The FastDay Forum

My OH had a very old green shirt which he never wore , but refused to part with , on the grounds that it "still had some wear left in it " . . . .

So one day , having a clear out , I sneaked it into the recycle bag without telling him .

Months later , and another clear-out , I ventured , " bet you've never missed that old green shirt?". . . . . at which point OH disappeared for a couple of minutes , and returned with the green shirt which he'd apparently salvaged from the recycle bin and hung up again at the back of his wardrobe . . . . men ! ( and he STILL hasn't worn it ). . . . . .

They say we wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time....so I like your suggestion re the hangers @Julieathome........but I too would have a problem with some of them not facing the same way!! It's quite a curse.....I have pink & blue pasta bowls.....and if they can't be stacked pink/blue/pink/blue and so on in my cupboard, I get a bit edgy! Perhaps I should look into getting a life....maybe.....

I am a shocking hoarder, but in my defence, I have to say that I come from a long line of hoarders, so it's not surprising! What a great suggestion the chucking out things is! Will ponder on it for the rest of the week......and maybe start next week, because I know it makes sense!

Thank you for this thread!

Well done! This is going to become addictive!

It sure is !! Today I am recycling the hoard of jam jars I have.....not eating jam any more.
Can you recycle your hubby???? mine's a terrible hoarder!

I'm sorry this is rather long, but I've found it useful in the past to read this before tackling an area!
It is by Sue Kay and from the 'No More Clutter' site,

How does it feel?

As you put things in the bin or charity shop bag, you may feel great and feel a huge sense of relief. Or you may feel guilty that you are wasting money by throwing things away. You may also feel guilty that you are letting go of unwanted presents or baby clothes. I know many people feel it is wrong to ever discard a photo, even if it is blurred or brings back unhappy memories.
People are often scared that the minute they part with something they will need it and consequently hold onto copious junk. I call this the “ghost feeling”, it takes a while to get used to a newly decluttered home.
All these feelings are a completely normal part of the decluttering process. They often stem from what you were taught in your family. Many of my clients come from families where hoarding is a common problem.

So how do you cope with these feelings?

i. Sentimental items Be sentimental but selective. Choose a beautiful box in which to keep sentimental items. Keep a few cherished baby clothes and give the rest to someone who will use them. Put photos into albums only keeping the best ones and let the others go.

ii. Broken things Give yourself a deadline for broken items to be fixed, if not discard them.

iii. Presents – if someone gives you an unwanted gift and there is no polite way to refuse, accept gracefully and respect the other person’s feelings. But remember it is your home and if you do not like something, it will drag your spirits down every time you look at it. So dump the guilt and let it go.

iv. Paper Be ruthless with paper. Put junk mail straight in the recycling and decide how long you will keep newspapers For example in Barnet we have kerbside recycling so every Thursday I go though my house and gather up any newspapers read or unread. Remember no-one has time to read everything.

v. Fear The “what if” thoughts are some of the hardest to deal with. I call these clutter thoughts. I recently bought a new light weight hoover. Then the thought crept into my head, what if the new one breaks down. Perhaps I will keep the old one. But I overcame my wobble and gave away the old one. A useful tip is “one in, one out”

If you really feel panicky about letting go of something then store it for 6 months in the loft or shed. Put the date on it. If you haven’t used it in 6 months then give it away.

Milly Johnson wrote a novel on decluttering. A Spring Affair. It will put you in the mood for it. We had a big declutter last year.

[carorees]

My OH is a fanatical clearer outer...you have to be careful where you leave things if you want them still to be in the house next week! He constantly rants about the amount of 'stuff' in the kitchen but I counter with the fact that there is room in the cupboards for the stuff it just needs someone to put it away and why should it always be me?

Right that's it. I am going to disappear into the hall cupboard empty it and only put some of the things back in. At the moment shoes, boots and art stuff are are lying layers deep on the floor and jackets, coats and goodness knows what else has rendered the hanging area so tight that I can't get another thing in there. I may be gone some time, if I don't appear over the next few days send a search party.

Its the wrong time of the year, but I am putting my winter boots on ebay. They are too big for me. Who knew that losing 40lbs would shrink my feet as well as my waist.
One thing we do keep is the packaging that expensive electronics came in as we tend to move house fairly regularly. The boxes are a much safer way to transport TV's and computers plus my power tools than stacking them in a moving truck willy nilly. My little shed needs a sort out too. Too many assorted tubs of used screws and odd mismatched screwdrivers cluttering up the place. All those can go to a carboot this weekend with the piles of clothes. I wish I had a clothes rail for carboots, clothes sell much better if they hang rather than being piled on the floor.

Loving this thread - seems we're ALL hopeless hoarders !

Like Lizbean we have a huge loft into which we pile the box belonging to every new electrical purchase we've ever made ( just in case it breaks down and has to be returned , in its box , of course!!!). So there are TV boxes , kettle boxes (several ) , microwave boxes, Hoover boxes , Dyson boxes , bits of every carpet we've ever had fitted in 35 years - does anyone EVER patch an old carpet with a new bit ? Thought not . But it's "just in case" . . . . .

I did manage to pass some ancient evening dresses to the charity shop once ( they're probably called vintage nowadays !) but coats and jackets from years ago still malinger .

However my biggest problem , and best excuse for avoiding the loft , are the spiders who live up there. Huge things with enormous webs , they scuttle into the darkness and hide , waiting to pounce . No , they haven't actually pounced on me yet , but I'm not willing to risk it .

However the Decluttering Tent seems a great idea - will get to work on OH to do some loft- clearing in the near future . . . . . watch this space !

PS still thinking about all the wee bits of carpet off -cuts stored up our loft ; I'm sure there's enough there to re carpet the entire house . Do you think a multicoloured patchwork carpet would look ok ????

I'm back 1 1/2 hours to tidy the hall cupboard got rid of quite a few things. Now there is room to hang up guests jackets instead of throwing them onto the bannister. I just have to get all the stuff to Cancer research on Sunday when I do my 5k they sent me a bag to fill I now need 2 bags. It does feel good but I now know how much I could get rid of in the rest of the house. I will try to be brave and pick a new spot to attack tomorrow.

@Wendy Darling may i cut something up for dusters rather than declutter?
My fave hanging round the house pants..pink leopard skin ..cumfiest things ever,have just ripped i' m very sad but they would cut up into several good dusters? x

@Julieathome
Could you improvise using a clothes line?

[janeg]

I've been having quite a tough time lately and not being on the forum much. This thread has made me laugh out loud and really lifted me. Thanks to all. Please keep them coming

Good to see you @janeg, sorry to hear things are not great for you at the moment.
I fasted today so I really must find something to chuck. This is the first evening this week that I have been at home and I am so tired. I promise I will find something tomorrow and let you all know what it was. Next week I am hoping to have a huge declutter and get things ready for the jumble sale which is at the beginning of June

Yes @candicemarie recycle and re-use. That's just as good as decluttering