Have you ever thrown something away that you regretted getting rid of?
 

I know I have and it's usually been when I was in one of my "purging modes". The last time we moved, we were downsizing and I know I shouldn't have gotten rid of some of the things I did. We donated so much stuff and 3 years later, I wish I hadn't gotten rid of some of them. Please tell me I'm not the only one.

Yes in a way. Just recently I was looking for something I always had on my previous computer desk. It wasn't in the basement where I put those types of things. Then when going through photos to figure out what needed to be scrapped for a theme album I'm doing, I saw a photo of the item with other stuff that was donated.

So I will stick with the shelving I have which is probably better. No LB baskets hiding junk. Everything is out in the open now and I can see what I have.

Overall, once it is gone, I have learned to just live with it. I really don't miss any of the stuff I have donated/sold over these last 5-6 years.

Only of the stuff that I haven't used in years but suddenly need 2 weeks after purging it!

You're SO right - "once it's gone, it's gone". Still, I've wished I hadn't done it, occasionally.

Hahaha - same here!!

Most of the time I don’t miss the stuff I purged.

Very recently I was regretting getting rid of a cherry pitter of all things. I bought it like 15 years ago at a pampered chef party. You know how you can get carried away at those. It worked great, but I hadn’t used it in a few years so cleaning out the drawers I got rid of it. We recently bought a Ninja Creami and I was thinking of different things to mix in to the homemade ice cream and thought wow cherries would be great. Cutting the pits off of cherries is a pain, and messy. Oh well.

I got such a kick out of your response. Years ago, my mom bought me a "gadget" that opened packages (like the individual packages crackers come in) I don't know what I ever did with that, but it was the handiest gadget!!

I wish I had kept more of my papers from high school and college. Also wish I had kept some of the handwritten notes from my besties too. I think I would get such a kick out of them now =)

Their cherry pitter is da' bomb. I borrow it from my neighbor.

I have... it's usually something like Dalis, I just got rid of it only to need it... and then having to rebuy it and it's not as good quality. Now after watching hours of decluttering youtube videos from Dawn, the Minimal Mom - my thinking is different. I've always been one that I can't find something so I would buy it and then have two... or three... etc. It's a family trait - my cousins on my mom's side always had 3 of something, it was a family joke. haha. Now I'm in a better mind space... if I got rid of it, at that time, I wasn't in that season of life to need it. Now, I can get what I really want (another issue of mine is settling for stuff that is close enough or on clearance, but not really want I wanted to begin with) or if it's not something I really need - either can I find something that could work, or can I borrow from my mom.

Yes! And like other people said, it's always shortly after I finally give in and get rid of it.

I'm with Reba; I've never regretted throwing something away as much as I regret holding onto things that aren't useful.

I used to justify keeping things forever since we lived overseas and I didn't know when I would be able to get it again, but once I let go of that mindset, I stopped holding onto things I wasn't using and started feeling free. As it turns out, you can live a happy life without a lot of useful things. Though I do find it hard to remember that when I'm surrounded by all the useful things in America!

I am happier having a decluttered home.
Can't think of something I missed.
my kids - maybe. They hold me accountable.
But my answer is that they should have sorted through their stuff before they moved out.

The last time we moved in 2016, we sold a couple of older laptops which we reformatted before selling...

After which I realized one of them was the only laptop that had a CD drive on it and we had moved all of our photos from CDs onto that HD and they were now gone... forever... because we had gotten rid of all of the CDs prior to that because we had "backed them up" on said laptop hard drive.

Big regrets there... trauma even.

I have a problem getting rid of things in the first place. LOL I go through spells and purge here and there but I struggle. I still have tons of baby clothes/items in my attic. My boys are 12 and 17...no babies around. I slowly give them away to friends that need them or consign but I struggle. I hate the clutter and have since started deep cleaning the house...it is now in the garage or attic. LOL Out of sight, out of mind. I am finally coming to the realization less is more and am okay with stuff going away. I do have my boxes of letters from hubby when we were in high school, cards from family members, letters etc but they have a place. I have a drawer system full of memorabilia. I need to just put them in a page protector in my scrapbook albums.

I got mine from a Pampered Chef party hosted by one of my neighbors. maybe I could borrow hers? ;););)

I wish I'd kept more of that kind of stuff too. :(

I LOVE this philosophy "season of life" - this helps me so much! Thanks for posting about it!

Isn't it the truth???

Another piece of great advice! I used to watch a lot of re-organizing shows and they always said if you hadn't used it in X amount of years, to get rid of it. Sometimes, that's just hard for some of us. :(

Haha Stefanie - that was SO my mom. She totally had that mindset.

Oh, I'm SO sorry!!! That makes me sad just reading this. :(

You're a keeper of things - I had a lot of baby clothes too - I just loved to look and them and hold them. I gradually got rid of most of them. Here's one thing I did - I took photos of everything I could and have them in my digital files. I especially did this with all the art work and all my grandkids art work. I couldn't even get rid of things like that. I've made a few layouts just of artwork. Good luck - at least you have a plan.

I go in fits and starts, when I decide to purge I usually do a fairly decent job. I am guilty of shoving things in a closet/drawer and forgetting about it. My issue is getting rid of clothes, I always think 'I will wear it again'. In some cases, I have, especially this year.

I have way more clothes than I need and am thinking of turning the spare bedroom into a walk-in closet/dressing room. I'm kind of worried this may make me worse, lol but I also think if I see what I have I will buy less as it is there in my face.

There is a pile waiting to be taken to Goodwill but I want to go through my drawers again to add a few more shirts that I know I won't wear.

Ouch. That must have been horrible.

Yeah... it was sad :( My youngest literally has like a dozen baby photos because most of his were lost on that hard drive. We have photo books of some things before that (vacations and such), but the actual photos in their entirety are gone, especially every day stuff. Super sad!

Ugh. This happens to me all the time. I keep things (especially tools and pieces of things to fix things) and it drives my hubby crazy, but it never fails... as soon as I get rid of something like that, I need it. Case in point. We bought those corrugated downspout tubes thingies twice for random short term reasons and gotten rid of them after we used them because they are rather bulky to store. We just got rid of the 2nd one less than a month ago and this week my hubby was wishing he had it again. HE IS THE ONE WHO KEEPS THROWING THEM AWAY! Ha ha ha!

We have a lot of storage space in our house (which can be a bad thing) but I'm happy to keep things that I think I might use again, especially in my craft room. I've gone through so many hobbies and been so happy to have my crafty horde of supplies to use. :)

Yes, I've thrown away or given away stuff and then needed it. It happens with the girl's clothes all the time. They say they don't like something anymore and then a few month's down the road one of them wants it again. Or they give away the other's clothes unknowingly to the one who actually owns it... LOL

Hubby is notorious for cleaning out the garage and giving away parts that we end up needing. We cleaned out the kitchen one time and gave away an unused dollar store pizza cutter to his parents. Turns out it's the world's best pizza cutter EVER! DUH...

When will we learn to throw away the trash and keep the good stuff... LOL

Oh, I'm SO bad with clothes, too! I used to laugh that I had 3 sizes in my closet - my weight used to fluctuate a lot and then I couldn't wear my "small" clothes. I'm still bad, but getting better - what I found out was that by the time I could probably wear them again, they'd be out of style. Hahaha I have a big plastic bag - right now - of clothes to donate.

I can SO relate to getting rid of something then needing it a short time later. You're lucky to have lots of storage space in your house. That's my problem, we always have had a lot of it, too. Another case of "out of sight, out of mind". Hahaha

In our last big move, we were downsizing, so I donated a lot (some I wished I hadn't) but in the move, I lost a lot of my stuff - including most of my craft stash! I KNOW it was packed, because I packed my craft room myself - we had to put a lot of our stuff in storage and I've never found my missing craft stash. I've just decided I wanted to dabble in mixed media again and I have next to nothing.

Hahaha Kayla - I had to giggle at your last paragraph. That and the world's best pizza cutter - ever. LOVE the part about the girls' clothes, too. I grew up with 2 sisters - we were all the same size and wore the same size shoes. It got pretty crazy! My youngest sister was guilty of "loaning" OUR clothes to her friends and we never saw them again.

I also have multiple sizes of clothes in my closet. Since I'm short any weight gain causes me to go up in sizes. But I did get rid of a lot of stuff these last 5 or 6 years. I've only got a couple of dressy outfits since I don't go out that often, donated the rest. My wardrobe consists of jeans, sweats, t-shirts and sweatshirts. I have a couple of pair of nice pants and tops to go with them if needed.

I like having very little in my closet. Got enough I don't have to do laundry all the time but not too much that I can't decide what to wear!!

I generally find that I'll hang on to something forever and then finally decide to get rid of it. Invariably, I end up needing that thing about a week later! :D

On occasion when I've purged then months later went to find it only to remember I got rid of it. :thumbdown:

I don't like doing laundry either - I'm pared down now to the same place. I have a few "dressier" things, even though we never go anywhere to wear them. I still think I'll need them eventually. Your wardrobe sounds a lot like mine - everything I have "goes together" - I basically have jeans, black and gray tighers, black and gray shorts , etc. Haha

Sounds very familiar. Hahaha

UGH - I know that feeling.

I purge clothes all the time. Sometimes with the tags still on them because I do a lot of shopping on line and hate returning things. If I put it on and it doesn't suit me, into the purge closet it goes.

I think I would feel bad about it, but I have family and friends that come to my house, go through the closet and take home stuff they love. Since my love language is doing and giving, I really enjoy their happiness and excitement as they look through the closet, try things on and find something that suits them.

Oh, this is funny! I HATE to take things back! I have a few things with the tags still on them, too. On the other hand, my dd just gave me 4 pairs of jeans, a really cool long (think tunic) turtleneck black sweater and some cool knee length pants. They were all too small for her so I scored! We "trade" clothes all the time. LOL

I am a keeper of alllll the things... well, not really all but lots and lots....as a crafter, preschool teacher... I'm always thinking "what can we make with it?" or "what if I need that for that lesson?"

I've gotten much better at getting rid of stuff now... except the sentimental things. My attics are stuffed with kid stuff and daycare/preschool things for me to rotate through.

I do need to get rid of clothes .....as I've gone from a size 16/18 to a 6 in the last 18 months... I need to get rid of the 4 buckets of clothing that no longer fit... but I have this worry that as soon as I do, I will start gaining and need them again....

You REALLY never know when you'll need something again - I agree with that. LOL That's MY problem, too. The minute I do get rid of something - boom -I NEED it!!!

I can relate to the clothes things, too.

Ahhhh... happy update! During our move this time around, I found two external HDDs and ALLLL of the photos I thought I lost were on them! I was so relieved, I actually have all of my youngest's baby photos again, so he doesn't feel abandoned in the memory keeping department anymore :D

Oh this is awesome! So happy you got them!! I used to save my stuff on a CD...yes a CD and I found it cracked with my older son's photos. I cried...Hubby was able to save some using a program at work but we lost some too.

yay! what a nice surprise :)

after my mom passed away a few years ago, I had to go through her house and decide what I was keeping, donating, tossing or selling. I just the other day realized that I never did come across an X-ray that my mom had when she was pregnant with me in 1984. i asked her best friend (who helped me with everything after my mom died) and she said she never saw it. we figure the clean up crew didn't realize what it was a tossed it. I wish I still had it, it shows me in the frank breech position :)