Downsizing, decluttering etc.

[Dave2002]

I hate the thought of "downsizing" but right now we're having a clear out. I've got rid of lots of technical books - the neighbourhood charity shops will love me for that!

I am discarding various magazines too - mostly of little interest - not even to charity shops I think. However, I do wonder if anyone would like some copies of Gramophone or BBC Music mag
from (say) the last 8 or so years. I'm not in too much of a hurry, but eventually they may just go to the tip if I decide we haven't got any space to keep them.

Other things are being discarded too. I have an old clock - with a broken glass case. I quite liked it, but I tested it today, and it doesn't go any more. Ergo -> dump.
Maybe foolishly I've revived the NiCD batteries I had lying around with a new battery charger. Otherwise I was intending to discard them, as I can't think of anything which NiMh batteries don't do better.

Anyone else going through this depressing process?

[french frank]

Anyone else going through this depressing process?

Not actually going through it. But thinking I ought to. In fact I did get a plastic carrier bag from the roof space earlier in the week and put all the paper into the recycling bag without looking at it: I figured that if I hadn't looked at it for years and had no idea what it was, I wouldn't regret throwing it out because I wouldn't know I had

[Dave2002]

Not actually going through it. But thinking I ought to. In fact I did get a plastic carrier bag from the roof space earlier in the week and put all the paper into the recycling bag without looking at it: I figured that if I hadn't looked at it for years and had no idea what it was, I wouldn't regret throwing it out because I wouldn't know I had

That strategy works as long as you didn't have certain types of documents in - such as (a) degree certificates (b) insurance documents, (c) Premium bonds.

I know someone (not me, 'onest) who managed to send a degree certificate to a jumble sale by accident, and it was a nuisance some years later.

[teamsaint]

I hate the thought of "downsizing" but right now we're having a clear out. I've got rid of lots of technical books - the neighbourhood charity shops will love me for that!

I am discarding various magazines too - mostly of little interest - not even to charity shops I think. However, I do wonder if anyone would like some copies of Gramophone or BBC Music mag
from (say) the last 8 or so years. I'm not in too much of a hurry, but eventually they may just go to the tip if I decide we haven't got any space to keep them.

Other things are being discarded too. I have an old clock - with a broken glass case. I quite liked it, but I tested it today, and it doesn't go any more. Ergo -> dump.
Maybe foolishly I've revived the NiCD batteries I had lying around with a new battery charger. Otherwise I was intending to discard them, as I can't think of anything which NiMh batteries don't do better.

Anyone else going through this depressing process?

have gone through a pretty big de cluttering this year, for one reason or another. mostly getting rid of the accumulated rubbish that 25 years of having kids seems to leave one with.

Its been brilliant. The house has been transformed, got rid of absolutely loads of stuff to the local hospice shop, and can't say we have missed a single piece of anything we got rid of. Room s are tidier, cleaner, better organised, and actually, you realise how much having stuff you really don't need or want stops you from getting to or using other things.
No recorded music went, although I did shift two bin liners of CD jewel cases (after rehousing some less well used CDs in a big folder, )which rather depressingly went into the landfill at the tip, as apparently that is all they can do with them.

Had a letter a couple of weeks ago from the hospice shop saying they had flogged £128 worth of our stuff which is good.
i am a little worried that I will go into the hospice shop one day, and that it will look just like our place used to, only a bit better !!


Bit concerned about those certificates now though......

[Nick Armstrong]

Anyone else going through this depressing process?

Summer of 2014. It wasn't depressing, it was exhilarating - especially afterwards. And Barnados benefited. Win-win.

Got another session coming up Spring 2016 before decorations to other parts of the place.

Go for it, I say.

[french frank]

Bit concerned about those certificates now though......

Haven't seen mine for decades. OTOH, I can't see that they'll be very important to me now (one of them has some splodges of paint on it where it was lying around while I was doing some decorating ).

[ardcarp]

It seems that, at a certain age, de-cluttering (or at least putting one's effects in order) becomes a preoccupation. I take a different view. Having had to cope with deceased parents' lifetime stuff...which involved a preliminary skirmish to sort the wheat from the chaff and then a large number of skips...I don't see why my offspring should be spared the task of doing the same!

[teamsaint]

Haven't seen mine for decades. OTOH, I can't see that they'll be very important to me now (one of them has some splodges of paint on it where it was lying around while I was doing some decorating ).

More concerned about the kids certificates, really !! Can't see anybody wanting to check out my academic credentials at this stage. If they do, they need to get out more.

somehow after your post, I have a vision of what Jackson Pollocks degree certificate might look like. Be worth a fortune too.

[teamsaint]

It seems that, at a certain age, de-cluttering (or at least putting one's effects in order) becomes a preoccupation. I take a different view. Having had to cope with deceased parents' lifetime stuff...which involved a preliminary skirmish to sort the wheat from the chaff and then a large number of skips...I don't see why my offspring should be spared the task of doing the same!

i am currently still involved in a major engagement with my Dad's shed contents ( he passed away this year). Astonishing.Power tools on an unimaginable scale. Enough rope to tether a fleet. Exactly how many rawlplugs can you get through in a lifetime? Extraordinary amount of stuff.

[P. G. Tipps]

i am currently still involved in a major engagement with my Dad's shed contents ( he passed away this year). Astonishing.Power tools on an unimaginable scale. Enough rope to tether a fleet. Exactly how many rawlplugs can you get through in a lifetime? Extraordinary amount of stuff.

Isn't it amazing? And, of course, the hundreds, maybe even thousands, of never-used screws. My own tool-box sometimes looks like a new delivery ... items picked up in Tesco which, on passing, I thought 'ah, that might be a good idea' but which later proved to be wholly unneeded and therefore unopened.

I occasionally have a clear-out and that marvellous, smug satisfaction at the new, more organised state of affairs inevitably follows. Unfortunately, the search for that elusive item, which I knew I had and suddenly becomes an absolute necessity, tends to occur just a few days or weeks later.

Believe me, I swear this happens after every single one of my cunningly-planned and carefully-applied clear-outs, but I now take the philosophical approach, consoling myself that this is simply a minor 'downside' of the otherwise 'upside' of a very necessary and worthy process.

[Anastasius]

I find a good clear-out a very cathartic and rewarding experience. One of the best Christmases we had was hiring a skip and having a darn good clear-out on Boxing Day.

I also have a workshop that has accumulated too many useless pieces of wood. I say useless but they could be transformed into something. Only I have so much else on my plate, and from past experience have learned that if you have a piece the right length then it won't be the right width. And if it is the right length and width then it won't be the right thickness. And if it is the right length, width and thickness then you won't have enough of them! So, the fire it is.

TS - sorry to hear about your Dad. If you are looking to sell any power tools then you could try ukworkshop.co.uk

[cloughie]

I like the theory of decluttering but it's so time consuming and it is so difficult to get near the items which need to be cleared!

[Richard Tarleton]

It started with clearing the roof space to enable better insulation - all sorts of stuff which we've managed to live without for 20 years, forgotten we had, etc. - crockery, bits of carpet, books, endless back copies of periodicals and equipment for abandoned pastimes and so on. A drawer full of print camera equipment - Oxfam said it would go on their website, rather than waiting for the right person to enter the shop. I was a hoarder in my thirties, when the future seemed to stretch out indefinitely, but now derive a virtuous glow from only keeping what I think I'll need.

[Serial_Apologist]

That strategy works as long as you didn't have certain types of documents in - such as (a) degree certificates (b) insurance documents, (c) Premium bonds.

I know someone (not me, 'onest) who managed to send a degree certificate to a jumble sale by accident, and it was a nuisance some years later.

This is similar to my own getting carried away on a clearance binge a few years ago, during which, to my eternal regret, I somehow managed to throw out a file including all of my school reports.

[Dave2002]

This is similar to my own getting carried away on a clearance binge a few years ago, during which, to my eternal regret, I somehow managed to throw out a file including all of my school reports.

You need to listen to William and the School Report - Martin Jarvis - very amusing. Can be picked up from time to time in charity shops.

However, I don't suppose the loss of your reports really caused much bother. The loss of a degree certificate can be a pain, for example if one wants to go and work in the USA in some fields, and may take weeks and $$$s to sort out, so probably not quite so similar at all.