Page 4 of 8 FirstFirst ... 23456 ... LastLast
Results 31 to 40 of 75

Thread: Nothing like cleaning out a hoarder's house to motivate

  1. #31
    Senior Member razz's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    8,169
    AS someone else mentioned, I am having another look at all my baking dishes as one example. I have been here 3 1/2 years and have used just a couple of favourites. I should dispose of the rest and rearrange my cupboards. Good process to go though in layers of effort culling a little more each time.
    As Cicero said, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.”

  2. #32
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    beyond the pale
    Posts
    2,738
    Quote Originally Posted by happystuff View Post
    Reading these stories, dealing with stuff from a family member who died, and listening to friends who have had to clean out houses has been enough to motivate me the last couple of years. Reading threads like these rejuvenates my decluttering in those times when I seem to "slack off". I know it is somewhat selfish, but I don't want the "cleaning out of stuff" to be the last thing people remember about me. Congrats to all the progress everyone is making/has made.
    Was thinking about this after I visited an older friend who has now been officially diagnosed with dementia. She's single, in her late 70s, and has a house and garage full of items. She's not a hoarder but has never really decluttered either, meaning there's plenty of dishware, books, tools, etc. that all need to be reviewed and processed by her 3 adult children, only one of whom lives nearby. She's not planning to move just yet but I think she knows some kind of senior community living is in her near future.

    My point: it's never too early to do what's being called the Swedish Death Cleaning. Unfortunately in my friend's current mental state she'll now be too agitated and distressed to make the many decisions on her artwork and household objects, so things she may have wanted to set aside for certain family or friends will now end up wherever her heirs decide. She's lost that right, after a lifetime of accumulation of nicer things.

  3. #33
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Posts
    3,737
    Just had this discussion with a friend over lunch. He is another parent whose grown kids have told them they want none of the parent's, grandparent's or great-grandparent's things. Life has changed around us. It has been decades of discussing what would happen if consumers stopped consuming.

  4. #34
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    SoCal
    Posts
    9,656
    Of course what if one plans to probably have some stranger discover one's rotted corpse someday anyway, and not really be missed by anyone at that point anyway (everyone else one really knew in the world having long since passed on perhaps). Or else to die forgotten and with alzheimers in some nursing home.

    See I don't think us people without kids really care one iota if we leave behind a hoard are not (there might be other reasons not to be a hoard of course, but who the heck finds our body is definitely NOT one of them - and hey maybe they will even like some of our cool stuff we accumulated over the years after we have long departed - I do often think about if someone will like my stuff after I die - so not motivating to declutter at all really).
    Trees don't grow on money

  5. #35
    Senior Member rosarugosa's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Eastern Massachusetts
    Posts
    8,143
    ANM: Yes, when I declutter it is really for our own benefit, to keep our little house comfortable and uncluttered.

  6. #36
    Senior Member Teacher Terry's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Nevada
    Posts
    12,889
    I do it too to keep our home from getting cluttered. It feels better to have less.

  7. #37
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Posts
    6,253
    I agree it feels better to have less. Unfortunately I live with one or two individuals who haven't reached the same conclusion... at least not at this point in time. Now that things have been decluttered to a good degree, it's reach the stage of "yours" and "mine" and how much should one person be allowed to keep in a joint household.

    Anyone else in a situation where you declutter and want less but the spouse/partner/other household member(s) do not?
    To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer." Mahatma Gandhi
    Be nice whenever possible. It's always possible. HH Dalai Lama
    In a world where you can be anything - be kind. Unknown

  8. #38
    Low Tech grunt iris lily's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Posts
    4,942
    Quote Originally Posted by happystuff View Post
    I agree it feels better to have less. Unfortunately I live with one or two individuals who haven't reached the same conclusion... at least not at this point in time. Now that things have been decluttered to a good degree, it's reach the stage of "yours" and "mine" and how much should one person be allowed to keep in a joint household.

    Anyone else in a situation where you declutter and want less but the spouse/partner/other household member(s) do not?
    Yes, all of my married life.

  9. #39
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2016
    Posts
    7,451
    Quote Originally Posted by happystuff View Post
    I agree it feels better to have less. Unfortunately I live with one or two individuals who haven't reached the same conclusion... at least not at this point in time. Now that things have been decluttered to a good degree, it's reach the stage of "yours" and "mine" and how much should one person be allowed to keep in a joint household.

    Anyone else in a situation where you declutter and want less but the spouse/partner/other household member(s) do not?
    Oh God, yes.

  10. #40
    Low Tech grunt iris lily's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Posts
    4,942
    To be fair, my own junk is endlessly fascinating to me, but DH’s junk is just junk. He fills basement and garage and tiny houses with it. Yet he comes up with stuff when we need it. He was saving a bed frame in the garage because it was useful as something something anvil or angle something something.

    Now we need another bed frame and will use it as a bed frame.

    I do not know what DH will do with the five toilets sitting in one of our tiny houses that now has to be cleaned out so we can sell it. Not my circus, not my monkies/toilets.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •