Do we all have too much stuff???

[Notcontent]

I moved house recently (had another thread about how stressful that was!). I moved to a house pretty much the same size as my old house but both houses are quite small. Anyway, as part of the moving process I had to obviously find new places to put everything etc and I felt really overwhelmed by how much stuff I have. It’s just me and a teen, and I did lots of decluttering before the move, but it still feels like we have a lot of stuff. But we don’t have a garage or a loft where we can just stuff random things out of sight, so I think we probably have fewer things than a lot of people.

If you have a small house or flat, are you constantly decluttering? Or if you have a large house, is it full of stuff and do you ever feel overwhelmed by it?

As a family of four (soon to be five) we have a lot of stuff. Over lockdown we've built a shed office for DH to WFH, a log cabin playroom for the kids, and turned an en-suite into a nursery for an incoming new arrival. Have also decluttered every cupboard, the loft, wardrobes etc - LOTS has been ebayed, passed on, tipped etc.

Despite creating loads more useful space, there's still STUFF everywhere, and I absolutely don't understand it. Where does it come from?!?

Have just started buying a few bits online here and there for Christmas, and I'm already wondering where the hell I'm going put all that when the time comes when the house is full of baby paraphernalia 🤯

@StillWeRise Yep, capitalism for sure.

• William Morris not Morrison. My phone obviously prefers The Doors

@StCharlotte

I tend to work along the William Morrison quote "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."

Every time we've moved, we've filled a skip. We made our "final" move five years ago and I've been quite ruthless since then. We don't need anything now so anything we do buy is something we need or something beautiful.

But clothes are my weakness. I do get rid but It's more a case of one out three in

I often think of this advice But there is a tension between that, and generally wanting to outwit capitalism by buying less, and the idea that things might come in handy. Having a cellar is a blessing and a curse. Ours is full of stuff some of which is in regular use. But what about the stuff (tools, DIY materials) that is indispensible every 5 years or so?

I definitely have too much. Stuff has less hold on me now so I’ve decluttered a lot in the last few years but we still have too much. It’s just less obvious as we moved to a bigger house.

That old lady was right.

I've never had loads of clutter in my house. I save up for really nice furniture. I saved for two years for my current sofas and expect them to last for the rest of my life. Nothing comes into the house that I dont need or wont give me joy. I'd rather put spare cash into my pension than spend it on crap.
Things in my house are meant to last. I do collect things but they are specific. Like antiques.
It makes me quite sick thinking of how much goes into landfill sites.

That the 30s 3 bed semi houses we were trying to squeeze everything in, where build assuming a family of 4 who could afford this house wouldn't have many things to go in it.

I'd agree with that. Stuff is relatively cheaper using cheap plastics, stuff made using cheap over seas labour. People spend a lower percentage of income on food that they did in the past.

1930s people wouldn't have had loads of electrical gadgets either.

My mum was a child of the 50s, she recalls her main Christmas present a rubber / plastic doll from her parents and aunt. While I know some dolls are still expensive, I can't imagine many girls getting a doll and not much else for Christmas.

Bigger families probably also meant adults wouldn't receive gifts or if they did they'd be token consumables. And children would probably only receive from their own parents (my mums aunt was childless).

Where now its expected that Aunts / Uncles and Grandparents will buy children gifts for Birthdays and Christmas.