Throwing Stuff Away

[efco]

So as ta not hijack such and such thread......You would fit in well on the Miss Manners board.


I'M JOOS SAYIN'

[Bob Ross]

I've got a booger collection.

[efco]

I hold on to tax returns and manuals for whatever I buy. All other papers get trashed.

[MB-NY]

with regards to the kids artwork and schoolwork... I feel bad throwing stuff away but also know that I cannot possibly keep everything that comes home.

I'll give you some advice from my sister, who has 3 kids and umpteen grand-kids. Wait a fair amount of time, then start to get rid of some of it. They will have forgotten about it, and what they don't know won't hurt them.

[Deleted]

Hell, I say just keep it cause you never know. My youngest was here a few months ago. He started looking thru my records (for the young out there, that's what they put music on in the old days). He pulled one of them out & told me that they are selling this album for $50 now days. So........If you keep crap long enough it becomes antique crap & sells for big bucks.

[Deleted]

In regards to the kid's artwork: I group their holiday themed stuff together and take a picture, but I hold onto things that use tracing of their hands, feet, etc. (it's not my idea, I read about it in a magazine somewhere).

[ihearyou2]

Sex toys, I know that when they start sparking we should get rid of them but I just can't....

[Apple]

Before the next (and hopefully last) move I plan on doing a big purge. I've already started with DS's stuff from school. I'll try to keep one or two things from each year of school or things that are extra special. He used to be so into knights and castles that he would draw them non-stop. One of them has been on the fridge for years. So I know one of those will stay. I just try to throw away a little more every time I go through the stuff, I figure I'll have it all narrowed down in a year. I've also kept the stuff from when he's been in the newspaper since that is kind of cool. Other than that though, I'm really trying to reduce "stuff"

[Mad Dawg Wiccan]

I had a very unhappy childhood. One thing my wife just cannot understand is how I still have a bag full of items which still evoke pleasant memories from a very bad time, so she calls me a hoarder.

[DebMD (banned)]

Ideas for storing your kid's art:
www.marthastewart.com/article/art-project-storage

[ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ]

Using long tubes to store childrens' artwork isn't going to help reduce clutter - it's just going to create more 'stuff' to take up space.

[DebMD (banned)]

Long tubes are useful for not only storing art but also for gift wrapping.
the tubes can be placed upright in a large square box/container ...very neat and orgnized if done so.

[DebMD (banned)]

Flat storage is good also...like the portfolio's artists use.

[Befferz]

The question isn't how to store stuff, but how to throw stuff away. You can store it any way you want, but it's still stuff.

[DebMD (banned)]

Keep the best of the best and discard[sell/donate] all of the rest.
And avoid acquiring garage sale type stuff in the first place.

[DebMD (banned)]

3 box system for going sorting:

1 box for discard
1 box for items that are 'keepers'
1 box for sell/donate

[servant_of_dog]

I did a major "stuff" purge a few years ago. It was very liberating. All of the clothes I never wore, nearly my entire book collection (easily upward of 1000 books; probably far more...that was hard), furniture, etc. Among the stuff I discarded were at least three boxes of childhood "mementos" I'd lugged around for over 10 years, never unpacking them. My mom (who is awesomely unsentimental in a mostly good way) had an edict that when we moved out into apartments, "take what is yours and you want; the rest of it is getting thrown away." I donated appropriate items, but honestly, I threw a LOT of stuff away.

I think that there is a cultural impulse to hold onto stuff. We don't want to be wasteful by throwing "repairable" things away, but don't want to donate broken items. You know what? Realistically, I'm never going to take my cheap, huge suitcase with the broken zipper to a zipper-repair place. I also don't feel that it's okay to donate broken luggage to charity. The sad truth is that I'm going to throw it away tomorrow, get over it, and move on. This makes me far more aware of what I do choose to bring into my home. It's still a compromise from time to time of durability vs affordability, but I am trying to really maintain a situation where I don't have an ever-growing pile of broken, stained, possibly-fixable, or simply unwanted stuff mounting. I hate the increasing guilt of it.

Befferz is right; it's about the getting rid of it. Be responsible in the disposal (donate, recyle, trash), but if it isn't adding anything positive to your life, let it go.

As far as childrens' artwork, etc...I have no experience, but my ruthlessly unsentimental view is that if it isn't included in your "in case of fire" quick-exit file, discard at will after child reaches 18 and has a chance to review, and selectively up to that point.

[DebMD (banned)]

::This makes me far more aware of what I do choose to bring into my home::
This is the crux...Be very careful of the items crossing your threshold.

If there is an item I'm thinking of buying I put a note of the item on the fridge. If after 1 month I think I still want it then I look for the best price possible.

As for the item
Items that are 'mult taskers' are best. Check to see if an item you already have can be used for this or a new purpose.

[swamp]

Maybe I'm heartless, but I chuck my kids artwork the day it comes home from school, unless it includes of picture of my kid or a tracing of their hand or foot, or it's something they are particularly proud of.

I hate clutter.

[Colleenz]

I toss most of the artwork unless it is very special (I also save a pile of good stuff to send to each Grandmother). My kid does not seem to mind. He enjoys making it and giving it.

[cael]

About once or twice a year I go through all my old bills and crap that I saved for god-knows-what reason, and shred them all. For some reason I used to feel like I needed to save it all, now I just want to get it out of the house. I do save a folder with our tax documents from each year, but everything else realistically we just don't need. I'm doing a huge purge in the house right now too, have given away bags & bags of clothes and am going to be putting a lot of stuff on Freecycle pretty soon. I used to love shopping - now I love getting rid of stuff!

[greeneyedchicka]

Feb 4, 2011 9:07:39 GMT -5 cael said:

About once or twice a year I go through all my old bills and crap that I saved for god-knows-what reason, and shred them all. For some reason I used to feel like I needed to save it all, now I just want to get it out of the house. I do save a folder with our tax documents from each year, but everything else realistically we just don't need. I'm doing a huge purge in the house right now too, have given away bags & bags of clothes and am going to be putting a lot of stuff on Freecycle pretty soon. I used to love shopping - now I love getting rid of stuff!

This is what I do, but not just for paper, I do it for toys/stuff too. I shred at least twice a year, daily for junk crap I get in the mail. I go through old toys/stuff at the end of the summer to see if anything can go on eBay and again in the spring to see if I have enough for a yard sale. I just put an old vacuum cleaner out for trash yesterday, it was gone within an hour. I have done this for several things. Funny thing is, I never see who is taking it!

For clothes donation I have a hamper specifically for this purpose. If I go to wear something and decide I no longer want/need it, it goes the in the designated hamper. That way it is out of my closets and drawers, and when the hamper gets full, off to the donation center.

For my son's artwork, I have a drawer that I have kept what I wanted to. The rest will get displayed for a while and then in the trash. I also have a keepsake box from when he was born that I will pass onto him when he is old enough.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

I have a ton of stuff I need to donate but the weather has prevented me so I have bags of crap lying all over the place.

It's hard to get DH on board, anytime I go thru his clothes he starts hollering about how he "loves that shirt" or "I plan ot lose weight". Really? I haven't seen you wear this tee shirt since before we got married. I am thinking I just need to pitch without giving him the courtesy of talking about it first.

I and others bought DD WAAAY more toys than she will ever need. What I did was I took everything she is too little for and put it into a giant plastic tub downstairs. When she gets old enough for it the stuff is going to reappear as birthday gifts and christmas presents. DH said that is sneaky. .. he likes it.

I go thru her clothes regularly since she grows like a weed. Then I know what fits and what can go. I try to find someone who can use it first, but I can't find anyone who has a newborn baby girl in sizes 0-3 and 3 months so it's going to go to the Salvation Army.

For papers I keep insurance EOBS for at least a year. I request recipets for all final payments on hospital bills and those go into the safe to be kept pretty much forever.

I started requesting email confirmations that I save in a folder for all my bills because I got tired of the paper clutter. The confirmation number achieves the same affect as holding onto a paper recipet and takes up a lot less space.

[MB-NY]

My problem used to be keeping paper; bills, statements, pay stubs, etc. I used to keep everything going all the way back to 1988 when I got married the second time. After a nasty divorce, it was in my head to hang on to papers because I would never know what I would need and when. Since I'm still with this wife after almost 23 years, I guess she's not going any where.

Thanks to a shredder, I've started to thin out what I save. I still have pay stubs for about 10 years (probably over kill, but I have them), and credit card statements/ misc. bills for 1 year. Anything else could probably be found on-line if needed. My bank stopped sending canceled checks back in the late 1990's, but I do keep the account statements for about 7 years. I am also on my second shredder. The first one had to handle the original mass purging of paper, and it only lasted a couple of years after that.

[Chocolate Lover]

I'm trying to rid myself of all the accumlated paper that I was gonna "get to later". Yeah, sure I would. DH would make nice stacks of the stuff I'd sorted and then when it got big enough it'd go into a box. I cleaned one out recently and found my digital converter box coupons that expired in 2008.

[kadee]

I start a new box on Jan. 1 each year. In it goes all the paid bill receipts and ALL other receipts that have something on them that might be returned due to not working, etc. Also, all checking account registers & statements.
After the taxes are done for the previous year, the tax papers go in the top of the box & it gets moved to the attic...one goes in, the one that is the oldest comes out & I save 7 yrs. worth! It sure saved me a bunch of aggravation the year I got audited!!! They figured out they owed me money, but only a couple of $$ so not worth filing an amended form!
We also save all instruction/warranty materials in a shelf in one closet...they are in a file.

Grands live too far away to accumulate stuff from them & after my son bought his first house...I took all his saved junk to him and dropped it off! HIS problem to deal with! ;D

I TRY not to accumulate "stuff", but my DH is hoarder/pack rat! I keep throwing stuff out when he isn't home & he never notices the difference as long as he doesn't see it in the trash can....I have to be careful to cover it up!

[973beachbum]

Another problem I really have is, with regards to the kids artwork and schoolwork... I feel bad throwing stuff away but also know that I cannot possibly keep everything that comes home. Parents, what have you kept/not kept of your kids' stuff. I'll add that I am really not a sentimental person, so the chance of me ever putting stuff into some sort of scrapbook is nill.

I may be crazy , but I have some of my kids artwork framed and hung up on the walls.

I throw out all the regular stuff the teachers have them do like coloring and ditto papers. But they have a good art program in the area and the kids have done some beautiful work. The more kiddie done looking type stuff I still hang on the wall but in the hall and not the living room.

I have a painting above my fireplace in my living room that was done by my Dd. People come in all the time and ask where I bought it. I just smile and don't tell them my daughter did it in kindergarten. I actually think that might freak some people out.

The only paper trail stuff I keep long term are tax returns. I have everyone I have ever done. The rest go as soon as the next month is available.