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Ugh. I can so relate. We are prepping to move and trying to pare down the crap before we do.
We have also been tackling it room by room and donating clothes to the Sally Anne (tho I have just discovered a great little used clothing store that will BUY good items-- that is next; I can appreciate the Sally Anne but dislike their overt uber conservative Christian message) and taking household items to the local Anti-Poverty league (they will write a receipt for tax purposes). Oh, and apparently the Diabetes Assoc will do the same (ie receipt for taxes) for clothes donated to Value Village.
Our criteria is simple: if it's clothing, and we haven't worn it in a year, it gets tossed. If its dishes and we haven't used them in a year, they go. AND OMIGOSH I HAVE ALOT OF DISHES. It's an illness. Sigh. All duplicate books go. And nicknacks of no value, go. Candles that have been burned, gone. This weekend I tackle boxes of paper and the bathroom cupboards which are sooo full of unopened extra soaps/lotions etc. That stuff can go to a local woman's shelter.
I think the key is to be ruthless and to remind yourself it is just "stuff".
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