to move into a rented house, or in the middle of the night I think it might be a tent. This means that I either need to reduce stuff by about 50% as I'm looking for a much smaller house or put it all into storage and sort it when I move into my new home. It's focusing my mind . I bought an incinerator last week and a lot went up in smoke BUT more stuff seems to creep from cellars and attics to take its place.

Oddly enough our house is not cluttered, except for the dining hall. I cannot cope if surrounded by clutter. I regularly dispose of stuff on Freegle, ebay and at the local charity shop, getting rid of anything I can see no further use for, I am currently disposing of all the nursery equipment etc we accumulated when DGC were tiny. Now they sleep in beds, do not need pushchairs or high chairs, all that is going.

Everything we have has an active use. Its just that despite having a large work shed in the garden with power and light DH likes dickering doing a little bit, leaving it, coming back and doing a bit more, so he brings his projects into the house to do rather than keep walking up and down the garden and the dining table is such a useful large flat surface.......

For him the joy our new antiques hobby is that he can buy damaged items at auction, restore them to sell on and while it is wonderful to watch as doleful damaged items come back to life and beauty under his hands. I just wish he would do it in the shed!

I can't read this thread any more, it's making me feel panicky.
How can you all bear all that 'stuff'?

Some of us have no choice, Lona, although I share your panicky thoughts...

The answer to offspring's stuff is : tell them they have 2 months to remove it or it goes to EBAY/charity shop/tip