Throwing things away

I can’t bear to throw anything away, it is sure to come in useful eventually. Probably why I need a very cluttered four bedroom house to live alone in though I can sleep up to seven extra people if needed.

The local council has a “Hard Rubbish Collection” day every year.You leave stuff out,most things,and they take it away.We never have anything,in fact my BH goes around other people’s rejects to see if she can add to her hoard.

Got one of you at home, fortunately, you don’t remember what you’ve hoarded so don’t notice when it magically disappears! ……… Beam it up, Scotty :rofl:

I need to throw a LOT of my bits, but am just being lazy. I keep meaning to search on our local social media pages/groups for a ‘man with a van’, who can help me, and take away my rubbish. My garden specially needs clearing.

Paperwork gets thrown into a box, in the hope I can find a professional shredding company (there is one near me) to take the whole lot. I did ask the lady up the road if she wanted some bits, as she does car boot sales. Maybe I can sort something out for her. She leaves stuff in one of her cars, as a storage facility, lol.

Susan I had to smile when I read your post because that is exactly what my old form master said once to me . He peered into my desk when I was rummaging in it shook his head and said untidy desk untidy mind !
I also felt guilty as your sisters house sounds remarkably familiar :blush:

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Please don’t shout at me either… but when l go into an overly tidy house with a woman always cleaning it… l immediately think… Frigid lady with hang ups!

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I’m a hoarder, and it’s quite a problem

Recently, I was advised to take it all to the Charity shops (5 of them in town), but someone else pointed out that all the stuff, in the Charity shops, just goes to the next hoarder in line who passes by.

Hoarding, they said, is like an addiction & should not be encouraged! (joking!)

Well, at least it means something goes to those who need.

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I am not bad at throwing out.
Clothes that have not been worn for a year - out to charity.
Books that have been read - and I am sure will not be re-read - sold to a bookshop in Pickering - he pays good money for books in good condition.
Ornaments ? Well, a lot of those have been gifts. Have confined most of them to the bathroom - there are 369 cats in there!
DVDs - just had a cull - passed 200 on to friends who do car boot sales. They are camera fiends and saving for a special lens so whatever they make can go towards that.
Kitchen Stuff I am quite strict about what I buy for the kitchen - it has to serve a useful purpose or I don’t buy in the first place - so nothing to go - wish I could be so disciplined elsewhere!
And then we come to …
Craft Stuff? Don’t ask. When I began crafting in 2004 it was with the intention of keeping everything in large storage box - and I have stuck to that - buying larger storage boxes when needed. Now it is all in one very large box - 12fr x 12ft x 7ft - and I seem to have recycled the Dining Room!!

We hoard things that we assign meaning and importance to because of anxiety. It’s a common phenomenon of those who have experienced loss in the past. A fear of losing our identity perhaps? It’s been explored quite a bit by psychologists. Finding it hard to let go etc.

I have so much stuff in the house, that I’m actually scared to think about it. I know I should do some serious sorting out. I will… one day soon.

To give you an idea - somewhere in the house (loft, maybe?) are two scrap books full of all the baby congrats cards when my children were born - now 48 and 49 years old. Two little envelopes containing the first tooth each of them lost, with the dates. Their weight record cards from the clinic. Somewhere I have their first pair of shoes - brown lace ups and black patent Mary Janes. I should of course throw all this away, but I’d have to find it first…

I have all our engagement and wedding cards, also probably in the loft. My GCE and A level certificates, from 55 years ago. A little catholic book about the saints, given as a present on my First Holy Communion.

I have a little purpose built unit fitted in an alcove, with 5 drawers containing dozens of music CDs. I haven’t played any of them for donkey’s years. Haven’t even got a CD player - all my music these days is from Spotify, played on my Amazon Echo.

I’m not even going to mention all my sewing and craft stuff. But at least I do use this. Well most of it anyway.

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I know that feeling!

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Totally agree art , I’ve known many frigid ladies and men :slightly_smiling_face: . I’m chilled . I’ve just had a thought though , I like a clean shiny kitchen and bathroom , but saying that my clutter bug sister tells me I’m always cleaning , oh blimey I need a mind check now

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If your home is comfortable enough to live in, that’s the point. People come to visit you not your house. Mine is tidy and clean, but only due to space issues…I’d have an accident if I left things lying around! :joy:

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I have too much art stuff it’s everywhere .
Destined for the skip when I’m gone .
But a major problem is Mr M he has flat surface itus. A clear flat surface must immediately accumulate more stuff .

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I have heard of that, Muddy, and it is incurable!

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If I go into a house and there’s not a thing out of place, everything tidied away, no signs of life, it gives me the creeps.

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Hah, that made me laugh, Ruthio. :grinning:

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We still have a couple of boxes of stuff we packed when we returned from Italy and that was in 1997 :rofl: I think we’ve totally forgotten what’s in them and, since they’re at the bottom of a pile of other boxes in a wardrobe, I ain’t getting them out to find out - they can stay put.

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I try to stick to a rule that if anything new comes into the house, something has to go out. So the charity shop does quite well.

I have been gradually downsizing my books in the past couple of years and regularly take a pile of books to charity stalls in two local supermarkets.

My OH has a terrible habit of buying 2 of everything, no idea why but his sister was just the same.

We have an L shaped double garage and it is packed to the rafters and never has a vehicle in it. There are 2 big motorbikes, horseriding gear, horse food and shavings, every cleaning material and tool known to man, buckets, a whole rack of old coats, multiple pairs of boots, 2 washing machines and a tumble dryer, 2 freezers, a work bench covered in tools, more paint than B and Q and racks and racks of car cleaning equipment, screen wash and so on. every so often he suggests we sort it out and last time I think he threw out a few broken coathangers and a broken fishing net which must be 30 years old. :rofl::rofl:

To think in days gone by people moved house on a horse and cart , or a hand cart or even a bus or charabang.

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