Cannot declutter my house - big yellow storage beckons!

[BloodshotEyeballsintheScarySky]

My house has a level of clutter previously unseen by human eyes. We have a small 2.5 bedroom house and it has been completely taken over and despite my best efforts I cannot clear it. We have totally lost our dining room and spare room to it and it is creeping in on the rest.

I am currently toying with packing it all up, putting it in storage and then going there to sort it out as I cannot seem to do it in my own home. Everything has a 'purpose'. So, I thought neutral territory and some peace and quiet might solve it. It really is stuff we do not need but I cannot bear to throw.

Is this the stupidest idea you ever heard? I need help!

Actually sounds sensible to me - wish I could do the same with DH's stuff

Sounds like a great idea if you can afford it.
I think you're right - you may be able to convince yourself to part with things if they are out of their usual place at home.

put iot all in storage.
if after 3 months you havent had to go and find it from storage as you need it...chuck it out

I did think of that too actually, but am I brave enough? I know it's all surplus shite but...I might need it one day... I know I won't. I never have! Stuff is in the spare room that's been there since we moved in 5 years ago ffs!

It's so tempting

We had a garage full of stuff like this. I binned it when we moved without looking as I hadn't needed it in 3 years!

Sell all the clutter, and if you do need it again in the future, buy it then. I once read a description of eBay as an infinitely large garage - whatever it is that you need will be on there when you need it.

Storage is expensive.

Why don't you mentally categorise all your clutter, and then deal with each category one by one.

Start with easy ones like old magazines, newspapers and brochures. Collect them all up and take them all to recycling (you absolutely don't need to keep any of this stuff anymore as a quick Google can locate any information/article worth finding again).

Then move on to books. Be ruthless - old books are such a waste of space and a terrible dust gatherer.

Then do clothing.

Etc

There are so many cleaning companies out there - why oh why can't there be an organising your crap clutter business too??

I'd be the first on the phone!

Look in your local classified mag - there are declutterers galore in my parents' local mag.

Get a box, write "Books" on it, and put every book you haven't looked at for 3 years and which has no special value to you in it. Take to charity shop (if organised, sell on eBay).

Get a bin bag, in each bedroom go through wardrobe and put in it every item of clothing not worn for 3 years and with no special value. Take to charity shop or eBay.

Get a large box file. Write "for filing" on it. Stuff every homeless bank statement, phone bill, seemingly-important-but-probably-useless-but-might-need-it-someday piece of paper into it and sort it another day. In the meantime you will at least know where to look.

After this you will be left with the following items (example from my own home ):
Revolting Border Fine Arts figurine given to you as a gift which your conscience has been unable to let you chuck out.
Large collection of various smelly lotions and potions, none of which you ever use, all of which are probably several years out of date.
Assorted lampshades, photo frames, curtains, holdalls, socket sets, plant pots, plastic "storage solutions", gift bags, bicycle inner tubes and dog leads.

This last lot is the stuff that you really need to get rid of. Go on, put it in the bin. Just do it. You won't miss it, not any of it.

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Agree with Bloss that the thought "Everything has a purpose" is just plain wrong and you need to get over it.

Learn to edit and to get rid of the things (and, more importantly IMO, ideas) that are superfluous to your life.

You're all right. I have just spent the 2 hours whizzing round the dining room like a bat out of hell. I now have a room full of boxes separating papers, clothes, books/dvds and asylum seekers (MIL's name for items that have no home - hope it's not offensive!). DD thought I'd lost the plot I think! Will do the same for every room.

I do get flylady emails but I felt I was too far gone for them!

Freecycle. This is brilliant for decluttering. You postthe stuff you have and when somebody wants it, they come and collect it. Most things go within a day or so and it is helping somebody else. Then if 2 years down the line, you realise that you need them you post a wanted add an often you get replies for people who want to get rid of them.

Example. I have a 9 month old and I am 3 months pregnant. When I find out the sex of the baby, if we are having a boy, I will be offering SO much pink baby stuff that people can come and collect. Then I will ask for boys stuff and collect it as and when it come up/is needed. I will then get rid of all baby stuff when the DC2 grows put of it.

Self storage is fiendishly expensive. If the situation is as bad as all that spend the money on hiring a decluttering service instead to give you an extra push.

I have stuff in storage that we will genuinely need again, like pushchair, cot, general baby stuff. It costs £65 a month for a small storage room. That really would be money down the drain for something that you might never use again.

Big Yellow are the most expensive - work out what 6 months/1 year/2 years would cost and decide whether the stuff is worth that. It's easy for a year to go by and the direct debit goes out each month and before you know it, you've spent over £1,000 storing crap

Do you know that you can spend Tesco Clubcard vouchers on storage now? I think it's Big Yellow but not 100% sure. Am seriously considering it.

This is our idea. Put everything in the loft, garage and shed in storage. Sort it out at our leisure (or until the vouchers run out ) but in the meantime we would have an empty garage (our dream). Would it work? Or would the stuff just fester in storage and we would eventually have to bring it home?

Seriously £65 a month? Even if you do use it again, surely you can buy it all again for what that costs you over time? Or you could sell it or give it away now and get one from free cycle or ebay IF you ever needed it again.

Sorry I really can't understand paying that, unless you are rolling in money.

everything has got a purpose, and sometimes it's Freecycle, charity shops, Ebay and the bin.

My dad is thinking of getting a "box" at the big yellow storage place.
He has quite a lot of old/specialist books and scientific papers that are a bit priceless.
My Mum smokes a lot and most days almost sets fire to things.
He wants to make sure that anything really valuable is locked away safely!

I only plan to store it for 6 months or so, but even then it would be cheaper to off load it all and buy it again. However, we are adopting so when it happens it happens quite quickly and it would be a pain in the neck to source everything again in the space of 2 weeks. Plus, some of it I wouldn't be able to get again such as the older model Urban Detour which I like better than the new one.

So it's not really a financially based decision it more a convenience one. I've been very strict about not putting anything into storage that won't be coming out if we are matched with a child, I wouldn't want to pay anything at all to store stuff that I don't need and won't use again.