What proportion of the stuff in your house could you get rid of that would have no impact on your life whatsoever?

[AHousefulofClutter]

For me, I reckon I could do away with about 90% of the stuff that's cluttering up my house and I wouldn't miss any of it!

We have too much stuff! Some of it accumulated by us over 40+ years of marriage (almost 40 of them in our current house, so we haven't had to have a good clear out for decades). Some of it is from my parents' house and some from DH's parents (all parents passed away a few years back).

I keep chucking stuff out, but the clutter never seems to get any less!

If say 75%. I mean you get rid of my furniture and that would have massive effect - nowhere to sleep or sit. Still need cookware and cutlery, but I have china I haven’t used in years, clothes too. I have artwork in storage I could get rid of but don’t touch my Christmas decorations!
I do believe in Swedish death cleaning though so need to get on it.

Good question. Hard to answer. However.......

We (DH, me and the 2 DC) moved from a large 4 bed house to a small 3 bed (1 room is a 6 X 8 boxroom,) as both DC were about to leave for University. We had about 65% of the room we had in the big house. So we decluttered. We got rid of about 50% of what was in the attic, and 30% of the stuff in the house.

Just over a decade later, I honestly couldn't tell you 90% of what we got rid of. (Couldn't have been that important, or valuable, or needed!)

Some stuff I will simply never get rid of. Parents and grandparents and great grandparents memoribilia, photos, and general stuff, things from my childhood, thing from my DC's childhood(s,) and 700 vinyl albums - going back as far as the 1960s, several dozen cassettes, 500+ vinyl singles, 2000 DVDs, and around 300 books.

No way will I get rid of the DVDs, as so much stuff is not only taken off streaming now, but also lots of stuff is whitewashed and sanitised, and edited within an inch of its life. So as to not upset the fragile and terminally offended. I'm SO glad I have all the originals of everything, to enjoy, and am not having my choices taken away from me.

About 6 mugs! We decluttered on a massive scale a few years ago. We get rid of things we don't use or clothes which no longer fit. Our children will have a really easy job clearing the house when we die. I think it's a reaction to both our sets of parents having too much stuff! My parents house has toys from when I was a child, unpacked boxes from when they returned to the UK from an overseas posting 45 years ago, more mugs and jars of coffee than a cafe would need, clothes which date back to the 70s, 23 suitcases and enough empty boxes to keep amazon going for a few years.... It's going to be horrific to clear 😭

My local tip / council run recycling centre has a place for old books and says they don't get shredded

We donated 2500 books from Parents in law after they died to a National Trust house that had a small bookshop and they were delighted. It took quite a bit of research to find one that would take the books as I had to contact each NT house individually but when I found one and said we would hire a van and deliver they were v happy. No way could we have just disposed if their books.

Some charities have specific book shops. Oxfam has one near me that's just books, but often quite full.

I try and borrow books from my local library now or listen on Spotify. I recently borrow Richard Osman new book in hardback, read it in 4 days and returned it. Perfect!

We have clutter in the attic still to sort, but otherwise pretty clutter free.
For anyone who is struggling with this listen to The Minimalists podcasts or similar videos on you tube, they also have a book. It gets you almost hypnotised into actively wanting to chuck stuff, rather than just feeling you should.

All the junk DH insisted on bringing when he moved in, couldn't possibly get rid of as it was all vitally important.

It's all still in the boxes it came in over 10 years ago. He's never touched any of it.

Actually it's not right to say getting rid would have no impact on my life as really it would improve it considerably as I'd have my spare room back.

We have a black and decker workmate of FIL and the equivalent of one hold-all of the stuff of 3 dead parents. Told DH when MIL dies we are not having loads of stuff, she has a lot of stuff. Our loft has 30% of all our stuff and we could junk 25% of it. So house is fine but we have been getting rid over the last year a hopefully very early Swedish death clean.

I found the same thing, clearing out my mum’s house led me to drastically reduce the amount of things in mine. I could still reduce by around 30% or so.

I mean we could definitely do with at least 50% less. We should probably get Stacey Solomon round.

The trouble is DH hates wasting money, and has hoarding tendencies, so if it might come in handy or could possibly be sold (with my time and effort not his probably...) it stays. So it's a vicious circle.

I am getting rid of some old plastic table cloths to the school I work in though. And old fabrics. I could also donate a load of kids books for the summer fair too. 🤔 Maybe I could make a start after all.

All of DHs hobby junk

I’d like to think not much, I regularly declutter and hate having excess ‘stuff’ in the house.
but realistically I could probably do away with 10% and be fine. We have more glasses than we technically need, even accounting for the big parties we sometimes host. I could absolutely declutter a load of books that I’ll never read again.
Most of dhs shit in the workshop at the end of the garden could probably go but I don’t really count that as it doesn’t effect me 😂

40 years in this house too, and I reckon 90% is about right.😂

95%. Moved in with elderly parent during covid. Their house was already rammed with two generations of crap from both sides. My crap is in the garage.

We found a relative's many suitcases were very handy come decluttering time. You just fill them to the brim with bric-a-brac and carry to the charity shop. Job done.

I’m utterly ruthless, after watching my parents take YEARS to whittle down their stuff and even give up. I could get rid of all my books and some of my clothes/shoes, probably some old towels and bedding. That’s it. I don’t NEED plants and rugs and mirrors and paintings. But I’d hate having bare walls and floors and stale air. So, I think about 20%.

About 90 percent of it. We have a whole house of stuff on the loft. I find it incredibly difficult to get rid of stuff.

Start listening to minimalist podcasts (when you’re cooking or cleaning etc) and you’ll get inspiration to start. Once you start and realise the freedom and dopamine hit you get from decluttering you want to do more and more.
Some I like;
The Minimalists
Paring Down
Clutterbug
Minimaliat Mom

I think about 50%

I would be sad though as, whilst I don't need some of the books, pictures and ornaments, I do like them. The art in particular.

We are fairly minimalist anyway as our house is small and has no loft, and we moved fairly recently so we're ruthless about what we moved.

90% I want to run around with black bags today!

45%. I'm minimalist with hoarding tendencies (thanks Mum). DM is the queen of holding onto just in case due to growing up poor. DH hates clutter and is quite minimalist, I like clear surfaces but I'm a bugger for a bargain and I hate running out of stuff so I bulk buy when on offer, I also love Costco. I have stocks of toiletries under my bed, food and household stuff in a pantry cupboard. My "stuff" is stored out of sight.

I declutter clothes daily, keep a bin bag in my wardrobe and add to it when an item no longer works for me. I always give away/ sell items I don't need on FB or Ebay. This week is a (fairly new) hairdryer and large pot.

Is it wrong that I sometime daydream about my husband dying so i can get rid of all his crap ?

World of Books and Music Magpie both buy books. Can be worth it. I also left a box of books on the driveway with a free label and loads went! I’ve been getting more ruthless with the book collection!

There is DD stuff mostly in the loft

and a few gifts from relatives that we keep to bring out if they ever visit

and a handful of books that won’t ever be read again - possible 2 handfuls

I hate clutter and even more do I hate spending unnecessary stuff or stuff of limited use

Sometimes I think my main motivation for divorce is just to move all of his shite out of the house…

Check that isn’t automatic shipping