SPRING-Clean Declutter - Need Help

Hi @Former-Member and everyone... I'm going OK - haven't accumulated much lately. My problem is I can't say no when someone says I've got a such and such do you want it? So of course I say yes. At least it all goes into the garage and not the house. I've got rid of a few things lately so the house isn't looking too bad. I'm still on track to have the fireplace clear by winter so I can use it again.

Sorry for what happened to you @Adge - people need to be so clear in their wills about who gets what. Six months before my Mum died my sister got in her ear and had her change her will to give her almost everything because she cried poor. All her problems in life are her own doing and she has always lived an extravagant lifestyle beyond her means and relied on others to help her out. She got in first after she died and took everything of value and me and my daughters ended up with nothing even though she knew there was jewellery that Mum wanted my girls to have. By the time I got into the house all the step children and hangers-on had been through it as well and all I got was a mess to clean up. What really devastated me was my possessions included my artworks and childhood stuff had been thrown out just to be spiteful. I could have gone to lawyers and disputed the will as the previous will was completely different but it would have cost a fortune and it wasn't about the money more that me and my girls got nothing after Mum had promised them things while she was still alive. The same jewellery has now probably been flogged off at the local cash converters. I've now completely removed a lot of people from my life after that and I realise I'm better off without them. OK sorry about the rant, everyone have a good night.

I'm so sorry to hear that @Former-Member That's really not fair, particularly when your daughters were promised things that had sentimental value.

Yes it's a bit like that for me. I received nothing from the house, even though it was cluttered full of 40 years worth of stuff.

So the money promised was Dad's positive legacy (or gift). Now we're not getting that either.

Adge

Hey peoples...I'm back.

My week at my parents' house was one of the better ones so far. I've mentioned how we've been trying to insist that Mum finds something for us to take away from her aged care room whenever we bring something in. I took in some patchwork fabrics that she's been wanting for ages, which I eventually came across during sorting out, and she willingly sorted through her fabrics stash and gave me some that she'd decided she wasn't going to use. She also passed some on to a friend who was visiting at the time. Said friend is wanting the fabric to make pillowcases for newly arrived grandkids, so those bits will go to very good use.

I'm still feeling really overwhelmed by the amount of stuff in the house, but am maybe starting to see a bit of progress. A cousin of mine who plays "taxi" for me while I'm there was commenting that she could see a difference, so that's a bit encouraging.

I spent most of this trip focusing on a couple of large cupboards in the hallway, and have tossed out a lot of recipes Mum had saved from magazines, and some of her stash of jars saved for jam making. Have kept a biggish boxful of the nicer ones because I'm a keen jam maker myself, but some of those may still end up in the recycling bin. Have also sorted out the full bottles of jam and relish, and we won't need to make or buy plum and raspberry jam for a few years, or orange marmelade, or tomato relish... Those as such I don't mind, because they keep for ages, and I could use some of it up in recipes. Poached orange chicken or pork sounds like a plan.

A lot of the recipe books from the cupboard won't be kept, but I want to give my sister a chance to glance over them before they go. We both want to keep hold of some old and very tattered books that have been in the family for ages, and would date back to early-mid 1900s.

Mum had a huge stockpile of facewashers, handtowels and teatowels, so I'm leaving some in the kitchen drawer and towel cupboard to use while I'm there, and the rest are getting boxed up. Some will go into the garage sale stack, some I'll keep to use myself.

I've brought a smallish suitcase full of stuff back with me. Mostly household breakables and bits of fabric that I'd like to use. Now my challenge at this end is to see if I can find an equivalent amount here that's either rubbish. or would be better passed or sold on to someone else. Bigger challenge will be doing likewise to the equivalent of the small truckload we want to bring back here in a couple of months...???

My mr is bringing boxes full of stuff out of a storage unit we have got here for sorting, using, or passing on. We have had enough rows about being flooded with stuff to sort across the last few years that he now knows better than to bring it al, out at once and land it in a big pile inside the front door or the lounge room .....

One box at a time I can manage .....

Well done @Smc. My Dad is trying to work on his horde, I am pleased to say.

Hmmmm.... I know in my experience this is a real problem. And a bit of a circular one too. Overwhelmed mind = hard to see the next step.

Thanks very much for that link @Former-Member (no I still don't know how to do links myself)...

I'm looking at it, to see if there's a chance.

Adge

Buy a rat trap @Former-Member .... and bait it with peanuts ..... you know it likes them .....

And your house ? If a new buyer loves it, having it full of your stuff won’t put them off making an offer cos all your stuff won’t be staying, and they will be able to see all their own stuff in there in their mind’s eye ..... try not to stress ..... the right buyers haven’t come along yet.

💜

And good for you with the 4 x charity bags, and calling in the aunt to help you with your Mum’s room .....

Youre running rings around most of us here ..... you go girl ❣️