I WAS married to a packrat.

After he moved out, found soooo much stuff he has stashed away in the attic :o( and I had to get rid of it myself.

Cans among cans among cans all washed with the labels completely gone. Why?

Glenda-My DH has a "thing" about cans! LOL every time I open something,especially the bigger ones,he says,"Wash that out and keep it!" I do then later throw it away and he never misses it.LOL We just went through a closet in the spare bedroom and threw away so much stuff it was unbelievable.Need to do a lot more.I have decided that none of the "keepsake" stuff is of interest to any of my kids so I'm throwing it away!

I know the feeling--we've tossed so much trash, sold hundreds of dollars worth of little items at a yard sale, and it STILL doesn't look as if we've touched this house. Can't wait to start moving stuff out, so I have room to turn around and really get some cleaning, painting, etc. done here.

Hi there Packrat Mike. It's good to see you! Are you cleaning closets or attics and basements, or all of the above?
Linda

That's so true for me as well. We had a garage sale last month, sold over $300. worth of misc., I took 3 carloads of leftovers to charitable thrift stores, just listed about 7 larger items on Craigslist and a few things went back into the basement.

I pretty much quit going to garage sales (which I used to love doing) just because I already have way too much stuff!

We've been giving away via Craig's List and Freecycle too ... but still have tons of stuff. I just put together two LARGE boxes of books that I've read since the first of the year, I'm off next week so hopefully will get much more sorted out.

I'm getting the urge to purge, just reading this. I always feel like I have too much stuff. I hate to give it all away, it's good stuff, wish I could get better prices for it than yard sale prices. I guess I'll look at our nearest Craigslist.

Like Flamey, I have the urge to purge too. LOL Somehow stuff keeps ending up in my attic. I have 62 year old wicker bassinette upstairs that was my brother's when he was a baby. His daughter is pregnant and due in September so I was thinking of making sure the thing is safe, get it reinforced on the bottom and legs if need be and give it to his daughter to use. That would give me a lot of extra space in the attic.

I live in the house I grew up in with my siblings so there are still things around here that belong to them and I have sorted things into boxes for them to take home if ever they come here. My basement laundry room still has metal cupboards filled with my Mom's silver service pieces and other things but I won't go near the cupboard since the basement sewers flooded. It is up on blocks but still. There is another metal cupboard with stuff in it too and under my Dad's workbench all kinds of metal things and the chains from my backyard and basement swings from when I was a kid. Whenever I get any extra cash I am going to call You Got Junk and have them clear everything out of my basement except for my laundry and bamboo table and chairs. In a big drum are my sister's Royal Doulton Place settings from when she was engaged to be married almost 50 years ago. She won't let me use it and it is just taking up space so I told her if she wants it to take it to her house or I am going to use it or sell it on ebay. LOL

I have never been to Craigs List and if I had a computer (I may be getting a used Mac this week from my SIL's school) I will start using ebay to sell some things.

I still have that extra bedroom to clean out and the wheelchair to sell. I open that door and shut it as quickly as I open it. If I start decluttering in that room it means that the stuff will have to first be moved out to the living room and then most of it brought upstairs or sold at a yard sale. All of my sewing and craft supplies I will keep.

I am getting tired of clutter - even the dog and cats have too many toys. LOL

Anne

If I want to read a book that isn't out in paperback and my library doesn't have it, I buy it on Amazon, read it and then donate it to the library.