to cry because half-forgotten stuff has been ruined by damp?

[BlackNoSugar]

Backstory: we used to be a military family, we've moved house lots of times, and we had loads of stuff packed in boxes/tubs that just got moved from house to house without ever being opened. Stuff like odds and ends that you don't really need but don't want to get rid of.

Our last house move was six years ago and we have a huge garage where we put all the boxes & tubs. Last year a friend desperately needed somewhere to store a load of furniture and we offered the garage, we just stacked all our stuff at the back and put her stuff at the front. Then the garage got a massive leak in the roof, over the winter. We threw a tarp over what we could reach, the furniture was too heavy to move without a group of people so that was the best we could do.

Her stuff got collected this spring, and we've just got round to sorting out the garage (tbh I've been putting it off as I was pretty sure things were damaged and I didn't want to see it).

All DD's first school books are ruined. Our wedding favours are mouldy and smelly. Two whole boxes of books are just wet mush. Photos are damp and warped and smell mouldy but are still sort of ok. We haven't yet got to DD's first baby clothes, or more books, or her early toys (not masses but I know we have her first teddy). Stupidly, the last straw was a egg-box daffodil she'd made when she was in nursery, it was mouldy and in bits and I just sat and cried.

I'm sitting here with my pregnancy diary which has black mildew all on it and I'm dabbing it with bleach to try and save it. It's ridiculous, isn't it? If I wanted all this stuff I wouldn't have had it in boxes for the past AT LEAST six years.

Please tell me I'm BU and to pull myself together.

YABU. Stuff is just that, take a deep breath and chuck it all out. Then go and give your daughter a hug.

Yanbu. But scan all your photos so they don't get worse and then you can make photo books with them and maybe you have photos of some of the lovely things your daughter made too xxx

It's a positive - it will make you chuck out all the stuff you don't need to keep that would have cost you a lot of time and effort to store. You will feel better once you get rid of it all. Then you can work on rescuing your photos.

This happened to us. A burst pipe in the garage ruined loads of stuff. But like you I hadn’t looked at it for years. So I got brutal and chucked it all. It was upsetting but I figured if I hadn’t looked in about 4 years it didn’t really matter.

This happened to me with books I’d kept from my childhood for my DC. I was gutted at the time but I’m over it. Still miss my books though

Of COURSE YANBU.

Sorry that happened.

Maybe try and salvage what you can.

Can you photograph some things and keep them electronically instead? Like your pregnancy journal? If you would really like something tangible, you could have the photographs made up into a photo book you can flip through almost as though it were the original one.

Some minimalisty-decluttering folks also suggest photographing sentimental items rather than holding on to the thing itself. Not something I've tried myself, but it is a thing, just in case that helps.

For the less sentimental stuff, it's a great opportunity to shed a lot of surplus things now you are settling into a non-military lifestyle

I'm so sorry.

Scan the photos. Put the pregnancy diary in the freezer for now - it will stop the mould growth. Then expose to very strong sun next Summer.

Thanks all. I know IABU, I don't need any of it and I would probably have thrown most of it out anyway if I had actually had a good sort out. It's just that the decision was taken away from me. FGS, DD is nearly 21, I don't need her old school books!

I'm actually having a read through the PG diary now, it's nice to look back, I might type it up to give to DD then toss it out.

Trying to look on the bright side: decluttering is a good thing.

Any baby clothes & soft toys you can probably wash gently: washing up liquid on the mold first, then then agitate stain & rinse with cool water. . Repeat til gone. Photos you can flatten between books & dry out by radiator then scan.

Agree, photograph some, wash what can be washed. Cat litter in a sealed bag can help with damp and damp smells, use the silicon crystal type and a ziplock bag and leave it in for a very long time.

It's happened to us all (or will at some point). My wedding dress was such a casualty. Save what you can any way that you can.

Toad thanks for the cat litter tip, that's a real help.

White vinegar is good for mould.

You may need to change the litter a few times as it will absorb the damp, bicarbonate of soda might help with the smell too.

If it helps, my mother in law died recently. She kept everything. Receiving a load of stuff like DH's first easter cards and school projects has been both a right pain in the arse as we have nowhere to put it and feel bad chucking it, and also quite heartbreaking for DH to be honest. We have had to throw a lot of things away and he has felt like he was betraying his mum with every chuck.

SO the damp - and you - is doing your future grown up DD a favour really. You've got what's important. Give her cuddles to remember.

I see she is grown up! Future even more grown up DD then!

Yanbu , we had a house fire when I was 16. Gutted the entire house has nothing but the clothes we stood in. As a result I am extremely unsentimental with possessions husband jokes if he sits still long enough I’ll throw him out! But anything to do with my dds is different. I have a little box with hospital bracelets scan pics etc that I would be devastated to lose .