Tothill--is your dad still living in that house?

Zozee, he is only able to visit it now. It is semi remote and last Summer my son stayed with him. Dad is much weaker now and has only been over for three short visits when he can get a ride with my brother. The rest of the time he lives in my brother's basement suite. If Dad is lucky he will spend 3 weeks there mid summer. In the mean time my son id there working in the community.

Dad and I are oil and water, but my brother can work with him. Late last month my son and I emptied out a small bedroom (one of two in the house). My brother worked at clearing out junk from the tool shed, so we could put the hoses, tools, etc that were in the room where they belonged. Two old cots were removed as well. I washed the curtains (first time in 30 years), I was surprised they did not fall apart, the floor, then we put in a new bed.

I also will donate to Salvation Army and not others. When you look up where the money goes it goes to the charity for good and not the fat cat pockets. We have a lot of stuff. Some is in closets in boxes that I havent seen in years. I hate that but most of it is from past family members. I wonder if my kids will do the same and then their kids lol.
When I buy something from estate sales, be it sewing machines, or quilting items I also say a little prayer for the person it belonged to and hope they know it has a good home again. I admire those on here who dont have the emotional attachment to things.

I don't donate to Goodwill either. I use to work for Salvation Army. Every penny goes to helping, that is the only goal of the organization. I met many of the higher ups and none were getting rich or aspired to.

I need to look up Marie Kondo's method for folding clothes. My neighbor did it and really liked the result.

I just gathered all my glass jars and canning stuff and it's in "a group" in the garage. I thought i would start with a more or less manageable category.

I also just took most of the empty cardboard boxes out to the "big" garage. Oh, my.

Such a wide variety here! I've always been the family go to person. I am the family fixer, and the family keeper. I have things from my side of the family, and DH's side. I have a lot of sentimental attachment to things, and things I can't remember whose family it came from. I've talked to family members, and given them things they want or have asked for. DH is heavily into electronics, computers, old car parts, and old mechanical/vocational text books. I'm not ready to downsize yet, and neither is he. I've seen Marie Kondo, and nope, not for me.

We are currently doing a big cabin remodel, which will probably take another year or so. Once that is done, there are about 5 major repair/upgrades that need to be done on the house. Maybe by the time that is all done, I'll be ready for a home purge!

Thank you Beginner 10 for starting this thread. It gave me a light bulb moment when looking at the A C Moore sales flyer yesterday. The last page of the flyer featured information about "The Crayon Initiative", a charity that collects used and broken crayons. They melt the crayons, mold them into new ones and donate 8 packs to children hospital wards. I cleaned out about five pounds of crayons from my craft supply draw. They had sat there unused for a while. Thrift stores wouldn't be interested and I hated to just throw them out because they don't decompose.

If any one is interested A C Moore is collecting crayons until July 27.

Thank-you to everyone who has responded. I see there are others that have sentimental attachment to things like I do. I have a friend that can get rid of things because there is no sentimental attachment (wish I was like that).
I guess I will start small because if I think of it too much, it overwhelms me.
What I have been doing is every holiday season, we go thru things and get rid of items my son doesn't want.
During the year if I buy something, something else has to go (except fabric-lol). That has saved me peace of mind and money because what I have, I like and don't want to get rid of.
I was going to have a garage sale with my friend and neighbor. However, my friend passed away about a month ago and don't know if my neighbor and I will have enough for a sale.
Will be donating, taking a few items to resale shop and passing along to nieces (and nephews) the items that are worth anything. Course, one person's trash is another person's treasure. So will only trash damaged items.
I will be checking back on this thread to keep me motivated on everyone's methods to lessen my load.

Again, Thank-you everyone. Vi

We are currently trying to clean out my in-laws house and it has opened our eyes. We do not want to leave a mess of things for our children to have to get rid of. Unfortunately they were hoarders to a certain extent and I tell my husband to get a large dumpster and leave me there alone for a couple of days. I will take care of things! I think it scares him just a little. But seriously, consider who will have to clean it out after you are gone--keep the things you really love and sell/donate/throw away the things you don't. Good luck!