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As if packing up to move is not stressful enough....

(25 Posts)
hazel93 Mon 11-Jul-22 17:23:46

I had this weird idea DH and I were on the same page , we had discussed the stupidity of holding on to stuff that was only of sentimental value to either of us in another life, like 40 years ago ! I don't mean family items, photos etc. just the general crap that makes you sigh and remember when you were young.
Seems we are not on the same page. Today he has decided his skis are non negotiable, last time he skied was 1996, T shirts bought when he was slim and now falling apart. I could go on but the final straw was his insistence on keeping tins of coffee, yes, you read that correctly, bought around the world and only one with a sell by date, I think it says 1994, the others I have no idea.
Do I laugh or cry ?

Sago Mon 11-Jul-22 17:25:00

My husband would be the same, good luck?

hazel93 Mon 11-Jul-22 17:28:22

I think I need a tad more than luck but thank you anyway !!

J52 Mon 11-Jul-22 17:39:50

With mine it’s bits of wood! The packing removal men had the temerity to ask if the numerous planks were being left!

hazel93 Mon 11-Jul-22 17:46:00

Bits of wood already tied up and ready to go . Of course they will come in useful .........

Grannyben Mon 11-Jul-22 19:02:59

Well I would just bag the items up and bin them, later declaring they must have been lost in transit.
Maybe that's why my husband departed so perhaps not!

SueDonim Mon 11-Jul-22 19:05:24

I would stack the items neatly in the garden, to get them out of the house, and then, oops, in this hot weather, it’s now a bonfire! ?

Bakingmad0203 Mon 11-Jul-22 19:08:38

I sympathise with you. On our last move he gave away his collection of wood and then later after the move said he needed a particular piece to stir the paint and wished he hadn’t given it away!
We are now downsizing, but still have boxes of DH’s old computer bits, a huge target practice box, gardening tools (we are moving to a high rise apartment with no garden) DH has far more clothes than me, hardly any of them fit him anymore, but he won’t give them to charity. I’m just hoping that when we move he will realise he can’t hold on to everything as there is nowhere to keep it!

hazel93 Mon 11-Jul-22 19:31:25

Now I am laughing - sorry ladies - thought my DH was the only one or maybe two !
Love the stick to stir paint - DH exactly the same, threw it in the skip yesterday, turned up in the garage this afternoon !

Zonne Mon 11-Jul-22 19:43:40

Skis - tick
Bits of wood - tick
Parts of a kitchen from three houses ago - tick
Climbing equipment (he stopped climbing 20 years ago) - tick
His old military uniforms, including some which last fitted him 35 years back - tick
Five - count them - camping stoves, in addition to the one we actually use - yep
Four spare sleeping bags which have not been unpacked in 25 years and never will be - of course
Bits of a bike that was stolen five years ago and which don’t fit the replacement- oh, yes.

So empathy but sadly no solutions from me.

Allyoops Mon 11-Jul-22 19:47:53

I'm with Grannyben

kittylester Mon 11-Jul-22 19:49:27

We have just bought new towels - the last were probably 12 years old - when I asked if I should put them in the bin, I was told that they might come in handy and to add them to the pile in the garage. There were 15 already.

lixy Mon 11-Jul-22 20:20:09

So what is it with bits of wood?
It's the same here. We moved a bit of a fence post, a pile of offcuts and several bundles of 2x4 that were already in the loft when we moved into the last house and had to come with us to this one for some reason.
My OH hasn't done any woodwork since school days!

Zonne love the list!
hazel93 you might be glad of that coffee if the prices keep on going up! Good luck with the move.

GrandmaSeaDragon Mon 11-Jul-22 20:51:05

When I painted the internal breeze block garage walls, I suggested to DH have a sort out and crate all similar items together as I could never find anything out there. After 20 crates, he gave up. He did manage to throw out a (very) few small bits of wood. Mind you, when I asked him to repair something a few weeks later, he couldn’t because “you made me throw out that piece of wood”! I daren’t even venture into the study because every drawer and cupboard is jam packed with wires, keyboards, discs and every other computer bit x 100 which will, of course, come in handy! I’ll join you in a laugh hazel93, otherwise it’s like hitting your head against a brick wall!

VioletSky Mon 11-Jul-22 20:57:00

Bag it up, hide it and if he hasn't missed it for a year, bin it...

Otherwise you can just find it for him

Works for me lol

J52 Mon 11-Jul-22 23:20:02

Oh I forgot the 1000s of nails and screws that go with the bits of wood! DSs don’t bother with the builders merchants, they ask dad first. He usually has just the right thing.

Teacheranne Mon 11-Jul-22 23:40:18

After moving five times in less than eight years, we had a rule that anything that was still in a unopened box did not go to the next house! Luckily we were in agreement with that rule and I still regularly go through cupboards and wardrobes to throw unused things away.

Doodledog Mon 11-Jul-22 23:50:18

We haven't moved for 24 years. Imagine the bits of wood, tools and miscellaneous 'stuff' in Doodle Towers. I call them his Manly Man Toys.

Fortunately, most of Mr Dog's MMTs are in the garage, so out of sight (the car doesn't fit in there, but never mind), but come the day we do need to move, or worse, if I'm left on my own - possibly having put him under the patio - it will be horrific trying to sort it all out. I wouldn't mind if the house showed any signs of belonging to a DIY enthusiast - he just buys all the gear and stores it according to his 'system' ?

Chestnut Tue 12-Jul-22 00:05:19

Reading threads like this make me glad to live alone. I can throw whatever I like which seems to be pure luxury. I can't imagine keeping that lot, you all have my sympathy.

Franbern Tue 12-Jul-22 08:33:44

Oh the joys of living by myself. I make the decisions as to what to keep and what to dispose of.

Mind you, I moved into my last house in 2003, and when in 2015 I started to get rid of stuff ready for my next downzising move, I discovered in the garage TWO packing boxes which had been put there on removal day in August 2003. Still sealed. Decided if they had nothing I had not missed for twelve years, could not be that important and just got rid of them.

Zonne Tue 12-Jul-22 08:52:26

We’re having some work done in the garage soon, which involves emptying it this week. It will be a long, hot and exhausting job.

I’m looking forward to it - I have my sun-lounger, two new books, and a chilled bottle of white ready, and am practising several increasingly rude variations of ‘not my stuff, not my problem’.

ALT57 Tue 12-Jul-22 12:19:37

My hubby has been very good at getting rid of all our 'might come in useful' but we cannot find anywhere to move to which is suitable. So depressing

karmalady Tue 12-Jul-22 12:54:39

getting rid, best done in tranches when it does not seem as though much is going. Ask your dh wat he would like to be done with this and that if he pops his clogs first. Perhaps that will activate him. My good friend has been widowed with everything that her husband collected over his lifetime. Hell for her because now she feels guilty about removing stuff

Beechnut Tue 12-Jul-22 13:03:39

Franbern

Oh the joys of living by myself. I make the decisions as to what to keep and what to dispose of.

Mind you, I moved into my last house in 2003, and when in 2015 I started to get rid of stuff ready for my next downzising move, I discovered in the garage TWO packing boxes which had been put there on removal day in August 2003. Still sealed. Decided if they had nothing I had not missed for twelve years, could not be that important and just got rid of them.

My nose would have got the better of me Franbern and I would have had to have a look ??

hazel93 Tue 12-Jul-22 13:06:57

Zonne

We’re having some work done in the garage soon, which involves emptying it this week. It will be a long, hot and exhausting job.

I’m looking forward to it - I have my sun-lounger, two new books, and a chilled bottle of white ready, and am practising several increasingly rude variations of ‘not my stuff, not my problem’.

Good on ya girl !! Think more than one chilled bottle is required though !
This morning I was informed my family recipe books , hand written from my great grandmother down through the years and which I still often use are total tat and should be binned, this said while he is reeling odd bits of twine/ string/ cord into a huge ball..
I give up.