This is the internet, you are all good people, and I've already been 7 kinds of honest in my
Ask a Mustachian post so I figure, who not continue?
I grew up in Idaho, my family are farmers. We save everything in case we need it again. My grandfather had 50 year cans of DDT (with the labels torn off so he wouldn't get in trouble) for use on weeds and barrow pits (never on crops or near fields, don't worry). Part of it can be linked to that, I have a STRONG desire to keep things. All things. Spare screws and bolts, wood scraps, old computer parts. Everything. Just useless garbage.
And I even KNOW that I do it. It's a security thing, I don't want to run into a situation where I need something and don't have it. But it's not just that. I also build up just gobs of material things. Books, magazines, clothes, tools. Things I don't REALLY need and if I were to get rid of some of it, it wouldn't really hinder my day to day existence. I probably wouldn't ever notice if I got rid of half of it.
So I am getting in on this one. I'm going to get a garbage bag, fill it with stuff and take it to Goodwill today. I take all of my used books into Powell's or a local paperback place for cash/credit, but I only started decluttering a couple of days ago because: my in-laws are hoarders.
Big time. They have a house that is almost 3,000 square feet (a nice custom house on 65 acres on top of a hill in the coastal range, just flat beautiful) and that house is being crowded with junk. My Father-in-law spends $400-$500 per month at Goodwill buying things. Things that stay in those bags for years, untouched. He just keeps buying. And my Mother-in-law doesn't really help, sometimes she goes along with him. He has a massive shop that he built down below the house and it is door to door filled with junk. He even tripped over some of it and hurt himself 2 weeks ago! They have a mouse colony starting in a spare bedroom, but they couldn't even get into the room because the door couldn't even crack open because of all the stuff.
These are people that make $150,000+ per year... just throwing it away. They drive nice cars, have a beautiful home, property, own businesses and rental houses... it's absolutely insane. And my wife and I are scared shitless about it. We came home from visiting them and started purging our own home. We are trying to simplify, it's just healthier. We could probably do a yardsale, but are worried that it might be more of a hassle than it's worth. But we are debating it!
I think we will try to draw my in-laws into the yard sale as well. They could probably make thousands back on the massive amounts of stuff they have piled up.