De-cluttering, the never-ending process

My DH has just sold a couple of Fisher Price toys on eBay. Maybe MayBee you could try that.

It is a bit difficult with toys, as some can be worth a little bit nowadays.
Maybe in the first instance, sort them into the piles[like they do on the declutter programmes you watch[sorry cant remember the names]] of keep, recycle, throw? Or whatever the piles are called?
And buy some batteries for those that need them?

Doodledog - perhaps you can name a few items, and people can say where they put them in their homes? If that would help?
I struggle with homeless items too.
Didnt know what to do with gc "artwork"!
In the end, had a small set of drawers which isnt used much, and put them in that.

KayL - I agree with some of the points.
I am largely at the storage solution part now - to keep things stay organised. But even that is a whole lot easier now clutter is less.

I am the opposite of the last point though. And that is proving a challenge. Hope to work on that in the New Year.
I am taking things off the computer, not putting them on. I dont trust Governments or elites or even a war or something, or incompetence by someone somewhere, not to have the plug pulled on the internet at some point. Temporarily or otherwise. I might have said that was just me, but talking with friends, some of them are saying/doing the same thing.

Although we’ve decided not to move house, I’m still decluttering.
I took seven crates from the loft filled with Christmas Decorations, I know for sure that 7 crates won’t be going back! Not quite sure what to do with the items I don’t want as the Charity shops won’t want anything until next November at the earliest……
Im also letting go of Mums bits and pieces.

I have put lots of larger things on market place on face book for free and they have all gone....in fact I have queues for things incase anyone doesn't turn up. I had a stack of grey carpet tiles perfect for a workshop, garage or shed and the young lady who took them was going to use to insulated a shared she breeds rabbits in!!! One man's junk is another man's treasure!!! Lol. I have also had three collections done by a local charity shop of books, crockery,clothes, old record albums,bedding,pictures lots of different things.

Shed not shared!!

It’s worth asking about Christmas decorations oops. One December I asked one of our Hospice shops about an unwanted artificial Christmas tree and some smaller decorations. Bring them in they said. I did, the tree was gone in two days.

The smaller decorations could be stored as there is warehouse space for such things. I had no idea and realise they are unusual. Could you separate out the unwanted stuff, put a crate or several back and take them to a charity shop next Autumn? I do that with seasonally inappropriate clothes.

We’ve been hosting covid and not much has happened other than I’ve had time to think about what really isn’t needed now. Mr C agrees we’ve far too much crockery and glassware. I’ll begin shrinking it when the physical energy returns.

Oopsadaisy, where I am there's a local Gifting and Giving page on Facebook. I've found it a very good way to move on things to people who actually want them. Might be worth a look.

Today I am going to tackle DH’s study. His desk has already gone to my son but its contents need sorting, and other things can join items in the garage awaiting removal to an auction house. Someone is coming on Thursday who wants some of his specialist books. I am so pleased. Meanwhile a local friend who came a month ago and earmarked some items has not returned so now it will be first come first served.

I'm waiting for Mr D to get back from the tip, and then we are going in search of switchplates, but when I get back and tackle the last bedroom I will name some items.

No disrespect, but I think the view that you can't afford to give something to a charity shop doesn't hold up. The money was spent when you bought it, and if it is not being used it has no value. Passing it on is getting it out of your way, so get rid ASAP is my advice.

I agree with most things you say Doodledog, but would have to disagree with your last comment.

People have wildly different income, outgoings and savings from each other.
Plus, see antique programmes for many items that were gathering dust, but are actually valuable.

Mind you that can work the other way around as well.
I helped someone clear out the house, when his parents had both died. The son had been told by his mum that her jewellery was valuable, and to have it valued when she passed away. Nothing she owned, turned out to be valuable at all in the way she had meant.

I'm sorry if that came out badly. Of course if something is valuable it is different.

I meant that when I was clearing out wardrobes I hesitated at first to give expensive clothes to charity on the grounds that I'd paid a lot for them, but came to realise that it didn't matter - if they are no use to me now they are worthless, and the money I spent won't come back if I hang onto them, so they had to go, and if someone gets a bargain that's great.

I wasn't meaning that anyone should give heirlooms or anything like that away if they can be sold - second hand clothes, books etc have no real resale value, and are very different.

I am off to drive to DD in 3 hours, I always wake early if I am going on a journey. My boot already contains the large box of de-cluttered items for her, mostly nice clean kilner klip jars. I did ask her and she wanted them

That last post resonated, exactly what my ds said to me when I said it was difficult to part with things when I thought of the initial expense. I needed to look up john lewis past orders last week and there were far too many items that I have now de-cluttered. Now I shop mindfully and am never too old to learn, especially about the all important grief psychology

I went through a spending and giving-away phase for quite some time, I was widowed very suddenly and money and savings seemed worthless then, thankfully I came out of that mindset, eventually and am in a calm phase of my life

I still have two large boxes of items in my garage, destined for another dd who lives in wales. The weather has put the journey off twice but I am hoping to do a handover during the christmas hols

Me Dog and I are at an impasse. There were two bookcases in our bedroom and I assumed they would be going back in there and have books ready to go on them. They are currently in what has become the study, but that is a boxroom with no space for them - our room is large and can accommodate them, although I concede that it looks better without them. Mr D doesn’t want them to go back in there, which would mean me getting rid of more books. Neither of us wants to give in.

‘Frau Perchta, the Terrifying Christmas Witch. Frau Perchta isn’t as well known as Krampus these days, which is a shame, because this Christmas-time goddess/witch/all-around-terrifying-gal deserves a lot more press. She’s a staple in the Alpine regions of southern Germany and Austria, but relatively under-the-radar in North America.
Frau Perchta was also known as Berchta, or Bertha, and has also been called “Spinnstubenfrau” or “Spinning Room Lady.” She is often depicted with a beaked nose made of iron, dressed in rags, perhaps carrying a cane, and generally resembles a decrepit old crone. But this old crone packs a mighty wallop…. and carries a long knife hidden under her skirt.
She also bears a resemblance to the Scandinavian goddess Frigga, and both of them share one obsession in common: spinning, specifically, and domestic neatness generally. Frankly, she’s pretty judge-y about the state of your home for a woman who dresses all in rags. Legend has it that you’d better get all your flax spun by Twelfth Night (January 6th), “for when the Christmas season was over, it would be time to set up the big upright loom, at which time you must have enough thread to warp it and start your weaving.” And what’s Frau Perchta’s punishment for those lazy ladies who haven’t finished all their weaving? “In Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, there were numerous tales of Frau Perchta trampling and even settling fire to the half-spun fibers.” And if should you really irritate her? Like, say, not only is your flax not spun, but your house is a total mess (this domestic goddess/witch hates a messy house) and you’ve even failed to leave out a traditional bowl of porridge for her? Well, then her rampaging will extend far beyond your slovenly spinning room. She’ll do nothing less than steal into your bedroom, disembowel you and replace your guts with rocks and straw’
I’ve only just heard of Krampus but now I have this is one hell of an incentive to get my house tidy and uncluttered by Jan 6th!

Heavens! It's amazing my bowels have survived untouched

My friend's late MIL used to runaround like a headless chicken ensuring that there was nothing left undone on the stroke of NYD. I'm surprised that she didn't insist on everyone sleeping naked so their pyjamas didn't count as undone washing. On the back of Christmas and all the associated mess she was really making a rod for her back, but she did it every year.

Doodledog

Me Dog and I are at an impasse. There were two bookcases in our bedroom and I assumed they would be going back in there and have books ready to go on them. They are currently in what has become the study, but that is a boxroom with no space for them - our room is large and can accommodate them, although I concede that it looks better without them. Mr D doesn’t want them to go back in there, which would mean me getting rid of more books. Neither of us wants to give in.

I hate impasses.

Compromise?
1 bookcase goes back in? Other stays in study?

Mr C agrees we’ve far too much crockery and glassware. I’ll begin shrinking it when the physical energy returns.

The bane of my life (or at least one of them 😄) is the number of mugs we have. Not the nice, pretty ones. We have about eight that were given away by companies we worked for, for working on specific projects. Two of them are 30 years old, another two 25 years old. I use them for visiting workmen in the hope they will break them, but no, the only one ever to break was my lovely porcelain poppy mug. MrA will not chuck them in the bin or donate them. I have now come to the conclusion the only way I will ever get rid of them is if I accidentally drop them, but as we never use them that's difficult. I should have given the tree people a few quid to drop one when they were here a few weeks ago.

Mugs aree the bane of everyone's lives . Specially the ones with Bloggs Engineering or something emblazoned all over them - who wants those in their cupboards? Mr Dog used to be given those all the time, too. I nabbed the pens (I loved the little highlighters!) but the mugs are just a nuisance, as are calendars. They went straight to the charity shop.

We only use white china mugs, but have a gazillion that were presents, and I can't bear to part with the 'World's Best Mum' ones, or the 'My Favourite Teacher' ones. Mugs take up a lot of space, too, as they need a bit of shelf of their own, and can't be piled high. I might get rid of the spare ones when I am finally able to put things back in the kitchen.

I’m quite proud of myself because I nearly bought a calendar yesterday. It has pictures drawn by someone that features an old man walking his greyhound. I can’t afford to buy one of his prints so thought I’d buy the calendar and frame some of the pictures. I then reminded myself that I have a shelf full of old calendars featuring pictures that I’m ‘going to frame one day’ and I’ve got a box full of pictures that I don’t have room on my walls for. I wish I’d spent my life asking myself do you need this and do you have somewhere to put it. On the subject of mugs, why is it always the favourite ones that get broken? I do put broken ones in my jar full of sherds collected from the beach or garden.

I suppose the favourite ones get broken as they are used more, but it is very annoying.

I had a load of calendars from my brother in Australia, which featured photos of his children growing up. I kept them all, but they were clogging up a cupboard, so I reluctantly put them out with the last bag that went to recycling. We looked at them at the time, as they were all used as the main calendar when they were current, but it felt disloyal to get rid of them somehow.

I’ve got a drawer full of photos etc of my son and daughter’s first born. Of course, it didn’t happen with the second child. I never look at them.

Snap MayBee70 😄 We used to buy a Jack Vettriano calendar every year. It hung on the front door and most of the time we never even remembered to turn the page at the end of the month. I think we have about six of them somewhere and I always said I would frame some of the pictures but never did.

Today my grandson went up into the loft to fetch some decorations down for me, but when he told me about all the other stuff up there, I felt quite overwhelmed. Just when I thought I was doing well with dispersing my late husband’s stuff!
Because of the layout of the house, it needs a team of three or four people to fetch the stuff down and transfer it safely to where it can be sorted ready for disposal or auction. Not much will be kept. I don’t know when my family are going to be available to help. I certainly cant do it myself.