To ask if you can be too ruthless with de-cluttering ?

[summershine101]

I have a house full of stuff. Stuff I never use, stuff I never touch, drawers I never go in yet they are full of stuff. I could get rid of the whole lot, none of it is sentimental.

I could literally empty a chest of drawers full to the brim of stuff. I wouldn't miss any of it. I haven't touched it in 3 years and really couldn't tell you what any of it was unless I went and looked.

Do we really need so much stuff ? should I just empty the chest of drawers and get rid of all of it ?

Yes! Do it!

I'm not the slightest bit materialistic. The stuff I have is the stuff I need.

Every now and then I do a de-clutter.

Don't just chuck it away! Clothes can be sold at charity or weighed in for scrap value, or use freecycle.

You really don’t need that much stuff. I had a house fire a few years ago. Lost so much. Had the choice of getting everything replaced like for like or cash equivalent, took the cash because we didn’t need have of what we lost.
I’ve become far more ruthless at decluttering over the years, started with the Marie Kondo book! I’ve got rid of loads and missed very little!

Not UB at all, but I would check it to make sure that they aren’t any important papers or documents that you would regret binning.

There's nothing better than getting rid of a lot of shite that clutters your home and your mind.

I generally find I really need something about 6 weeks to 2 months after I chuck it out. Conversely, the things I decide to keep, mostly they never get used. Go figure, as the Yanks say.

I really don't think getting rid of things you haven't used in 3 years is being ruthless.

Let it go!!!

get your black bags to the ready, now don’t think about this too much at all

just go and fill the bags!

in the future if you buy something new ie a towel then chuck one out when you bring the new one home

@ThisWormHasTurned so sorry to hear about your house fire. That must have been v scary and devastating. Hope no none was hurt or injured.
@PropertyGeek525 none of it is papers, just inanimate things really. Junk e.g. unopened lanyard from around 4 years ago which relates to a hobby of mine. I will never actually use it and haven't done so in the 4 years I've had it, because quite frankly I am not going to walk into my office wearing a lanyard with the words 'Concord' written all over it ! also, a posh travel document wallet. It was a free gift from an airline. I have never used it and I got it around 10 years ago. A book I was gifted 6 years ago which I have never read. I will never read it. The box (packaging) from my headphones. I don't keep my headphone in the original box.

I was told about someone who had to clear the house of a deceased aunt, and found lots of neatly labelled little boxes, 'buttons', 'thread', 'pins', etc, and one labelled 'bits of string too short to keep'.

Just do it, get rid of it all. What one arth can be important to you if you haven't looked at it for 3 years. You're just making your life hard by keeping it.

As long as you're confident none of it is important, bin the lot.

It might be worth a quick once over to ensure you aren't accidentally binning any documents or valuables that got inexplicably shoved there (I nearly threw out my Mum's wedding ring because she'd popped it in an envelope and it got mixed up with some post).

Life free of excess Stuff is great.

Yep get rid of it, although I would check through it to make sure there isn't anything important lost in the clutter. Be ruthless.

Yes, be ruthless.
Inanimate stuff rarely has any value.
The majority of documents can be accessed online.
Unless it’s irreplaceable or unobtainable any other way, chuck it or donate it.

It’s so freeing to have nearly empty spaces .

It's no fun clearing out someone's house, I spent the whole time opening drawers and exclaiming "Why?!"

I'm very mindful that one day ds will have to do the same for us. I'm really on top of my things my dh is dreadful and we have a whole shed and attic rammed full of stuff.

I'm the decluttering queen. My husband is a secret hoarder , I throw things out he has meltdowns a about things I throw out😂😂 . I love organising and sorting things out it feels like a weight is lifted. I say go for it .

I live by the basis that I don’t want to come across anything I’ve forgotten I had. Living out a backpack for a year whilst travelling was a great motivator for this!

In the 1980s I had a boyfriend with a big van. We used to do small moves and stuff for people. A relative of mine said her friend's very elderly lone spinster aunt had died, and they had sold the inherited house, but, oh dear! the buyer wanted it cleared, and in less than a week. She lived alone, it was a bit cluttered. The deal offered was £50, petrol money, plus we could keep anything we wanted. The rest - to the dump. The house was amazing! It seemed like a tip, but there was lots of hoarded stuff, piles of newspapers neatly folded going back to 1950, clothes (dump, mostly) lots and lots of kitchen stuff including a rare Spong mincer in green enamel, never used, spotless, with a complete set of gleaming mincing disks still in the greased paper, a complete 'mid century' collectable tea set, a Singer sewing machine, about a dozen unopened or partly full bottles of Gilbey's gin, and, going through a box of buttons, a plastic aspirin bottle full of over 150 silver threepenny bits. We got the fee and fuel money, did the dumps, and made over £200 in 1983 money selling stuff to collectors and at antique fairs.

As long as you recycle what can be, donate what can be etc then do it. Don't just chuck it all in the bin 🙄

I've learnt to my cost never to throw away an envelope without opening it out completely flat!!!

From what you said, you can be ruthless. There's no point keeping so much stuff that you can't find the bits you want or like.

I'm surprised you even need to ask about stuff you didn't buy and didn't use for 10 years. Gifts I don't like or what go within weeks. I used to keeps more stuff, which I might need if I broke the one I had or cables. But now you can buy most of that stuff cheap and quickly from asda or amazon.

We downsized from a large 4 bed house with loads of storage and a garage full of “stuff” to a 3 bed flat. We got rid of car load after car load of things that had just been hanging around doing nothing useful. Once or twice I have had a pang when I realise I could do with something that is gone for ever, but for the most part I feel relieved to be free of it all. I found books the hardest thing to part with but once they were gone I’ve had no regrets.

We drank the gin. Some had gone pale yellow, labels looked quite old, but tasted fine.

Civil Service standard practice for incoming post. 'Destroy the envelope'.

This is priceless 🤣

That's the bit that impedes me. I know there are documents I need hidden in the junk and it is soul destroying going through it all. Great once done though.