Decluttering

I am a great chucker-outer. I believe the more clutter in a house the more there is to dust-and I don't dust very often. DH is a hoarder and was upset when I threw away his (deceased) budgie's bell and a sparrow's skull he found when he was in the Scouts.

When we had our house built, all we had was 2 camping chairs and a bed settee and some personal stuff. Now in a 3 bedroom house with 3 fitted wardrobes there is no where to put anything, The guest bedroom and the spare bedroom is full. Now the strange thing is there is hardly any shops where we live. I could barely get a new cup in the kitchen which is 25ft long. I wish I could blame my DH for all the clutter but on this rare occasion I have to say I am to blame. I think because of where I live things have to be saved "just in case". I blame my computer for buying things online

I opened my tea towel drawer only to have difficulty finding one without a hole so this weekend I shall be having a clear out. A trip to Dunelm I think is on the cards to get some new ones - my excuse anyway

Just out of curiosity, what will you do with the holey ones, goldengirl? Use them as cleaning cloths?

I'm always at a loss to know how to get rid of old, unwearable garments etc. as I can hardly put them in the charity bag and I draw the line at using DH's old underpants as dusters!

I think Oxfam send "rags" to a recycler ana and get some money.
There is a towel in this flat.
Now bear in mind we threw away a mountain of stuff in early 2013 before moving here.
i am not sure where this towel originated from (I think one of DSs must have left it behind in my house) but I definitely did not buy it (hideous burgundy with a white pattern). At one time I used it for a dog towel. The dog died 12 years ago. It's knocked around since, in a and out of garage, doing various low grade work e.g. when DH servicing his bike. Thus acquiring extra oil stains. It has lost its hem and is fraying gently. For some obscure reason DH is reluctant to part with it and was recently taking it to his spinning class in the gym to mop up his sweat.
He did agree that it was a disgrace and we have plenty of other options.
Still not been finally thrown away though - about to be demoted to a car boot towel.

I gave my multi-dog neighbour a couple of ragged towels for use on canine feet after walks.

I gave my neighbour some old bath towels as I'd changed the colour scheme, and she is a dog groomer. She said they'd be great for her husband!

Yes, I know the Heart charity shop next door to the office where I work has a regular pick-up (giant van, it probably collects from charity shops all over) of unsaleable items.

But they never actually ask for rags or rubbish, do they, so I wouldn't feel comfortable filling a bag with such things and 'donating' it to them!

Our local dogs' home takes towels an d duvets (they get destroyed fairly quickly)

I think this particular towel would be an embarrassment to give to anyone! Even a lost dog.
I did give bedding to the YMCA before I moved who were very grateful for it as people usually move into their bedsits with nothing. Failed to give a tower of Nat Geogs to the prison though.

Some things should never be thrown away. Like the hideous Hawaiian shirt DH bought in Singapore about 55 years ago. It may have fit him then. Apparently I must NOT dispose of it when decluttering.

I'll be binning the holey ones Ana! Part of the decluttering process

I found this thread and would like to revive it by asking:

Do you feel guilty if you throw out things that your DC or someone close has given you?
We are trying to clear out a load of 'stuff' but I keep thinking "oh so and so gave me that, can't throw it out to the charity shop", even if I don't really like it or want a more minimalist look.

Ornaments, presents brought back from holidays , MIL's stuff that DH couldn't throw out - it's all still here. I just think one of them may come home and say " where's that leprachaun I brought you back from my trip to Ireland in 2002?" Or will they never remember?
Should I just be ruthless? Or could some things be worth a fortune...?

I have every Christmas card and every birthday card from husband, children and grandchildren dating back to when we were married in 1968! The ridiculous thing is that they go up into the loft and never get looked at. No doubt they will be binned when we are gone

Welcome rosequartz.

I would get rid of ornaments to a charity- you could always tell your DD that it was broken by accident.

I also am trying to declutter and charities will take holey clean garments because they sell these items and make some money. For undrwear, I wash the items and then bin them.

My mother died in 1979 and left a load of towels. I took some to the local charity not so long ago and they were delighted as they wanted them for their own use ie kitchen and loo.

Mine are all in boxes; a couple for each child and several for me. My cousin has all the old family photos and postcards and I used to love looking through them. I haven't ever looked through the card collection but I'd be interested to see how the fashion in cards has changed over thirty odd years. I think it'll make me sad looking at them [as it did when I recently went through the photo collection]. Mind you, with this wedding coming up I'm struggling to find shoes that are comfortable and I tried on a pair that I was going to throw out a few weeks ago and, blow me, they're absolutely perfect [Van Daal black low heeled court shoes]. Also a black jacket that had slightly padded shoulders so went in the charity bag; when I went to the second hand designer shop yesterday I noticed that a lot of jackets have slightly padded shoulders [not at Dynasty level] and the jacket was fine [and incredibly smart]. It's now going to the cleaners instead of Oxfam. My daughter throws all of her birthday and Christmas cards away; I find it really sad when I go round there and a card I'd chosen specially for her is just lying in the recycling box. So she will obviously throw all of my collection away . When my daughter was born my husband was horrid to me and I threw away all of the cards I'd received that week, and it still upsets me that I did so .

I have some cards, papers etc in a box in a wardrobe. DB and I found some of my mother's cards letters etc, after she died. It was lovely to find some bills, a menu etc from when she went on a trip to the South of France in the 1930s. I hope DB still has them.

It 's the 'ornaments' and books that bother me - to keep or not to keep? I'm quite happy to throw out clothes. But i always think I will use household goods, soft furnishings again, but I know I won't, so they sit in the attic.
My DM was a great de-clutterer ( we had a very small house so she had to)

My attic is empty and I am very proud of that.

I had to declutter my kitchen ( the council modernised it,) so now the stupid baby cupboards won't take my cooking/catering stuff, so it was traded out round the family, now my friend has retired and has commandeered my craft room so I now have to find homes for 50 years of craft equipment. And you can bet the first thing that goes I will need

I am typing slowly so apologies for crossed posts. DH and I sent each other the same cards every Christmas for few years so no waste there.

It's all the photographs as well! At least now they are mostly digital, however they give me lovely photos of DGC in frames which are all over the house! And there are thousands of photos in albums, boxes, etc which I have tried to sort but it seems never-ending.
I think the only solution is to move every 2-3 years!

Our attic was emptied when they came to do the insulation, but it filled up again. Well done, charleygirl! I know when we cleared my MIL's very cluttered house we were relieved to find the attic was empty.

Oh yes, there's all my art stuff but I may take it up again. Then the stash of yarns and patterns (which I was working through before finding GN). Boxes of children's books - will the GC want them?

But it's the things of sentimental value which I would never have chosen myself that I can't seem to part with.

I tend to find I chuck the stuff I should have kept and hang on to stuff which is of no use. OH hoards terribly, shirts and trousers which will never fit him again even if they could ever be considered stylish again (yes, that old!). I am gradually and secretly getting rid of said items. Books are a wrench but a Kindle (and kindle apps) is wonderful as is a bluetooth speaker as they take up so little space. I cobbled together a huge amount of books and rang the local Mind warehouse and a lovely chap collected them within the hour! I have since done the same with a lot of baby equipment DGC don't need anymore.
I still have an awful lot of toys though and I just don't like the Kindle for childrens story books and so of course there are loads of those on the terribly untidy and frequently dusty bookcases.
I get upset when DC laugh at me for having so much stuff but I am either working or caring for DGC and find I am too tired in the evening to do much and.....an awful lot of stuff is theirs or to provide entertainment/learning opportunities for their children!
Oops! I have ranted....sorry.

When I moved from my last house in 1996, I paid heaven knows what to have the rubbish from the previous attic transferred to this one so I decided never again. Anyway I can no longer get to my attic because of pinned and plated ankle and failed knee replacement. At least my rubbish is on 2 floors.

I am blaming GN as I am not doing much about the clothes and paper decluttering. I need to set aside a week and just do it.

I just got very fed up with all the slowly-accumulating clutter, much of it ornaments bought by my daughter that she expects to see when she comes to visit. I am trying to group her gifts in one area, so that once she has left I can sweep them away into a box and bring them back the next time she visits.

I have started to sort them, one group for charity shops, one to keep for sentimental reasons, and one to stick on Ebay. It is hard though. Chinese mud men, anyone? My grandfather used to collect them when he went to China. Lucky me.

Charley, I cannot get out of my head the idea that you wash underwear before you bin it. Why?