To just get rid of it all?

[Hoardernomore]

So far this week I’ve got rid of 18 bags of rubbish / recycling / stuff for charity shop from our average sized house. I’m still going.
I’ve got rid of christening cards, scan photos, wedding cards, thanks you cards, Mother’s Day cards, baby memory boxes, new baby stuff and momentoes. All gone. Drawings by the kids, photos, hand made stuff from school and nursery.
Also gone are all my books and cds, toys my children don’t use, random stuff we’ve accumulated like wires that I have no idea of their purpose anymore.
My gran died last year and she’d kept so much, and we had to chuck most of it. I’ve concluded it is all just stuff, at some point it has to be thrown away and actually it’s easier for me to do it than my children once I’m dead.

My friend thought I’d lost the plot when I told her everything had gone. Aibu? I just think it’s stuff. It’s all pointless really.

Sorry op. Not quite the same thing as ai have no relationship with my parents.but I recently found out that the old nut bag that is my mother went on a burning spree. All photographs letters from mjy grandmother etc all gone. I have no baby pictures no nothing and when she died ai would have liked those. It's not quite the same but I think some of those things we're for your children. I.e scan photos etc.

YNBU. We just moved and I binned a lot of cards. My DH keeps everything. Every birthday card he receives he keeps, along with all the other shit. When are you going to look through them and think oh yes, I'm so glad I kept this card from Janet from accounting wishing me all the best for my new job.
So many DVDs - I don't even know the last time I watched a DVD (we have Netflix etc). It causes a lot of arguments heated discussion in our house!

Re children's artwork- I'm not sure I could be so brutal. On the other hand my DM kept every piece of art me and my siblings ever produced (a HUGE piece of furniture taking up a significant chic look of their house just full of masterpieces). We are in our 30s-40s now and she only recently got rid of them (she still kept her favourites). I can't say I really remembered or felt any particular attachment to any of them.

My mother was always ruthless about not keeping stuff - means I have no photos from when I was a child, no school reports or school photos, nothing from before I left home really. It makes me really sad to think that I meant so little to her. Be careful they are your childrens memories too

This is the thing with having so much stuff, you end up overwhelmed by it and it becomes so difficult to tell what actually has value to you and what doesn't. I'd brace myself to go through the kids art and christening cards and keep a selection, then chuck the rest. The wires, CDs and books are easy: if you're not going to use them, out they go. Should you require any of them again in the future, buy them cheaply second hand. Costs less than the space you need to keep it all in.

My parents are neither horders nor sentimental so I don’t have anything from
Growing up. This doesn’t affect me at all, but MIL keeps everything and I found myself quite interested in seeing my DHs old exercise books, stories he’d written, artwork, christening presents etc.

So I think I’d like to be somewhere in the middle. I know it’s less realistic now that everything is more digitalised (probbaly wont have exercise books soon!) but it can be nice to look back occasionally

When I lost my dad a few years back I had to go through his flat single handedly. He had a dementia type condition and was living in a semi-sheltered accommodation. My brother had helped him move there and it turned out that my dad had no personal effects. In his flat he just had functional things such as clothes, kitchen ware etc. No photos, no cards, no books, nothing of sentiment. The only thing I found was one single photo of me in his drawer. I know it probably made the process quicker but it was oddly painful not having any of his personal things, no memories that he'd kept. I kept wondering if there was some magical hidden drawer somewhere that I'd missed haha!

I think clearing out is good and healthy but for me, there has to be a balance. I'd draw the line at binning my scan photos and baby memory boxes. I actually find it quite sad to bin items like that - but maybe that's my personal experience with my dad colouring my view.

what Fluffyunicorns said.

It's so freeing! Everyone will have a different criteria of what are "essential" things to keep; but I feel very free when I am working towards having less.

Unfortunately, my DH has hoarding tendencies, so it's a very gradual process.

At least I, personally, have less stuff. It's a start.

Regarding death cleaning, once I am retired, it makes sense to declutter ahead of my demise as I will have so much time on my hands. Why would I want to foist my crap onto my dcs who are busy with their lives and young families. I don't resent my dcs inheriting. It's my final gift and my life's work, if there is anything left by then.

I did this during the summer and it’s so carhartic. Kept the scan photos but everything else went including the books (what’s the point of keeping books you’ve already read and won’t read again?), DVDs, old bills, ornaments, etc. The place is so much easier to keep clean now.

My dd is 36 and I'm reaching the stage where I'll have to throw out her childhood artwork so that she doesn't have to do it when I die... I'm not there yet, though.

I always take photos of my kids' artwork and save it in a folder under their name on my phone then I still have a copy

aw..i am a collectaholic. Cant make the break yet-i guess i would maybe at least photo some of the kids things,scan pics et..a memory card wont take up much room.

When my father died my mother got rid of a lot of things, however she ripped up the papers from his box of things which I would have liked to see, never mind keep.
She kept all his clothes which meant that I had to clear them out along with her stuff when she died.
She had also ripped the pages of work from my school books and kept the blank bits, I was so pleased when I found them so I could see them again, but then I found she had destroyed them.
The house and loft were full of stuff, but those things were something I would have kept. I love old things. Something to consider for your children to decide on when they are older, they may want to see things that were around when they were young or before they were born, let them decide. It is part of their history.

Getting rid of clothes and more recent clutter is a good thing but minimalism can go too far.

I've been considering our attic recently. I seem to have acquired (some time ago) a slide projector & loads of old family slides.

Thing is they're never coming down from the loft are they?

What the point in keeping them? Really?

For complicated reasons my DM came to live with us bringing almost nothing from my childhood. It would have been lovely to have some memories to share with her as she developed dementia. So I would say don't be too ruthless with things like photos and family treasures. They are other people's memories too.

I love the Marie Kondo approach but there's something about your tone that I'm finding a little concerning. It sounds quite nihilistic and depressed. Are you ok? I wonder if that's why your friend was worried.

I need to do this!

I will keep scan photos / artwork and maybe congrats cards from when DS was born but that is it.

We're moving and I don't want to take all the crap with us!

Well done you. You have the right attitude.
The only important things in life are family, friends and pets.
Clutter doesn't make us happy, it gathers dust and invades our houses.
We live in far too materialistic a society.

No, sorry, don't get it all. Cards that my DCs made are precious to me, they are not clutter, they are not just "stuff", they put time and effort into making them for me.

Be careful, I, for example, am quite resentful that my mother kept nothing of when I was little, no memories at all. It feels callous and cold.

As for the recycled Christmas card... I mean, really, no need for expensive cards, juts a home made one is enough, but the same tatty card recycled every year? lord no, don't you write a message in it anyway?! sounds very sad.

Are you sure this is not a knee jerk reaction to grief? it can happen with a bit of a delay sometimes

No, not being unreasonable. I'm also on my way to being a minimalist. I was watching Extreme Cheapskate and there was an episode wherein one lady goes to deceased homes and offers to take care of the deceased's estate in exchange for the clothes. The families almost always agree - one said he didn't know what to do with his mom's stuff anyway. So I thought better to get rid of my clutter now while I am alive rather than bother my family with getting rid of it.

It's not materialistic to keep photos,artwork,baby scans, wedding cards etc. That is sentiment.

Oh, and I am not elderly. Almost a millennial.

@Rudgie47 you returned a library book after 28 years?!! Love it. What did they say?!

In the wake of my parents' deaths and having to take an entire fortnight to clear the house, I did the same. I've had two passes at it and need to do more. You're absolutely right, we all have too much stuff. I'm trying to take William Morris' advice - if it's not useful or beautiful, it has to go.