Getting rid of unused/unwanted clutter at home

All fabric things washed from weekend attic clearing including my wedding dress.
Now to give upstairs and the stairs a good clean from all the bits that got dropped.
I’m feeling happy with what we have achieved so far.

I've also accumulated a house ,
which is bursting at the seams with stuff .

A great deal of the things came from charity shops or were given to me . There were times when I accepted things out of sheer politeness .

I'm doing about two hours a day clearing it if I feel well enough .
I find it hard to part from things about which I'm sentimental .
The other problem is actually getting rid of stuff .
People don't really want it or sometimes they say that they do and don't collect it .
And sometimes neither do charity shops .
It's exhausting carting stuff in my grannie trolley on the bus down to the shops .

So far I've actually now thrown out close on a hundred dresses -most of them belonging to my daughter who bought them in great enthusiasm from charity shops and never wore then.
These were very welcome and have sold well according to my friends .
One of my friends bought one .
She's also the recipient of a huge sackful of dress patterns and is happily sewing for her daughter , who is a singer .
Someone expressed a love of baking and he's had all my baking books .
I never followed the recipes .

Yesterday I had another go at my books .
Some will go to a yoga studio .

But today I'm aching all over.

Tomorrow I'll have another session.

I put off sorting my stuff out and now I've started - I'm really shocked at the mountains of things ,which I've collected .

My mother was super tidy and house proud and used to throw newspapers away before you'd read them and once gave one of my dresses away to a greedy friend. I was really annoyed over it !

I wonder if my habit of keeping stuff is a reaction to her habit of throwing as much out as possible.
One daughter is similar to me and one is more like my mother .
Or perhaps I'm like my untidy rather disorganised grandma !

Anglo Doorstep Collections
are very good I find.
They would probably fetch that cross trainer out for you Keepingquiet.
Esp if you say you are not able to lift it. They are v helpful.
Why don't you contact them and ask.
They take books clothes and bric a brac.
And come when they say.
You can track them en route.
They make a donation to charity.

Charity shops around here are begging for books! the library has such poor stock these days people are desperate for a good read.

If I had enough room, that cross trainer would be heading here.

Because I have a big house everything has been stored in my attic (which is four rooms )
Nan came to live with me before she died and I got her and grandads things, then later mum and dad died and I had to clear their house . My children all left home and left all their stuff behind two went to live overseas, the third is here but is not a sentimental hoarder of any kind but I have all their uni stuff , photo albums, records , tapes personal stuff etc boxes of it ….now the two grandkids that live here have borrowed Nans attic as they are working away !!!
Anyway it’s all getting sorted will take me a month of Sundays and a lot of heart wrenching but it will get done (eventually)

My Dads tools and all the ones my son left behind before he emigrated have gone to TWAM I m happy with that and my Dad would have been
The funny story is my youngest daughter overseas told me to throw everything out! so I started to got a couple of boxes done and dusted and the following week she asked if I could find her tax number ‘it s in one of my boxes ‘ sorry love that box went in the bin …..
Think of me now going to put an office chair by my back gate fingers crossed

I freeze summer fruit and veg in plastic currently, not glass. We put boxes of mason jars on the verge edge, before Church, gone already.

I loved Count Duckula 'ducky egg'

RedRidingHood

I have never been a hoarder, in fact I've been in trouble for getting rd of things a bit too quickly. However after mum died and I cleared her house it came home to me that what holds sentimental value for the parent is of no interest to the child.
We haven't used DVDs for over 20 years, everything is digital here. The main thing was books. Many, many bookcases full. I only read on kindle now so I've got rid of 99% of my books. Not easy as charities don't really want them these days. It frees up so much space when you get rid of stuff.

You are so right. I have a very large tea service that my Aunt left to me in her will. I have fond memories of it as a child but all my 5 children looked horrified when I asked if they would like it when anything happens to me. I was going to leave instructions for it to be donated to a local vintage tearooms until one of my DIL's admired it. Her name is on a sticky label underneath the cake stand.

A friend and her husband had been asking her married son, for years, to take all of his books, university papers etc. from his childhood bedroom. Eventually they gave up asking. They packed all of his belongings into black bin bags and boxes. The next time they visited him they put everything on his drive. Needless to say nothing made it into the house. He didn't even bother sorting but took it all straight to the dump.

I don’t envy you with the up clutter Pamela.

Have that bonfire Grammaretto. We had several over weeks on end of clearing my in laws house. It was a nightmare for DH to think about doing being an only child, although I obviously helped him.

Poor you Pamela. I am sympathetic. My mum lived here with us in the 1980s and some of the things I'm going through are hers! Books galore and even her notes for her university thesis inside an ancient trunk dating to the 1930s.

Should I have a bonfire?

I’ve got the opposite problem.
Mum is coming to live with us and I am gradually bringing her stuff down to my house.
We are definitely up cluttering!
I arrived home yesterday with four more black bin bags full of clothes. This morning- yes I get up early I have hung up 6pairs if black trousers and 5pairs of brown! They all look identical apart from the colour! That’s just the tip of the iceberg. There are 15 winter jackets in the cupboard(boiler room).
The way we’re going we’ll have to move out!
Do your children a favour and get rid of stuff.

It's much easier with another person isn't it Madeleine. I find if I try to tackle it alone, I either get engrossed re- reading old letters or paralysed by the sheer scale of the task. I think I have been trying to declutter since DH died nearly 5 years ago. Progress is so slow.

I have an Italian helper coming in a week or so to stay and I hope, together we will make great strides.

What to do with 2 pairs of practically unworn Galloway clogs?

I have moved many times, both here and abroad, and sorting stuff out is never easy. Some things I can pass on easily but my precious books and music and antiques are a different matter. But it is more about how I need to go about it.

My husband was a great thrower out and sorter, but he was also a very kind and sympathetic man. I am definitely a control person of my property, and would hate anyone just coming in and sorting stuff out that I did not know what was going. So our way suited us. Brian would go through a drawer or cupboard and put anything he thought should be got rid of onto a big tray. Then I would go through it and would either say yes that can go, or rescue some important gadget from the hoover or whatever and maybe take back a couple of books. But this way it caused me much less anxiety and I still felt in control. This paid dividends as when I was more relaxed I was much more likely to get rid of things

Another thing that might be useful is to say to children that they need to remove all their things that they have left with you!! Whatever they want to do with them it is not down to you to be the store cupboard. I definitely think that a reward system is needed. X amounts of rubbish out, treat yourself to coffee or a lunch out. It helps when you are flagging, to say just this one more drawer and we will call it quits.

I have never been a hoarder, in fact I've been in trouble for getting rd of things a bit too quickly. However after mum died and I cleared her house it came home to me that what holds sentimental value for the parent is of no interest to the child.
We haven't used DVDs for over 20 years, everything is digital here. The main thing was books. Many, many bookcases full. I only read on kindle now so I've got rid of 99% of my books. Not easy as charities don't really want them these days. It frees up so much space when you get rid of stuff.

Grammaretto thanks for that I have everything crossed things go without a hitch I certainly feel the last month has been stress overload.

To sell it I have to photograph it first, and that isn't easy as it's so big!

Then I doubt anyone would pay anything for it.

I'm not sure I could even give it away as it is so bulky and heavy to move!

keepingquiet

I do it small bits at a time. Then people buy me stuff or I get something I like and the whole thing starts again.

I have a cross-trainer in my bedroom I'll never use again but have no idea what I can do with it...

Sell it on Facebook market place , put it on free cycle or stick it outside your house , someone will take it .

I find that if you offer things free, people don't turn up so I put a negotiable price on things. That seems to give them a value and people flock.

We have started decluttering. After my husband’s stroke last Nov we have had to put his hospital bed in the lounge as he cannot get upstairs. The spare room/office is now full of lounge stuff.

We are having to sell his large van so my son has sorted through everything in there and we have sold all the stock. Next his beautiful motorbike will have to go. It is really emotional for us all. 😢

The garage was full of horse gear and now we are down to one ancient horse we have taken 3 car loads of tack, riding gear, numnahs, boots, bandages etc to a horse sanctuary to use or sell in their shop.

I have been taking books galore to Tesco and Aldi to put on their charity book stalls. Bags of clothes gone to charity shops.

We are trying to think whether we should stay in this house or move.

What I plan to do with books is to list them all before they go to the charity shop and if I really want to read them again then I will just have to order them from the library.
A lot of older books, especially paperbacks, are in such small print. And hardbacks are often heavy to hold in bed.

Recently a paperback fell apart as I was reading it so that went into the bin when I finished it,

Freecycle is what you need!

Well done Beechnut and DD!
You'll be exhausted.

There used to be something called Tools for self reliance similar to TWAM but I don't think either of them include Scotland.

Mens' sheds are recommended but I don't think they want these ancient tools in my shed. I guess i can ask.

It's books I am finding the hardest to go through. I took 17 boxes to a charity collection point. I wish I didn't have to see them go but it's unlikely that my next house will have space.

Good luck with the move tanith

My daughter arrived yesterday and between us we have cleared the attic completely. Made a start after lunch on sorting some long held stuff howling with laughter at some of it. She has taken a few things she would like to keep and the rest is in the garage ready for us to do another day.

I am delighted that my recently bought, "old fashioned" (reminds me of the Woolworth Dansette) record Player will take 78rpm records. Many don't. Once I can find a decent tape recorder, I will be dumping two, old, "curate's egg" music centres. One has tape recorders that destroy tapes, the other a CD player that eats CDs and won't let them out without a mammoth struggle. The wonky turntable with the non-replaceable stretched belt has already been disposed of. My beautiful, 1960s, soft topped 4 speed record player with a blown capacitor will stay under the bed until I can bear to let it go. It cost me over £20 in 1968 - a small fortune - plus £21 Guineas for the auxiliary amp to make it stereo for my 21st birthday a year later. Thank you so much, my kind and unexpectedly generous Dad!