Decluttering - what shall I do with these items?

[ohmyee]

I have tried this year to steadily declutter our home- we have a tiny home with very little storage space. I feel better when our home is tidy and it’s impossible to clean when it’s not tidy.

Theres a cupboard with stuff in and I don’t know what to do with it all. I’d like to know what others would do with this stuff which is a mix of sentimental and “simply can’t face going through it”. Any advice? Stuff includes:

1. old teaching files from my teaching career (many lesson plans etc). I still teach but in university. There are a lot of lever arch files full of paper.
2. professional journals from teaching, which contain articles, research and suggested lesson plans
3. all my undergrad and postgraduate work (a number of lever arch files)
4. a bankers box full of thank you cards from kids I’ve taught
5. a large box full of framed photos from our previous home - we have no space in this home to put them up
6. a box full of tech which I was going to sell on eBay and never got round to - numerous iPhones, a laptop, a temperamental Polaroid.

1- recycling bin

2- put on local Facebook page (for free)

3- recycle. You will never read these again. Or scan in to a pc if you can be bothered and bin the paper copies

4- spend a happy evening reading through them all, smiling at the memories, then bin. (‘Thank them’ in your head, Marie Kondo style, then say goodbye)

5- storage for next house, or remove pics and charity shop the frames

6- vinted. Takes 5 mins tops per listing.

1 - 4 Bin
5 - take photos out and only keep the ones that aren’t duplicated
6 Donate

Then enjoy your space.

I learned long a go to let go of stuff I no longer use/want/need

I free lighter and freeier for doing this.

It sounds to me like you've got unresolved feelings about the end of your (former) teaching career. You don't need any of those files, or the cards from pupils. So you're holding onto them because of...? Grief that it ended? A vague hope you might go back? Because it was so much of your life?

Deal with those feelings and you'll be able to deal with that stuff. It sounds like something that merits a big ole Marie Kondo arigatou (thank you for what you meant to me), and a rapid trip to the recycling centre without a further look.

The tech can go at the same time.

The pictures - depends if you are ever going to move again.

Bin all bar photos

I’m brutal with decluttering, so all of that would be going to the tip.

it’s not needed if it’s been stored where it is and not touched.

1-3 (and possibly 4 and 5) your choices are to throw them away, scan them and throw away the originals, or pay for a small self-storage place (almost certainly not worth the cost unless you have something else you must store). When I was faced with this decision with similar items when moving internationally, I ended up scanning maybe 5-10% of what I had - which forced me admit that the rest of the stuff I really was never going to look at again! - and disposing of the rest.

For the photos, assuming they're personal, could you keep just the photographs and get rid of the frames?

For the tech stuff (and the photograph frames, if they have sufficient value), I'd give yourself a month to go through it and list it and if you don't meet the deadline, donate it.

Photos-take out of frames and transfer into an album. Frames to the charity shop.

thank u cards. Scrap book them or bin

teaching books etc- donate to a loval
college

papers and leaver arch files- dump. Papers can be recycled and the lever arch files give to the workers at the dump and they will find a use/place for them.

basically. Throw it all alway.

Ok, thank you! Brutal but what I needed to hear.

1-3 Recycle
4 Put aside an afternoon to read, take pictures of any meaningful ones, then recycle.
5 Scan / keep any images you want then take decent frames to a charity shop
6 Take to an Xchange to wipe and sell - the iphones might get you a couple of quid

Can I have the laptop please ? 😀teaching myself laptop repair atm

Agree 👍 I'm in the same boat with an abrupt end to an IT career..keeping all my notes etc..

I agree with others about recycling your teaching journals, papers, etc. I ask myself who would really want this, and asked my children if there are items they. Otherwise scan what you can, and take a photo and write a description of things of value (art, family heirlooms, etc.). Store this together with estate documents. What means a lot to me, is more likely inconsequential to them.

Bin the lot. You don't need it. How often do you look at it

Keep academic certificates. Take photographs out of frames and put them in album or digitise them.

If you think you might need/want anything at a later date then photograph or scan it. But going by that list I really don't think you do need any of it.

If you keep the photos, seeing as you are going through them anyway, write a note on the back with a 2B pencil of who, when, where and why.

your future family historian will raise a glass to you one day.