I am a very sentimental person, there’s no doubt about that. I am not as extreme as “World’s Biggest Hoarders” you see on TV or anything but I do like to keep allsorts of little bits and bobs. Theatre tickets, gifts my nieces have made me (like a stitched blue felt cat, to which I incorrectly said “Ah thank you, a dolphin”), birthday and anniversary cards, wedding invites, drawings etc. I have trouble letting go of clothes too. Don’t get me wrong, I do give things to charity and recycling but I do also have a lot of items which just don’t fit me any more, but they are still in my drawers or wardrobe. I have a top that hasn’t really fitted me for a long time. I don’t especially like the style of it any more either, but I know that I wore it when my husband and I shared our first kiss, so it’s staying. I take it out every now and then, it makes me smile. It’s a bit silly, I know.
We have a small two bed, mid terrace. Everyone says what a cosy house it is, homely in fact. Perhaps they really mean “it’s nice but a bit on the small side” It is a nice little house, at least we liked it or else we wouldn’t have bought it all those years ago. In reality though, we have outgrown it. A bigger house, with a drive would be lovely. Amazing. Oh and a garage. Probably not much chance of getting a car in, but the exercise bike and rower could live in there. You never know, perhaps being a bit chilly would make us work out faster 😉
Before I had my little boy, we had a huge clear out, mainly in the spare room so this could become the nursery. Now we would love more space for him to spread his toys, a family room. Our lounge and dining room is basically his play room, complete with foam puzzle flooring as a rug The sofas and dining room table and more like just accessories around the toys
I have given some toys to charity, some are now residing at my mum’s, some are in those big plastic tubs with lids on in the loft. The same goes for little man’s clothes. Outfits that were bought for him from family and friends that he just looked adorable wearing, also in boxes, perhaps to be used again in the future. Trouble is, the loft is now almost fit to bursting. Each year we have more of an assault course to scale to get to the Christmas tree!
The top and bottom of it all, is that we do have too much stuff. I should say “we” because it is our little family, collectively. I just find it so hard to say good bye to things with such memories. Definitely need to toughen up and have a ruthless clear out, including the loft (groan) and then think about moving to a larger family home. Which I need to try not to fill! x
Omg this is totally like us! I always say we live in a shoebox! Our house is small and people always hint that we should be moving somewhere bigger. Frankly, it annoys me because it’s nothing to do with them. I also think it kind of hits a nerve because I know we should move. We have too much stuff too! I have no idea how we accumulate so much, Hannah probably plays with 10% of her toys on a regular basis. It’s her birthday at the end of June which means a truck load of more stuff landing on us. Argh! Love your blog and the design. Glad I’ve found it
Lx
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Hi Laura! Thank you so much for visiting my blog and your lovely comments. I’m glad you like it
It’s good to know I’m not the only one to keep hold of too many things. I am a bit concerned for when little man starts bringing things home from school etc how I’ll manage. I will want to keep it all and put into memory boxes
I did see a good idea the other day – a mummy took photos of the drawings and things and made into a scrap book. So perhaps that could be an option!
Can appreciate what you mean about birthdays. As my little man turned 2 two weeks ago. He is a very lucky boy – lots of fab new toys. We’ve moved some around to make space! The toys are largely bigger in size compared to his 1st birthday. Clothes and some money were very welcome. Maybe friends and family could give vouchers or buy days out or memberships for Hannah’s birthday. Happy clearing out. Have a great week xx
You are not alone in your hoarding and if it weren’t for my husband we probably wouldn’t be able to move – he makes me see sense sometimes! The other day we had to give away about two hundred books that me and my daughter were hoarding to read, we still have about two hundred on the book shelves, but it still hurt to part with them.
Last year we cleared out six large black bags of stuff from our childrens bedroom and we couldn’t believe how much more room they had. All the stuff went to children less fortunate than them. But it did make me realise that we keep too much stuff too.
A clear out every now and again is like a breath of fresh air, but actually doing it isn’t that easy.
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I’m glad it’s not just me then!Ah you see I think I’m going to struggle with books too. My husband and I had a fair few but these were taken over by our little boy’s books. He has so many already and although he has his fave’s he does go back to a number of them. They are precious and I’m trying to store them in any available shelf or draw.
We have started another clear out. Yesterday it was hubby’s turn with 3 bin bags full of clothes. I found an astonishing number of carrier bags and hangers … why did we have all of those?!
Good luck with your sorting out
I’m currently writing a post in a similar vein to this. I don’t tend to keep stuff for sentimental reasons though – at least then I could justify it! As it is I have no idea why I keep things, but since having the baby, with being at home more I’ve started noticing just how much random stuff I’ve kept and I’m trying to psych myself up to get rid!
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It is funny how things can just accumulate over the years isn’t it. We had a clear out yesterday of clothes and things like duvet sets – ones we hadn’t used in ages. I think sometimes an idea pops into our heads of why we want to keep something, that it may be useful sometime soon, but never to see light of day again! 😉 Have fun with your clear out. If you find your ruthless streak, let me know as it may help find mine!
i think we have exactly the same situation, we live in a 2 bed small house, but since we moved in here from flat we juat have way too much stuff and all needed
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Hello! It is so tricky to manage amount of stuff with amount of avail space I think – especially with children around. My little man is a bit too young to fully understand putting toys away just yet. Emptying buckets of puzzles, Lego and letters out and spreading them round the lounge is all part of the fun at the minute
Mummy and daddy are old enough however, so we need to also keep up putting things away
Everything in its place x
This is me!!
Our home is an average size, it just has too much stuff in it. Currently next to me is a box of the kids old clothes that I just cant bear to throw out. I never look at them but knowing they are there is comforting.
Thank you for linking up with the #WeekendBlogHop
Laura x x x
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Thank you for reading my blog. I know what you mean about children’s clothes – is it the really tiny ones or ones they wore on special occasions? I’ve got some more aged 18-24 months to sort out. I’ll get round to it eventually