Limbo --- no the dance!

[mattl]

I found I have a number of locations in my house I'd classify as "limbo".  Filled with stuff I didn't want to toss, but really had no use for.  The county is changing out our water meters to the type the energy companies use, send readings via radio, and contacted me last year, my meter is far far back in a basement closet so I ignored it, they were pretty insistent this year as there are only a handful of homes in the county left to convert.  I reluctantly agreed.

 

Spent a few hours pulling out a massive amount of stuff, perhaps you'd call it junk in a jam packed basement closet to get to the meter.  Found stuff I had not thought about for 10 years or more.  I recognized all of it, but am of the mind that if I haven't touched it in all this time I really don't need it.  But there is a lot of old outdated paint that is near impossible to get rid of anymore, a large collection of towels and assorted rags the might come in handy, coffee pots, lights, toasters, old radios, a miniature TV and an assortment of "collector" coffee cans my mom saved.  Definitely a blast from the past.  Hauled a bit out as today was trash day, but looking around I have basically a house full of stuff like that, I could spend months or years going through everything, my attic has boxes that were never unpacked when we moved in here 52 years ago!

 

I'd bet there are those here who have not moved in years that have similar situations.  I'm going to have to be ruthless and toss much more, but many things have memories attached, so once it's gone odds are the memory associated with it will be too....

 

[combo52]

Cleaning out Unused stuff

Hi Matt, like most of us in our age range I've been trying to get rid of stuff for years.

I try whenever possible to recycle stuff rather than throwing it in the trash or of course give it to someone donated etc. so that might have another life.

Most stuff can be recycled or possibly giving away to charity etc.

52. John L.

 

[foraloysius]

I've cleaned out some closets and the attic. I donated a lot of stuff to a thriftstore. I found a bunch of old towels in the attic. It appeared the local animal shelter never has enough towels, so there they went.

 

[wayupnorth]

My problem is I keep trying and then I find even more. I moved all my stuff, parents stuff plus had all the stuff already here since 1959 sorted and filled the attic in my garage. Even though I have given and sold a lot away, there is way more left to go thru and I am getting to the point I am sick of messing with it anymore. Wished I could get someone to offer me a reasonable price for everything and get it out of here.

 

[jeb]

Cleaning out unused stuff

Recently my father passed away and we moved my mother into assisted living. One of the hardest things to do was clean out their house. Not because there were there memories but a much bigger fact was NO BODY wanted it(and we were giving it away free) ! She had a very nice dinning room set that we eventually broke up because no one would take the whole set. I helped deliver the china cab. and almost cried to see it in the filth apt. it ended up in. No body wanted the china, the brick a brac, the books, the side tables ect.. and it was very nice furniture. We ended up taking truck loads to goodwill just to get it out by the time we had to give up the house. I've decided I'm going to enjoy my stuff for a few more years then get rid of it and live a very minnimulist life so no one has to go through that with my stuff.

 

[ea56]

Both David and I have LOTS of accumulated stuff after 36 years together. Periodically we will go through things and decide if we are really ever going to need/use the things again. If not, we give it to charity or someone that we know wants or needs it.. Let somebody else enjoy it. The money has already been spent and in most cases you never get what you think its worth if you try to sell it and you spend alot of valuable time trying to sell the stuff, time we'll never get back! So we both agree, if we don't know anyone who wants the things, giving to charity is a win/win. Hopefully someone that really needs or loves the item gets it at a fair price, work is provided for the people that work at the thrift store and revenue is generated to help the needy, all good in our eyes.

And there is something cathartic about letting go of excess possessions. You get much needed free storage space, and somehow I feel like a burdon is lifted when I let go of stuff I no longer need. I almost never regret giving something away, unless I latter see that it has been neglected.
Eddie

 

[turquoisedude]

I am doomed....  I have LOTS of things that I realized I haven't used for ages when I redid the garage loft area last fall.  Of course since then, a number of items seem to have vanished into limbo in the new arrangement and I am very, very ticked off about it.  

 

The very sad thing is that when I go, the local scrap dealer is going to be busy.  I have no family who I would want to leave anything to - my goal for this winter is to approach a museum or three to see if they may want some appliances when I finally go.  

 

[yogitunes]

since my mother has taken ill back in 2015, came to realization, that the inevitable will happen one day, and what to do with all this stuff....there were steemer trunks that have never been opened, and the stuff inside was never used or in fact, missed, so why keep it?

I have two sisters helping out, well, sort of......

one sister is on track with me, going through all the closets and such, cleaning out, deciding what is worth keeping, and what to toss.....and out it goes....if theres something she wants, she takes it....one room at a time, once and done...

and then theres the other sister, who is beyond a hoarder in her own home, to the fact, that she is spilling over into mine......everything that we are tossing, she wants, and will pull it out of the trash and bring it back in, she wants it, but does not want to take it with her......

I find myself having to take it to the dump immediately before she sees it....

the stuff she does want, will sit here for weeks and months....but heaven forbid I finally toss it, and then all hell breaks loose.....

this is just the tip of the iceberg, trust me, you have not met anyone like her!.....

 

[vacerator]

Our son's old room

was a hoard of his stuff. All gone, he moved out 2 weeks ago. I've already stripped off the Red Wings wall paper and border I did when he was 6 or 7. I'm painting it a nice shade of medium light blue for the office. Thankfully he wasn't too hard on the oak wood floor and it doesn't need refinishing again.

 

[petek]

There was an article in the Toronto Star a few weekends ago, off the AP so it was probably in other US and Canada papers as well.  Anyways, it was all about the stuff we and more specifically our parents had and the fact they're dying or moving into care homes , so what to do with it all. Because as it seems, it was with me and my sister, most people now a days don't want mom or grandma's china , silverware, hope chests, furniture etc. My sister took moms curio cabinet, my niece took a little, I took the one Royal Doulton (Jester) that I had bought for her back in the early 70's. Then we had Habitat for Humanity come in and take the rest of the furniture and appliances, some of dads tools.  What was left, all the everyday kitchenware, glasses, plates, knives forks etc and assorted bric a brac, shelves etc in bedrooms,  I called 1 800 Junk and within an hour the house was empty.. It was awful watching them go in the kitchen and pull everything out of the drawers and cupboards and smash it all into big Rubbermaid garbage cans, so I went down the road for a coffee and came back later.. What a relief it was to walk in that house and see it empty. Felt like the weight of the world had been lifted.