To feel quite shocked/disgusted at all the stuff we have?

[Olbasoiltime]

We are redecorating soon, and have been using the last bit of the holidays for a clear out. Obviously quite a lot has come into the house over Christmas, but as I've been clearing out today, it's really hit me how much we HAVE

We aren't particularly well off, most of our things are good quality second hand or have been given to us, our house is small but tidy and we only buy toys Christmas /birthdays. We don't have a lot of "tat", or so I thought.

Yet somehow DD has SEVEN coats. Three pairs of winter boots. Their bookcases are groaning at the seams. One of my big closet shelves is just filled with blankets, from fleecy kid's character blankets to big quilts. We have about five towels each.

We've spent all day choosing what to keep and bagging up the rest. We then sat down to a Sunday roast and I just sat there thinking WTF. We're the "poor relations" amongst our friends and family, but my kids have coats for every day of the week? And I know from past jobs (not social work but similar line) that there are children in this country who walk the streets in January in little more than a tshirt and who have no books and toys at home

I feel a bit sick and guilty. I never thought my kids had "too much" or that we got them more than we needed, but clearly we have and it's crept up on us. Then when I really started thinking about all the stuff people all over the UK have bought for Christmas and how much of it goes to waste...

I'm actually not even sure what my aibu is about, self digust I suppose. I feel that this year we obviously need to work on stepping away from commercialisation/buying stuff. Get back to basics somehow? Ugh I don't know

We take a full bag to the charity shop every week. There are always things to clear out. I've been doing this just over a year and it's finally starting to make a visible difference.

I used to feel sick at how much we owned. I still have pockets of clutter - for example, I have about 10 pairs of converse but I'll start ebaying again soon. I read loads but pass books on once read rather than putting them back on the shelf, unless special edition or signed. That's also made a difference.

Seeing mils this Christmas was a bit of a wake up call. She lives with so much clutter you can't find anything. It's a really stressful way to live and so unnecessary.

It's possible to downsize radically but it's emotionally very very tough. My DP and I live in 2 rooms in his dads house (he is 91 and has 2nelderly friends as lodgers...and we are 52 and 48) we both ended up homeless after divorces his 8 years ago mine 3 and you learn very very quickly what means a lot to you and what you can let go of. We have a storage unit where we keep some of the precious items we can not get rid of, for me it's my dressing table that was my grans and boxes of personal memory items like my daughters baby clothes and a photos. We also store out of season clothes and Christmas decorations and things like that. I sold all my furniture and gave away 50% of my clothes and 80% of my other "stuff". Is it hard? Yes it's very very hard I feel like I'm living in a shared house and I've been known to cry when I go to the lock up/storage unit. But hell its not for ever, when my FIL dies we will move to some where of our own but until then we will be here looking after him (he is in poor health with Leukaemia 😞)
I strongly suggest looking at stuff and seeing if you need it? Mostly you don't and when you just keep precious stuff you do appreciate it a hell of a lot more

Another lover of the 'unfuck your habitat" app.
I have the life changing magic of tidying ebook and also audio book but haven't read it/them

We have far too much "stuff" too. I bargain hunt and buy in advance. I try not to pay full price. I've already got the next size up wellies for dd as she likes brands like Joules. They were only £15 and now that her feet have slowed, I don't mind paying for good ones, which last a couple of years. I can't help myself!! I now have a one in one out for clothes for me. But I'm not buying much ATM.

And you know what... There was a thread the other day where some MNers were horrified at the thought of people giving away unwanted Xmas gifts that. You can't keep a shrine of these things in order not to offend people!

I am moving house later this month and although I constantly declutter and have tried to be especially ruthless I know it will just look like oodles and oodles of stuff when we start loading the van :-/

Marie Kondo's 'Does it spark joy?' mantra is great.

As too is 'one in one out' and 'have I worn this item in the past year?' And if you are saving something for 'just in case', can that item be easily sought out when the time actually comes that you need it?

My thoughts also are most things are replaceable nowadays if 5-10 years down the line I decide I need an item again. In the meantime I would rather donate and someone else had a good 10 years use of an item I haven't been using. And for 100 items gone it's probably only 1-2 your will ever get a similar replacement

I am not sure you need to feel disgusted. You did a good thing by getting rid of the excess that you found.

Maybe keep better tabs on what you actually have in future? This means taking stock maybe twice a year, at the change from warm to cold weather and vice versa.

There was a thread the other day where some MNers were horrified at the thought of people giving away unwanted Xmas gifts that. You can't keep a shrine of these things in order not to offend people!

I took 4 unwanted gifts to the local charity shop on Saturday. One other unwanted one will be given to a friend.

Same here too. I've just sorted out DS (2.5) Christmas presents and accumulated 4 bags of toys & clothes! We are going to take it to our local refuge for the kids there.

We got rid of half our belongings last year. The mental and physical freedom is amazing. Less is more!

yes 1 coat per season, but then waterproofs, fleeces etc surely you have those as well?

But waterproofs are coats, Babykrazy! If you have a fleece and a waterproof, then you have a coat that's good for spring, summer and autumn. It's only in winter you need something thicker.

(It's so nice when the bit by your front door isn't loaded with a billion shoes and coats, and you can find what you need.)

My local charity shop has today stopped accepting any donations as it is so full of unwanted Christmas shite!

I went by the charity shop after work today, with my car full of decluttered donations. They aren't taking any more toys or books so the car is still half full!

I am definitely going to be following a PP suggestion of giving and receiving gifts that can be used up- food, wine, fresh flowers

I have never heard of any charity shop refusing donations! (Other than ones which never sell, like VHS tapes or soft toys.)

We majored heavily on consumable presents like food, etc this year (giving and receiving) so the stuff I am putting in the charity shop bag is stuff I've had hanging around for YEARS....

Well... I've heard it all now, if even charity shops haven't got enough room for all the stuff! I find it quite a sad thought actually. What are we doing with our rampant consumerism? What end does it meet?!

We sent loads of books to music magpie. None of those were children's books though of which we have around 50+ of. DH has a habit of buying a new one every week/other week as he gets bored of reading the same ones each night. I have told him his new year resolution is to stop buying books and join the library!

This is my resolution this year. We have an enormous house and so it doesn't look cluttered as such but we still have so much stuff.

I am going to start with baby toys. The DSs are 11 and 9

I tried really hard to sell some of DS's old toys before xmas. All in great condition and good toys too. Like a piano, self service till etc. No one was interested on facebook, schpok, gumtree.

For the books, is there an oxfam book shop near you? The mixed charity shops need to keep most of their floor space for clothes so can't take too much other stuff.

Re the toys, do you have a local facebook selling site? Put it up as free if collected this week. You'll get takers.

Isn't minimalist quite wasteful, though? It kind of relies on the assumption that you buy things when you need them and then discard them. Even if you do take your winter coat to the charity shop, no one is going to be wearing a winter coat between April and October; it will just be sitting in somebody else's wardrobe instead. So why is it more virtuous if somebody else does your storing for you?

I don't see any difference between buying 5 coats, slightly different from one another, and wearing them for 10 years, or buying a new coat every 2 years.

I have started my 'big declutter' too.
Got a box and bag full of Xmas stuff I no longer want or use. Plus some kitchen serving dishes, quiche dishes etc I never use. All like new!
Have Kids toys and books in garage.
Going to attack another cupboard tomorrow.
Will get our local BHF shop to collect. We go in there a lot and I get books in there regularly, kids also get dvds, etc.

Not going down the ebay route as its more trouble than its worth these days, used to be so simple, and sold lots of kids stuff on it previously, no problems, always got great feedback as items were all immaculate or nearly immaculate condition but anyone can complain about the goods now and ebay gives them a refund and they keep the damm item so not risking it now.

I am sick of all the clutter. TBH a lot of it is used but I just think this year I am going to be even more ruthless than last year.

Having roof redone and a lot of stuff from attic in my bedroom and I can hardly move! Action needed!

Might try Music Magpie, is it worth it for books, console games, phones etc?

I don't see any difference between buying 5 coats, slightly different from one another, and wearing them for 10 years, or buying a new coat every 2 years.

I think the problem is people who buy 5 new coats every 2 years, corythatwas.

I'm trying to get rid of things. My mother is an awful hoarder so I vacillating between wanting to acquire stuff and thinking "ah but I could use that one day" ... and on the other hand having a horror of too much stuff and not wanting to lose large areas of my house to it.

We heard a while ago about the 20/20 rule and try to apply it when decluttering. Essentially if you could replace it within twenty minutes or for under £20, you don't need to keep it "just in case".

Getting rid of the children's things is complicated by the idea that they own them. I rather brutally got rid of the bulky and never-played-with remote controlled cars in November and a whole storage box of ignored jigsaws. But in both those cases the DC had effectively relinquished ownership already.

I'm struggling with eighty million fucking soft toys at the moment. Charity shops don't want them because they don't sell, but it feels brutal to bin them so they've been in a bag in the spare room for two years.

School fair for soft toys Mrs Hathaway? My children's primary does a soft toy tombola for second hand toys that my kids are banned from often the staff pick through the donations and use them for various topics.

I'm quite envious of those who get hand me downs or have parents willing to buy coats and shoes etc.

Interesting idea. Ours doesn't have that kind of stall but I'll think about topic-relevant toys to fish out. I also have one at preschool so they cycle through topics more quickly.

They're already the recent recipients of unwanted craft materials, including upholstery offcuts!

Thanks