4. books: let's be honest. How many books have you read several times? Ok, there are a few, but you can probably count them on one hand like me. If you don't want to read a book again or it's already outdated (e.g. travel guides) or the cookbooks you never use....then these books are just dust collectors on your shelf. Take the books to a second-hand bookshop or give them away. Maybe someone has been looking for exactly this book and will be happy about it.
5. toys: if you have small children, you will immediately understand what I mean. The kids have way too many things and they don't even know what to play with anymore... everything is boring and chaos is perfect at home. Observe which things your children play with at all. With us (I have 2 boys who are a bit older now) it was: Legos, Kappla wood, toy cars and a few board games. Many toys they really wanted and the anticipation was huge (e.g. before Christmas) and then they were uninteresting after half a day. Unbelievable!
My suggestion: keep only the things in the flat that the children use regularly. You don't give the rest away straight away... that would be a scandal ;-), but you explain to the children that you will now rotate the toys; that means what we don't need now will go into the cellar and later there will be a change. I wonder if they miss anything... I don't think so. In time, certain things can then be sold at a flea market, for example, or donated to children who don't have toys (or much less, in any case).
6. hobby things that you haven't used for a long time.
Ok, now we're getting into a difficult topic, but hopefully I can make you smile. I'm convinced that everyone has a kind of "wish ego". We have a kind of dream image of ourselves and then buy all the equipment it takes to achieve it, and in the end it usually doesn't work out. Let me explain. For me, for example, it was the sewing machine. I'm not very good at handicrafts, but I admire my friends who can sew something cool for themselves or their children and I want to do the same. So a great sewing machine had to be purchased. However, when I tackle a sewing project, it is pure stress for me and it actually never or rarely comes out well. So I basically gave it up again. A friend once told me about the mega cool and expensive! jogging shoes she bought. She wanted to lose some weight and thought that jogging would be fun especially with these great shoes! But what a surprise... it just wasn't her thing at all and she felt much better when she could let go of the jogging shoes. By the way, my sewing machine is still in the basement. So I'm not the perfect role model either.... I tell myself that my boys will soon have fun with it, because nowadays boys (in my day it was only the girls...yes, I'm old) learn all these great things in needlework that they would certainly never have learned from me.
7. things to do in the event that...
I have to admit, this topic has taken on a completely different meaning since Corona times, but in certain areas it is still true. In my training as a certified order coach, I learned that no one needs several tubes of toothpaste or a huge reserve of toilet paper at home. The shops are open 6 days a week and in a pinch you can still get what you need at the petrol station shop. There is enough of everything and our house is not meant to be a warehouse. But everything turned out differently... No one has really needed emergency supplies yet, but you never know...
In any case, I'm sure you still have things you keep in your closets or basement, sort of "just in case..." that you're good at letting go of. I'll give you a few examples:
- The spare bed linen and towels in case you have a lot of people staying over.
- The chairs in the basement, in case you have a huge party at home.
- The reserve dishes or bowls, in case you have a lot of guests.
Let's be honest. We have had visitors for overnight stays about 2-3 times in the last 10 years (all our relatives live nearby. Ev it is different with you...). I could have borrowed something from a neighbour for these individual cases. And if you have visitors or a big party, then you can certainly borrow something from neighbours or friends for that one time a year or six months. So I don't think it's worth keeping a ton of stuff for those situations that only happen 1-2 times a year or even less. Unless these things make you mega happy... 😉
Yes, so there are a lot of decisions you need to make 😉 I'm happy to help you declutter, sort out and reorganise! Thanks for reading to the end!
