Mega Decluttering Tips

darthed1981

Hello Chaps

Been chatting to the wife about redecorating recently, and earlier this week we had the mother of all arguments because I want more guitar gear and she wants less of my stuff around her, as she doesn't want to feel surrounded and unable to put her identity on our house.  Fair point.

So I need to do the biggest de-clutter ever, clearing out mostly books and Blu Rays or at least making them disappear.

Bonus is I can probably then get my Blackstar HT5 and a couple more guitars.

What are your top de-cluttering/surviving marriage tips?

I do sympathise with the mrs, but I have cleared out tonnes of stuff, and it's getting to the stuff thats much more difficult to clear out now!

Wazmeister

Listen to her before you de-clutter. Seriously, learn to see things how she envisions them.

robgilmo

Be brutal, dont be afraid to bin stuff, if you dont use it, bin it.

mgaw

as above  show no mercy, if it aint in regular use its a goner

darthed1981

Wazmeister said:

Listen to her before you de-clutter. Seriously, learn to see things how she envisions them.

Actually seriously what I'm trying to do, hence the mega-declutter.

WiresDreamDisasters

Man cave. Store it all in there. 

darthed1981

WiresDreamDisasters said:

Man cave. Store it all in there. 

One of our issues, three bedroom house, no spare room with children all over the place!

JDE

@robgilmo is correct. Brutality is the best way. Watch some Marie Kondo on Netflix (or read the book), but don’t hold back. My wife is a serial horder and I basically own FA apart from gear, tools, books and what fits in my wardrobe. Once I’ve sold my amp I could probably get all of my household-kept possessions (ie not tools), including clothes, in my wardrobe.
Unless you’re sentimental, most things don’t really matter, most DVD’s you’ll never watch again, books won’t be re-read and there are far better ways of keeping music than on CD’s. 

ToneControl

not sure what the balance is here, who has the most stuff?
Our best solution was buying a bigger house, or getting a shed
I now have a large man cave, without hassle (except from sulky teenagers occasionally)

At the opposite extreme to serious hoarding, some people like to live in depersonalised show-homes, devoid of any trace of personality or evidence of life, I find that repulsive personally

slacker

You're not going to like this

Get rid of the books and discs to a charity or church unless it's porn. 

Strip down to one combo on head, two decent guitars and a small pedal board. Getsome storage space to hide pedals in. 

When the kids grow up game on. Mancave loads of stuff and shut the door.

My guitars are in the spare room. There's spillover on top of the bedroom wardrobe. No guitars are left out. No amps downstairs. No gear on holiday. 

Grumpyrocker

My wife totally got my reasoning for a buying a new amplifier this week - I explained it would sit on top of a cab I have, replacing a combo I will sell - thus making some space.
 
I'm lucky though, I have my own little study upstairs with my stuff in - desk, TV, videogames, guitars.

robgilmo

JDE said:

@robgilmo is correct. Brutality is the best way. Watch some Marie Kondo on Netflix (or read the book), but don’t hold back. My wife is a serial horder and I basically own FA apart from gear, tools, books and what fits in my wardrobe. Once I’ve sold my amp I could probably get all of my household-kept possessions (ie not tools), including clothes, in my wardrobe.
Unless you’re sentimental, most things don’t really matter, most DVD’s you’ll never watch again, books won’t be re-read and there are far better ways of keeping music than on CD’s. 

Same thing here, except my tools are all at work, My other half just keeps buying stuff, usually useful for a day or two kind of stuff. Kids toys are the worst, and clothes, even clothes that doesnt fit them any more gets kept!

thermionic

Make sure you always buy guitars in the same colour.

darthed1981

slacker said:

You're not going to like this

Get rid of the books and discs to a charity or church unless it's porn. 

...and what if they are?

Naah they aren't, heck I've only just discovered Scarlet Witch's "earlier" films on the internet...

robgilmo

thermionic said:

Make sure you always buy guitars in the same colour.

I try to.

darthed1981

ToneControl said:

not sure what the balance is here, who has the most stuff?
Our best solution was buying a bigger house, or getting a shed

I do, by miles, half her issue (which I get) is that she owns very little, so the house is like 100% me, which isn't fair.

I do have a shed which I'm thinking of turning into a bit of a man cave.

Bigger house isn't really part of the plan.

LuttiS

Compromise and do what she wants! 

robgilmo

darthed1981 said:

ToneControl said:

not sure what the balance is here, who has the most stuff?
Our best solution was buying a bigger house, or getting a shed

I do, by miles, half her issue (which I get) is that she owns very little, so the house is like 100% me, which isn't fair.

I do have a shed which I'm thinking of turning into a bit of a man cave.

Bigger house isn't really part of the plan.

Dude, you need to get rid of some of your stuff.

meltedbuzzbox

Gentlemen, grow some balls!!

For DVDs, CDs and books use music magpie. The pieces aren't amazing but they are better than nothing and less of a faff (donating to charity).

JDE

robgilmo said:

Same thing here, except my tools are all at work, My other half just keeps buying stuff, usually useful for a day or two kind of stuff. Kids toys are the worst, and clothes, even clothes that doesnt fit them any more gets kept!

This is basically describing my house. I try to keep my larger tools at work but it’s an hour round trip which can be a bitch when you’re in a hurry.
The toy situation here is ridiculous. Got my youngest into Lego predominantly because it’s small and easy to tidy up/step on, which has helped, but he’s too much like his mum - “don’t throw away that broken, two year old Happy Meal toy, I was playing with it.” For 10 years I have tried to get a grip on my wife’s hobby of keeping everything she has ever seen. I’ve given up. I tidy where I can, sneak out bin bags and charity when I can and just let it slide when I have to. Different strokes I suppose. I have OCD and she likes stepping over fucking rubbish every time she wants to go into the kitchen. 

darthed1981

robgilmo said:

darthed1981 said:

ToneControl said:

not sure what the balance is here, who has the most stuff?
Our best solution was buying a bigger house, or getting a shed

I do, by miles, half her issue (which I get) is that she owns very little, so the house is like 100% me, which isn't fair.

I do have a shed which I'm thinking of turning into a bit of a man cave.

Bigger house isn't really part of the plan.

Dude, you need to get rid of some of your stuff.

Yup, pretty much