Joy, how sweet. I would have done the same, had I been in charge of that. Unfortunately, my sister was, and she had an estate sale and sold it all or tossed it out.

I also have the same issue with sentimental items. I find I can do okay by deciding what I don't feel as attached to and letting them go one or two items at a time. If I had a purge box of sentimental items to let go, it would be a problem, but slow and steady doesn't cause the same kind of anxiety- though it is slow. Maybe going slowly allows me to feel more thoughtful about the process?

You move out of living memory when the last person who knew and remembered you dies. We are all quickly forgotten as the generations unfold.

Even those with limited means in this country are not waiting to receive our hand me downs. They are, also, awash in excess material goods. Excess household goods are to had for mere pennies, or free, in abundance. That idea of the more well off giving their old used stuff to the poor is an outdated notion that has little validity in our society today. Even some of the third world countries are pleading with us to stop sending them stuff. Even some of them have mountains of it.

So, it still leaves the question of what to do with our excess stuff. Finding that poor family who does not have dishes and forks to eat with is not likely to happen.

Even to help all the people who lose their homes to fire, flood, and other disasters all over this country would not make a dent in the excess stuff that we need to find a place for. Many of them are likely to be replacing their lost stuff with new stuff with money from the insurance company. They don't want the old stuff that people have to give away. Maybe as a temporary measure, but they will eventually get it all settled out and get all new stuff.

Even to provide for those who lost it all and did not have insurance would still not make a dent in the gross excess of consumer items that we have, collectively.

Whether you have given of your material wealth because you had excess to give, or you made extra effort to give, it is noble to do so and I don't wish to demean or to negate the generous act of giving.

Most of us, though, do not hit a needy target when we jettison our unwanted stuff. Most of us hit only the charity shop or the landfill. And, often the charity shop has to have a dumpster on hand to get rid of the useless things that people drop off for them. I have seen the sorting area of the Goodwill with the stuff piled to the ceiling like a garbage heap. The only real value to it is just what someone is willing to pay them for any individual item.

Of course the charity venues do other types of things to help people with the profits from reselling the stuff. But, the fact remains, apart from any of that, that we are awash in excess, unwanted stuff with questionable value.

It gives added meaning to the terms of "get rid of" and "throw it away". That only means that it is leaving our house.

" That idea of the more well off giving their old used stuff to the poor is an outdated notion that has little validity in our society today. "

Um.......NO. It still very valid today, and if you don't think so you're either blind or in denial. "Our society today" is still filled with people who need help, sometimes in very significant ways. It certainly could be you haven't looked around to see the need, but - trust me - it's still there. I see it happening regularly and it fills me with mixed feelings -- sad there's a need, but glad that the community is helping fill it. As you said, maybe only as a temporary measure, but that temporary measure means A LOT. For women who've left an abusive home with nothing but the clothes on their backs, or for new immigrants who arrive with nothing more than a suitcase each, those old, unfashionable pieces of furniture, or worn cooking pots and pans can be emotional life savers.

" Most of us, though, do not hit a needy target when we jettison our unwanted stuff. Most of us hit only the charity shop or the landfill. "

This part is, sadly, often true, and more's the shame of it. People can and should take care when they donate - it really takes very little effort to find appropriate places.

(edited for grammar)

I’m always amazed at what will disappear from the end of my driveway when I put it out (in good weather, with a clear forecast for a day or two) with a “FREE” sign. Everything goes!

Furniture and most household goods for sure, and quickly too for decent stuff. Also things I really wouldn’t think people would want - a large corner fireplace mantel, lumpy crafty ceramic things my kids made (really???!).

There is very little that, over the years, I haven’t been able to give away!

" things I really wouldn’t think people would want "

I had someone take the cracked toilet that was sitting at the curb, waiting for garbage day. I dunno......maybe they were going to make a planter out of it? Is the material recyclable?

Cheryl - that's hilarious!

I once had 12 bags of mulch stacked on my driveway that I hadn't had time to put down. I didn't have a car, but the front of the house was well-kept and there were healthy plants growing. It was obvious someone lived there. I heard a truck stop outside, looked out the window, and saw two men taking my mulch and putting it on their truck. I ran out, asked them what they were doing. They tried to say they didn't think anybody lived there. They put it back, but I got their license plate and called the police. Later, I found out that a neighbor had an expensive garden wagon stolen from in front of her house. She always used it to take her recycling bins out to the curb. They threw the recycling bins out in the street and stole it. The police couldn't get it back, because they had several outbuildings on their property, and they wouldn't allow them to search them. They said it wasn't worth taking out a warrant for it.

Oliviag..........I agree that I don't want to leave a bunch of stuff to have to clean out, either. You are doing your family great service to move it on down the road.

My sister had a similar experience of trying to get rid of something at the curb. Saying it was free did not attach enough value to it. Only after a price was put on it was it "stolen".

Often times hoarders will gather stuff from where people have put it out on the curb.

Just because someone took it does not mean that they needed it. Some people just can't pass on something free or easily taken.

Have you driven around your neighborhood on garbage day? Unbelievable what some people throw away! That is why you get garbage pickers who come around looking for stuff.

There also are junk dealers and people who resell on Ebay.

Last year a neighbor with a complicated story ended up putting out on the curb for the trash almost the entire contents of her former husbands stuff. Some of it was very personal stuff. Some of it was vintage. It was an interesting mix of stuff.

I talked to her and ending up dragging some of that stuff down the street to my front porch where I tried to find someone who wanted it. I posted most of it on Freecycle and people claimed it. I used my truck to haul a load off to the resell shop. He had vintage stuff from the 50's still in original packaging and lots of Harley Davidson stuff. None of it was the type of stuff that there was any real need for. None of it had any real use, as is the case with a lot of what we end up getting rid of.

On Freecycle that are a few names that come up all the time. They want everything! They are likely either hoarders or those who want to resell.

Just because it gets taken does not necessarily mean that it was taken because it was needed. Just because it was taken does not mean that it has any useful purpose, either.

Some people just can't resist free or cheap stuff!

I used to go to yard sales. At times it was very hard to walk away from some of those great bargains. Fabulous stuff was to had for chump change!

I would see some of these young men from Central America who are here working in the trades who would come to the better off neighborhoods and shop these yard sales for great bargains. And, I have seen young mothers who get together to shop at the big church sales for bags of clothes for the kids, for cheap. The excess stuff in America is so cheap that we can all have too much! Having gross amounts of stuff in America is an equal opportunity achievement kind of a thing.

One can set up house quite well with the free flow of cheaply had or free stuff. Or, you can fill your own house with the useless stuff that others have gotten rid of when they have declutterd or downsized. Be truthful about the fact that most of that stuff that is waiting to go out of your house is the type of stuff that serves no real need. That includes old tshirts, crafting kits, wall clocks, and ceramic figurines..to name just a few. What those in need really are in lack of are things like shelter, food, and medicine. Dishes, sweaters, and plastic bowls they already have a lot of .

This is a very interesting read for me as I still struggle with the fact that others don't attach the sentiment to "stuff" that I do..valuable or not. I'm trying to return a bracelet to it's rightful owner at the moment and I wonder if it will end up at a pawn shop...

However, once I do what I can when I get rid of stuff (honestly I don't lose sleep...most goes to the Goodwill with not a second thought), I have no control...so maybe it's a control issue? Or a loss of control issue? (Too much psych 101 for me before coffee...)

I will ALSO say that not every "stranger" has no feelings. I once purchased a pillow cover form a thrift shop. It's hand done petit point. I LOVE that someone took the time and care to craft this item. It must have taken ages! So even though it holds no sentimental value to me, I completely appreciate the workmanship, but especially the care and time (the most valuable thing of all) that was devoted to this.

I'm sure others feel the same way, but finding those people would be a challenge,...and should we care if we find them or not? I don't know.

With respect to this "Just because someone took it does not mean that they needed it." I totally agree, but still better than just trashing stuff. A re-seller is fine, because presumably someone eventually BUYING the item(s) will do so because they see value there. At any rate, there's only so far my responsibility can go; but I do try my best to allow others to use things I don't need or want, AND to avoid the adding more to the landfill

" I'm sure others feel the same way, but finding those people would be a challenge,...and should we care if we find them or not? I don't know. "

I'm a little lost.....finding what people? People who will care for things? Or people who don't?

'A re-seller is fine, because presumably someone eventually BUYING the item(s) will do so because they see value there. "

I agree.....the only thing that I hate to see is people who cut the cords off working items (lamps, appliances, etc) in order to sell the metal, because it then renders the item totally useless to anyone other than someone willing to get it rewired.

Toronto Veterinarian, I was referring to finding people who appreciate the same kinds of things we do. Sorry to have confused you :)

I quite freecycle because the professional resellers hover over the board and grab up everything before people who actually may NEED them can get to them. Plus, I had two circumstances where I took time and gas to drive to get something promised to be held for me only to find that they had given it to someone else. The last time, I had to pay someone to take me down to pick up a large item, and his wife had given it to a friend from work, even though he told her he had someone coming to pick it up. She was SO rude! She screamed at me that "It's my GD stuff, and I'll give it to who the F I want!" He was really upset with her. That left me $20 in the hole, so I just quit.

I also had the same bad experience with freecycle...Too many people "really really need this" then they don't feel like showing up. I guess because it's free...Same with the free section of Craigslist. I got rather annoyed...but it's an easy way to get rid of things...

That woman was very rude, gardener :( I would never treat people like that. I've held stuff until it was convenient...and I would never give something to another (even though I've been offered money if I would pass over the person I promised it to). That's low, imho.

I feel that the Freecycle experience for me has changed somewhat in the last year, or so.

I used to feel very confident that what ever I offered would be spoken for and picked up.

Now, it seems that I am getting less response and more "no shows".

Maybe it is because now what I am trying to get rid of are things that the modern public is not interested in. I am trying to pass on most of my sewing stuff that includes a lot of patterns. No one wants them.

I also offered some Wedgewood china, real Wedgewood. Nobody wanted it. I don't think many people even knew what it was.

I have had mix ups with people picking things us, too.

Once a husband picked up the wrong thing other than what his wife told him to. And, I have had people who don't come and get it and I have emailed them that I am passing it on to the next person when they suddenly show up to get it. Now, I put the name on it when I put it out and try to do only a couple of things at any one time. It can get confusing.

Maybe it is because I have gotten down to getting rid of the more obscure things and the market for them is less so I get fewer takers.

I am amazed at what some will put on Freecycle! Some will give away opened packages of food. I dont' think that would be something I feel comfortable with. I have seen people offer their broken appliances, too. Not many things are repairable in today's world.

It is true, I think, that there are some who are looking for things to resell.

I try to read into a person's request for my offerings and I do make some decisions based on my own private evaluations and judgements. If it is a toss up, I will generally offer it to who made the request first.

One person who has come a couple of times to get things I really feel is a hoarder. He has that anxiety around things, all things. The things that he takes have no theme to them. He just takes anything and everything.

As to the value of the things that we are getting rid of....a friend of mine has tried to liquidate her wedding gifts from decades ago and has found that there is little desire or value to them anymore. They were the standard kinds of things that used to be given as wedding gifts and were never used. Now they have very little value,, if any at all. Certainly they are not the things that anyone needs in life.

It does not matter how many people may have taken possession of an object, it will still find it's way to a landfill. It may pass hands a number of times with each new owner passing it on to another because they did not find a need for it. That is because we are weak willed when we have a dollar to spend and there is a shiny object in front of us that promises to make us prettier, make our morning coffee easier, make poached eggs instantly, and clean our floor while we sleep. Most all of those things end up useless in short order.

Then, there are all the clothes, shoes and plastic items that most of us purchase on a whim.

The time that we as consumers can be held responsible for the object and it's consequences is at the point of purchase. One might posit that the real responsibility rests with the manufacturer that created the object in the first place, and I cannot disagree with that. It is my considered opinion that there needs to be some restraint placed on these manufactures of useless junk and junk foods, as well.

There are a couple of instances where those who produce the product are held to some level of responsibility as to the disposal of the post consumer waste that is created.

I realize the social and political impacts of such restrictions, but I also can easily see the waste and destruction and blatant profiteering that is going on. How many more landfills are we going to establish in the name of useless junk?

I have heard that the Romney family has, in part, made their fortune supplying styrofoam burger boxes to McD's. How many landfills are established in honor of their family fortune? But, they are just a drop in the bucket of post consumer waste.

So much of what we bring in to our homes proves itself to be really useless. So, we look for someone else to try to find use for it. We need to stop doing this and give some serious thought to what we purchase.

" It does not matter how many people may have taken possession of an object, it will still find it's way to a landfill. "

Yes, but at least it will have been used and enjoyed by several, if not many, people by then - decreasing their need to buy more and improving their mental or physical life along the way. And what you think is useless might not be so to someone else - or might not have been so when originally purchased.

There are many things I have bought along the way that have proved useless in time - things that have broken, things that don't fit, things that I simply don't find as useful as I thought they would be.......and so, like dozens of generations past, I try to find other uses for them. And, like in dozens of generations past, I throw something out when that option is exhausted.

All I'm saying is that one does not have to live minimally in order to feel that they aren't wasteful. And one should not be ashamed of enjoying things that have no purpose other than decorative or occasional use. Those uses, too, have been around for centuries.

I think what we really need to stop doing is encouraging the creation of items with planned obsolescence - things that are built with a planned short lifespan and can't be repaired (or only repaired with difficulty). As well, we need better, more easily accessed, recycling operations, with more uses for the recycled products (whether it's turning old socks into furniture stuffing, or turning old tires into road surfaces).

Wednesday morning that was really good food for thought...What would happen if we WERE responsible for our stuff until we died? Probably the economy would tank :) But it's an interesting idea...maybe we need to go back to the pioneer days when things got passed on if they were usable and burnt for fuel or reused for something else if not?

Would paying by the pound for our trash to be picked up be effective in ANY way? (thinking of those who would just dump illegally)...

Many times, the reason that something gets passed on to a line of others is because no one has found it to be useful. So, it gets passed on or donated to someone else to see if maybe they have some use for it.

What we try to do in our modern life with trying to find a purpose, or a use, for something is quite different from having a need, or a purpose,and trying to find something that will fill that need. We have so much excess that we are running backwards with it and working to find or create a need for it.

We are carrying it around and trying to find a place for it. We are buying houses big enough to keep it all in and renting storage spaces to store it. And, why do we do this? We do this because we have all of this stuff that we really dont' need, but we need somewhere to keep it. We don't want to get rid of it it because it is our stuff and we might need it someday. Or, our kids might need it someday. Or, we paid good money for it so it should be worth something, someday. That is the faulty reasoning that we use. The truth is that none of that is true. The reason that you put it in a plastic bin and stacked it the garage with the other plastic bins is because you don't need it, or use it.

The pioneers, the settlers, that legendary depression era generation, and most of past humanity have had to stretch their resources to the thinnest possible degree. The idea that one would have so much excess of useless stuff that you would pride yourself on finding a use for it is the complete opposite of their reality. One might say that it is a quite perverse and distorted reality.

Being taxed, or charged, by the amount of garbage that you put out seems a good idea. until you look at it a little more closely. With our current social climate there will be cries of inequity and it would be a logistical impossibility to regulate, enforce and collect. Caring for common concerns needs to be done on a collective basis. It would also lead to more illegal dumping of garbage.

There is a difference in the garbage that we generate as a result of our lifestyles that encourage excessively packaged disposable living, and the things that we put into the waste stream because they are not used. The flotsam and jettison of everyday disposables and packaging is different from the unused clothing and useless appliance, old soccer balls, and old VCR tapes that we have to get rid of. The one thing that both of these waste streams have in common is that they are both a negative for our environment and for our lives. It fosters a way of life that destroys the earth, requires long hours at our jobs to afford to buy it, and is relentlessly demanding of valuable space in your house.

Who needs it? Probably, no one needs it, really.

Well said...

When we moved here, recycling was an option--not mandatory...I was astounded when I found out.

I'm not the kind of person who does over a room so that it looks like a magazine spread. I have many things that don't "go" with other things, but I keep them because they serve a purpose and I'm fine without perfection. Most here would tear my rooms apart...but that's okay.

I do try and steer posters (some) here toward the used furniture market, but I guess that the majority of those who post here ARE looking for a magazine-spread house.

I very much enjoy the posts where there is a budget of hardly anything. (I guess that means that I'm enjoying at the expense of someone else's difficulties? Oh no :(....)

I also strongly believe that as we age, we feel the need to get rid of stuff...it's like the opposite of "feathering the nest" as we approach possible child bearing years. We need to clean out before we leave. Well....a lot of us do, I think.

At a holiday party the other day I had a conversation with another woman of my same baby boomer age who I know told me last summer that she and hubby were trying to clean out some of the stuff from their house in order to sell it and move at some future date.

She said that they had a basement full of stuff but were having a hard time getting rid of it because no charity resell organization would take it if they had to bring it up out of the basement. Even once they got their young adult son there to help and managed to get a load of it up to fill up the sunroom with it, most charities are telling them that they already have too much.

These folks are fairly affluent, so it is not as if they have a bunch of cheap junk. And, they are clean and don't smoke. or have pets. So it is not as if it is smelling of smoke and is laden with dog and cat funk.

She also said that they made their way to the back of the garage and found plastic bins full of kids toys and clothes. Their kids are mid to late 20's and tell them that they don't want any of that stuff that their parents saved.

They are going to have to pay someone to come and take things away.

She says that she is sure that it could be of use to someone. That is true, But, it is hard to put those two elements together..

I told her to try Freecycle.

Beside us another woman chimed in to talk about how no one wanted her china.

We are saturated with stuff in our country.

When I was required to put all I owned in storage for more than a year, I found out very quickly what mattered and what didn't. When I went through it, what ended up being years later, I kept almost none of it. It was nice to see it all again, but I felt very differently about it after time passed.

Don Case

January 1, 2011 ·

The fire within.

You can not see it, it is just there. It can not be felt, it has to be that other sense,

the one that is always just out of grasp and sits just behind your left ear.

When you stick a big wad of gum on a top it does interesting things, that odd balance dance.

But then, truth is there is no gum nor a top. There are times when the world seems odd.

It is the uneven way things are compiling, organizing, categorizing. The box gets bigger

but it is still slower than the clutter that fills it.

A worry here, a distraction there, another new interest, what was the last one?

Oh the list of responsibilities, they pile up till the box has no corners or edges.

The world as we know it is changing before our eyes.

Then reality comes right up and slaps you in the face.

Breath.......now breath again, life is what you make it. The air we take in is what

sustains it, the fuel that feeds the fire. Breathing is inspiration and release as is

our thought, our work, our love, life itself.

What is your thought, the one you hold dear but never express? What is your work,

the secret one that drives you? What is your love, the essence of your desire? These are

your life and motivation. Live them to the fullest for the clutter is not life but just

things and stuff. Start a new year with a new breath of life and a fire un-quenched.

Happy New Year!

Thank you for giving such poetic voice to this subject! What a gem!

I told my husband yesterday that I feel so uninspired, unmoved, unmotivated, and downright disgusted by the things that we are offered for consumption in our modern life. Everything from the clothes in the store, the food in the grocery and the offerings of Netflix.

The clothes are all made of spun plastic. The grocery store has aisles full of flavored vitamin water, and the offerings on Netflix all are a variation of "Idiocracy", except that it is for real! Even the flavored vitamin water is straight out of "Idiocracy".

As a society we have lowered out expectations and sold our life, our souls and our planet for the cheap, gaudy, and plenty of it. Now, we are drowning in it! Circling the drain in a flood of mediocrity and our own post consumer waste!! I had hopes that we would be more progressive than this. I had hoped that we were on a positive path towards betterment of humanity, until we hit this brick wall about two years ago! Now I wake up in the morning with the realization that we are explosively polarized in our society and just the right leverage in one place will cause us to explode and fragment.

Now, I fear for my grandchildren.

So, what has all of this got to do with decluttering? The simple answer is that the fact that we have invested our lives in so much meaningless consumption has allowed us to be blind to where it was leading us. And, if we did not consume such mass quantities of shiny objects our economy would suffer.

All of our mindless consumption blinds us to the reality that almost all of our choices in life are dictated by the 1% ,the obscenely wealthy. They own our mortgages, they control every aspect of our health care and they dictate the junk food that is served to our children in their schools, and they also run our prisons...all for their profit.

These folks at the head of these large corporations receive millions of dollars in bonuses, even when the company goes under. This was true of Borders Books, ToysRUs and it will be true of Sears when it folds and the CEO of CVS has received an unspeakably obscene amount of money as he retires. How can any one person get up in the morning and do anything that is that valuable enough to warrant that? After you have enough money to have anything in life that any person could ever want, ever in human history,,,,,what to gain by having even more? How there be anymore?

That is where your overflowing closet of useless clothes and junk comes into play. It it through these millions of overflowing closets and basements and storage units that these people have achieved this level of obscene wealth and power. By filling your house with useless items and consuming mass quantities of fast food and junk food and vitamin water and clothes made from spun plastic, you have filled their coffers with gold.

They don't worry about decluttering. But, it benefits them when you do because many of you are just going to fill that space right back up.

" Now, I fear for my grandchildren. "

Seriously? About this? Wow, I think your priorities are really messed up......either that, or you are living with blinkers on. Consumer items are such a small, small part of what's going to endanger this planet (and your grandchildren's future) it's almost comical. Just my opinion, of course, but since you're sharing your opinion, I feel justified in sharing mine. (By the way, clothes made from spun plastic are great! Post recycled, can easily be recycled, and last a long, long time before needing to be recycled.)

"Consumer items are such a small, small part of what's going to endanger this planet (and your grandchildren's future) it's almost comical. Just my opinion, of course, but since you're sharing your opinion, I feel justified in sharing mine."

On what do you base your opinion, Toronto Veterinarian? I'm curious to know what you think is playing the biggest part in endangering our planet. I would never have thought that our consumer items would be on the comically small scale.

I, too fear for the future.. :(

I had four wonderful children. None of them want children of their own. I don't know if they're disgusted by the mess the world is in, or if they're worried about a non-future or what. Frankly I don't know whether to be sad or glad of their decision.

What we do, matters. Decluttering does, I hope, mean recycling whatever you need to get rid of, but it doesn't mean we'll be replacing.

I love my grand babies and fear for them in a world that is increasingly unstable.

In the past instability was localized. Now, it is the whole world will shake when things happen.

It sure looked like we were on a progressive path and heading into the future with some hope. Now, it looks like we are spiraling towards mass dysfunction while we are distracted by the promises of the marketplace. As long as the masses can continue to consume mass quantities of junk they fail to see that the world is crumbling around them on a global scale. What would really get their attention is an abrupt stop in that pipeline of junk.

That is the opiate that many live for now days. It deadens them and lulls them into complacency.

And, there is nothing comic about it.

Decluttering....once you have emptied your personal space of junk you may wonder just why you had it in the first place. That empty space does not have to be filled up.

" Now, it looks like we are spiraling towards mass dysfunction while we are distracted by the promises of the marketplace. "

Are people really distracted so that they don't see the mass dysfunction? I don't think so at all. In fact, I see a lot more signs of hope, of people becoming more aware and speaking up, of people trying to make their voices heard. I see a lot of strongmen and dictators trying to stop all that, but there have been autocrats and strongmen and dictators for centuries, that's nothing new. What is new is the change in communication (brought about by those mega-corps) that allows people to discuss things, support each other, and become aware of the world beyond their limited borders.

The thing that will get us all, in my opinion, isn't about dysfunction or opiated masses, it's about the changing climate and its affects on our geography (and, hence, our health and economy), but that's a runaway train that can't be stopped, I think.

I found out about this tidying up book from my wife. She was watching a netflix show about Marie Kondo, a Japanese lady who goes to peoples houses and helps them tidy up. I was kind of skeptical until I read some testimonials on different blogs and decided to give the book a try. It has honestly made tidying up really easy. It goes by categories, so first it's clothes, then books, and sentimental items are last. I was also worried about getting rid of sentimental things, especially after my grandpa passed away. But by the time I had decluttered everything else, like clothes and books, there was plenty of room for sentimental and keepsake items.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1607747308/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1607747308&linkCode=as2&tag=kaizenblog626-20&linkId=2852e15439ec0308ca18628dc7f02349

As I wrote above years ago I am starting a new life this year. My better half of 35 ears died in August a result of unexpected cancer and an operation that put her in ICU for four weeks. The house she lived in for 55 years is now in trust and being made ready to sell. I am letting go of most o my stuff to fit into a motor home where i will live the remainder of my days traveling around the country seeing friends and relatives. Think about how much that would mean you have to eliminate.

My sister made a comment yesterday that made me think about this thread - it's not about decluttering but it is about making choices of what to keep and what not to keep. She left an incredibly cluttered place full of useless things they felt they should keep, and once in their new place, she relished the sparse, almost minimalist feel. Now she's returned to getting curio cabinets and shelves for all sorts of stuff again, but she's doing it for the right reason: She says she misses looking at her things. I think that's the right reason to have stuff, whether it's a set of vintage marbles or a model car.......enjoying it, even if it's just enjoying looking at it.

<i>I quit freecycle because the professional resellers hover over the board and grab up everything before people who actually may NEED them can get to them. </i>

I've always felt that this wouldn't bother me. If someone is going to "harvest the sea" of stuff the way fishermen harvest fish from the waters, more power to them.

All I want is for it to be gone--Freecycle isn't supposed to be a charity.

And there's work involved in taking the stuff I don't want and finding a way to sell it to the people who need or want it, and that's work that I don't want to do. Those people deserve a profit for their labor.

I approve of the Freecycles who say no reasons are allowed to be given. You don't want it; someone else does.

Now if I felt that I was wasting too much time, I wouldn't bother.

We have a Habitat for Humanity ReStore near me, and they take almost all furniture. I've seen stuff that's dinged up a bit, but priced really low. And believe me, it moves! The best is that they aren't trying to make a profit--they just are trying to move stuff. So if you have almost nothing, you can get a big sturdy dining table from them for $25 or $80, as long as you're OK w/ it being obviously used.

But as far as objecting to resellers...well, they're doing what they do, however, I object to them because they're taking away from someone who might honestly need. That's low as far as I'm concerned.

I have noticed a lessening of listings on Freecycle lately. I listed an item a couple of weeks ago and when I went back to the site to list another, my listing for the first item was still upfront. There have been so few listings after it that it was still in the queue. It could be because the cold weather has set in. I don't know.

I have been reading articles about how, with the Tidying series running on Netflix, the consignment and resell venues have been swamped by people who are anxious to make changes in the level of clutter and unwanted stuff. This could possibly be journalistic hype, or be completely and absolutely true.

We have just so darned much excess stuff!!!!!!

I guess I really don't care what someone who replies to my offerings on freecycle has in mind for them. But, I do prefer to give it to someone that I don't suspect is looking for resell.

There is one person that I have nicknamed "the hoarder". He replies to the most diverse of things and takes everything. I don't think that he is reselling. I have done a little cyber sleuthing on him and have reason to think that he is, indeed, a hoarder. He replied recently to a listing I had made and I replied with acceptance. I know that he did not really have a use these things, but I just wanted them gone and he offered to take both things, and he did. He and his significant other seem like they may be interesting and diverse people, but I recognized him as a hoarder the first time I met him.

Anyway, I perceive a difference in the level of use of Freecycle.

The depth of the comments in this conversation is inspiring. Many thanks to those of you who posted such insightful remarks.

That's a great way to tackle clutter yet still hold onto sentimental items. I've been doing a digital declutter and my biggest challenge is deleting photos. On my smartphone alone, I've accumulated a ridiculous amount of photos and some are hard to get rid of. My current solution is to pop them on a hard drive so at least they're still kept somewhere, but I see that as only a temporary solution. It's like taking some books off a shelf and then placing them in a box stored in the attic.

Hey guys, has anyone been watching "Tidying up with Marie Kondo" here? I feel that she'll all help us declutter!

Hi Pearl, I have watched a couple of episodes....Some of the things she does is beyond my comprehension, such as thanking my house and my stuff...

I do actually like the suggestion of really asking yourself if something makes you happy enough to keep. Sounds like a no-brainer, but it's not something I've ever done before...I always went by whether I've used/worn it in the past year.

However, I've discovered that not much of my "stuff" makes me very happy. So I'm either buying the wrong stuff, or I find joy in things that are not tangible.

I love it that she thanks the house and the objects to be given away. One big difficulty in getting rid of stuff is guilt. Guilt over not having used it, guilt at giving away a gift from somebody kind and thoughtful, guilt over spending so much money … saying thanks acknowledges that you wish to do well by passing the item on, something like that, don't you think?

Yes, bleusblue2. I like the concept as well for that reason. Also, I read that the practice is rooted in the Shinto religion. Regardless, I find that little step makes me more mindful about my belongings and more grateful for what I do have rather than wishing for something different.

Something I've finally overcome is paralyzing guilt over donating and giving away extraneous stuff. It's taken years to let go of things that mean little to me now: unwanted but rather expensive gifts, family "heirlooms," projects begun and left undone, complicated hobbies that really don't move me forward in life, broken things I have no desire to fix, books just to fill shelves, past overspending on unnecessary things that have weighed me and my home down, etc. It's so freeing. I'm very thankful that this is no longer a stumbling block for me, I can focus on the people who matter most to me. : )

I can almost feel your "freeness". I understand that.

It is amazing the appreciation that you can apply to a few things, in contrast to the overwhelming slavishness to excess junk.