OMG!!! I have boxes and boxes and boxes of stuff that is going to Goodwill. Good stuff too, including tons of books that never got read, computer software that never got used, etc. etc. etc.

My dh and I want to move next year (or whenever we can sell the house) and we don't want to move all this stuff yet again.

I'm dreading the boxes of quilting mags, etc. I should probably sell them here, but I'm getting too lazy in my old age and don't want all the work of responding to PMs, packaging, matching up addresses with PMs, etc.

I don't know if I deserve sympathy or not. After all, I bought all this stuff in the first place! Sure am feeling sorry for myself now, though, as it's hard to let go of all this stuff..... Trying to make myself feel better for all the people who are going to get great bargains at Goodwill!

Note to self: do ***not*** repeat ***not*** buy more STUFF!!! :-(

Edit: Should add that I found some boxes that my husband had not unpacked since he moved back here from England 25 years ago.......

I am glad that you have decided to go through the boxes before giving the stuff away.

We have nothing left from my Mother because my sister lost everything by not paying her rent. Photos and all! It was a long time ago but somethings cannot be replaced.

Thanks for listening.

Hi Prism, I have been getting rid of things for awhile now.
I used to feel guilty about not using every single thing I bought but I now realize that I enjoyed them at the time for whatever reason and letting them go gives me a lot of peace and happiness!!
I haven't regretted it one bit. And I'm a real hanger-on-er ( or used to be) :)
Sue

I've been moving through Stuff also. I recycled the quilting magazines to Senior Citizens. They are very loved and used.

I've gone through my house and if I don't love, I don't want it. It is taking up valuable space in my home and my head.

Now fabric? No. I have given away many, many yards to those who are making charity quilts. I give fabric gifts to other sewers when they see something I have they like. And I make lots and lots of charity quilts. (anything I'm not paid for is a charity quilt) This week I am working on a quilt for someone in chemo.

It is very freeing and relaxing to not have the responsibility for all that stuff.

wow, what was in the boxes that your hubby had packed away 25 years ago

I hope by "Storage ARea" you do not mean a locker that you pay for by the month. NOTHING is worth paying storage for for 25 years!!

Payslips, tax information, investment information, half a dozen pocket calendars with his work appointments in them, photos of his ex-wife, photos of his ex-wife's parents, photos of his kids, a photo of him with the rest of his whatever-they-call-it-in-the-navy-boot-campers taken at least 45 years ago (I couldn't even pick him out of the lineup!), a high school athletic letter, and more........ I took out all the photos and put them in a plastic box for him to go through later. The rest of the stuff is back in the original dust-laden box awaiting him to go through it.

There are probably more boxes like that in the garage.....

amazing all the STUFF we buy!

My goodwill does not take mags.

I can feel your pain. My DH has been gone for 4 years now, and I'm STILL going through his stuff and my stuff and donating stuff to GoodWill. And helped refurnish a much loved niece's new place after hers burned down. And forcing everything they would take on 5 kids, his, mine and ours. And STILL I have far more than I want, lots that I must go through before tossing it, lots that I must go through before shredding it, and lots that I have no idea of what to do with it.
And still the work goes on. I don't want to give my kids the same job a sister and I did when our Mom died, who was an even worse pack rat than either DH or I.
Take my advice, don't let your own places get to this point. Keep it Flylady uncluttered. 15 minutes at a time, it will work. Someday you or I will finish up with a clutter free house.