When decluttering, do you get a bad case of "But I might......"?

Omigod, we are twinsies. I have so many things that are filled with good memories, even though I remember stuff without them, it’s hard to let stuff go.
And really, am I sure I’ll never wear that cool skirt from when I was 25 again??? ;-)

One has to get brutally honest when decluttering.

Clothes- anything you have not worn since Labor Day 2018, out now!

Video cassettes you have not watched in the last year – out! In fact, unless you have home videos of your kids/grandkids, get rid of them all, along with the video player. They are just taking up space and gathering dust.

Books- the hardest part to sort, but, get rid of paperbacks, any once popular self help books that you have not opened in the last year, any hardback novels that you will not read again, and any reference books yo have not referred to in a year. Make sure you throw out old guide books and old almanacs. Keep only classics and reference books you regularly use.

When I moved 18 months ago, I even got rid of three bibles.

Personal videos can be transferred to Cd’s and downloaded from there to computer then printed out ( possible), at least its smaller then a video and player?

Some things that I had a hard time parting with I took photographs of before I gave them to the thrift shop.
However I still keep a blouse & sweater that my late mother wore frequently plus a photograph of her wearing the same as a memento.

I am pretty ruthless. When I change my closet out for the season, if I hadn’t worn the item in the prior season, it’s out. If it doesn’t fit, it’s out.
Books I haven’t read in years, out.
If you don’t even watch videos, out. DVD’s are better quality.
But I’m not really a sentimental person, so take my answer with a grain of salt.

Oh – I’m not really looking to change my ways, just thought it was an interesting topic to discuss! I do gradually weed things out. It’s just hard. Since I’m not moving, I’m not doing the Swedish death cleanse yet. :-)

I’m a little afraid to ask, but what is the “Swedish death cleanse”?

I know it’s painful, but I would get rid of all the video cassette tapes and the player itself.

As for books, save them all! Never get rid of a book! Keep them till the bitter end! That’s easy for me to say, because I buy almost all books on Kindle format nowadays. I have a carefully curated collection of books that completely fill 18 linear feet of shelf space. Oh, and there’s the stack next to the shelf on the floor that could easily fill another shelf. There are 3 books that sit on the very top of the whole bookshelf.

When I moved back to Hawaii from the mainland 13 years ago, I did cull my books. I got rid of probably ⅔rds of my entire collection. I was – as @zenvelo said – ruthless. After this long time, I’m sorry to say I do not remember the criteria I used for my decisions. I’m very happy with the books I have now. I can think of one book on the shelf I might possible think about parting with some day in the distant future when I need those extra 1.5 inches. I mean it. I really can think of just one book I’m willing to part with…someday.

Clothes? If I haven’t worn it in a year, it gets donated. Period. I’m not sure why, but I have no difficulty with that one.

I wish you all the best of luck in your quandary. I hope the hoarding demons will pass over your house as you settle down to make decisions. I pray comfort for the niggling corners of your soul that cry out for comfort of possessions. I whisper incantations of solace for your spirit as you sit cross legged on the floor surrounded by the shells of past memories.

@chyna There’s a book about it that my friend told me about. It is just about cleaning out all your stuff before you die so that your heirs are not burdened with it. She did it before moving to another city and an apartment.

@Hawaii_Jake As a librarian, I know the value of purging books at times. That isn’t a big problem for me to do judiciously. In terms of the video-cassettes and player, many of them are children’s movies that are not necessarily available any more and that I have fantasies of watching with my grands. I think I will hold on to some until the player dies. Space is not really an issue for me.

I just today capped a DVD box of Kojak, left by someone in the entrance of my apartment building to grab.
I mean…., Kojak….
I’m a disaster at throwing stuff away.
In three or four sessions, over the last ten to twelve years I’ve, indeed, throw much stuff away, but with any new session I find that I still have things that I ought to have ousted three sessions ago.
I have reports, letters, cards (birthday, Xmas, death announcements), drawings by kids (by myself as well as others), stuffed animals, medical files, juwelry, clothing, shoes, furniture even.
All from 30–40-50 years ago…..
I’ll give that Swedish method a read!

I can be ruthless but I’m not usually. Things with sentimental value or intrinsic value are often saved.

I’m also pretty ruthless. My husband runs behind me hoarding it all.

Today at work they had pretty filigreed silver (plated, I’m sure) platters of varying sizes, all matching and it went thru my mind, I should take those home for parties, hors d’ouvres trays, but I left them there at the trash cans. I’m pretty proud of myself.

I’m the ruthless one in the house. When I go for a thorough declutter I pick something up and think (a) does it have a legitimate use and (b) have I even touched it within the last 6 months. If I can’t get a real good answer on either of those, it’s heading for the trash or donation pile.

I tend to “collect” things and I’m also sentimental so between the collecting and the sentimentality, I have a lot of stuff. My grandmother had a lot of stuff in her house and my mom did, too, so I think it’s genetic. I think one day a gene will be identified for it, the way genes are identified for so many common traits now.

When I think about my grandmother’s things that were discarded or sold when she became infirm and then died, I wish I still had a lot of those items and that doesn’t help me with my current “collections.”

I realized recently, after doing some introspection, that I am very content when I’m in hotels, and the reason being that hotels are free of clutter and we really like that. My goal is to try to get my small house close to that. It’s hard, living in a small space, because there are issues with storage space. I live in a house that used to be relatives’ summer house, so it’s small and not meant for year round living. There is limited closet space, although there is a basement and attic to keep stuff in.

I have a lot of craft stuff. I have a middle school-aged daughter, and she does crafts, and I do too. With any craft items, it doesn’t pay to discard them because it’s definitely true that one day you might need them. One day I might need ribbons and so it helps to have various types and colors, instead of having to run out last minute shopping around. One day I might need those paint brushes, or printed images, or scrapbook punches, or colored pencils, or whatever else is in the craft bins.

I enjoy keeping kitchen stuff, tableware, jewelry, scarves, animal knick-knacks (old ones from the 60’s and 70’s).

I’m working on purging clothes. I have the Vietnam Vets coming for a pickup on Tuesday. My goal this weekend is going through clothes and bagging up as much as possible. I have donated books to the library, and have more I can donate. I found a cat rescue auction on FB that auctions items, so if I have new items that I think they could use, I will box them and ship them to the person who runs it. Yes, it costs me a few bucks to ship the items but I feel like I’m doing some good for animal rescue, and that’s important to me.

I probably have the worst case of this.

Though, to be fair, I hoarded a bunch of petri dishes for like eighteen years. And did end up using them in an art project. Listed under materials as vintage petri dishes. Haha

A case of “But I might….” yes, definitely! Despite being armed with determination to sever ties once and for all with a never read book or unused Zippo lighter, most of the time that “spark of nostalgic joy” kicks in demolishing my de-cluttering courage to bits.

Yes, absolutely. I have a lot of books on my shelves, as well as old VHS tapes. Many from when I was a kid. It’s hard to get rid of things you’ve had for so long, even if you don’t use them. Not to mention it took so long to make the collection.

Sometimes if you just like them, but won’t use them, you can take pictures to remember them by. Then pass them onto others or a thrift store.

My parents have that problem. At one point it finally became a curse and my parents are now officially hoarders. Has crippled me through and through.

I’m the total opposite because I’ve developed a counter response to their behavior. I hate cluttered places and they only make me uncomfortable and anxious.
I too hesitate a lot but I buck up and trash my old stuff so that I never get attached to it. I believe in the universe and have faith that in letting go, better things will come my way.