Yes I find the trauma of clearing anything away let alone throwing anything away still significant as you may need them at some point. The fact that they have been around for years is not relevant.

Oh my goodness how much stuff we accumulate and how little of it do we really need. Françoise wanted to go out and buy some more conditioner liquid for use in the washing machine cycle and I discovered we had two containers which had been hiding away over the years.

What are the classifications of possible throw away objects to be considered?

1. Those you need on a daily basis such as washing up liquid.
2 those that you need on a weekly or regular basis such as other cleaning materials
3.  Those items that you have had a use for but now are no longer required for example plastic bags
4. Duplicates of things that can be put into storage and don’t need to be within arms reach
5. Items of clothing that don’t fit or are our of fashion.They should be taken to Charity Shops.
6. Objects that had a use at one time but now no longer serve any purpose say old furniture 12 sets of towels, items that are broken.

Books are in a special category. I could count a section of my collection of 1000 books for example biographies, which I will not read again; if I need any particular details I can always refer to the internet. The point is  that I like books. All types of books. Books that I will not read again. I like the smell of them, the touch of them, the design of the covers, so asking me to throw away books is a bit like expecting someone to take off their right arm. However we are running out of space in the bungalow so I must make an attempt to no matter how feeble to get rid of some of them to make way for the new books that I still buy.

I saw this on Facebook today which I find a great source of reflection. It was written by Wenda Wendy