When does STASH become Clutter???

[wendywombat]

We are thinking of relocating and so have been looking at all we have accumulated over the past 20 years here!
Some of the stuff is going to have to go! No question!
Obviously my threads and fabrics will be used up in time and don't go off, and I have stopped buying kits, just!
What do I do with the magazines and patterns that I have collected, had given to me and free downloads??
I've also a whole heap of patterns from kits that I have done. I'm sure we all have those, some have usable threads.
Magazines can go to Charity shops, but they don't exist here in any great number and my local one doesn't want them, nor does the library. Postage is also expensive from here so somehow these will have to be transported back to the UK...shhh just don't tel D/H...
Also I feel sad that I have collected all those magazines, hoping and wanting to stitch from them but age is catching up and i now have a Huge Pile of S.A.B.L.E. (stash acquisitions beyond life expectancy)
I don't expect any answers really as it's quite obvious what must happen but just thought that i would throw this conundrum up into the air to you all as I expect we all had the same thoughts from time to time.

[Serinde]

Oh, yes. I'm long since in that category. All my magazines are faithfully full of sticky tabs to show the things I'd like to stitch, but somehow I've never gotten around to it before something new catches my eye, and off I go, chasing that whatever-it-is. But moving is a Big Deal, and it's good that you are thinking ahead.

Long or (even better) complete runs of some magazines (thinking New Stitches, for example) might be worth trying to sell as a complete set on eBay or similar. Or someone can do that for you.

When you travel back to the UK, as you periodically do, could you start to destash by bringing things with you for charity shops here?

Golly, it does bring it all into focus, doesn't it. That hot choc in the S&G is yours!

[rcperryls]

You have all my empathy. When I came back after my sister and I had packed up what we wanted and given most of the rest of the furniture and much of the other possessions to charity and that being the 2nd time I had had to sort through 25+ years of things my parents and then my father and stepmother had accumulated, I announced to my kids that this house was going to be their problem! The thought of moving is more than I can handle so when I do think about it I change the subject in my brain.

Sounds like you are doing the right thing by starting early. Serinde's suggestion that you take a few things with on return trips to England sounds like a good one. Even if it only makes a dent in your STASH, it could get you really motivated. Until then, the Stash and Grab is always open.

Carole

[Mabel Figworthy]

Another thumbs-up for Serinde's suggestion of bringing stuff over piecemeal, and also selling long runs or whole sets online if you want to get rid of them.

However, I am also going to argue on the opposite side. When I got married 14 years ago and moved from The Netherlands to England, I couldn't bring everything. Well, perhaps I could have, but it seemed quite a good opportunity to de-clutter (seeing that it was Mum and me in a two-bedroom flat, there wasn't actually all that much...) So quite a few bits of stash, including books and booklets, went.
Then when my mother died and we had to clear out the flat within a few months (it was council-rented) pretty much anything left that wasn't essential went.

And I have regretted some of it ever since.

In fact, some booklets I searched and searched for and then bought again here in England! I may not even get round to stitching them, but I bought them in the first place because they were meaningful, and i like looking through them.

I suppose all I want to say is, don't be too ruthless. If you have room to keep a thing, don't throw it away simply because you feel you "ought to". If you enjoy it (not necessarily to stitch, but to read or look through), and you don't have to discard anything essential in order to keep it - well, why not?

Wishing you wisdom and joy (from looking through so many lovely things) in the sorting process.

[Serinde]

Wise words, Mabel! I have an entire library devoted to various needlework techniques and (increasingly) tapestry weaving which I wouldn't under any circumstances give away. The whole point has been to build up a library of really useful books. I would probably take Jan Messent's Celtic, Viking & Anglo-Saxon Embroidery with me to the proverbial desert island -- it's utterly beautiful and easy to lose oneself in.

Downsize but not clear out. I don't intend to move. Ever. But life has a way of throwing curve balls, so I do keep that in mind...

[fccs]

When I moved from California to Colorado, I tossed a ton of magazines and donated lots of kits. I regretted getting rid of some of the magazines and have now replaced most of them. As for the kits...yeah, I seem to have replenished my supply.

[Squirrel]

It is always very difficult to decide what to keep and what to pass on or dispose of. Every now and then I go through my stash and have a sort out. The most recent destash was a pile of WOCs magazines. I went through them and then just pulled out a few pages here and there and then the mags went into the recycle bin. I now have some space. Eventually I need to go through all the kits I have and sort out what I am able to stitch within a reasonable time frame and pass on the rest - either here or to 1 charity shop which does accept craft items. As I am in my mid 80's I want to do the destashing myself rather than leave it to DD to have to sort out. Yes she does stich but not very much plus she is working almost full time these days.

It is good to look at all you have accumulated and you will know which ones you can't bear to part with and for the rest you will find the will to deal with the remainder. It is something we all face sooner or later and now I try and not get too carried away with new stuff.

[Podolyanka]

Wendy, you may cut out the charts from your magazines, put them into file books and that will take 1/20 of the place the magazines occupied. Then use my experience from the times of graduation from the university- when dad arrived in his car to take me home, all my clothes went into a suitcase and a travel bag, but there were loads of books bought over the years of studies which would have broken the car's rear axle. So dad and I sent all the books as parcels by post. For a month they kept arriving in my home town, while I was already working. This way you will have your books, magazines, charts safe and sound at the new place without breaking your car.

[richardandtracy]

There is another possibility.
Scan in/photograph all the charts you might need from the magazines & then get rid of them in the recycling or recycle via the local stitch group. The chances are you'll never look at them again, so having a photo or scanned image is a zero volume way of almost keeping hold of them, and deleting the photos will be painless at some point in the future when you finally realise they are totally surplus to requirements. Take all the thread/fabric & put into one of those vacuum storage bags ( https://www.amazon.co.uk/Medium-Travel- ... 004YCSM9Q/ ) and reduce their volume immensely. Open when you need something from it. Thread & the like will squash down beautifully to almost nothing, and you'll have real, stay-there-whatever creases in the fabric.

Regards,

Richard.

[wendywombat]

Wise words all of you...thank you!

Mabel...I can understand also what you have said and I look at my magazines, almost a complete set of New Stitches and like Serinde's, full of post-it notes! I don't think I can bear to get rid...well not yet anyway

I think all this came about after having to clear out and sell my dad's house for sale. He had the house built in 1956 and HAD NOT THROWN ANYTHING AWAY IN THAT TIME!! . One of the bedrooms was so full of Stuff/Rubbish that there was less than a square metre of floor space on which to walk! He had dementia at the end of his life and was in a nursing home, but before that he had hoarded everything!

Sally and Lyudmila have the right idea, too. and I will take out some of the patterns I know I really want to keep.

Richard...surely that would breach copyright as I wouldn't be keeping the originals, but your idea of putting threads and fabric into vacuum bags made me laugh. The thought of having creases in fabric For-Ever...well I don't think so!!

There is no easy answer is there?
Let me just finish by telling a short story....

When we moved here 20+ years ago I took fabric, knitting wool and a whole stack of books to the charity shop. Broke my heart but had to be done. When our furniture etc arrived here there was a very large and heavy box. It belonged to D/H and contained Off-Cuts Of Wood!!! Now I expect Richard would understand this as being Essential!!

[Mabel Figworthy]

When our furniture etc arrived here there was a very large and heavy box. It belonged to D/H and contained Off-Cuts Of Wood!!! Now I expect Richard would understand this as being Essential!!

Oh dear, that made me laugh tears of recognition

[Serinde]

When our furniture etc arrived here there was a very large and heavy box. It belonged to D/H and contained Off-Cuts Of Wood!!! Now I expect Richard would understand this as being Essential!!

Oh dear, that made me laugh tears of recognition

Oh, yes. Yes, indeed. One of those lives here, too.

[richardandtracy]

Wood offcuts are essential. I keep a stash of them in the workshop. It is amazing how regularly I have to add to the depleted stash because somehow they have all been used.

Wendy, magazine copyright lasts only 25 years - was talking to the editor of the 'Model Engineer's Workshop' about an article or two earlier this year when it came up. So scanned images or photos of complete older magazines is perfectly legitimate. Also, IIRC copying images of 10% or one article (whichever is greater? May be smaller..) of a magazine is completely legal Europe wide. Do you find more than one article per magazine worth keeping? I never have, wish I did because I'd then be much happier to pay for the magazine in the first place!

Regards,

Richard.

[wendywombat]

Wood offcuts are essential. I keep a stash of them in the workshop. It is amazing how regularly I have to add to the depleted stash because somehow they have all been used.



Regards,

Richard.

Funny, that's what D/H said when challenged about that wood I think what bugged me was the disembodied stirrup pump and the remains of an old broken sofa!
Sadly all my charts and magazines are less than 25 years old so afraid your helpful friend's advice not applicable.
But that means that I can Keep them. So really I have to thank you .