Who has clutter creep?

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spncity

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Do you have clutter creep?

We went through a big declutter a few years ago. Loved living in the resulting "Less-ness."

But the stuff has been creeping back in. Not all from purchases. But relatives pass on and one "acquires." DH is in the process of liquidating his parents' estate.

A widowed neighbor has now sold her house and we're helping her dig everything out before the closing. She is about our age. DH is hauling stuff off that she doesn't want. I've sold some things on facebook marketplace for her.

On the other end of the spectrum, I have a younger relative who escaped a fire with a backpack, his phone, a laptop and the clothes on his back. He was one minute from death. His pickup truck also survived. Too bad he is across the country. If he was closer we could move the extra stuff from her house and our house to him.
 
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I've always been guilty of clutter creep.... If an outbuilding gets to full, I just buy another. No sense in throwing away perfectly good junk.
 
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Yes. Big clutter issue several years ago and I did good cleaning it, but I need another round of cleaning. I'm not a full fledged pack rat though. I loved my grandmother's dishes but the glaze had crazing all over which is a lead hazard. I could have sold them or kept them for display but then someone after me may use it and make themselves or some innocent children sick, so I did something un-packrat-like:
 

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We moved a year ago, and our last house had 5 br/5 baths and 2 double car garages. We had too much storage room that our daughter junked up. It took me 6 months to just move to the new home with triple car garages.

I've been going to the city dump weekly for years, and still cannot get a car in the garage. I have too many tools and "stuff" I use. And we have too much furniture that we need to put on F/B Marketplace.

It's an ongoing problem. I'm building a 24' x 36' barn at the lake house to stash my 2 boats in during the winter. I'm going to have to work hard not to fill it up too.
 
When I pass, my kids will spend an hour or two tossing or keeping my meager possessions. I have always had limited belongings. A couple trashcans should take care of it.
 
I went through two drastic decluttering cycles over the past 10 years and I'm trying hard not to let clutter creep back in. I found some photos of my condo from late last year and little has changed in the living spaces, so I'm doing good there. But my walk-in closet and basement storage unit seem fuller than they used to be.
 
Perhaps because I never considered our belongings "junk," I miss a lot of things we got rid of when we moved to Florida.

I miss our basement, and am tired of making do with the fourth bedroom full of belongings that aren't used often (please spare me the "if you don't use it in a year, throw it away" trope - may work for some, but not for us).

Currently getting estimates for putting a ductless mini-split into our large 3-car garage, so it can serve as climate-controlled storage (currently there is only one car in it, although I expect eventually to turn that in on a truck and a small trailer).

Our kitchen cabinet replacement will include lighted display cabinets on top of the regular ones, just to display nice things we don't use very often.
 
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I live in a 285 sq ft studio apartment in a characterful old house. Compared to many folk living in much larger spaces, I don't own much stuff, but it's still quite a lot in relation to my living space. For close to 20 years now, I've been moving into smaller and smaller places, and downsizing as I go. At every step of the way, I feel as if I come within spitting distance of the level of tidiness and organization that I desire, but never quite get there. I'm not quite as organized or tidy as I should be. I find that I get to a certain level of tidiness and organization, then slow down. To get beyond that level would require a proportionally much greater degree of effort, so I stay at that level, maintaining it when things start to show signs of getting out of hand. It's an equilibrium.

I just sold a couple of items on eBay that hadn't been used in 10 years, and finally admitted to myself that I wasn't going to use again. I'm going through the same process with other stuff as well. Then there are the items that have no resale value, which hold emotional significance for me, but make no sense to keep. A good example is the tattered old backpack that I brought my kitty home in after finding her one cold morning, pressed against a truck engine, in an effort to keep warm. The backpack has outlived it's useful life, yet tossing it feels as if I am throwing away a piece of family history. I'll get around this by taking a few photos of it before throwing it away.

I have to keep pushing myself. My fear is that I will get rid of something, only to regret it later. It has happened on occasion, but the trauma is minor. I keep reminding myself that life itself is ephemeral, so undue effort put into holding onto material objects is something of a waste of time.

I'm doing my best. I really am. It's a constant struggle. My style of personal organization would be - fairly organized in a functional way, with the aesthetics leaving a little to be desired. Enough mess for my place to look lived in, yet not enough to disturb the mind of a healthy individual.
 
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For us holding on to old stuff is a way of life. Afterall, we started together as happy-go-lucky trash pickers. I do admire visiting friends with designer homes and perfectly-arranged knick-knacks. But here each room is a project about to happen.

Just yesterday I spent the day in the basement wine closet. Have to laugh that we still call it that after 25 years or so. The previous owner had plywood shelves built there for wintering plants and storing wine. The room became my storage area for computer parts, and several shelves held computers being repaired, re-purposed or retired. And we do have enough wine stored.

Earlier this year I performed a serious clean-up and re-cycled many drives and systems at the county event. But then the shelves were available...need I say more?
 

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I continue to sell on eBay and Marketplace, which helps to keep the ongoing "stuff" at bay.
 
I did a major declutter back in 2013 after I ER'd. I did not do it 24/7, but start to finish probably took over a month. Have done 2 very quick declutterings since then, and am due for another. I think clutter, especially papers, procreate.
 
I have clutter creep. We did a major declutter 18 months ago when we thought we were going to move. Since then, we have been elder caring with no move in sight. So I'm rebuilding my stuff stockpile because I need something to play with if I'm not going anywhere.
 
I totally get this. I had a hard time getting rid of some genuinely useless old things of my Mother's, simply because I had so many memories of her using them. I have kept a lot of other things that remind me of her.

"Then there are the items that have no resale value, which hold emotional significance for me, but make no sense to keep. A good example is the tattered old backpack that I brought my kitty home in after finding her one cold morning, pressed against a truck engine, in an effort to keep warm. The backpack has outlived it's useful life, yet tossing it feels as if I am throwing away a piece of family history"

You must be incredibly disciplined. I bet you are the only person who would think you are not a model of organization.

Major Tom said:
I live in a 285 sq ft studio apartment in a characterful old house. Compared to many folk living in much larger spaces, I don't own much stuff, but it's still quite a lot in relation to my living space. For close to 20 years now, I've been moving into smaller and smaller places, and downsizing as I go. At every step of the way, I feel as if I come within spitting distance of the level of tidiness and organization that I desire, but never quite get there. I'm not quite as organized or tidy as I should be. I find that I get to a certain level of tidiness and organization, then slow down. To get beyond that level would require a proportionally much greater degree of effort, so I stay at that level, maintaining it when things start to show signs of getting out of hand. It's an equilibrium.

I just sold a couple of items on eBay that hadn't been used in 10 years, and finally admitted to myself that I wasn't going to use again. I'm going through the same process with other stuff as well. Then there are the items that have no resale value, which hold emotional significance for me, but make no sense to keep. A good example is the tattered old backpack that I brought my kitty home in after finding her one cold morning, pressed against a truck engine, in an effort to keep warm. The backpack has outlived it's useful life, yet tossing it feels as if I am throwing away a piece of family history. I'll get around this by taking a few photos of it before throwing it away.

I have to keep pushing myself. My fear is that I will get rid of something, only to regret it later. It has happened on occasion, but the trauma is minor. I keep reminding myself that life itself is ephemeral, so undue effort put into holding onto material objects is something of a waste of time.

I'm doing my best. I really am. It's a constant struggle. My style of personal organization would be - fairly organized in a functional way, with the aesthetics leaving a little to be desired. Enough mess for my place to look lived in, yet not enough to disturb the mind of a healthy individual.
Click to expand...
 
I plead guilty. My Achilles heel I say is keeping things in case of still usefulness and sentimental value.

I have about 5 computer desktops cases around. That's not including some old computers in storage. I recently bought an inkjet printer that was intended to replace a laser printer. When I already had a monochrome laser. But now, each serves a function that others don't. So, looks like I'll be keeping all three.
 
Mr. Tightwad said:
When I pass, my kids will spend an hour or two tossing or keeping my meager possessions. I have always had limited belongings. A couple trashcans should take care of it.
Click to expand...

When I pass, my kids will spend an hour or two tossing or keeping my mountain of possessions.
Click to expand...
I also don't plan on causing any junk disposal pain for the kids. But I chose a different path. We have a lot of stuff. We're involved in different, some seasonal, hobbies that are best enjoyed if you have "stuff" to use. Let's see....... There is a kevlar canoe hanging from the garage ceiling with paddles and life vests inside. Add a shelf full of Yakima racks for the truck. I like to putter around with home projects, so there are three work benches between the garage and basement with cabinets and wall racks full of tools. We fish. We camp. We garden. I'm a ham radio operator and have accumulated shelves of "extra stuff" over the years much of which has great sentimental value to me having built it myself. And on and on and on........

Rather than go through and identify what could go, I went through the mountain and identified things that had significant value and made a note regarding who to contact for help/advise on selling them. It turned out that maybe 20% of the volume made up 80% of the value.

My instructions to my son: Sell the items with value. Order a dumpster and trash everything else. The value involved in the trashed stuff (maybe $2k or so) just wouldn't justify him having a long, tedious project. The stuff I identified as having significant value should sell quickly and easily with the prices I suggested.

I know this isn't as "heir-friendly" as just getting rid of everything, but gosh, when DW and I talked about dropping the hobbies, etc., this stuff supports, we just couldn't get excited about dropping anything. And the sentimental stuff, hey, it makes us happy and DS can just deal with it as outlined above. He'll likely receive a significant monetary estate as his reward. And using the "dumpster method" for the bulk of the stuff should make disposal of our physical possessions a minimal task.
 
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We've done a fairly good job of keeping things neat and "decluttered" since retirement ten yrs ago. We have one parent who is a hoarder and one who taught us to value what was useful and discard the rest. Instead of having two sets of silverware, one for every day and one for special occasions we simply decided to enjoy the special set everyday. We also take into account that what we may cherish are not things that our children will want so there is no need to save them. Don't get me wrong, there are closets that have garments that have not seen the light of day for years, but in general it is nice to live clutter free.
 
my biggest challenge is with electronics and computer technology. I have been de-cluttering since retirement (e.g. going from 15+ tower computers and associated peripherals to 9). My challenges are still the "its old technology but it works perfectly fine" items, like various wireless routers I have upgraded from over the last 20 years. I hate to just junk them, but going the eBay/Craiglist/local internet marketplace sellers route takes a level of effort and potential risks that I am not yet motivated to engage in.

DW is worse. I am not complaining as I knew of her tendencies before we were married. She is borderline hoarder, especially when it comes to books (My last estimate was that she has probably 5000+ books and 200+ magazines). She recognizes she has way too much but gets upset at the thought of getting rid of them, but she is getting better, though she still has to leave the house when anyone starts throwing things out.

It helped both of us to spend several days helping to clear out my parents home. They were not hoarders but still had a lot of stuff. Even with 7 children and 17 grandchildren, 90% of the items went into the dumpster. DW had this vision that our children would want most of our things, even the papers she saved from their kindergarten and grade school years. Clearing out my parents home showed her the reality.
 
I think you went above and beyond. Any heir who expects the benefactors to cull the bequest, while still alive and able to enjoy it, doesn't deserve to inherit.

Not in this thread, but the tone of moral outrage to be found on Internet discussions of "death cleaning" etc. strikes me as bizaare. When did we suddenly grow almost incapable of dealing with parents' estates, as children have done since forever?

Digging deeper, one often finds that the "burdened" heirs are merely mad because parents or grandparents didn't have nice enough stuff. OK, piles of hoarded filth that is actually full of pests - that's a legitimate gripe, about anybody. But mostly it's just whining.

If you personally love to be uncluttered, get rid of your clutter. If you enjoy your possessions, enjoy them. Life is too short.


youbet said:
I also don't plan on causing any junk disposal pain for the kids. But I chose a different path. We have a lot of stuff. We're involved in different, some seasonal, hobbies that are best enjoyed if you have "stuff" to use. Let's see....... There is a kevlar canoe hanging from the garage ceiling with paddles and life vests inside. Add a shelf full of Yakima racks for the truck. I like to putter around with home projects, so there are three work benches between the garage and basement with cabinets and wall racks full of tools. We fish. We camp. We garden. I'm a ham radio operator and have accumulated shelves of "extra stuff" over the years much of which has great sentimental value to me having built it myself. And on and on and on........

Rather than go through and identify what could go, I went through the mountain and identified things that had significant value and made a note regarding who to contact for help/advise on selling them. It turned out that maybe 20% of the volume made up 80% of the value.

My instructions to my son: Sell the items with value. Order a dumpster and trash everything else. The value involved in the trashed stuff (maybe $2k or so) just wouldn't justify him having a long, tedious project. The stuff I identified as having significant value should sell quickly and easily with the prices I suggested.

I know this isn't as "heir-friendly" as just getting rid of everything, but gosh, when DW and I talked about dropping the hobbies, etc., this stuff supports, we just couldn't get excited about dropping anything. And the sentimental stuff, hey, it makes us happy and DS can just deal with it as outlined above. He'll likely receive a significant monetary estate as his reward. And using the "dumpster method" for the bulk of the stuff should make disposal of our physical possessions a minimal task.
Click to expand...
 
jollystomper said:
my biggest challenge is with electronics and computer technology. I have been de-cluttering since retirement (e.g. going from 15+ tower computers and associated peripherals to 9).
...
Click to expand...

Now I don't feel so much like a pack rat "only" having about 5 "just in case still useful" tower computers :popcorn:. But I do have 3 laptops :).
 
I had my place pretty much cleared out of clutter. Then my daughter and grand daughter moved int with me for a while. My daughter is a clutter queen. I think she buys junk just to store it and fill up any empty space that might somehow have gone undiscovered by her. At leat she uses Thrift Stores and goes on days when they offer their $5 for a bag of whatever it will hold. For a while I got rid of more of my stuff but than only created more space for her to fill with clutter.

Now that she is moved out, I have cleared out some space. But, she still has stuff at my place. Thankfully, it is actually relatively new, functional stuff that she will probably use one day. I put my food down and insisted that the old broken, never to be used again junk be tossed or given away.
 
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Last night I threw out an old Florida oranges box and replaced it with a larger Walmart box to hold my miscellaneous electric devices and an antenna. Would you throw away transistor radios that you don't currently use? A clip-on fan with a partially broken clip that I can probably fix somehow but that still clips anyway? One of those digital clocks with the numbers that flip? The antenna is a no brainer to keep. If nothing else, the metal framework could come in handy for something.
 

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easysurfer said:
Now I don't feel so much like a pack rat "only" having about 5 "just in case still useful" tower computers :popcorn:. But I do have 3 laptops :).
Click to expand...


I did not mention also scaling down from 6 laptops to 3 :). But then youngest DS, when working for 1-800-GOGT-JUNK, brought me 3 laptops and a MacBook the owners thought were not working but just needed new power cords/supplies... I gave him the MacBook, and yesterday he said he had a couple of friends who might need laptops, so that hopefully will take care of them.

At least, with 8 port KVM switches, I have been able to group the towers and eliminate the monitor/keyboard/mouse clutter. :)
 
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