I want to declutter, partner does not want to?

You may do exactly as you want with your own things, and if anyone in the family tries to stop you throwing your own things out, or giving them away, tell them to get lost. An exception here could be anything your partner gave you as a present for a significant occasion - disposing of that might well hurt him, but your own ten year old computer?

On the other hand you have no right to throw out his stuff. If we are talking of clothes harbouring moth, then tell him this and suggest the clothes should be disposed of. If that is a no go, then insist that the clothes are washed or dry-cleaned as once you have clothes moths it is practically impossible to get rid of them.

You have tried discussing that you feel you are drowning in clutter, but if he cannot or will not see this, there is no way you can or should force him to throw his things away.

What you can do, space permitting, is to clear a room or a large cupboard of all your things, and insist he moves his things into these spaces and keeps t hem there, unless he is actually using whatever it is.

I'd think it best to declutter your things leaving partners things as they are. I don't purchase much, I wear what I have. However, my husband is forever buying new golf clothing, years worth in the storage room.

Leave your husband to his bits.

Apologies.

Leave your partner to his bits.

Thank you MissAdventure.

I am trying to not leave a mess for my children to sort out when the time comes. My son lives down south, is not in the least bit sentimental, and would probably just hire a skip , given half a chance. My daughter is more like me, but is working through her own decluttering journey, so I would hate to burden her with more " stuff".

We often find ourselves decluttering the same space at the same time. Earlier this week, just by chance, we were both doing our PJ drawers. I deliberately only have a small drawer in the bedroom for these, max 3 pairs, and switch them with others ( kept upstairs in the loft ) as the seasons change.

DD on the other hand has a huge drawer in her bedroom, capable of holding 10/12 pairs of PJs, most of which she never wears. So she has now moved most of them to a storage box, getting rid of a few pairs along the way, and used the empty drawer space for more frequently used items.

It's a never ending struggle, but it does seem to get easier over time - except for the clothes!

xxx

Oh, how I know the difficulties!
I wrote the other day that i was struggling with three boxes of "stuff". And nearly fell over so I could pick up a stray nail "in case it came in handy"

Similar thing with me and hubby . Not allowed to move anything of his even if there is no room to eat on kitchen table ! Got in trouble for throwing out old medicines that were ten years out of date .
Can’t do anything right , dammed if I do dammed if I don’t !

Do ten year out of date meds actually belong to anyone, though?

I was recently going through my wardrobe and sorting stuff out to go to the charity shop. I found several pairs of casual trousers which I had forgotten about. Some still had the labels on. They had wide legs which are now back in fashion. Fortunately, they still fit I have started wearing them now.

My DH is always accusing me of having too much stuff. I have four low bookshelves full of books, some two rows deep. I have quite a few ornaments but not loads. Meanwhile, he has three sheds full of his stuff. I am not allowed to put anything of 'mine' in these sheds. This includes paint for the house. Whenever he 'tidies' his sheds he just moves stuff into the house or other places. This means his shed is lovely and tidy but everywhere else is full of clutter.

I need to declutter. I have more Christmas decorations than Harrods. I have decorations in various colour schemes so am loathe to throw them away in case I fancy a change. I don't like throwing things in the bin and try to recycle or give to charity as much as possible. Recently, a few of our charity shops were not taking ladies clothes, which was a bit frustrating

Agree wholeheartedly. Even worse than the debilitating effect of living with unnecessary clutter is living in a house that needs work (money spent) and is too big but has been in my husband’s family since it was built by his great aunt in 1929!!

I still have all my college and university portfolios of work going back many years but some as a mature student and from time to time have enjoyed reading through them again. However, I doubt my DH or DD would give them a second look after I’ve gone so why am I hanging on to them?

fancythat

Thank you for replying quickly by the way.

A lot of threads on here are started by a poster I have not noticed before, they start a post, and often never return to say anything else.

Why is that a problem? The posters are asking for advice and while it would be courtesy to do a reply thanking all responses once you have got enough info there is no need to keep returning. You must have a good memory if you see people you haven't noticed before, are you talking about the same one? - I sometimes see a name I recognise but wouldn't have a clue otherwise. I'm looking at the comments and replies not the person.