Gettin' Rid of Stuff~the fine art of downsizing

[baymule]

I have pack rat tendencies. My DH is an all out hoarder. He was 10 years old before he saw electricity and running water. Being brought up poor, he wants to keep everything. I finally forced him to clean out his closet in preparation for moving. I pried his clutching fingers off FORTYSEVEN pairs of pants, some of which were so small, he couldn't pull them up. We've been married 19 years and I'd never seen him wear them. Shirts, we lowered the number by about a hundred.

When we had a furniture store, he packed the 8,000 square feet of back room with all kinds of crap. When we closed, what he couldn't live without filled 3 storage units. Two years later I got him down to 1 storage unit and from there to a purchased portable building. He is SOOOO much better than he used to be.

I fight the "I'll need it someday" syndrome. Its hard to get rid of something useful. Our garage at the old house was stacked with used roofing tin, lumber and assorted junk. But good junk! Haha! Now we're using my collection to build fences and barns. Then I'll do a sweep and cleanup.

House wise, @journey11 we could be sisters! I HATE, LOATHE AND DESPISE KNICK KNACKS. If I have to put it somewhere or dust it, I don't want it. I don't collect ceramics, I don't "theme" decorate with cutsey crap. My sister came to help hang pictures and decorate this house. Maybe I can enlist her help in convincing DH to get rid of that stack of ugly pictures he has. LOL

Ha! And I'm going to build my husband a huge closet organizer........ so he can get more stuff.

I have instructed my kids NOT to buy me collectibles for birthdays or Christmas. I love Tractor Supply gift cards. Or if nothing else, they can get me a grocery store gift card. I can go shop, cook and eat it and flush it down the toilet.

 

[Nyboy]

Bay I can understand the holding on to clothes to small, it is the dream of one day being able to fit back into them. When I finally admitted I would never have the body I had at 18 I gave away 37 pair of jeans.

 

[Smart Red]

Ditto, Bay. Not 37 pairs of jeans (OMG), but all my too small clothes went to a lady who had just gotten a new office job and needed suits, dresses, and skirts for work.

 

[journey11]

I need to take a pic of my DH's closet (SO THANKFUL we each have our own! ) He does that too, holds onto clothes that are too small. I took the lid from a butter container and cut it to fit around the clothes hanger rod. Anything he hasn't worn in a year will be behind the divider and is fair game!

 

[Beekissed]

I'll join the sisterhood, as will my Ma....we don't DO knickknacks. Ick. We don't collect things, though once upon a time I loved to collect old pottery vases to use for displaying my cut flowers and such....all my old pottery fit into one old cupboard for display, but even those have been shucked off now for a more streamlined life. Cupboard and all...once had an offer for $800 for that thing and wouldn't take it, but gave it away on a day of divest-ation. Felt good. Less weight to drag along behind me.

It's been since the early 90s that I've kept clothing too small for me...finally figured out that they merely mocked me from the hangar and drawer, taunting me about my size and serving as a reminder of more slender times. I banished them to outer darkness for their wickedness and never kept any of their ilk around for longer than one season thereafter. No regrets, I am what I am right now and, if I'm ever less than I am later, I'll just go to Good Will and get me some less large clothes!

Can't stop walking through that back room, all clean and neat, marveling at all the neatness and open space....and trying not to imagine it getting cluttered once again!

 

[MontyJ]

I'm a pack rat

It it's not broken, I'm not throwing it away. But, I don't go looking for stuff to buy either. I'm still trying to explain to Dew why I have 10 brand new 30 amp fuseless disconnects in the woodshop. They were free from a jobsite electrical contractor (he was going to throw them away because they were installed, but had to be removed for a different type). Problem is, I can't think of a good explanation yet. They will come in handy in the new wood shop though for equipment disconnects...well a few of them will anyway.

 

[journey11]

I've kept the outfit I wore on my first date with DH. That I keep for motivation more than memory. I keep telling myself that once the kids are older, I will have time to workout again.

 

[Smart Red]

I still have jeans the same size that I wore when DH and I were dating.

Not that I kept them, but he still wears the same size and I actually used to wear his old jeans when tarring around the foundation of the first house. Such a shame that I could keep my pets, progeny, and DH looking prime but couldn't do the same for myself. Sigh!

Not a chance of ever going there again.

 

[buckabucka]

I belong to the "I hate knickknacks club". We have sculpture in the house though.
Both of my parents were Depression Era, and DH has one of those overstuffed closets of various size clothing. I still remember my mother saying that I should keep that holey umderwear, "just for emergencies". I wonder what kind of emergency that would be?

 

[Beekissed]

I'm trying to imagine....nope! Can't think of any one emergency that would benefit from holey unders. Maybe a shortage of cleaning rags?