Aspirations of Frugality and Fun on the Road to Mortgage Freedom

in_need_of_direction

Leading by example is so right. You're doing so well. Thanks for the suggestion re DS. Prob is he lives a flight away in London and we generally travel hand luggage only. Also, when he's home the emphasis seems to be more on catch up with relatives and socialising with friends than sorting out his stuff. He also lives in a shared house so not much storage room. I did go through a phase of boxing up stuff I know he wants to keep but he's kinda ignored said boxes

Nargleblast

I think hoarding stuff is certainly a man thing. My OH, like the OH of peaceandfreedom has two drawers of a filing cabinet with old statements, payrolls etc going back many years, but can't stir himself to sort it out. And if I go to chuck out anything, it will always "come in handy one day."

I think I am married to the world's fattest squirrel.

tattycath

peaceandfreedom wrote: »

Well I think Mr DDFW needs to appreciate the hard work you've already done and also let stuff go that realistically he will never use.

Mr P&F is hopeless. Several years ago I asked him to sort out (really, just chuck out) several boxes of paper work. He has payslips going back 30 years, along with cheque book stubs, credit card statements, all going back years. The boxes were shuffled about from room to room, out to the shed, back inside again, back to the shed and finally onto some rafters in the garage. :eek:

This year it's going. When I declutter the garage, I am issuing an ultimatum - he will have 2 weeks to sort out his paperwork or the whole lot is being incinerated in the garden incinerator one fine evening. I doubt he will miss a single piece of paper.

And then I'll have to start on the attic .......:rotfl:

Nargleblast wrote: »

I think hoarding stuff is certainly a man thing. My OH, like the OH of peaceandfreedom has two drawers of a filing cabinet with old statements, payrolls etc going back many years, but can't stir himself to sort it out. And if I go to chuck out anything, it will always "come in handy one day."

I think I am married to the world's fattest squirrel.

Yes Mr tc Also has boxes of 'stuff' he never gets sorted, including old payslips etc from over 30 years ago. I think it must be a man thing too.
He says, 'they're interesting to look at'.

jwil

My DH too He has never thrown away a payslip :eek:.

MIL was a full on hoarder and he's very similar, but like you all I am trying to lead by example, and it does get through a little bit.

Karmacat

Ditto :rotfl: my business OH has accounts going back to the beginning of the business, in 1983. It *must* be a man thing - I've got the legal requirement of papers, and on top of the plastic crate is a list of when I can throw out which year's accounts :j

Hurdler

Karmacat wrote: »

Ditto :rotfl: my business OH has accounts going back to the beginning of the business, in 1983. It *must* be a man thing - I've got the legal requirement of papers, and on top of the plastic crate is a list of when I can throw out which year's accounts :j

Nope not just a man thing ... when I left IBM I put a load of things I kept "just in case" in a massive trunk in the bomb shelter at the bottom of the garden, including my payslips dating back to Nov 1992.

Cheery_Daff

Oh I SO sympathise with having other people's STUFF everywhere! Somehow it seems so much more obtrusive than my own :rotfl: :rotfl: Love the idea of leading by example The room I'm in right now is *entirely* full of my own stuff, so me moaning about Mr Cheery's stuff being in the living room is a bit out of order really! :rotfl:

I confess I do struggle with throwing things away though. At the minute I haven't the time or patience to *sell* stuff online, and I'm quite bored with carting stuff to the local charity shops only to be told they're not taking donations that day. I've been carrying 4 bags of books round in the car for weeks (and they've been sat in the house in a pile for *years* - these were the ones I put on Amazon and, er, forgot about for 3 years - after that I 'finally got round to listing them on Amazon', found they were already there, and not a single one had sold!). I seem destined to have them forever, but I just *can't* throw them away!

So what do people do with things like clothes or bedding that are too scruffy for the charity shop, superfluous pans that won't sell, etc? I guess this is a problem that comes with years of rescing things from charity shops and skips - everyone else has *already* thrown it away when it comes to us, and so there's no more 'away' to throw it to!

Must invent a new mantra - 'My house is not a landfill site, even though it may look like one sometimes' :rotfl: :rotfl:

peaceandfreedom

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

So what do people do with things like clothes or bedding that are too scruffy for the charity shop, superfluous pans that won't sell, etc? I guess this is a problem that comes with years of rescing things from charity shops and skips - everyone else has *already* thrown it away when it comes to us, and so there's no more 'away' to throw it to!

You must try to resist the urge to rescue things unless you absolutely sure you are going to upcycle it and use it. I have learned this myself from bitter experience as I bought numerous things that I *still* haven't got around to doing up. But I have at least stopped importing any new tat into the house.

Any clothes, bedding etc. that is not good enough to sell or give to the charity shops will be taken by our weekly recycling collection. I presume that varies around the country though. Or you can dump it in fabric recycling bins at your local tip.

I have never know our local charity shops to refuse anything but I only give them things that I think are in good nick. I freecycle things that I don't want to/can't sell. Old pots, pans, anything else beyond redemption goes to the tip, where it gets recycled so very little is actually dumped to landfill.

Alchemilla

I like the idea but I am not convinced that what goes to our tip is recycled.

in_need_of_direction

Old towels and bedding to animal shelters.