[celestialdreamer]

I just want to pack everything up besides my favorite clothes, toothbrush and favorite photos and give it to someone else who needs it. Or maybe pack a box of my favorite stuff and move somewhere else.

I have been decluttering for years it seems but whenever I finish with one room the one I did before seems to have too much *stuff* again. My DH completely does not get it and brings things home he finds in the dumpsters at jobsites. like boxes of wires. Or ugly speakers. Or an old desk.

I tried to get him to go through all of our clutter areas last weekend to find things to sell for our garage sale and he barely wants to part with anything. Heck, I even found a broken microwave in our basement that he had planned on keeping because he might be able to fix it someday

: Days like this (working up to the garage sale on Sat) make me want to have a dumpster delivered at our house and throw everything away while he is at work. Okay thats the end of my rant.

 

[sabrinat]

I'm the same way. I hate stuff and we're drowning in it. I finally had to bite the bullet and had a friend come over and help me sort and clean. It was embarassing, but necessary. I just got overwhelmed looking at it. the amount of clothes and toys we have is unreal...even she said, "You have too many clothes, that's your real problem" They are everywhere. We're buried in them.

 

[miss_sonja]

In our house, I'm the clutterbug. But all of a sudden (it had been building for years), I realized I didn't want to live that way anymore.

It's hard work to declutter; must be very frustrating to have your DH undoing your hard work. When he 'gets it', he'll come on board. Until then, maybe give him a designated area he can accumulate, but it can't be all over the house.

 

[ollineeba]

I agree.. all of this stuff is driving me nuts! It has gotten a lot better, but it's still a problem

:

 

[LokiPuck]

I can't stand tons of stuff either. I have told people lately the greatest gift someone could give me would be to park a dumpster in my driveway for a week then take it away. That would give me enough time to get rid of all the crap in my house!

DH does not throw ANYTHING away. I ruthlessly give away any clothing I haven't recently worn to clothing drives, he won't let me touch his and it's really piled up over the last, oh, couple of decades. Some of the stuff isn't even fit to be turned into rags, yet he won't give it up. Also, when we got married we received a beautiful, yet sturdy 12 place setting of stoneware and a 12 place setting of Onieda stainless. So you think we would be able to part with our random, mismatched chipped dishes and thift store silverware (trust me it's NOT good quality stuff at all). Oh, heck no! He refuses to even touch the new stuff.

 

[Siana]

I'm right there with ya!

I'm really new to finally getting in to decluttering mode. I'm getting all out outgrown children's items at a mom's sale at the end of Sept.. After that I plan on attacking my stuff (mostly clothes too). But after that, I know other decluttering is going to be an uphill battle.

:

The biggest items I want to get rid of is a whole livingroom set! Yes, we live in a 2-bedroom apt. style condo and have a spare livingroom set sitting in our 2nd bedroom (aka store room!).

:

 

[emdeecee_sierra]

It is hard when DH brings in more stuff. Hang in there, maybe yours will stop soon and start helping you declutter.

I have a similar problem. My DH is a bit of a packrat; he just will not let go of some things (utterly useless things that he hasn't touched in over a decade). Oddly, he complains more vociferously about all the junk than I do. I get to point out that it is his junk, but we're not to the point of decluttering I'd like yet. He's getting better slowly.

 

[Korimomto2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LokiPuck DH does not throw ANYTHING away. I ruthlessly give away any clothing I haven't recently worn to clothing drives, he won't let me touch his and it's really piled up over the last, oh, couple of decades. Some of the stuff isn't even fit to be turned into rags, yet he won't give it up.

Oh Yes! This is us and it drives me CRAZY

: If I try to throw out some of dh's boxers (that litterally have more holes than cloth) he PICKS THEM OUT OF THE TRASH! I have to be very quick, very stealthy and very willing to accept reprisals when tossing his crap

This forum is definately motivating me to do it, though!

 

[memiles]

My dh has packrat tendancies too, but also hates clutter and mess. It's a constant battle. I'm finally totally and completely ready to start de-cluttering after a two week vacation living out of one suitcase. Wish me luck!

 

[littlehalo]

We have the same problem here. I have lately been slowing organizing and decluttering and giving stuff away. I admit I am a packrat but my DH is too and that is not a good combination. I find it easier to tackle a small thing at a time then I can accomplish a little and feel good about it.

 

[p.s]

Yup! Just returned from a vacation at a small cottage with a small bag per person. Usually I feel great to get back home, but this time, I felt...sigh, so much to do. That's why I hang out on this board.

 

[moms3kids]

add me to the list... we are trying but i've kinda stoped since are house hunting and will be moving i figure when i'm packing i'll be able to NOT be cluttered declutter b/c me and my dh have promised to each other that our NEW home will. My dh said he's just going to get a dumpster and start trashing stuff... HUGe moving sale, ect! LOL i hope that it's how it will stay too!!

 

[oneotamama]

Another guilty one. My dh is the pack rat in his shop, but I'm the pack rat of the house. I'll purge a bunch of stuff only to bring more stuff right back in. My weak points are garage sales and thrift stores. I also have enough clothes for 4 times the amount of people who live in this house.

 

[celestialdreamer]

well, we are having a big garage sale tommorrow, but really IMO not enough stuff is going. I am having a hard time getting motivated to even get stuff ready for it because I just want to get rid of it all.

Hence, the procrastination and lots of reading on MDC

:

 

[SusannahM]

I found that forcing DH to live in smaller and smaller spaces has pretty much rid him of the tendency to be a pack rat. I've also instilled in him the dream of one day just traveling full-time, not having a permanent home. So, he helps to de-clutter. I do find that it's a never-ending task, though. Especially when I refuse to part with things for free that I know I could make money off of if I sold on eBay.

 

[northern_sunshine]

I have the same issue with DH. I've been in decluttering mode and anything that is mine or house stuff is OK by him to declutter. -His- stuff, on the other hand, is just a no-go. I'm not really crazy about going through his stuff anyway (I feel wierd doing it) and urge him to.

But he won't get rid of anything! LIke the 50 bazillion t-shirts he has (some are not even fit to be worn in public), his holey socks and undies (I DO throw these when folding the laundry) or the odd duplicate tools he has. If I really get on him to get rid of stuff, he'll go get something good and keepworthy, like the RC monster truck his sister got him for his b-day that he and DD play with or his coin collection (which takes up zero room cause it's in the safe in the closet) and I'll tell him that he's being silly.

:

 

[solareyna]

I have the same complaint. My problem is all the "stuff" is nice stuff that my dh thinks is essential to "living the good life".

: Too many toys, too much crap. We have boxes of toys (never opened) sitting in all the kids' closets. Just sitting there - when there are so many kids that need nice toys... I have been cleaning out a little since we are moving but I want to clean out so much more. I just want it to be simple - simple life that's what I want...

 

[SaraMama]

I've been trying to go through the kids toys and get rid of at least half of what they have. There is so much that they don't play with!

So, I get two garbage bags full of toys and put them in the trunk to take to Goodwill. I planned on dropping them off when I was by myself, but DH was with me when we HAD to drop it off because we needed the trunk space for other things. Well, he starts going through the bags to make sure I'm not getting rid of any "good" stuff. He pulls this star wars space ship thing out of the bag and insists on keeping it.

Says that he paid a lot of money for it & that he'll play with it!

: DS *cannot* play with it b/c it is too big for him (age on box was like 8 & up - ds is 4), it falls apart every time he touches it & then I'm stuck trying to put it back together...

Now where is it? STILL in my trunk. I told DH that he had to find a place to put it where DS didn't know where it was b/c he really cannot play with it at this point.

 

[sapphire_chan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Korimomto2 Oh Yes! This is us and it drives me CRAZY : If I try to throw out some of dh's boxers (that litterally have more holes than cloth) he PICKS THEM OUT OF THE TRASH! I have to be very quick, very stealthy and very willing to accept reprisals when tossing his crap This forum is definately motivating me to do it, though!

While my dh wouldn't pull stuff out of the trash (thank goodness) I do rip socks and undies into rags as soon as I see they've got a huge hole. Shirts and pants, I'll try to mend, but with socks and undies I just grab two sides of the hole and pull. So even if he did try to pull things out of the trash, all that's in there is an elastic waistband.

 

[sapphire_chan]

Everyone on this thread has read the hoarding thread, right? Not the thread I started, the really long one.