To have a secret clear out?

[scoobadydawoo]

My house is a right state. It's a disaster. I've got AuADHD with 2 children so my house is always a mess. Recently since I've had to spend so much time at home the mess has just been doing my head in.

Husband is also a pack rat who holds a lot of unnecessary emotional attachment to things (toys in particular) and doesn't like to throw things away.

Everyone is out of the house today. I'm sorting through the bins of toys and trying to to a frantic mass tidy while the house is empty and no one can interrupt my flow.

AIBU to pack up a lot of the toys that haven't been used in months / years that have been hidden away in toy baskets and hide them away so I can take them to the charity shop this week? I'm taking about things like talking Toy Story toys, those rubber pop it toys, leap frog talking mobile phones, etc. Children are 6 and 12. They'll play with them for a day or two if they're pulled out and see them as something 'new' again, but then they'll just sit un-used again for months after that.

I'm just so sick of the mess!!!

Definitely do it. Anything now not age appropriate or played with regularly, get rid.

Go for it! But maybe don't take them this week. Pack them away where they can't be seen. Circle a date on the calendar in a few months time, and if you get to that date with no-one saying "have you seen my ........" THEN I would get rid of them.

Sods law says if you get rid this week, they will be missed the following day.

Do it. No one will notice what’s missing.

I wouldn't do it without kids' approval. It's horrible to be on the other end of it.
However, I am not sure your husband has a say in what toys stay or go. They are not his toys.
My partner is the same, terrible pack rat. Won't throw anything away. We moved house last year and I got my kid to unpack her stuff and tell me if there was anything she wanted to throw away or donate. She was happy to part with 90% of her staff. My partner kept circling and taking things out of the donate pile but we just packed it all back when he went to work and took it to the charity shop. Her toys - her choice.
Your kids may surprise you too.

I regularly do this. I know if something has been played with it not. I have a large carrier bag at the bottom of my wardrobe which I cover with a sheet and I pop stuff in there when I come across something that hasn’t been loved for a while. When it’s full it goes to the charity shop.

I do this all the time, if DD hasn't looked for it within a month the bag makes its way to the charity shop.

Do it!!

A tidy house is a tidy mind. It will do you all the world of good.

You have to do this! Your house should be comfortable and relaxing to live in.
It will make such a difference.

Explain to the kids that the toys have gone to children who wouldn't have toys to play with otherwise.

This is pretty much exactly what I've done. I've done a massive tidy. Feels so good!

I've put the toys that I'm going to try and sell back into a basket downstairs so I'll list those later. I've tossed a load of crap out, and have hidden a big bag of things upstairs. I'll wait a week or two to see if anyone notices, and then I'll drop them off at the charity shop. Still need to have a sort through the puzzles though and make sure the pieces are all there for the ones I'm going to get rid of.