De- cluttering

We are attempting to do just that prior to hopefully moving. Got rid of 5 bags of books to the local Lions, shredded a dozen old insurance letters and finally just put a massive china collection on Ebay. 99p. Any offers so far, what do you think? You are right, zilch.

I am feeling humpy. Tell them their future OBS!

I got rid of all my books, CDs, and DVDs after I'd moved them all to a new house for the second time in 3 years without ever having used a single one of them in the interim. 

It's all streamed or on Kindle now. 

I'm not a person who likes stuff anyway, so I have very little clutter. I have no patience with ornaments and suchlike. Debbie says that if I was alone, my house would be virtually empty.

Best to grit your teeth and donate it all to charity, OBS.

Stuart x 

We have lots of stuff and clutter, my OH hates getting rid of stuff, I've learned not to worry about it. 

Well this has put a smile on my face.

I keep starting to de clutter and ten mins later have had enough.

Then i think i

am going to make my kids work hard for their  inheritance, and show them nothing comes easy in this life,

Take Care Ellie x 

Make them suffer Ellie, we had to!

Hi All, Well decluttering is the thing that's been on my mind since I was first diagnosed!  Like Ellie, I have "started" many times but after ten minutes or so, I'm so tired I just give up. I have given my many badminton racquets and equipment as well as my tennis things to my daughter, granddaughter, niece etc. I still have my walking boots, jackets and my Tai Chi books, dvd's, cd's, photo albums and all my teaching notes. I have a bedroom full of Tai Ch stuff as this was where I set the schedules for my classes and practised the Tai Chi Forms several times a day. The thought of getting rid of them breaks my heart but I know I will never teach again as my mobility is getting worse week by week, so why am I holding on to them.....I don't know! I also have lots of clothes that need given to charity shops etc but find it just too tiring to try to decide what to keep and what to give away!

Unlike Ellie, I really don't want my children to have to sort them out, so why can't I just DO IT?!!!

Hi

i am exactly the same. It was hard work clearing my mothers house and I don’t really want to leave it all to my children. But I find it hard to get started clearing things out. We have given a lot of books and clothes to charity over the years as our house needs some space. My husband says he will try and empty the loft with our son this weekend while he is here. My husband has a history of falling out of lofts though ours does have a ladder.

one day I think I will have the energy to do more clearing out of clothes but it doesn’t happen xx

Decluttering is minimal for me, because ive never placed much value on material possessions. Apart from a house and essential stuff . My mobile is nearly 15 Years old. What cds and books i have will  kept by my better half or to charity. In the end we leave everyone behind. Its just a factl......Take care

Hi Annette anndanv

I feel for you having to donate to charity all of your Tai Chi books etc, it's a big chunk of your life. 

In respect of clothes my wife and I recently went through our wardrobe and drawers, there was a lot. I gave a handful of books and a lot of jigsaws to a cancer charity at the same time. I wasn't sure if they were taking stuff but they have only lately begun to accept goods from the public. Everything was enthusiastically accepted, two ladies came to the car with me to help me. I came away with 3 gardening books for the princely sum of £5. I'll never learn.

You know you're not capable of working for an hour or two and your mobility isn't going to get better. Knowing your family, I'm sure they won't mind going through your property because they understand that you aren't fit to do it yourself, but you're not going anywhere soon. Neither am I! 

Take care and stay safe Annette

Tvman xx

Hi OBS, Like many, I feel my energy levels draining away come lunchtime If I do anything, it's in the morning. I must say that I find clearing stuff out very cleansing. I can only manage a bit at a time, but we have an armchair in the front room and everything useable goes on there. When I've got a pile, it's put into a couple of bin bags and we find that the Salvation Army takes all clothes and shoes (they have a very green clothes policy and nothing is wasted). All bric-a-brac and books goes to our local animal sanctuary and last year they raised over £8000 to help pay their vets bills.

The worst thing for me was selling off all my printmaking equipment last year. I knew in my heart I would never do any more, but it was a huge wrench. I felt better when a fellow artist from my group bought the lot, so I know it all went to a good home, but it left a huge hole. I re-arranged my studio to fill in the gap.

My father-in-law, who was 98 when he died, went in for extreme de-cluttering and ended up with so little pots, pans, china and cutlery, that when we visited we had to take a picnic with us and flasks of coffee. He had 3 shirts and two pairs of trousers in the wardrobe and about the same amount of underwear. The place felt totally devoid of comfort, but he wouldn't have it any other way.

Rainie x