Huge admission...but a new start I hope!

parsniphead

Hi Lucyeff

Your post has really hit home to me. I have no plans to move at the moment but have panics if the time comes it will take years to sort the house full of stuff out.

I moved in alone 10 years ago with hardly any furniture but seemed to have stuffed it full very quickly. When my husband moved in I had to chuck loads to make room for his but it's so full we can hardly move. I wanted to use the summer hols to make a dent but none made yet.

I have tons of baby stuff to eBay but it's such a pain. It would make money towards new clothes for the nipper though.

I'm going to subscribe to this thread hoping it gets me moving along.

Good luck with the clearing and packing.

Lizbetty

Parsniphead, we've always lived quite frugally to enable me to stay at home while the kids are little, and the money really would come in handy here, too. Especially with the house move, the cost of that is scary!

The thing that made me think is - I've been on the waiting list for counselling/CBT for a year, and OH said he thinks we ought to look into going private as my anxiety levels are really high (palpitations on a night, not leaving the house unless it's the school run or a really really good day, etc). I think I would start to feel better once this stuff has gone as it's like it sits at the back of my mind all the time, and so I'm thinking - if I give it away now it's gotten to such a state, then one of the huge weights will be lifted. I might not make any money, but it'll not cost me for the counselling either! And then I can start being positive about other areas that I think are unmanageable.

Sort of like, if I can tackle this, I can tackle anything! :j

(I haven't tackled it yet mind you....) xx

Lizbetty

Rainy-Days - I'm so sorry to hear about your mum

I really hope that you manage to find a kitchen your dresser fits into when you move.

Memories of things are far lighter on the mind than the things themselves though, aren't they? I've only just realised that, I think. (Mind you, if I were you, I'd be basing my choice of new house around the dresser! ) xx

pigpen

Cleaning stuff..

greasy sticky gooey stuff.. sugar soap and a green scourer thing

toothbrush for fiddly bits.. I just ran a couple of vases a a pretty glass bottle through the dishwasher.

So long as you have the memory of the thing you don't need the actual thing..

I have a box for charity shop in my kitchen and have a binbag usually in a laundry basket which I throw stuff into and send to charity shop when it is full.. I filled 2 with teddy bears this week too... but it is just not possible to keep everything!

You may find you are less anxious when the house is less full..

I need someone to come help motivate me .. someone who won't ask if I need stuff but just get rid of it for me.

Lizbetty

Thanks for the tips, pigpen. The funny thing is, if you saw the house on Rightmove you'd think we had nothing. It's because most of it is in the loft! (My mum scared me because she said she thought the loft might go through at one point with all the stuff when she stuck her head up there!)

Or stuff is possibly out of shot in washing baskets ready to be put back once the estate agent photographer had gone...

I think that having ongoing rubbish/charity bags is a fab idea. I will start that right now, with current stuff in the rest of the rooms. I can see me concentrating on the loft and before I know it the cuddly toy population would have taken over the house again. They do breed terribly quickly.

unimaginative_user_name

My in-laws lived in the same house all their married life and when my father-in-law died and my husband inherited the property he and I spent days trying to sort out his parents's stuff. In the end we had to be ruthless and throw out a lot of things which were obviously really important to them but we just didn't have room to store. I have vowed to declutter my house so that my daughter won't have to!


Lucyeff my daughter (12) finally agreed to give most of her cuddly toys to the charity shop:T:T:T. A couple of days later she started a new collection!:rotfl::rotfl: They do breed!

Lizbetty

unimaginative_user_name wrote: »

Lucyeff my daughter (12) finally agreed to give most of her cuddly toys to the charity shop:T:T:T. A couple of days later she started a new collection!:rotfl::rotfl: They do breed!

:eek::eek::eek:

Mind you, I have kept two cuddly toys from when I was little, and I'm 37! :rotfl: (It would've been more but I was being ruthless!) x

Rainy-Days

Lucyeff wrote: »

I really hope that you manage to find a kitchen your dresser fits into when you move.

Memories of things are far lighter on the mind than the things themselves though, aren't they? I've only just realised that, I think. (Mind you, if I were you, I'd be basing my choice of new house around the dresser! ) xx

Well, I am trying on that score and hopefully we will find it - if not at least have the space to extend. I don't want to get rid of the dresser as it is something that I chose with my nan's money and it was with me at my own home in St Alban's and now sits here in my late parents home in the kitchen. It will be a well travelled dresser as it will move up to Northumberland some time next year when we move. I love that dresser so there is no way I am parting with it - as it holds so much stuff and memories as well.

parkgirl

Rainy Days - can understand your wanting to move to Northumberland - we're in Durham. Northumberland is gorgeous - lovely beaches!

Lucy Eff - we're in the same position at the moment. I am a neat freak but we have so much stuff which seems to be threatening to take over our whole lives. I can't stand it - I'm actually feeling it like a physical pain - awful. Anyway, we've decided to just cut our losses and get rid of stuff - I tried a car boot and it was rubbish so I'm not doing it again - I'm charity shopping stuff, taken loads to one of those fabric weigh places and the rest is going to the tip. It feels so much better to be doing something and getting this weight off my mind. Thank goodness!

Rosygirl

pollys wrote: »

I once read an article about "happiness" and people were generally happier years ago when they had less material goods than we are today. It was a really good article. I feel much better with less stuff around me. I sleep better in a tidy clutter-free bedroom. Coming downstairs to tidy clutter-free rooms is a much better start to the day.

It might not work for everyone but it does for me.

Pollys

ps I don't ebay, it's charity, recycle and tip.

I know what you mean pollys, if I have managed to get past the clutter and actually tidy then clean a room or area, I feel a sense of freedom when I look at it compared to the rest of the house.
I often wonder how much lighter my shoulders would feel if the whole house were like that? (fat chance with 3 young sons :rotfl:)