Ramona Byrd

I'm still working with Flylady, and I agree, it IS hard to get rid of
stuff you "might need one day", especially when you were raised in the depression. Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without. And do not throw away anything that can be used again.

It's hard with today's buy it, use it and then toss it mentality.

bearisgray

I come from a line of people that saved any and all plastic - bags, jugs, cartons - any and all glass - can always put jelly or jam in it - all the old twine from the bales - could tie up plants with it - or something - about a foot of newspapers - always good for packing something - old metal coffee cans - cut the buttons and zippers out of totally worn out garments

My step-dad even saved old USED oil filters - I have no idea what for - maybe to keep track of how many times he changed oil? bent nails -

My grandma saved all the old sturdy dog food bags and put kindling in them.

It is HARD to put some of that stuff in either the trash or recycling!

We were allowed burning barrels - way back then - but very little was actually burned.

Oh, yes - the table scraps and vegetable peelings either went to the pigs or to composting.

Mousie

oh yes...I come from a long line of "savers", but most on mom's side, used that stuff,
...my dad's side? the savers - saved!
Me?...somewhere in the middle, of course! ;)
I do used saved stuff and glad of it, but I tend to keep far too many boxes, bags, ice cream buckets, plastic containers, mailers for remailing...yada, yada, yada.
Got some of those space bags yesterday. The medium sized ones, bc I didn't want to spend too much and then find out I wasn't happy with they way they function.
Do you/anybody? think it would mess up fabric?
I'll try these on blankets, etc.
Got a real cleaning, donating spree on the horizon as soon as my dd gets out of hospital and can care for wee ones. ;-)

BellaBoo

Other then my quilting stash and DH's hobby stash, I don't have stored clutter. My girls didn't want the passed down china I had with all the fancy serving bowls or the fancy stemmed glassware. We seldom use it as it had to be handwashed and no one wanted to wash dishes. I certainly didn't. I donated all that to Salvation Army and have never missed it. It was old and nice but didn't suit our needs as it did my grandmother and great aunts. My cousin gave it all to me when I married to get it out of her house. LOL

redkimba

I might see if my library has this book. The biggest thing that gave me the push to really clean out my house was the show "Hoarders" (on A&E). That really made me take a look at everything to see what I needed to keep or make go away.

I've been clearing out over the last year; I feel so much better now than when I started. :)

Still working on the fabric issue, BUT one thing at a time. :)

ptquilts

another thing to think about, to get you going, is to imagine your heirs having to deal with all your stuff after you pass, rolling their eyes and saying, "what was she thinking?"

Also, say to yourself, what is the worst that could happen if I get rid of this? usually the answer is not that bad, you might have to buy a new whatever.

Greenheron

I agree about the 'heirs' thing.