Help me to throw out...

anno The six items I had 'on the go' were spread over about 28 years
I went off knitting for about 20 years!

Do I need therapy?
Knitting is good therapy, I'll try that

I spent many painfully slow hours, when younger, knitting a sweater with poppies growing up the front and back.
It took me two years (!) and just needed sewing together. I shoved it in a cupboard and months later fished it out....only to find a bl...y mouse had made a delightful nest in the middle of it
I couldn't do anything other than bin it; it put me off knitting for years!

I have an Aran jacket, unfinished, in several bags. I think I stopped knitting it when it got too heavy for my shoulder which must be a good nine or ten years ago. I have just finished knitting a blanket for the women's fistula hospital in Addis so when I've finished sewing it up, I will dig out that jacket again and find out just what stage I had reached.
Granne72, I don't have a very big house! And if I ever have six items on the go at once please refer me for therapy!

I have a make your own rug kit, half finished, from um, 30 years ago. I might finish it one day?
It will look lovely hideous nowadays. Bright orange tiger rug, or it could be owls, I have forgotten. It is nostalgic though.

I had six items on the go (well, some of them had been on the knitting needles for years!).

Making a concerted effort I have finished three of them - and nearly finished the fourth!

Oh, plus a half-finished knitted toy ...

Six items at once?!

annodomini please tell me how you manage to let go of duplicate knitting needles. I have a box full often several in one size just in case I should be knitting 6 items at once on the same size needles !

That's why I cleared mine out! I had so many brown ones. I do use my buttons a lot, I buy something fairly cheap and then put nice buttons on it. It makes a huge difference.

My watercolours and acrylics have probably gone hard in the tubes by now, but I kept them just in case ....

The button tin is overflowing but when I knit something for DGC I look in there and think - no, nothing is just right - and go and buy some new ones

Oh golly
You've just reminded me that I have three large boxes of jewellery making stuff, that I haven't touched for yonks..........

No, in fact I have been sending much of my sewing, crafting and dressmaking stuff to friends. When I used to make my own evening dresses, I sewed beads on them, so had a huge collection of antique tiny glass beads. Most of them have gone. As have ribbons - to be made into baby comforting 'snugglies', around the edges. Zips to a friend who does trouser repairs. I have halved my button collection to one giant tin - that was quite tough! All my card making things have gone to DD. My watercolours and acrylics went ages ago, and paper. Half of my embroidery silks have gone, and all of my tapestry wool. Old sewing patterns have nearly all gone. It was very cathartic, and because it had all been promised, I had to get on and do it.

I should imagine that anyone artsy is going to have particular problems in disposing/giving away things.
Though, judging by this thread, I dont think that in real life, there will be any problem in getting enough materials from people that you know, should an art moment/time strike.

I'm convinced Him Indoors is secretly binning plastic tubs (including lunch box lids ) and hates old biscuit tins. I have been known to hide them. I laughed out loud at loupylou's footstool/stash being 'discovered'.

I am banned from keeping toilet roll tubes - it's the old playgroup leader in me that thinks they can be made into something - I did come downstairs once and find that Firstborn had created a nativity scene from toilet roll tubes, masking tape and scraps of material. These days they go to the hamster but she can't keep up (and no she is not being crafty with them, just chewing them). The plastic bag stash is not overflowing at the moment as I am using cloth ones more these days - but then often that means we have none to use as bin bags.

I'm a terrible hoarder. I keep things that are total rubbish because I think I might be able to make them into something artsy. I have had some massive clear outs over the last couple of years and another one is due as the builders are coming to sort our Futility room which looks like Steptoe has been living in it.

btw I used to spur myself on to throw things away by listing them on here todayithrewout.wordpress.com and I still take photos before sending stuff off to the dump or charity shop. Making a note of what has gone helps me feel as though I am achieving something. Mind you, I have a massive 'car boot' pile to deal with next.

This is worrying, Mrs. P has been tasking photos of me recently

Oh, that has given me such a laugh, pompa

kitty I do the same with plastic boxes.

I did throw out some clothes that I hadn't worn for years only to find they have just come back into fashion (those trench coats mentioned on another thread).

We have just done our weekly shop - took our own re-usable bags. virtuous

Nor is my size!

pompa

I read something similar about clothes viney. If a person hasnt worn them for a year, get rid of them, or something like that.

But I find that one season of one year, is not necessarily or even generally the same as next year, so clothes not much worn one year, may well be the ones I use most next year. So I dont go by that at all.

I give all of mine to Tesco, they don't care whose they get, they recycle them so it no longer worries me. I do keep as many as I need for bin-liners. Also nice big ones for carting presents and cast-offs around in. When we go shopping we always have cloth bags with us, but carrier bags still turn up. In fact there is one flapping around in my garden right now, and it's definitely not one of mine.

I acquire my plastic carrier bags through my weekly delivery from Asda. They could cut the amount down by putting several items in one bag, but no, I quite often get one packet of Ibuprofen tablets in a carrier of it`s own, likewise one body spray, or other such small items, resulting in a plethora of carrier bags.

"If you do like the memories, but not the clutter of it, you can always take a photo before disposing of the item carefully."

This is worrying, Mrs. P has been tasking photos of me recently

It's possible that a charity shop would welcome a supply of carrier bags - they usually put purchases into a re-used supermarket bag. I take my stuff there in a carrier bag and leave it there.

I read a tip once about putting everything that you think that you might need/want to keep into a box, seal it and mark the date on it. If after 6 months, you can't remember what's in the box, give it away to a charity.

I have two problems with this:
1. I cant remember where I've put my door key (5 minutes ago), let alone what I've secreted in a box with the intention of forgetting, and
2. I've got nowhere to keep the wretched box!

I've recently moved into a small, rented flat on my own and am gradually decluttering. It is really lovely when I get rid of a load of stuff

I have started a new system - the lids go UNDER the boxes in the cupboards - at least that was the idea. I have medicines allsorted into different types, little jars of flavourings etc. in one cupboard. Then DBH reaches a box or two down when he is looking for something and outs them back in different places, sometimes he pulls the lids down too and puts them to one side and it never finds its way home. He thinks I am being fussy. grrrr

Please could we have a meet up to pair tupperware type boxes?

My problem with plastic boxes is that they are useful for storing, say, packets of stock cubes etc, in the pull out cupboard. Of course, there would be no point putting a lid on those. Then I do a matching session and throw all the unmatched lids away. Then, I decide to use the box storing the stock cubes and have no flipping lid for it!!

charleygirl can you come and stay with me for a fortnight and declutter my house for me?

My DM was like you, a great clearer-outer, and MIL was a hoarder!

Some supermarkets have a recycling bin near the door for plastic bags.

We keep quite a lot because they are useful for sending stuff to the charity shop (if we get round to decluttering) and giving away apples in the autumn.

I agree, Nannabelle, about using your own shopping bags. Also I always keep a couple of good quality carrier bags in the car and one in my handbag. If we do acquire a thin plastic one it gets reused as a bin liner. I also keep a few to put in the holiday suitcases for dirty washing and shoes. Jiffy bags are taking over my craft room, though!