2020 - banish the clutter

TC77

Nicnak - I still have wedding cards and I've been divorced many many years - when I have time I think I should part with these. I've kept some wedding photos but don't really want the album..I'm really interested in what you do. I've kept more for the reminder of good friends who were there (a couple sadly have died) but there should be a better way of my doing this.  Have some letters from exes. I read somewhere about keeping a box of letters/mementos which have relevance for ourselves but labelled so if something happens to us no-one needs to go through sorting them out they know they are for disposal. I like this idea as getting older I sometimes forget about trips or adventures I've had and think the few things will help me recall as I go into my dotage. Another reason for getting rid of things that make us sad/ angry etc - if I've forgotten don't want to be reminded!

Apologies for the ramble!

Willowtree222

TC77 said:

Nicnak - I still have wedding cards and I've been divorced many many years - when I have time I think I should part with these. I've kept some wedding photos but don't really want the album..I'm really interested in what you do. I've kept more for the reminder of good friends who were there (a couple sadly have died) but there should be a better way of my doing this.  Have some letters from exes. I read somewhere about keeping a box of letters/mementos which have relevance for ourselves but labelled so if something happens to us no-one needs to go through sorting them out they know they are for disposal. I like this idea as getting older I sometimes forget about trips or adventures I've had and think the few things will help me recall as I go into my dotage. Another reason for getting rid of things that make us sad/ angry etc - if I've forgotten don't want to be reminded!

Apologies for the ramble!

Don't worry about the ramble. I have kept the album as like you said it has some pictures and memories in and a couple have also passed away in my album. I have it in the loft and looked at it with fondness. I have also kept the card from the person who sadly passed away too. 
I know this might sound bad, but I didn't feel sad or angry or hurt putting them in the bin. I am not attached to cards and I think that is what made it easier for me, but can understand why some people are. This changed after I was ill. Before that, I used to keep cards for years and to the point where I couldn't remember who some of the people were who had given them me, but when I was in hospital, I looked around me and was surrounded by nothing that was mine, and at the beginning not even in clothes that belonged to me. It changed me a lot and has resulted in the massive amount of decluttering that you have all seen over the last year. 
I print off some pictures of specific memories and then keep them in a safe place, I haven't decided whether to scrap book them or just continue to rotate my photo frame that has multiple photos on the wall. 
X

Floss

 Nicnack & TC77 I've just got divorced for the second time...first wedding album was binned 5 years after we split (after removing a couple of pics of my grandmas & parents), second one was left with him when I moved out as he had wanted the costly album printed...but I have kept all of the digital photos.
Wedding cards were binned shortly after each split, with the most recent ones filling his recycling bin along with all the cards he had given me (making a point while recycling them!).
I have kept all digital photos of him in an archive folder hidden out of daily sight, but printed ones were removed from their nice frames & left in his house along with the public declarations of undying love such as his personalised anniversary gifts to me. I don't want them but his other woman might have found his duplicity interesting...!

nannywindow

Started sorting my sheds as they were in pickle and found :-

1. Circular metal base from a swivel chair.

2. Metal base and middle from an old xmas tree.

3. Broken electrical paint sprayer.

4. Pair of moused chewed gardening gloves.

5. Mouse chewed black plastic bag.

6. Paint brush which had gone hard.

7. Several broken wall tiles.

8. Rotten piece of MDF wood.

9. Several small bits of wood.

10. Bag full of carrier bags not fit for purpose.

11. Bits of plastic sheeting.

12. Broken plastic plant pot.

13. Metal door vent.

14. Metal door lock and latch.

All items out for either the bin, recycling, ready for a tip trip or awaiting the scrappy man...... and I'm shattered, but happy !

MrsSD enjoy your trip away.

Happy decluttering all

nan

[Deleted User]

2 x pallets and a cradle (the ones they deliver paving slabs in) now up in the back garden and we have a new log store.

TC77

Floss - thank you for sharing. I don't think we had digital pictures but I will get rid of the album. Never married DD2's dad but when through throwing away photos of him and other people that don't bring me happiness.... things are in the eaves so won't rush there but on my to-do list now.  Nicnak - I think you've been doing amazingly

1477 dress to CS

1478 hosepipe that leaked and wouldn't extend taken back (enclosed reel that took me hours to put together) - from a few days ago.

1479-80 2 holey socks cut and stuffed in next draught excluder

Willowtree222

TC77 said:

Floss - thank you for sharing. I don't think we had digital pictures but I will get rid of the album. Never married DD2's dad but when through throwing away photos of him and other people that don't bring me happiness.... things are in the eaves so won't rush there but on my to-do list now.  Nicnak - I think you've been doing amazingly

1477 dress to CS

1478 hosepipe that leaked and wouldn't extend taken back (enclosed reel that took me hours to put together) - from a few days ago.

1479-80 2 holey socks cut and stuffed in next draught excluder

Thanks TC. Little and often seems to work for me. I just do one box at a time, and find that easier to manage. physically and mentally x

Happy_Kitties

*323      the Bernard Matthews turkey unicorns DD brought back from uni-food recycling(even the cats wouldnt eat them!)
*324-325   phone cables x2 binned
*326    children's mini speaker-recycling
*327     bag of education and contents finally sent off. Literally just before cut off date
*328      packaging for the above used up
*329     mass of cardboard including bits from DDs room-now out for recycling
*330      drinks bottle that never did work right-recycling.
Really trying to be ruthless and not be so 'justin' case

[Deleted User]

a tray of halved cherry tomatoes, two trays of sliced rhubarb and two trays of sliced runner beans decluttered from the garden and now in the dehydrator.  I also did a pan of stewed plums, slow cooked rhubarb chunks (they stay whole) in the slow cooker and a summer pudding to use berries from the garden and some bread that needed using in the bread bin.  Sorry all my posts seem to be food related at the moment but it's that time of year and it's all coming in a rush.  I hate wasting what we've grown so I try to use and preserve as much of it as I possibly can.

Rootle

28/52 - a rickety shelf removed and taken to the tip (and another hotel freebie used up and recycled).