Are you good at throwing stuff out?

66Mustang

I've been having a tidy up recently but I find it hard to throw stuff away. I've gone through all the cupboards and drawers and have thrown away about 1 bin bag full. I always think I might need something so keep it just in case. Either that or something that is not particularly useful I will want to keep as it is a reminder of the past (school exercise books for example).

I need to make more room. Does anyone have any tips for clearing out? Should I be really "brutal" or am I right to keep sentimental stuff?

Are you good at throwing stuff away or you a hoarder like me?

janer1967

I'm great at throwing stuff out as I had to pay £380 when I moved for all my ex rubbish from the garage,  shed and house to be cleared 

I have a rule now when clearing out if I haven't worn it or used it since last time I cleared out then it goes 

I usually sort out as season changes eg spring and winter 

Lisatho11987777

I am terrible its hard for me to throw stuff out but I did manage to do it last year 

leeCal

Keeping too much stuff can ruin your home life and have a very detrimental effect on your mental health, so being brutal about keeping your house clear is very important. 

I try to remember how awful hoarding can be and I have a reasonably regular purge.

i do keep some memorabilia in a trunk, tidy and safe, but I could do better generally. There’s always room for improvement...if it’s not full of stuff that is!

chiarieds

I have a small park home, so there's no room for a lot of stuff. Someone should tell my son, who has taken over my spare bedroom with boxes of books, a stacking bookcase full of books, a spare dog crate, & dog bed! I can hardly move in there.

Yes, I keep sentimental stuff, but I haven't got a lot. I used to keep things 'just in case,' but haven't got the room for it now.

janer1967

The problem has been getting rid of stuff with charity shops not being open 

I hate just putting them in the bin but my wardrobe top 7s full of stuff waiting to get to charity 

66Mustang

Thank you for all the replies. It sounds like I need to be a bit stricter with throwing stuff out!

I think the issue I have is that I remember the history behind something and don't want to throw it away, even if it is of no use.

A perfect example is in my drawer I have a beer bottle from The Gambia. It is totally useless, and quite large so gets in the way, yet where it comes from is special to me. I guess I need to learn that it's the memories that are special and not random objects.

vikingqueen

    The fact I have a little ornament on my bedroom drawers that my son made as nursery school is testament to how long I keep stuff for... He's nearly 41!! Anything else I can part with once it is no longer useful but when it comes to my children I kept everything. Now it's the turn of my grandchildren to fill my home full of things made with love 

66Mustang

vikingqueen said:

    The fact I have a little ornament on my bedroom drawers that my son made as nursery school is testament to how long I keep stuff for... He's nearly 41!! Anything else I can part with once it is no longer useful but when it comes to my children I kept everything. Now it's the turn of my grandchildren to fill my home full of things made with love 

I don't have children but am close to my family and anything that was given to me by a family member is similar, I don't want to throw it away - I can easily throw stuff away that I bought myself but anything from a family member is really hard to throw out!

leeCal

Someone once said that the difference between us and animals is that we accessorise!

i think maybe we hoard too, far more than say the lyre bird for example. 

?

Ami2301

I openly admit that I'm absolutely terrible with keeping stuff, even if it has the smallest meaning behind it, then i'm likely to keep it. I know I need to be a bit more ruthless

66Mustang

@Ami2301 It’s nice to hear I’m not the only one!!

OverlyAnxious

I'm generally pretty good at throwing stuff out...I like that sense of a 'fresh start' on bin day each week...sad I know!   

Also had to clear out my grandparents hoard after one died and the other had to be quickly moved into sheltered accommodation.  I couldn't understand how so much could be accumulated at the time!  (My views have changed since lol.)

But I find throwing away boxes really difficult...  Even massive boxes for vacuum cleaners etc.  Initially it's a warranty thing, but after the first year, it's not like I'm ever going to repack it!  I'm sure I still have boxes for electrical items that have long since broken and been discarded themselves.  Trouble is I only have a tiny studio flat (wasn't able to move in the end, for anyone following my story) so I just don't have the storage space for all these boxes.  Two weeks ago I had a large item delivered, the box was too big to keep anywhere so I had to put it straight in the recycling...yep, you've guessed it, I needed to return it a few days later and couldn't!  Sods law eh...


In the same vane, my OCD affects what I can and can't throw out...I feel a huge sense of responsibility for anything that goes into landfill*.  Particularly anything like hard plastic that won't rot, and things like batteries that cause contamination.  I used to save these things up and take to the dump regularly, but Covid has made that impossible for me.  Dumps are now open again but you have to commit to a specific time slot which I can't do.  There are a few 'bring banks' around for small electricals but nothing for hard plastics sadly.  And although most supermarkets have battery banks, I'm not sure how to logistically use them now as they're always by the exits since one-way systems came in!  Am I expected to carry the batteries round the store first?  Will they set the alarms off as I walk in?  I wish they'd just leave them outside with the other banks for glass etc!

You mentioned the bottle in the drawer...if it's genuinely something of value to you, why not display it on a shelf of something?  Keeps it out of the way but also means you've still got it to keep.

*My local council claims that it doesn't use landfill anymore, and that our residual waste all gets incinerated at a power station...  If that's true, I feel a bit less responsibility...but can I believe them?

Sandy_123

Well I have arguments over this with my daughter and oldest son, they are always throwing things away that I would of used and I end up replacing it. So no point. It drives me crazy 

66Mustang

@OverlyAnxious interesting, I also keep boxes because of warranty, then after that I keep them in case the thing is worth selling, but thinking about it, I do have boxes for stuff that is in the bin by now.

It's not even that the bottle is particularly attractive or valuable to me, it is just a standard beer from Africa but one that you can't get here. The beer was a gift someone brought me back so for some reason I feel the need to keep the bottle, even though the memories around the bottle are what matter!

Just to update the thread I have managed another bin bag full so I am getting there  

Two

I highly recommend you get Marie Kondo's book out of the library and work through that. I spent years harbouring those 'just in case' items etc. The book helped me change my mindset completely and allowed me to give myself permission to throw out stuff I really didn't need in my life. 
One big tip NEVER start any clear-out with sentimental stuff you'll want to keep everything. 
Have you considered taking a photo of the bottle and keeping that instead? 

66Mustang

Thanks for the tips, @Two

I hadn't heard of Marie Kondo before but she sounds interesting. I like Japanese people/things/ideas, I find the Japanese often are really good at what they do. I will have a look at her ways of thinking.   

Dragonslayer

I would throw much out that has accumulated over the years. 
My wife on the other hand is a hoarder, of sorts.
So, I throw, she puts back. I get nowhere. ? 

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leeCal

I kept hinges, screws and various pieces of ironmongery along with various materials and timber, bicycles, lawn mowers, tennis rackets, coat hangars, string, cables, sockets and electrical equipment etc etc etc in a twenty eight foot long garage once. 

An an absolute nightmare which I only awoke from when I hired a large skip and filled it with the contents of my garage, thank .heavens that’s over with. I could never find a thing and usually didn’t remember I had it anyway! 

Say no to hoarding folks.

OverlyAnxious

I've had to be a bit ruthless over the last couple of weeks as stuff was piling up to unmanageable levels!  Lots of cardboard and packaging gone now...     I've also got an old wifi router & cables still in the box to go in the WEEE bin next time I'm passing.  Seems a shame as it worked fine and is cosmetically pristine, but I have no intention of going back to that provider and get a new router with every switch anyway.  So that's the important part...it's an item that can be easily replaced.  The monetary value of potentially buying a new one in future, is worth less to me than the space to easily access things I use on a regular basis right now.   

I have got a quite a few old textiles that I'd like to recycle but can't find anywhere to do it.  Clothing banks are only for good condition items.  The items I have are only good for rags or shredding up for stuffing, but I'd rather they were used for that instead of just dumping them in the black bin to be incinerated.