Hello again, dropped off thread for a bit but still slogging away through paperwork. Discovered I have kept pretty much every payslip ever. Was hard to throw out as there is something very appealing to me about collections like that. Compromised and kept one from each job. Think I will set up a kind of 'history' box for random things like that - just make sure it all fits in one box.
I am actually finding my house too minimalist at the moment. We recently moved from a little terrace house to a BIG semi (cashing in on the crazy London house market), and all our old stuff looks little and weird here. In the living room there is just sofa, chair, tv unit, small table with my massively culled book collection on, one painting, one mirror, one rug. It feels totally soulless.
One nice thing to come from this is that since organising the kids art materials I find them much easier to get out and put away - plus they look more inviting - so I put them out whilst I make dinner and kids draw/stick at table. Previously they were totally out of control and rarely used.