There were several of our things, or our kids’ things, that evoked memories, but I found that the memories were there even without the objects. I didn’t need to keep those objects because the memories were so well ingrained. For some things, I know we have photos or videos from way back when anyway. For example, when S2 was 4yo he would say that Don Mattingly (then on the Yankees) was his “4th favorite team” (not player). I didn’t need to keep his Don Mattingly t-shirt to remember that anecdote, and S2 doesn’t even remember that he said that. If it had been up to DH, the shirt would’ve been kept.
I agree with all of you and it’s not me…my sentimentality gene is clearly defective in my H’s opinion.I’ve thrown stuff out that he’s retrieved and put back. My guess is I could completely empty my kids’ rooms and they wouldn’t miss anything…we are going to move soon, so reality will drive the process, I suspect.
I have the sentimentality gene in spades. VERY difficult for me to get rid of things with memories attached. Also, can’t throw anything out that might be useful to someone, somewhere. This drags things out quite a bit as everything must be listed on ebay before being donated if it doesn’t sell.
So…things are very slowly leaving the house. Moving over the summer so I really need to pick up the pace but it’s very difficult. Having people try to help just makes me sad.
I hate just throwing things out if they’d still be useful to someone else,so I donate as much as is feasible. But as we get closer to putting our house on the market, some things are just getting trashed or recycled. I don’t have time or energy to try to sell things.
My daughter was home this weekend which was great but also prevented me from doing some of the cleaning I planned to do. Honestly though, I enjoyed every minute with her and probably wouldn’t have cleaned that much anyway. On the upside, she is doing an internship this summer so we went shopping for some professional clothes and when we came home, she purged her closet. I think she realized that times are changing. Her closet was packed with clothes she hasn’t worn since high school, maybe even middle school, and now they are gone. So this week I will take credit for her four big bags and a few misc. items from her room.
And for those of you who are having dreams about being surrounded by things from your parent’s and in laws homes…welcome to my reality. Don’t let it happen. Say no! (I wasn’t able to)
This may not be quite the right place, but I have to “brag”somewhere.
I cleared out well over 20,000 email messages from my account tonight. I had something like 67,000,and now I’m down to less than 45,000. I know, it still seems like I’m an “email hoarder” but I feel quite accomplished.
I love searching on a keyword and then deleting loads of emails. Getting rid of 20,000 had to take a long time!
I’m now tackling one of many filing cabinets in the basement. One bag of garbage and one full of shredding so far. I ran into my research and supporting documents from my grad school days. I remember a professor telling us to keep our original research forever. I guess I listened. Lol. Not sure what I’ll do once I start looking through everything.
I’m feeling no pain shredding all of our bills, receipts, and records from the 90s. Geez, we kept everything… Good news, my kids won’t have to do this like I’ve been doing for my parents.
@psychmomma, I think I had over 2,000 for Macy’s alone. Yeah, it took a couple of hours, but was long overdue.
I was doing great until I searched for Harris Teeter, the grocery store, and then deleted a bunch without verifying. Then I realized that I deleted a bunch from relatives with the last name Harris, so I had to figure out how to get them back.
Moved the last of MIL’s linens that were here at our house to Goodwill this afternoon. Going by her place for non-perishables this weekend, the local soup kitchen can use them. My personal decluttering victory will be when her house sells.
Getting rid of an entire house is a bigger deal than getting rid of one bag. Or even 10!!
Now if we could just get rid of the emotional baggage – but that’s better suited for the “Dumpster-full a week” thread. 
The bag a week is also about a new way of looking at stuff. This morning I looked on a shelf in a closet that I don’t typically look at and there was a small box of watch instructions. With my bag a week attitude I went through them and threw them all out (either I no longer own those watches or the warranties were long expired.) The getting rid of a handful of old paper is not significant but the idea of not letting it sit there is.
I must have developed amnesia in the ‘90s. What other explanation is there for finding 20 brand new credit cards, loads of unused cash advance credit card checks, and other similar items? I guess those three kids distracted me from the paperwork, or we thought we might use them eventually. Anyway, nice to come across things that require no decisions- just a clear shred/toss pile.
A round of applause for us!!
https://www.aarp.org/home-family/your-home/info-2018/boomers-declutter-home.html
My kids assure me it’s ok to throw out stuff in their rooms. But I want THEM to come sort through it to be sure. If I do it I’ll be too sentimental and err toward keeping too much.
My progress last weekend was on the outside of the house but I’m counting it. We dug out 6 overgrown bushes that I’ve wanted to get rid of. It’s one of those jobs I can’t do by myself and getting dh to help is difficult. I would have like to get rid of a few more, but I was thrilled with the progress. Inside I did some cleaning and straightening but the de-cluttering this weekend was outside and I love it!
Last evening 2 guys from my friend’s church brought a truck and took away 2 sofas, 2 side chairs, a table with 6 chairs, coffee table, several bags of linens, a large mirror, the old vanity top/sink from a bathroom and more. All going to Saturday’s rummage sale or their Habitat group!
WOW, FallGirl! Are you replacing any of it, or downsizing?
I took four big bags of books to Half Price Books this week. Then I went to the library and checked out a big armful of new reading material. It felt great.
Last month our city had the hazardous waste round-up and we hauled a big load of old spray paint, pest control and weed control, chemicals, batteries and all those stupid Compact fluorescent light bulbs (that were supposed to be so wonderful). The garage is still pretty full.
Making a list of little daily chores for the next few weeks while school isn’t in session.
1 All those packing peanuts to the UPS store
2 one shelf or drawer per day cleaned out
3 read all my library books before I get fined for overdue books!
@CountingDown - we are replacing/have replaced most of it. Updating the home decor with an eye on selling in 3-5 years but we want to enjoy a new look now. The kids have long complained that our house “looked like the '90’s” to which I always answered “that’s because we spent all of our money on tuition”.
We aren’t replacing all of the small “stuff”, as we want less clutter. And the new furniture is IKEA.