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Original poster

Trying to declutter... this isn't good is it?

63 replies

listsandbudgets · 31/01/2023 13:15

I found the curtains I had made for the last house we lived in still bagged up from when me moved 6 years ago

I couldn't bring myself to get rid of them... and how did I justify this to myself ....

"We'll need them if we ever buy the house back again"

Of all the houses we ever lived in that one was easily my favourite but surely this is an excuse too far to hang on to the curtains!!

OP posts:
WhatWouldHopperDo · 31/01/2023 13:17

You would get on so well with my DH!!

WellTidy · 31/01/2023 13:19

I think we are soulmates. I still have a made to measure pair of curtains that I had made for a property I moved out of in 2007. They weren’t ever used there, as I got the colour wrong when I placed the order (don’t ask) and I haven’t had a window that they’d fit since. We’ve moved twice since then. And yet I still have them.

HellonHeels · 31/01/2023 13:23

There are people out there struggling to keep their homes warm on a low income. If you donated these curtains to a charity shop, it could give someone an affordable means of keeping warm.

Alternatively, stick them on fb or ebay and see if you can get a few quid for them. They're taking up space in your house and contributing nothing to you or wider society. Send them out to work!

Iwantabloodypizza · 31/01/2023 13:25

When I was clearing out my dads house a few months, he still had manuals, spare parts and spare leads for electrical items that he bought in the 70s and 80s, things that had been binned decades ago. He always kept them “just incase”. Of what, I don’t know!

He also had spare bed slats for a bed that he hadn’t had in 20 years, a suit that he’d bought for “best” in the 80s that would have only have gone up to his knees in the last 15 years…just so much shit.

I am guilty of having boxes and boxes worth of old family photos, but that’s it. I keep nothing i don’t use.

PuttingDownRoots · 31/01/2023 13:29

I'm decluttering at the moment.

Space used fir something you have no use is space that can't be used for something you don't want to have or do.

swanling · 31/01/2023 13:31

HellonHeels · 31/01/2023 13:23

There are people out there struggling to keep their homes warm on a low income. If you donated these curtains to a charity shop, it could give someone an affordable means of keeping warm.

Alternatively, stick them on fb or ebay and see if you can get a few quid for them. They're taking up space in your house and contributing nothing to you or wider society. Send them out to work!

Sorry, since when are curtains required to contribute to society?

PacificallyRequested · 31/01/2023 13:34

Trying to declutter now and fully sympathise! If you like, send me the curtains and I will take them to a charity shop keep them safe and you can get them back if you ever move back into your old house. WinkGrin

midlifecrash · 31/01/2023 13:40

The curtains have gone to live on a farm.

They are very happy and the horses are so pleased.

mum2jakie · 31/01/2023 13:46

Lol. I'm decluttering currently (constantly really.…) I've looked at two separate sets of curtains that I've considered getting rid of but decided to keep them to use as dustcloths when we eventually redocorate! Who knew that curtains were such a difficult item to get rid of?!

handsoffate · 31/01/2023 14:01

The curtains from my teenage bedroom came with me through several house moves, never used but kept ‘just in case’. Teen dd now has them hanging in her bedroom…

That’s not very helpful, is it?

eatdrinkandbemerry · 31/01/2023 14:02

I've lost a pair of curtains that I purchased to it up once I'd redecorated the lounge 🤔
I have one set but it's identical twin set has disappeared ☹️
So now I'm going to have to purchase two more matching sets but if I throw the one remaining set away it's twin is going to turn up isn't it 🤷‍♀️

DinDjarin · 31/01/2023 14:03

I did that. IL's have just moved and they're now hanging in their living room. Happily DH hasn't realised (yet) 😂He told me to get rid of them when we moved last time.

Pirrin · 31/01/2023 14:10

I have several pairs of curtains stuffed in a box in my son's wardrobe, also from a house we lived in 6 years ago! They were expensive (for me) heavy duty blackout insulating curtains so I was loathe to throw them out when we moved and didnt need them in the next house. But they are also an awful beige colour and horrible fabric as that was what was in the sale and all I could afford, so i doubt I will ever put them up again unless desperate. But i may well be depserate again, so they sit in a box using up silly amounts of space 'just in case'.

Laiste · 31/01/2023 14:14

It's towels with me. I struggle to get rid of them.

So; I have catagories of towels.

New towels, currently being used.
Old towels, still for human use, for when me or DD does hair dye.
Older towels which do for pets.
Even older towels, clean but for water based emergencies (pipe leaks)
Very old manky towels in the garage for dust sheets/DHs mechanicing (no maximum age 😃).

Catspyjamas17 · 31/01/2023 14:15

Six years? You are a junior at this. There are curtains old enough to move out and get their own mortgage in our loft.

comfortablylesslumpy · 31/01/2023 14:15

If it makes you feel better, I know I have in my loft, curtains which I made for a flat I sold 25 years ago.
But they might come in handy again one day ....

HellonHeels · 31/01/2023 14:17

swanling · 31/01/2023 13:31

Sorry, since when are curtains required to contribute to society?

Show quote history

Perhaps I should have added 'lighthearted'? Apologies for any inconvenience.

fatsinglereadytomingle · 31/01/2023 14:20

This gives me the fear. I'm too far the other way and if something hasn't been used in the last 6months it gets chucked/sold/donated. Stand still long enough in my house and you get rehomed 😬

Starburst8 · 31/01/2023 14:22

If it makes you feel any better, I still have curtains from 12 years ago when I lived in a flat with borrower type windows. They will never ever fit any normal windows but I haven't got rid because they were 'oh so nice'. They're less than half the size of my windows ffs LOL

ChiefWiggumsBoy · 31/01/2023 14:34

We moved into this house just over a year ago. There's still boxes to be unpacked.

I'm so tempted to just chuck em without even opening them. Surely if we haven't needed whatever's in them in a year, we never will?

Peckhaminn · 31/01/2023 14:35

I think we all naturally keep hold of certain things 'just incase'. Mine tends to be silly things like cheap jewellery I've never worn!

InvincibleInvisibility · 31/01/2023 16:18

We had some gorgeous curtains in the DCs' room from birth until we moved when they were 5 and 7. Took loads of persuading for DH to agree to donate them. Yes they were gorgeous but the boys had outgrown them AND they didn't fit our new windows!

We did have 3 other sets of curtains (1 from 2 flats ago) but I eventually managed to persuade him to donate all except one set which were suitably coloured for me to use to make christmas gift bags.

DH says he's afraid I'm going to declutter him one day...

SheWoreYellow · 31/01/2023 16:22

swanling · 31/01/2023 13:31

Sorry, since when are curtains required to contribute to society?

Show quote history

When someone has said they need help getting rid of them?

maximist · 31/01/2023 16:41

When I moved to this house I found that a pair of curtains I'd last used 20 years previously, three houses ago, fitted the dining room window perfectly. Never get rid of curtains if you like them, you never know when you'll need them!

PuttingDownRoots · 31/01/2023 16:49

12.5 years ago I bought some wall stickers. Never used them. Moved house six times, including internationally four times... they've come with me... No idea why...

My daughter is putting them up in her room tomorrow! 😆