Has anyone regretted a huge, ruthless declutter?

[IfIonlyhadsomesleep]

Just wondering because I'm considering getting rid of pretty much everything that stays still for too long. All craft projects except the current ones, lots of toys that are unplaced with but would need to leave by stealth because otherwise they'd suddenly become favourites, baby clothes that I thought I'd make into heirlooms one day, virtually all the clothes in my wardrobe because I've got stuff for the things I do and the work wear I had eight years ago doesn't fit, magazines that I might do the projects from.
In fact I'm not sure what to keep. I just know that our house is overwhelmed by stuff that we hardly use.
Do you think in six months I might feel bereft?

I'm a little annoyed at the textbooks I decluttered and now wish I had and am prob going to have to buy back again, but I needed to do it at the time emotionally, so I can deal. Very little else is missed and I am addicted to decluttering.

I miss/regret a few things that I got rid of when younger, but have realised that fear of regretting something was making me hang on a lot more than necessary. I've allowed myself to feel some regret but then realise the world hasn't ended. I just made a mistake.

The only risk with decluttering is that it awakens the "oh, but I forgot I had this!" monster in you, then you decide actually to keep it all but don't tidy it away.

Then you end up with an even messier home

I decluttered our dining room (full of bookshelves and desks!) It was fantastic for about a day. The as we've moved on to sort something else out, the "keep" things have been moved to their new containers, and have wound up in my lovely clear dining room. The damn clutter builds up so quickly here, so you can't even see the difference anywhere else! But regret throwing all that shit stuff away? Hell no, I can't even remember what I binned.

disclaimer - I'm hoping that during my mat leave I will be able to crack on and get things under control again. There is a plan, it will be followed, I just need to be able to bend down to pick stuff up again!

No regrets here. Its calming not to own so much stuff. I've also done as others said upthread and chucked most of DC's school/art stuff, just keeping scrap books with bits and bobs from each year.

To quote Vivacia It's lovely opening a wardrobe and just seeing nice things rather than guilt trips. I completely agree. I cleared a shelf in my wardrobe which now has a small pretty box containing baby mementoes, and on top a favourite baby blanket and comforter, and some of the early books we read over and over. It makes me smile every day, and is so much better than tons of stuff in vacuum bags in the loft that I'm terrified to part with.

I think, overall, that when I've done smaller but significant declutters before, I have thrown away some stuff I wish I'd kept. But I know that it's better for me to risk throwing away something I regret throwing than to keep all the clutter that would stop me finding the important stuff. Going to start in sept and do it 15 mins a day, flylady style. And a friend is going to come over to help kick start it.

My sister admitted only yesterday that she regretted skipping my granny's tea set. I am sad as I loved it (it was very pretty and it reminded me of my grandparents) but I assumed it had gone to my aunt. She SKIPPED it! Didn't charity shop it or even offer it to me or my other 2 sisters. It was about 8 years ago but she says she often regrets it - but had a mad, ruthless declutter when she felt things were getting on top of her.
moral = if its family junk check with siblings first!

Sorry to revive an old thread! But I found this and thought it interesting.

I did a massive de-clutter of old stored letters and so forth about 6 months ago. I had boxes and boxes of stuff my bestie (long gone from my life, sadly) and I wrote to each other, aged 14 back in the time of expensive landlines, phone in the cold hallway, mother hovering beside you, tapping her watch. That's how old I am. But it's partly because of my age that I have suddenly realised that actually, there are a lot of craft projects etc that I'll never get around to, old letters I'll ^never reread etc, and all I'm doing in making a hoard for my DSs to sort out one day; so I got ruthless, I went through about 5 boxes of letters, old photos etc, read quiet a few, marvelled at how many photos are of me draped around young men I cannot even remember , had a tiny jolt when I realised that my 'memory' of certain people, also now no longer in my life is a bit incorrect- in two cases, I suddenly realised I had much closer relationships with them that I remember! and so forth, and I chucked most.

As for the boys' stuff; I keep a few, really special things, I photograph other nice, milestone-y stuff but stuff not worth keeping in its original form and chuck the rest; I've kept a few school exercise books and have scanned other bits and pieces for them, but have chucked the rest.

Not missing any of it yet!

I wouldn't say I've ever regretted a whole declutter (they can only ever be a positive thing imho) but on more than one occasion I have infuriatingly thrown away something I've had no need of forever or it's been some random unidentified plastic/metal part/widget/thing that's been hanging around for so long and give up hope of ever understanding why I own it, so I sling it. And then.......... two weeks later I realise I need that very thing, and sometimes I even have to go and buy another one.

That really pisses me off like you can't imagine.

I had a big declutter a few years ago and I constantly eBay things/take stuff to the charity shop now.

I've never missed anything.

I always work on the premise that I can buy the item again if and when I really need it.

Do it! It's been the best thing I have ever done! I can't even image what our house would be like now if I hadn't began my decluttering mission!

The potential fear is why I've always decluttered little and often rather than in one big swoop.

I've done quite a lot of decluttering in the past couple of years since we moved from a rented house with lots of storage to buying a tiny house with no storage! I haven't really regretted any of it.

One thing I have done is taken photos of just about everything I've got rid of, which seems to help me make that 'jump' to getting rid of something. I've also scanned a lot of stuff and then got rid of the paper copies, which has help a lot.

The other thing I would suggest is putting stuff you want to get rid of away for a few months, then going back to it and seeing if you've missed it - I do this with clothes I don't want anymore and I've never put anything back into my wardrobe :)

It's family junk that I don't know what to do with. Books and glassware I don't want. Trouble is DSIL lives 5hrs away. I see her only once every three years and her house is just as cluttered as ours.

I'm not sure it's fair to guilt trip her into having the stuff either.

Loads of sentimental trappings because DMIL died very suddenly.

I do regret accidentally decluttering my wedding veil in a moment of madness.

Best decluttering advice. Have a loft conversion!
No attic= no crap in it
We have storage in the eves, have things like Xmas stuff, and suitcases.
And yes general crap. Not too much though.
We have limited storage, although lots of wardrobe space.
I hate clutter on surfaces, and throw all sorts of stuff away that I probably shouldn't.

We sent about 25% of our stuff to charity/free cycle this time last year and I honestly can only name a handful of things that we got rid of. Most of it is completely forgotten. The key is then not to allow yourself to replace it with further stuff!