De-cluttering, the never-ending process

I have started to de clutter, books, CD's and DVD's that we will never listen to or watch again.
DH retired two years ago but still has 12, yes 12, I've just counted them, suits in the wardrobe plus numerous jackets and trousers. He has at least 8 brand new work shirts still in their wrappers. He is never going to wear most of these again but trying to get him to sort them out is like pulling teeth.
If I say too much I am nagging, I cannot win.
Hopefully one day we will get there but confidence is not high.

I’ve move 14 times since I left home at 19. Two of those were abroad.
From the age of 66-76 I’ve moved twice.
If we could take out solicitors and estate agents I’d probably do it again.
But I’m never going through that hell again 😱

Don’t rush it Iam - plenty of time to look at pictures, perhaps sort them but enjoy the memories, and relax in the security of your home with the things you shared.
It’s a temptation to rush at it after a bereavement, my Dad had had Mums clothes cleared within days. But it’s a bit like pulling a sticking plaster off and can leave you feeling raw.
I find there are days when I feel the urge - so I do a bit- and others when I am happy just to get on with my life.
“As and when” is my mantra!

When my husband was given the devastating, unexpected diagnosis almost a year ago, he began ‘putting my affairs in order’. Alongside this, he emptied the attic as I can’t bring heavy things down from there.
Now I’m alone, I have two bedrooms full of stuff. We’d started organising photographs but I still have 3 boxes to go through.

The admin around his death has been time/emotionally consuming. I’ve decided to put only one day a week aside for ‘stuff’. It does feel endless

Over the next month I am having the shed in the garden removed and all the contents sent to the tip,half pots of paint old buckets etc used for wallpaper paste and old pasting brushes etc things that have built up over the past few years,I am going to have the base repaved and the shed is going to a charity which is used by men who plant seeds for their allotments it will give me lots of space for my garden table & chairs.

I also have to start clearing out two large wardrobes and declutter them they are overflowing and are in desperate need of sort out sooner rather than later.

MawtheMerrier

Only three times?

5 for me and I imagine that’s considerably fewer times than many!

But moving twice in less than twenty years in your sixties and seventies is more than most people do I would think, it’s a different matter completely when you are younger and moving up the housing ladder?
I’m still in the process of decluttering the family home, and I’m finding it hard going doing that, so progressive downsizing and decluttering really isn’t a challenge I relish.

We have moved 10 times but have been here 30 years.

We took advantage of lockdowns to declutter and did the loft and garage. I am quite strict now about not keeping things that we, or the children, won't want.

I spent several years sorting out a lifetime’s photo albums. I saved photos of people and mounted them in chronological order in three albums, Every photo is labelled and the albums are accompanied by a family tree. I gave them to my DS and GD. I threw away thousands of pretty (and not so pretty) pictures of all the places in the world we have visited. I did also give away over a thousand books but it made little difference to the bookcases. We don’t buy Knick knacks but my collection of books on Polar Exploration is way out of hand.

We have started decluttering/sorting this year.So far two car boot fulls to the tip and several bags to the charity shop.

The house isn’t messy but we realised things we would have probably thrown away when the children were living at home have been put into the wardrobes in their bedrooms even though the items will never be used again.

Our plan is to empty the loft as it is getting to be a struggle getting up there.After the loft will be the garage, shed and greenhouse.

We are getting there slowly but surely.Reading about others doing the same thing is encouraging.

Only three times?

5 for me and I imagine that’s considerably fewer times than many!

Karmalady, I admire you. To move three times must be so stressful. I rattle around here and wish I could summons the courage to move once.

I have been decluttering at my own pace for 4 years. I reckon on 1 more year to go.
I can now see light at the end of the tunnel!
The house wasnt even that bad to start with. Well I didnt think it was. But I knew it needed doing.

I have only ever moved house the once. And may not move again. Which hasnt helped with decluttering.

I have gone the other way to you with storage. I no longer need two chests of drawers. And two work desks will be removed shortly. And I have my eye on more furniture removal.

Today I am going to bring my first and oldest rolser shopping trolley into my hall from the garage. It is destined for the charity shop, where it will easily be sold but first, little by little, I will fill it with items fit for re-sale. It may take take a week or more than a month, or it may remain empty but it will definitely go to the cs