Why am I struggling to declutter?

[Welikebeingcosy]

Before I had DD I was always really.good at decluttering. I'd go through it all, bag it all up, and take it to the charity shop, or recycling etc. I'd moved house a lot as a student and even went backpacking and got all my possessions down to a rucksack full at one point.

Now in my mind thirties and I've had my own place for five and a half years and never been able to keep on top of the decluttering and I've no idea why!

I'll do a huge declutter and bag everything up and it will just sit there. I even moved bags from my last place out of the attic and to the shed in the new place. İnstead of just taking it to the charity shop.

This is the cycle my mind goes through 'okay I'm going to declutter. Okay I shouldn't donate that because it cost money, I've hardly used it/DD has hardly played with it and I could get a tenner/fiver for it' and the pile just grows.

I'm not short of cash, but I do have some 0 percent finance debts which I would like to pay off. However, I always think to myself 'i could probably earn a bit more with my time than what I'd earn putting all this on ebay'.

A lot of it is clothes where my weight has fluctuated and don't fit, nicer toddler clothes, toys, a few electronics, or things I've ordered which weren't the right thing that I didn't have the time to wrap and re post or the postage wasn't worth the effort. There's about four or five large boxes worthy. Why can't I just give it all away and let it go?? İt's all things from since I got my own social housing place after some turbulent years.

I already feel better having done my daughter's room and there's still a couple of other rooms to go.

I just only wish I had done it so much sooner and not had this hanging over me affecting my ability to play with my daughter.

I realised tonight I was holding onto it all as an excuse for my anxiety to have something to cling too, as I'd come out of long term homelessness, then straight into a pandemic and afterwards finally things were stable and I didn't know how to navigate that emotion or feeling of having no huge hurdle to overcome.

Could you invite a friend round for dinner so that you have a deadline to declutter a bit for?

I'm happy to keep encouraging you here also :)

Aww sounds like you've been through a tough time with the homelessness, I suppose you were unable to have many possessions whilst homeless and in temp accommodation etc so its totally understandable that you would accumulate stuff.
The friend for dinner idea is good as I must say I do get a move on and having a good tidy if visitors are coming, only trouble is they don't see upstairs! downstairs is always reasonably ok.
Sounds like you've made great progress. And tidy home tidy mind as they say.