My local RiteAid has an old mailbox in the pharmacy where you can discard unused or out of date drugs too.
You guys make me feel better. I am a hoarder. I’m just a hoarder who has no problem getting rid of things. At one point I got rid of 8,000 + items in one year, no that is not a typo.
New wins! Hint: remember where you put extras. Not only did I find a box of extra bathroom supplies in the kitchen “storage area”, but DH ran out of insulation for the wall he was building. I asked him if he’d used what we put in the basement? He managed to do what he needed to do right now from what was in the basement. YAY! Less stored stuff, no more money spent, more tidyness!
I now have things for my cousin, a customer, and my BFF to mail on Monday. Two mailers, a manila envelope, 5 books, 3 magazines, 3 address labels, and a card outta here!
Today I have: vac’d the office, rearranged the stored paint into 2 instead of 3 containers, cleaned the hearth and dusted the woodstove/pipe, pulled the lost laundry from behind the machines, & vac’d part of the workshop. I also helped DH load the dishwasher, neither of us wanted to do it last night. It’s been run now and the dishes are steaming dry with the door propped open.
That’s enough to feel good about things, I think? It’s 10:02 a.m.!
Can we talk about guilt regarding getting rid of things that others told you never to get rid of?
Cleaning out our basement storage, I found a Rubbermaid bin full of stuff that belonged to my grandmother. Just weird tchotchkes, personalized stuff with her name on it, a few crafts she made that I don’t find personally meaningful and are absolutely not my style.
I do not need these things but my mother (whom I am not even in contact with any more) instructed me to never get rid of “because that is disrespecting your grandmother’s memory.”
I don’t believe that I am. These are just things. But I am finding it surprisingly hard to shed the guilt over this. I apparently have moved this stuff at least twice and never even opened the bin.
I have a possible solution? Take a picture of it. Then, if/when your Mom asks, you have the strand to remind you of Grandmother, but you don’t have to store the “stuff.” If Mom isn’t part of the equation, then you haven’t paid to store things which mean a lot to her and not you.
Alternately? Send them to your Mom. I have a sister who has my dad’s baby pics up in her guest room, etc. Her house only needs red velvet ropes to be a museum to our Dad/his family. I care, but not like that. We do not talk, but I send her family photos, etc. when the alternative is that I’m just going to throw them out. So, an oil painting of Grandpa, a piece we jointly bought Dad from a local artist, various photos and tchotchkes from my childhood home all get funneled her way.
My mom and I are estranged - and she is a hoarder so even if we were in contact, I wouldn’t feel good about adding to the contents of her house.
And, she wouldn’t accept a photo in lieu of the actual item, because my grandmother did not touch the photo with her actual hands, therefore it does not have her energy. I do take pix of some things for myself anyway though.
Sentimental clutter is tough. I do not think you have an obligation to keep other people’s things. If they have passed away, they don’t know you have it. If they are living and gave it to you- consider, is it because they did not want it anymore? So why should you?
If you have no personal connection to it, it doesn’t “bring you joy”, I feel like there is some obligation to try to find a family member who might want it (here you’ve said your mother is not an appropriate recipient), after that, just get rid of it.
It’s easier said than done, but I’ve managed this with a few “heirlooms” to get them out of my house.
(Also- I avoid the ‘take a picture’ approach. Digital clutter is super stressful to me.)
I get that. Sorry it wasn’t a useful suggestion. My sister is a hoarder, who’s a collector, in that she’s a Martha Stewart clone, super-perfect house with lots of stuff.
I have a hat from my grandmother’s estate up in my closet. I was able to get rid of the various loungewear that I was given (because it was so obviously handing it over because my mom couldn’t cope with getting rid of it herself). But for some reason the hat is difficult for me.
Oh, and there is probably still a box of stuff from my other grandmother. Serving dishes and other glassware. I will ignore that for another few months.
I get that. Some things, I DO want. I sit at my grandmother’s vintage desk every day when I am working from home! But I don’t think I need to keep EVERYTHING of hers to show her respect.
The too-small dress had an oil stain I couldn’t get out. It sat on top of the washer, crumpled in a box with other stuff which needed to be dealt with. When DH or I brought in a rag with some wet caulk on it, it got put on top of the dress. That made it pretty easy. I cut the dress up for polishing rags.
I figured out why we were suddenly out of rags – they’d fallen behind the dryer! I retrieved them this morning and they’re in the dryer, again and will be put back into circulation. For someone who uses cloth to wash dishes, dry dishes, clean counters, etc. suddenly being almost out was a mystery!
Got rid of a big photo album yesterday, put it in the Little Free Library.
Also tossed out some user manuals for stuff we either don’t own, or does not need a user manual (like our raised bed that we will not be taking with us, obvs.)
Today I threw out some nasty smelling skin cream, and also a shirt that I never wear that had pit stains anyway.
And I found a taker for my circa 2006 map of the Paris public transport system - apparently some guy is taking it as a gift for his wife who likes to frame and hang maps on their walls? OK then!
Also, a crafter friend says he can use some of my small gridwall displays so I’ll be getting those to him this weekend.
