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.

I just got rid of 5 garbage bags of linens and jackets and clothes. Also a huge keyboard that my son took apart 4 months ago and left in our living room along with tons of his stuff. I have begged him for four months to come and get his stuff and he's told me just to give it all away, so I did. We are not on good terms, unfortunately.

As soon as I can get our storage room organized and tidy my husband told me to go for it and turn it into a sewing room.

I'm 63 yrs old and at this time in my life I don't need so much to take care of and carry from pillar to post everytime I want to get organized. I'm tired of seeing the same little things I've had for twenty five years that I have no use for.

My greatest fear is to leave this earth and have to have my family clean everything up and think of me as a slob. I may not be able to part with everything but it will be organized.

Hubster and I paid for two storage bins for about 1.5 years! We finished emptying them last October and what a relief. He said NO garage sales so we gave away a lot of good stuff to thrift stores and people who could use it. Our garage is still too full so there is more unloading to do but I needed to take some time off. It was emotionally draining for me to make all those decisions of what to keep and what to get rid of. There were lots of old family things that we had inherited and things that we had pack-ratted away Now I too am trying to keep that in find and NOT buy stuff that we don't really need. Congrats to all who are able to successfully weed out the "stuff."

maybe you could take or send with someone to a quilt show or a local quilt store and let them be freebies. at least they wouldn't go directly to a landfill.

I am gradually - note this is the key word - coming to the realization that I can look at some items and tell myself that I made some bad choices, but I don't have to live with them forever. Dropping off unwanted items at Goodwill is freeing my mind and space :)

I am right there with you ladies going through "stuff" and finding new homes for it. I was just at the local senior center this afternoon dropping off lots of craft making supplies, including some material. I've also recently made trips to Goodwill and local shelters. It does feel good to be free of things I no longer need or use and mostly it feels good to know it is not in the landfills, but people are enjoying/using it. I'm also giving away things on Free-cycle. I still have a long ways to go, but at least I am making progress.

I just got back from visiting my parents. My father is very ill and Mom asked me to help clean up old files and stuff. We shredded 4 big trash bags of stuff and we didn't make a dent. This has motivated me here at home and for the past 2 evenings I have shredded records from 1984-1999. What was I thinking keeping all that stuff. I guess I just don't want my dtr to have to go and do all that for me some day. Now my fabric stash, that's another story for later.

I dropped the first car load of "stuff" off at Goodwill. My, that was easy! And I'm not missing it! The hard part is actually going through the stuff and deciding to actually put it in the box that will go to Goodwill.

I won't put the quilting mags in landfill. Over the years I donated quite a few magazines and books to a local non-profit that teaches quilting; just don't know if they can use anymore. At the very least I will make sure the old mags get into the hands of other quilters.

I do this periodically so I never have much of anything extra around. I give most things to Salvation Army. I used to give to Goodwill. I choose Salvation Army now because they are one of the first responders at any neighborhood that has been damaged by hurricanes. At least, here in Florida. I also give to local charities. I think I'm not much of a keeper of things not used, because growing up, my very small bedroom clothes closet was used for family storage. Leaving me just a tiny space for my clothes. A teenage girl needs her closet space. :) :)

My LQS gets donations in for charity quilts and often times people also drop off used patterns and quilting magazines. The LQS owner puts them in a box for class participants to peruse or take with them. That way they get recycled!

My favourite LQS - 90 kms away - collects unwanted quilt magazines and sells them 3 for $2. All proceeds go to the local flood relief fund. They are also collecting quilts to be given to those who lost everything - as well as stitching supplies.

Last week someone donated a sewing machine, and a couple of days later they were able to give it to someone who had lost theirs in the floods. Someone else took in a LARGE tub of leggo blocks, and a few days later a young lad, his mum 2 sisters, and baby brother were in the shop, the lad said he had lost all his leggos. Out from the back of the shop appeared the large tub of leggo blocks. The look on his face when he saw them apparently said it all.

With some things that are donated, it is as if they were meant to be.

Don't give your mag.and material to goodwill. Find your local quilt quild. Donate it. It will make you feel better and it will go to a good cause. Our guild takes scraps for stuffing things. material for making baby quilts, place mats for elderly, and pillow cases for the homeless shelters or womens abused centers. They make kits and the ladies or gentle men take home and bring back finished project. Also the Mag. could go to quild and ours has a library or free table for people to borrow or keep.

Hey ,I live in Wisc, ALWAYS LOOKING FOR QUILTING MAGS AND BOOKS. Linda

I too have been cleaning out again. I usually give to our church and then in turn they make quilts, cloths etc. for humanitarian purposes. Much of what they make goes to places like Japan or other places where there has been terrible disasters. Even thou I spent money on it and am now giving it away I don't feel bad. It is a very good way to help those in need. Sometimes we don't have money to give but giving in other ways helps those in need. I envy those of you who make charity quilts. I don't have the time to make for my own family and charity both but I hope by giving cloth it can help.

I am terrible for collecting printed materials: books, mags, bits of papers w/ notes on them. I went to a tv shopping site and finally bought a wand copier. Best thing I ever spent money on! I started wanding books, and things in mgs I wanted to make and then downloading to the computer so I can give away the print stuff and free up room in my space - sharet

How about donating the quilting magazines to a quilting group or senior center, sometime those kinds things are greatly appreciated.

If you have a local quilter guild I am sure they would appreciate having the quilting magazines. Our local guild places them on a table and lets the members take what they would like to have. I would take them if I lived close enough to come get them but NOT. Ann in TN

I kept 2 of childhood dolls, and for some reason, people think I collect dolls, but no, I'm only keeping my 2 dolls. The rest are out of here. Hubby has decided if we are not using it, it is out. For him this is a big step. He likes to keep things, working or not.

I think this habit developed from over 20 years in the Air Force ...but we always "purge" our home every six months. While in the military they will only ship a certain amount and pay for it. Anything over that alloted amount we had to pay for so like most military folks we kept our household goods under that set weight. Now it is a habit - if we have not used it in 6 months we probably don't need it and we purge it by giving it away, selling it or donating it. Sure keeps the house neat and I have never found (yet) that I got rid I something I went looking for at a later time.

My daughter married an Army guy, and got tired of paying over weight for moving all kinds of stuff that lived in the garage in boxes. She got rid of his woodworking mags but got the same thing on Disks, he never even looked for them again. Then when he objected to her getting rid of other stuff they'd moved from one base to another, she said that if he missed it she'd buy another just like it. He could not remember what he had that she'd donated!!!!
I suspect we're a a little like that. It belongs to ME and I'm gong to KEEP IT FOR MYSELF. And then when it's gone we can't remember what the heck it was!!

Call it de-cluttering. Call it Feng Shui. Call it keeping a place neat and open. Call it anything, but it's easier to keep clean when you have fewer things around.

Purplemem, I'm with you I collect remnants from everywhere I can find them and use them for charity quilts. When I run low or out of fabrics I start the yard sales and help sites and obtain more fabrics and start charity quilting again. Recycling someone elses cast off fabric into something usuful for someone who needs cheering up is a good feeling... :-D :-D :-D

It is very hard but doesn't part of you feel a little better since you are downsizing a bit? Sometimes it's hard to know why we felt we had to have a certain item and then it stays in the box forever. We are all in the same boat.

I have been destashing for the last 2 months I joined fly lady and got good ideas from there but I don;t really follow all her ideas but anyway I donated tons of stuff to a second hand store that supports a cat shelter I don't have a cat but it seemed like a good idea I like the fact my donations have helped to provide spay and neurting

Do you belong to a quilting guild? Take them to the meeting and give them all away!

Senior centers like them for the members to be able to buy, as a fund raiser. Call first.

I did that when I downsized about 4 years ago. Couldn't believe the amount of stuff you can accumulate over the years. Good idea to go throught it before you move and save the labor of moving it and then sorting it.

Whenever I go to a doctor or mechanic or hair-dresser, etc., I grab a handful of magazines that I've saved (sans mailing label) and put them on the table or in the rack with some of the other magazines.

Wow, this must be catching! I've been going through closets, etc. and getting rid of things too! My life is not "peaceful" and it's because of all this stuff I had to have....even from Goodwill (my shop of choice way before name brand stores!!). If a bedroom is supposed to be a place of rest, I've got to make it so...by getting rid stuff! And right now that stuff is in boxes in my living room. It has to get worse before it can get better, right? And it's kinda cleansing to do this. Makes life simpler! Just wondering .....where in western Wisc do you live? Might have to swing by your Goodwill! NO!!! I will not go buy more! LOL!

DH and I moved house seven years ago, from a four bed to a two bed bungalow. Our attic was loaded with all the stuff from our three sons - all moved away - and I lost count of the trips to the charity shops and the rubbish tip! And yet now we don't miss any of the stuff we dumped. Although I must admit my workroom and contents were heavily guarded throughout the move!! The small quilt group which meets at my house have all agreed to include detailed instructions in our wills that our families must contact the group before dumping all our beloved fabric, equipment, books, mags, and quilts........we've heard of families doing this not knowing what they're dumping!!

Just wondering. If we're all cleaning up our acts and getting rid of a lot of stuff, who's buying? I made my daily trip to Goodwill today. More tomorrow and the next day. We have a Neighborhood Clean Up day coming and they'll bring the large trash bins for us. Here's our chance.

I did the same thing about a month ago. Cleaned up the garage and took car load to a thrift shop that is for humane society and gave some to the other thrift shop that is the mission for the poor or homeless. It was good weather here so I could get it done 1st part of april. It does feel better to get things cleaned up and organized.