Things you want to declutter but can’t

[importswim]

14 minutes ago, Katy said:

Those really expensive ones are easy to sharpen and easy to dull. They sell scissors sharpening gadgets on Amazon if you’d rather use that than learn how to use a whetstone or take them to be professionally sharpened. 

You can also order a new cheap pair of paper scissors for the utility drawer from Amazon. Label them kitchen with a sharpie. Buy another pair for boning chicken or such too, store in knife drawer.  

I put the expensive ones with the scissors in my craft area so they aren’t cluttering up my kitchen and they aren’t in the way. If DH wants to take the time to sharpen them properly he’s welcome to swap them out for the cheap kind that are harder to sharpen and harder to dull. 

This is a great idea, thank you! I might have to add an extendy cable to the handles as they all seem to walk off and no one knows what has happened to them...😂🙄

[Katy]

7 minutes ago, importswim said:

This is a great idea, thank you! I might have to add an extendy cable to the handles as they all seem to walk off and no one knows what has happened to them...😂🙄

My mom did that when I was a kid!  It worked. I just bought more scissors!

[smfmommy]

I would love to tackle the 16 yo room, but it has been a bone of contention before (I removed something from her room without permission when she was like 8 and I am not sure she has forgiven me yet) so I won't. 

I have told my in-laws that they can't die until they have moved.  They have been in the same farm house for 30ish years!  It's not just the house, there is also the barn and the garage.  My mom's 3 bedroom place was bad enough.  I'm a minimalist, but try not to go too overboard in the main areas of the house.  No one wants it bare.  Hubby coming home to work via Covid was a blessing.  The walk in closet is all his and I have made sure everything from the rest of the house that is his is in there.  Staring at it day in and day out has inspired him to actually get rid of some of it.  Maybe I can convince him to work in the shed during the summer.....

 

[mom2scouts]

2 hours ago, mlktwins said:

Maybe the OCD isn't a good thing overall ???, but it is awesome that it will be easy to clean out your parent's place when the time comes.  I still have some PTSD from having to go through my dad's house.  My in-laws will be just the same.  My DH was complaining about all my dad's crap as we were getting rid of stuff, but now (with COVID) he has been at his parent's house every other day helping to care for them.  He is trying to go through stuff a little each time he goes over.  I'm like I told you it was gonna be the same as my dad's -- LOL.  Unfortunately for me, I am now getting all their paperwork to go through, recycle, shred, organize (ask questions about while they are still alive) as that has not been done in a very long time and is a mess.  Just as I got my dad's stuff all neat and tidy too :-(.

I'm determined not to leave a mess for my boys though!  

Yes, the OCD causes problems. They've been without a TV for the past year (but are still paying for cable) because she won't get a TV until she finds a TV stand that is the EXACT dimensions she wants for her small living room. Nobody makes that size stand, but it's what she needs for it to be right. She worries about how "filthy" her perfectly clean and uncluttered house is because she saw a speck of dust. It's annoying, but it will make cleaning out the house someday super easy.

[Spryte]

2 minutes ago, Seasider too said:

I know my MIL has held on to a lot of things that belonged to her parents. Many of the items sent home with dh were part of that lot, and I know there will be more waiting for us when the in-laws move on from their current house. Ten thousand teeny knick knacks and more. 

It’s unending, isn’t it??

Ok, here’s my unusual decluttering experience:  when I cleaned out my mom’s house, I had to remove and properly dispose of ... 27 oil drums full of spray paint!  I still sometimes dream about standing on ladders, pulling cans from the very back of tall shelves.  (Shudder!)

No, she wasn’t tagging.  Not a graffiti artist.  She was a metal sculptor, and it was part of her work.  (Sigh) I now have my very own shelf of spray paint for her in the basement.  I can’t get rid of it, it’s like a security blanket for her.  She is determined to keep creating. Bless her heart.

[cjzimmer1]

2 hours ago, DoraBora said:

Ugh, the overflowing rubbermaid container of every cable to every device we've ever owned.  Every once in a while, dh can find a cable that can replace one that was lost.  😬  So we keep all of them.

I wish my DH could keep it to just the cables.  We also have to save every box that every electronic device came in, because you know if you have to ship it for return/repairs, it's much easier to do in it's original box.  Guess how many times we've ever had to ship an item back that warranted saving original boxes?   ZERO  ABSOLUTELY ZERO, in 23 years we've never once needed to save those boxes and yet "just in case" we have to store the box till we toss the item.  

[Sherry in OH]

4 hours ago, Seasider too said:

That used to happen to us, too, until I instructed my husband to drive straight to the donation center with that stuff. He weighed out whose wrath would be fiercer, me or his folks’, if he brought anything more into the house. 
 

It’s entirely unfair for someone, anyone, to consider my home a storage unit for things they’ve decided to declutter from their own house. 
 

Personally, I’d like to get rid of so much I think I need to just buy a different smaller house and only move as-needed items into it for about 6 months, then call an estate sale company to stage and sell the rest, and donate the rest. 
 

If I have to get specific, I’d say old furniture pieces (like a large 4 poster bed with headboard and footboard, nightstands with multiple drawers) that are heavy and a pain to dust due to panels and crevices. 

This.   The things I most want to declutter belong to other people. When we bought our house, the previous homeowners asked dh if they could leave some items.  Some was everything they didn't want to take with them.  Over the past three years, I have managed to toss or donate the bulk of those items, but a good number remain.   Then there are the items that friends and neighbors did not want to take with them when they moved so they gave them to dh (or to one of the children which is even worse).  Add in inherited furniture and china that we do not need and will never use but cannot agree to get rid of.  I dread the thought of inheriting anything else.   Isn't there a culture that burns the deceased person's belongings?  Could we borrow that tradition?  

Then we have electronics.  We not only have bins of cables and peripherals, we have obsolete electronics that might have personal data on them and so cannot be tossed.  We have at least a half dozen dead computers.  We also have an electronic typewriter, which might be kind of neat for the children to try, but that is the one item for which we do not have a power cord.   

We also have boxes full of miscellaneous papers and keepsakes that were packed more than a decade ago, moved with us multiple times and never been unpacked.  

I did major purges before and after our last move.  We could stand another purge but the idea stresses dh and children.  So, for now, I am confining my decluttering to my personal belongings and any papers I can pry out of other family members' hands.   Oh, and I reserve the right to toss any item of clothing that develops holes or is outgrown.  

[Kassia]

What do you suggest when it comes to adult kids who haven't settled down anywhere yet?  I have three adult sons who each have a lot of things stored here that they want to keep, but only one of them is planning on staying where he is for a while.  The other two are planning on moving (again) fairly soon (next year or two).  It doesn't seem fair to tell them they have to take their stuff, but we certainly don't want it.  Eventually, if we move like we want to, they will have to deal with it all.  

[smfmommy]

18 minutes ago, Kassia said:

 It doesn't seem fair to tell them they have to take their stuff, but we certainly don't want it.  Eventually, if we move like we want to, they will have to deal with it all.  

Why isn't it fair for them to take responsibility for their own things?  Unless they are moving overseas I think it is fine to ask them to remove their own items or at least pack them efficiently so they won't take up as much space within your living space.  They may decide they don't want it after all.

As an aside, my mom kept my things until I was out of college and had a place.  She gave me all "my" things when we visited after settling in another state.  Turns out she had kept a good deal of toys and stuffies (that I thought I had gotten rid of years ago) and Tupperware unbeknownst to me.  So there was a good deal more than I was expecting!  Pretty much filled a truck bed.  I was able to sell some on Ebay but we donated a lot.

 

Edited February 26, 2021 by smfmommy

[Spryte]

23 minutes ago, Kassia said:

What do you suggest when it comes to adult kids who haven't settled down anywhere yet?  I have three adult sons who each have a lot of things stored here that they want to keep, but only one of them is planning on staying where he is for a while.  The other two are planning on moving (again) fairly soon (next year or two).  It doesn't seem fair to tell them they have to take their stuff, but we certainly don't want it.  Eventually, if we move like we want to, they will have to deal with it all.  

I like the rubber maid bin idea.  Do you have space for that? Stacking them works, too, so it’s flexible.

My adult kid has maybe one bin here with some sentimental childhood things that I know he would just toss if he had them.  Everything else is donated or with him at his home.  He has his own mountain to climb, having inherited his bio mom’s condo and belongings.

 

Edited February 26, 2021 by Spryte

[skimomma]

Despite the fact that my mother is a hoarder, she insisted I take everything that I wanted out of her house the summer after I graduated from college.  Then got upset when I packed it all up and planned to take most of it to the dump and/or Goodwill!  I lived in an apartment with no storage so I'm not sure what she thought I was going to do with it.  I was completely fine with the request and thought it was appropriate....most of the stuff were things I had just been too lazy to do something with before.

The hardest part was getting it past her once she discovered I did not plan to keep it all.  Decades later, I found the bags that I had set at the end of the driveway for the garbage pick up stashed in her basement.  She must have gone out and grabbed them after I left but before the truck came.  Sigh.  Luckily, it was still bagged up and I was able to toss them in the dumpster when we were cleaning out her house.  I also had to "re-load" several Goodwill items into my car.  She was taking them out almost as fast as I was putting them in.  This was years ago but I vividly remember that the breaking point was a prom dress.  It was not only out of fashion and something I would have no reason to wear again but it also did not fit me anymore.  She was flabbergasted that I was going to donate it.  It was that moment when I realized that someday helping her move was going to be very VERY hard.  And it was.

As long as we live in a place with ample out-of-sight storage, I am OK with keeping whatever dd might need to temporarily store until she is settled.  To a point.  There will definitely be limits on amount and duration!  Luckily, dd is a minimalist.

[1234]

Dh is the keeper of things here but he now lets me get rid of things without even asking. He knows he struggles too much in this area and it’s a family thing on his side. Two years ago we even told his parents what we were going to do and they asked us to ship basically everything they’ve sent us back to them (it was a ridiculous amount of stuff). We did and had no problem doing so but it makes me sad how much they hang on to. I’ve reduced our stuff down to one bin of things for both dc I want to keep and one bin for dh and I. I even reduced our huge amount of photo albums down to just four.  We have almost nothing in our garage or extra closets anymore and it’s so nice! 

[Spryte]

19 minutes ago, Joker2 said:

Dh is the keeper of things here but he now lets me get rid of things without even asking. He knows he struggles too much in this area and it’s a family thing on his side. Two years ago we even told his parents what we were going to do and they asked us to ship basically everything they’ve sent us back to them (it was a ridiculous amount of stuff). We did and had no problem doing so but it makes me sad how much they hang on to. I’ve reduced our stuff down to one bin of things for both dc I want to keep and one bin for dh and I. I even reduced our huge amount of photo albums down to just four.  We have almost nothing in our garage or extra closets anymore and it’s so nice! 

Can I be you when I grow up?

[Ditto]

Nothing is off limits for decluttering in my home.    Too much stuff gives me anxiety.   I regularly purge and make sure I keep stuff to an amount that feels right for us.   Luckily my husband doesn't care what I do in this regard (and I suspect he is thrilled I handle it) so I have free reign.  

 

[ksr5377]

We live on a multi-generation farm.  I would love, love, love to be able to declutter even one of the multiple outbuildings that my FIL has stuffed to the brim with junk.  He, like his father before him, saves everything that may ever possibly be useful.  One evening he spent over 2 hours pulling out stainless steel nails from the wood of a building we had to take down.  He's very frugal and for the most part that is a quality I admire about him.  However, he values his time very little.  To buy the hardware that it took him 2 hours to save would only cost about $10.  It's getting to the point where he needs to park equipment outside because there is no room in the actual equipment building for it.  If we never make much headway while he's alive DH has promised that we'll just hire someone to come and clear it all out when he's gone.  We'll probably (hopefully!) be in our 60's by then. 

[Garga]

7 hours ago, cjzimmer1 said:

I wish my DH could keep it to just the cables.  We also have to save every box that every electronic device came in, because you know if you have to ship it for return/repairs, it's much easier to do in it's original box.  Guess how many times we've ever had to ship an item back that warranted saving original boxes?   ZERO  ABSOLUTELY ZERO, in 23 years we've never once needed to save those boxes and yet "just in case" we have to store the box till we toss the item.  

Oh, the boxes to return items in!  I let them pile up in the attic, but after I had 5 years’ worth of boxes, I went in there with a knife and broke down all the boxes and put them out with the recycling. 

And ever since then I’ve told DH, “We will keep the box for one month and then it’s outta here!” He has complied so far. 

 

I think men and cables are like women and yarn. You never know when that one cable will come in handy or when that one yarn ball will be perfect for your project.  

Edited February 27, 2021 by Garga

[mom2scouts]

17 hours ago, ksr5377 said:

We live on a multi-generation farm.  I would love, love, love to be able to declutter even one of the multiple outbuildings that my FIL has stuffed to the brim with junk.  He, like his father before him, saves everything that may ever possibly be useful.  One evening he spent over 2 hours pulling out stainless steel nails from the wood of a building we had to take down.  He's very frugal and for the most part that is a quality I admire about him.  However, he values his time very little.  To buy the hardware that it took him 2 hours to save would only cost about $10.  It's getting to the point where he needs to park equipment outside because there is no room in the actual equipment building for it.  If we never make much headway while he's alive DH has promised that we'll just hire someone to come and clear it all out when he's gone.  We'll probably (hopefully!) be in our 60's by then. 

DH just left to pick up stuff he bought at auction from the outbuilding of an old farm. Hopefully it'll go right to the scrapyard and not into my garage!

[katilac]

 

On 2/25/2021 at 7:30 PM, MEmama said:

The boxes of misc cords, chargers and misc bits of computers/old TV/ no one remembers what any more. Why oh why must we keep them?

On 2/25/2021 at 9:36 PM, Katy said:

I don’t touch his stuff and he doesn’t touch mine, but he sometimes objects to me getting rid of my stuff. Like books. 

But could you pack it somewhere else so it's not sucking up prime real estate? Stuff like quilts or tablecloths that we don't use, yet can't get rid of because reasons, gets put in a bin and placed in the attic. Smaller things get put in random hard-to-use spaces, like the cabinets over the refrigerator (we are a short family, no one is opening those unless there're standing on the counter!). Under beds, if you have space there. Anywhere that is not in active, constant use like the linen closet is! 

I move stuff like this out of active rotation all the time. On the very rare occasions that dh even notices stuff like there are 2 quilts instead of 8 in the linen closet, he is perfectly happy with the answer that they are still in the house, just somewhere else.  

On 2/26/2021 at 1:13 PM, cjzimmer1 said:

 We also have to save every box that every electronic device came in, because you know if you have to ship it for return/repairs, it's much easier to do in it's original box.  

I've actually had to do this twice in recent years, and guess what? They send you a box! 

On 2/26/2021 at 2:26 PM, Joker2 said:

Dh is the keeper of things here but he now lets me get rid of things without even asking. He knows he struggles too much in this area and it’s a family thing on his side. Two years ago we even told his parents what we were going to do and they asked us to ship basically everything they’ve sent us back to them (it was a ridiculous amount of stuff). We did and had no problem doing so but it makes me sad how much they hang on to. I’ve reduced our stuff down to one bin of things for both dc I want to keep and one bin for dh and I. I even reduced our huge amount of photo albums down to just four.  We have almost nothing in our garage or extra closets anymore and it’s so nice! 

Every old person in my vicinity loves to give me things that they don't want, but also can't bear to get rid of. I generally take it, with the caveat that it will see active use and won't be handled with care. Then I'll try to actually use it once or twice, perhaps not for its intended use, and then say, "Hey, Aunty, we used those brass candlesticks at our Halloween party, they looked really cool." And they are delighted, and usually never think about that item again, and I then keep it or pass it on as I wish. These aren't priceless or important heirlooms, just stuff that was maybe a gift or that's 'too good' to donate. I have churned through truckloads of these items, lol. It's my form of public service. 

Edited February 27, 2021 by katilac

[fairfarmhand]

When my dh's grandfather died, they cleaned out his garage. My father in law, the grandfather's son, took home a bucket of rusty nails. That sat in his garage for decades. Now my father in law is dead and guess where the granddad's bucket of rusty nails is? Uh huh. In my garage. We currently own a broken lawn mower, a broken tractor, a broken 4 wheeler that will be fixed "someday". And my dh is planning on hauling home his granddad's old broken tractor to repair in all the spare time he has. (he has none) We did get rid of one broken 4 wheeler last summer. 

[Katy]

1 hour ago, fairfarmhand said:

When my dh's grandfather died, they cleaned out his garage. My father in law, the grandfather's son, took home a bucket of rusty nails. That sat in his garage for decades. Now my father in law is dead and guess where the granddad's bucket of rusty nails is? Uh huh. In my garage. We currently own a broken lawn mower, a broken tractor, a broken 4 wheeler that will be fixed "someday". And my dh is planning on hauling home his granddad's old broken tractor to repair in all the spare time he has. (he has none) We did get rid of one broken 4 wheeler last summer. 

Oh no!  Sometimes I wonder if men like this know about metal scrapping.  Haul it to a place that takes it, they'll pay you by the pound.

[katilac]

1 hour ago, fairfarmhand said:

When my dh's grandfather died, they cleaned out his garage. My father in law, the grandfather's son, took home a bucket of rusty nails. That sat in his garage for decades. Now my father in law is dead and guess where the granddad's bucket of rusty nails is?  

"This bucket of rusty nails has been in our family for generations . . . " 😄

[fairfarmhand]

1 hour ago, Katy said:

Oh no!  Sometimes I wonder if men like this know about metal scrapping.  Haul it to a place that takes it, they'll pay you by the pound.

Oh my dh knows about scrapping. He’s hauled old equipment off our place to the scrapyard. But this. Is. His. Grandads bucket of nails. 
 

very sentimental thing you know...

[Hannah]

I collected out of print South African children's books for many years and I can't get myself to sell those. We used only a fraction of what we own in our homeschool.  I've kept small bins of beloved picture books and early reading books, but the rest of the children's books and curriculum have all been sold now.

Dh has Lego and other construction sets that his mom kept from his childhood.  As long as they're in his closet I'm OK with that.

We don't have a garage, basement or attic, so storage space is limited to what can fit into closets and shelves.  They do get overly stuffed at times, but it has limited what we can keep.  There's a small under-stairs outside room for gardening stuff and the kids have a small shed for their horse-riding bins.

[Carrie12345]

This isn’t funny at all, but it’s a big, slightly guilty-feeling relief.

My in-laws kept everything. They put my kids in their kids’ old clothes, in addition to purchased clothes that the kids had to change out of before coming home because they didn’t belong to me. They had storage units full of things they would never use. We were gifted some of dh’s grandmother’s old furniture (from storage, never to be used otherwise, and nothing particularly valuable), and mil was furious when we disposed of it about a decade later. She then asked us to return anything else we may have had that we might get rid of.

Anyway, they slid from basic hoarding stuff to actual, clinical, tv-level hoarding, and I always feared the job we would someday face.  But they wound up losing their home, fil has since passed, and mil is not a part of our lives. Dh grabbed a few things before the foreclosure sale, and a demo crew cleared the whole property at the buyer’s expense. It was enormously freeing, and boosted my decluttering motivation!

[ksr5377]

11 hours ago, fairfarmhand said:

Oh my dh knows about scrapping. He’s hauled old equipment off our place to the scrapyard. But this. Is. His. Grandads bucket of nails. 
 

very sentimental thing you know...

We also encounter this.  We'll ask FIL what something is and the reply will start with "Well, Dad saved from that from......in case....."  And then that means we can't get rid of it.  Even though DH's grandpa died almost 10 years ago, was in a nursing home for 4 years before that and not well enough to work on the farm for almost 5 years before that.  So it's something that has been saved for at least 19 years with no one using it.  But we can't get rid of it.  And it's usually been saved in an old plastic bucket or on a random pile somewhere - always very organized you know?

[hjffkj]

All the kid toys that the kids rarely use.  For example, the huge dollhouse that was in the girls room unused for a least a year.  We brought it downstairs in or to sell and dd6 immediately started playing with it.  She spent 2 weeks playing with it non stop so I decided to keep it.  Well that was before Christmas and I can't remember the last time I saw her go near that thing.  So, now it laughs at me from prime real estate spot downstairs. We have so many example of this and I don't know how to get rid of these types of toys.

[Katy]

19 minutes ago, hjffkj said:

All the kid toys that the kids rarely use.  For example, the huge dollhouse that was in the girls room unused for a least a year.  We brought it downstairs in or to sell and dd6 immediately started playing with it.  She spent 2 weeks playing with it non stop so I decided to keep it.  Well that was before Christmas and I can't remember the last time I saw her go near that thing.  So, now it laughs at me from prime real estate spot downstairs. We have so many example of this and I don't know how to get rid of these types of toys.

Big toys are the worst.

My answer is to rotate it out after they’re in bed or when they’re otherwise out of the house. Try to rotate in (smaller) rarely played with toys so it feels like a normal toy rotation rather than taking something away. 

If that’s too scary actually implement a toy rotation system first and then after a month or two you can get rid of the big stuff without worrying about it. 
 

[katilac]

6 hours ago, Hannah said:

 We don't have a garage, basement or attic, so storage space is limited to what can fit into closets and shelves.  

I was sad because I had no basement, and then I met someone who had no attic . . . 

[Lecka]

My daughter agreed to give her dollhouse to a little girl at church who did not have very many toys.  It worked out well.  It was a very sweet dollhouse, but we have moved twice since then and really don’t have a place for it. 
 

She would have been 7 or 8 at the time.  She really hadn’t played with it, but it was popular when kids came over.  So it did get played with, but it was not a favorite.  

Edited February 28, 2021 by Lecka

[hjffkj]

2 hours ago, Katy said:

Big toys are the worst.

My answer is to rotate it out after they’re in bed or when they’re otherwise out of the house. Try to rotate in (smaller) rarely played with toys so it feels like a normal toy rotation rather than taking something away. 

If that’s too scary actually implement a toy rotation system first and then after a month or two you can get rid of the big stuff without worrying about it. 
 

Yeah but with the toy rotation system the darn toys are still in the house, which mean I still have to find a place for them, ha

[hjffkj]

1 hour ago, Lecka said:

My daughter agreed to give her dollhouse to a little girl at church who did not have very many toys.  It worked out well.  It was a very sweet dollhouse, but we have moved twice since then and really don’t have a place for it. 
 

She would have been 7 or 8 at the time.  She really hadn’t played with it, but it was popular when kids came over.  So it did get played with, but it was not a favorite.  

One of my biggest problems is I have a 1 year old.  So, at some point she'll be in the dollhouse phase too so I guess it stays for a few more years.  My oldest dd was all set to find someone who didn't have one until the 6 year old started playing with it.  I guess it does get more use when cousins are over so I'll just have to reframe my thinking

[LoveMyBeautifulGift]

The garage. I swear every time I clear it out something comes along to take up all that lovely space (a sibling broke up and needed somewhere to stash her stuff, a project that got sidelined because of rain, big toys the little outgrows but it takes us a while to donate...). 

[Amy Gen]

I want to come shopping at y’all’s houses. I love china and quilts (not the polyester ones though) and heavy antiques and dollhouses and all toys. 
 

I’m not a super big fan of rusty nails though, or anything broken, so I’ll leave those for the next person. I’m just thoughtful that way. 

[Spryte]

Just now, Amy Gen said:

I want to come shopping at y’all’s houses. I love china and quilts (not the polyester ones though) and heavy antiques and dollhouses and all toys. 
 

I’m not a super big fan of rusty nails though, or anything broken, so I’ll leave those for the next person. I’m just thoughtful that way. 

Come on over!  

[Forget-Me-Not]

On 2/25/2021 at 5:47 PM, Storygirl said:

My email inbox. I am terrible at managing it and have almost 5,000 emails. The last time I tried to do a big purge, I accidentally managed to cut about 1,000 at one time, including some that were important, so I'm afraid to try again.

Mine was in the 4000s. I actually just went through yesterday and deleted in groups of fifty, scanning quickly to see if anything was important. I’m making it a goal to keep it at zero now. 
 

What do you all do with large-sized family photographs that were once hung but then replaced by more current photographs? My more recent ones are all from digital files and could be easily replaced, but I have baby/toddler pics of my kids from places like JCPenney that I could never get back again. I feel guilty throwing out any pics of my kids! 

[Spryte]

10 minutes ago, Forget-Me-Not said:

Mine was in the 4000s. I actually just went through yesterday and deleted in groups of fifty, scanning quickly to see if anything was important. I’m making it a goal to keep it at zero now. 
 

What do you all do with large-sized family photographs that were once hung but then replaced by more current photographs? My more recent ones are all from digital files and could be easily replaced, but I have baby/toddler pics of my kids from places like JCPenney that I could never get back again. I feel guilty throwing out any pics of my kids! 

Could you put the photographs in albums?

[Forget-Me-Not]

Just now, Spryte said:

Could you put the photographs in albums?

No, the ones I’m talking about are 12x16 plus. I do have smaller copies of most of them in albums though. 

[Katy]

4 minutes ago, Forget-Me-Not said:

No, the ones I’m talking about are 12x16 plus. I do have smaller copies of most of them in albums though. 

I would throw them out.  No one will ever want to hang them again.

[smfmommy]

30 minutes ago, Forget-Me-Not said:

No, the ones I’m talking about are 12x16 plus. I do have smaller copies of most of them in albums though. 

Ask your kids.  If they want them, they can store them.  Otherwise let them go if you have other copies of the same print.

[MercyA]

2 hours ago, Forget-Me-Not said:

What do you all do with large-sized family photographs that were once hung but then replaced by more current photographs? My more recent ones are all from digital files and could be easily replaced, but I have baby/toddler pics of my kids from places like JCPenney that I could never get back again. I feel guilty throwing out any pics of my kids! 

My MIL stores them in the frames, behind the current pics. 

ETA: She claims this is so she can rescue them all easily in the event of a fire. I don't think that makes the best logical sense, but it does seem a good place for them. 🙂

Edited March 1, 2021 by MercyA

[MercyA]

17 hours ago, Amy Gen said:

I want to come shopping at y’all’s houses. I love china and quilts (not the polyester ones though) and heavy antiques and dollhouses and all toys. 

YES. I literally have happy dreams about finding dolls and toys in attics and at garage sales and in thrift shops. I love quilts, too! 

[Tina]

On 2/25/2021 at 5:24 PM, Katy said:

I’ve been on a decluttering kick this year and I’m down to linens and junk in the basement and garage. We have these quilts from DH’s grandmother. I don’t mean nice cotton ones, which are heirlooms. I mean ones made from 1970’s itchy polyester. They’re ugly and uncomfortable. They take up more than half my linen closet & all the shelving in every kid’s closet. And we still get at least one at every holiday and birthday. DH has graciously let me declutter a lot of junk she’s given us from church craft fairs, but these were made by her. Somehow even I know not to ask, they’re not going anywhere. 
 

What do you wish you could declutter?

Each of the kids can keep one and the rest go??

 

[Katy]

10 minutes ago, Tina said:

Each of the kids can keep one and the rest go??

 

If it were up to me.  It’s DH’s decision.

[Forget-Me-Not]

2 hours ago, MercyA said:

My MIL stores them in the frames, behind the current pics. 

ETA: She claims this is so she can rescue them all easily in the event of a fire. I don't think that makes the best logical sense, but it does seem a good place for them. 🙂

Ha, yes, guilty of this one too 😄

[Amy Gen]

3 hours ago, MercyA said:

21 hours ago, Amy Gen said:

 

YES. I literally have happy dreams about finding dolls and toys in attics and at garage sales and in thrift shops. I love quilts, too! 

My happy dream is moving into a new-to-me old house, I keep finding new rooms and dolls and dollhouses in the closets. I really don’t think I ever became a grownup and it is way too late to start now. 

[Carol in Cal.]

3 minutes ago, Amy Gen said:

My happy dream is moving into a new-to-me old house, I keep finding new rooms and dolls and dollhouses in the closets. I really don’t think I ever became a grownup and it is way too late to start now. 

You might enjoy the novel:  “A Better Place I Know”.  

[katilac]

6 hours ago, Forget-Me-Not said:

No, the ones I’m talking about are 12x16 plus. I do have smaller copies of most of them in albums though. 

Oh, definitely ditch the ones you have smaller copies of, and scan the rest (or even just take a photo of the photo). 

You might not want to let your kids see you do it, though 😄

[Tina]

On 2/25/2021 at 7:47 PM, Storygirl said:

My email inbox. I am terrible at managing it and have almost 5,000 emails. The last time I tried to do a big purge, I accidentally managed to cut about 1,000 at one time, including some that were important, so I'm afraid to try again.

I cut back from 20,000!  Helped to sort by sender, then I knew all from this one and that one could go.

[gardenmom5]

It is with much glee, I've started an excel spreadsheet.  Going room by room broken down into  categories., of places to dejunk, fix, finish, redo, etc. 

 

Finally getting my kitchen backsplash installed (it was to "highlight" the sink only.  The rest is travertine.) after YEARS of back and forth, and this particular tile has been sitting under my bed for two years . . . .  anyway - it has motivated me more.  I started dejunking again in January - but the pavilion and backsplash have motivated me to be more methodical about it.

[Sherry in OH]

17 hours ago, katilac said:

Oh, definitely ditch the ones you have smaller copies of, and scan the rest (or even just take a photo of the photo). 

You might not want to let your kids see you do it, though 😄

I shred photos and other memorabilia rather than simply tossing them.   That way they cannot be rescued from the trash.