Declutter or hang on to just in case?

I am at that 'aarrggghh have too much stuff' stage again (actually, probably never really left it!) and feel like going through the house with a bin bag and getting rid of everything that is not loved or used.

I don't want a sterile house, but I do want one where it is not noisy with chaos and things. I want a house easy to keep tidy, which with 2 under 3 home pretty much full time is a near impossible task. And then it comes to the declutter itself.

Do I ebay? Not had much success on there in the past with clothes etc. Doesn't seem worth spending ages putting it all up to gain less that £1 for it. But to send so much to the charity shops which don't really want it seems like a waste too. I make the bags of stuff to send to the dump or the charity shop, but they never seem to make it. So much easier to put the bags out of the front of the house where the bin men will take them on Monday morning. So, decluttering mission complete. Green conscience pricked.

But then when I think about the effort that is involved in making the decluttering as green as possible, it makes me not want to even start because I will get as far as bin bags sitting in the house. And in our house, there is nowhere to hide them.

Then there is the issue that I perhaps struggle most with. Getting rid of something that objectively, I don't love. Or isn't loved. But that someone I love has spent time and money on. I have a lot of things in my house bought by my mum in particular that I can't bear to part with because she was spent her very hard earnt and hard saved pennies on me. To throw it away seems to mean to me that I am throwing away her money. And that makes me feel so guilty.

So anyway, perhaps tomorrow (always tomorrow!) I will begin with a bin liner. One room at a time.

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