How much is in your house?

[niccig]

We're packing up most of the house for a remodel. We did purge a few months back and have purged as we've gone, but we still have so much stuff. I've put aside basic kitchen, cleaning and office supplies to use over next 4 months, and I'm pretty sure I won't miss any of it that is packed away. I'll be unpacking over the summer, and I'm going to purge more as we bring it back into the house.

I just wonder if we have more things than average person.. it didn't seem that much when It was in a closet or on a shelf


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[jgenie]

TONS!!! We have a large house with lots of closets - jammed full of stuff. Not hoarder level but all kinds of stuff we don't need or want. I packed us when we moved. DS2 was in 2.5 hr preschool which didn't leave much time to get it done so most everything just came with us. I'm in the process of cleaning it all out now. Slowly working through toys to donate. Problem is I want to donate as much as possible so I spend a lot of time trying to match up parts to toys to make sure things are complete when I donate them. I just need to throw stuff out and it would go so much quicker. I'm working on it!!

[abh5e8]

Too much! We are a family of seven in 2800 sq feet. My kids are ages 10 to 6 months, so that is part of it. We haven't yet move on from any stages. But I'm planning a good spring clean out in the next month or so.

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[SnuggleBuggles]

Well, I recently cleaned out my basement and donated 13 boxes of stuff and got rid of maybe 4 bags of things. And that's just random stuff that accumulated. If I needed to pack up the stuff I kept, many more boxes. :)


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[pastrygirl]

When we moved in Nov 2015, the moving company used two of the bigger trucks and one box truck... and we'd gotten rid of a bunch of stuff! We definitely have more stuff than a lot of people...

[essnce629]

We've purged a lot over the years. We've had several garage sales and have taken lots to the Goodwill. We had a school garage sale a few months ago and I loaded my entire car full of stuff to donate. I've donated several trash bags of board games and books to our elementary school. When we had our wood floors refinished in our house 18 months ago I had to empty our entire house (1800 sq ft) and was able to pack the entire house, including all our furniture, into our garage! The only thing that didn't fit was our large sectional that stayed outside covered with a tarp. When we moved back in some stuff didn't come back in-- like 11 boxes of mine and DH's books! 5 boxes were my books and I only ended up keeping 1 box and donated the other 4. I'm constantly purging and getting more organized. We have a storage shed in our backyard but we're putting in a pool soon so the shed has to be completed emptied and gotten rid of. Tons of stuff got donated and lots of stuff for the trash. It's basically empty now and I'll just have to get someone to come take it away.

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[niccig]

Ok you're making me feel better. We have to be better about not keeping things we don't use. I struggle with DH, I think he still has Midwest mindset of a basement. I did get rid of lots of things to goodwill over the last few months. We should be moving back in when I'm off for the summer, so I'll have time to do more then. Maybe I need to set boundaries? E.g. 1 shelf for office supplies and make DH go thorough his things. DS isn't too bad as we do his toys and clothes a couple times a year. I did my closet, first time in years, and had about 4 bags to donate.


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[abh5e8]

I think size of house and number of people in it makes a huge difference. My mil love to tell me how she is a minimalist, and sends lovely pics of half empty closets and cabinets.... But she lives in a 4k sq ft house.. just her and FIl. Cue the eye rolling. Lol.

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[DualvansMommy]

Number of people and size can be a factor, but not so much I'm finding. For example, my mother who lives alone in a 5 bedroom house 2,000 sq foot home. Which is very big for Irish standards, and its absolutely packed to the gills from clothes with tags still on, books from her 70 years plus on Earth, my childhood stuff, classic books, excess of useless stuff, years worth of newspapers around the house. Etc. another friend lives in 1200 sq feet and just has stuff everywhere from 4 people living there.

It's a mindset thing, I think. I live in 2,800 sq feet with attached garage and unfinished basement. It isn't packed with stuff, although it was 2-3 years ago. When DS2 started outgrowing his baby stuff I kept from DS1, I donated all of it. I go though purging each select rooms every 2 months, it helps me to decide what stays and what goes, and every purchase we make, at least try to be thoughtful. Ie is it really useful for me, and other members of my family? I really don't want to end up with stuff collected over 60-70 years when I'm old! It takes effort, I think too cuz it is very easy to get lost in all the stuff each member of household brings in.


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[specialp]

I purge constantly and keep most things pared down and organized, toys being an exception as I have to wait until I am truly sure it is outgrown by both before I get rid of it. But I’m definitely not the norm.

Right before I left for college, I helped my parents move out of my childhood home where they had lived for 20+ years and shortly thereafter, helped my grandparents move out of the house they had lived in for 40+ years. I was the perfect *almost grown up* age to be influenced/traumatized! My grandparents seemed to have so little, but oh my goodness did they pack away stuff like they were squirrels storing nuts for winter. My parents were equally as bad with an extra dose of “lets save every broken or never used small appliance.” When DH and I bought a starter home not long after, I knew we would only be there for a few years so I had that mentality of keeping things more minimal. Then we moved 2x in a short period and I swear, all sentimental attachment was gone. A thing really had to prove it's worth to me to be worthy of packing. At this point, I think it’s just habit. I never do big purges or clean outs. I just have a box in every closet I throw donation/to sell stuff into whenever it occurs to me that we aren’t using it.

But lest you think the grass is greener… anytime ANYTHING is misplaced, the first instinct of my household isn’t to actually look for it. It’s to ask, “Mom (or wife), did you throw it out?” I never have. Never. Drives me batty.:)

[niccig]

As I'm packing more boxes, I'm getting more ruthless. Trash or donate. I'm not boxing it up.


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[candaceb]

26,000 pounds when we moved last summer, minus a couple of car loads that I donated as I unpacked.
It was a corporate move with movers doing all the packing, so it was easier to sort through stuff on the other end.
We have way too much stuff. DH still hasn't unpacked half of his office and we have a maze of boxes in the basement. We've been here for 7 months.

[rin]

But lest you think the grass is greener… anytime ANYTHING is misplaced, the first instinct of my household isn’t to actually look for it. It’s to ask, “Mom (or wife), did you throw it out?” I never have. Never. Drives me batty.:)

Ha this is us too! DH & I are actually on the same page with this, although I think he's actually quicker than I am to purge unused items, but the kids are pretty convinced we're just waiting to sell off/donate their toys. We do a run to Goodwill/post something on our local buy-nothing group at least once a month. We have several family members in our extended family who are/were very much on the other end of the spectrum, and I think helping those family members move/clearing out their homes after they died has made both of us twitchy about accumulating objects. We're not ultra minimalists (when we moved last we filled up one whole 16-foot moving truck for a family of 4), but we definitely have a lower bar for passing things on than many people we know. Books are probably the biggest thing we hang on to, although we've just been talking about purging those. We'll see! :)