What do you do with stuff that might be used one day

amother

OP ↓

Yesterday at 2:58 pm

But isnt used on a daily basis.
For example centerpieces that I bought for my sons bar mitzva. MAYBE ill use it one day..maybe not. Tons of candles and holders and fake flowers.
Purim costume collection. Maybe an old costume will fit a younger kid one day or a kid will need it for a school play.
My teaching supplies which I have a huge collection..I dont teach anymore. But maybe one day I will?

I have zero storage. Zero garage or basement. I cant just neatly box up items and put away .
My boys closet contains the purim costumes. the girls closet stores coats in various sizes. Every item is stored in random bedrooms and rooms. Our house is majorly majorly cluttered.
I cant figure out what to keep and what to just give away..

amother

↑ OP ↓

Yesterday at 3:04 pm

My daughters Bas Mitzva dress. Gowns bought for specific weddings. Keep for one day? Or most likely we wont ever wear again?
Baby items once baby outgrows it..
We have no storage.

amother

Yellow

Yesterday at 3:06 pm

Baby things? Do you feel your family is complete? For me that is harder.

Gowns, centerpieces, Purim costumes? Is there a local gemach? If so, can you donate and then borrow-either the same or different, if you need?

amother

Midnight

Yesterday at 3:09 pm

Please get rid of things you don't need or one day someone else will have a big job to do.
Fyi clothing especially baby clothes doesn't last for long no matter how you store it. Give it away and let someone else enjoy , large items put by curb either someone will take or sanitation workers will do their job

seeker ↓

Yesterday at 3:20 pm

You kind of answered your own question when you said you don't have room to store it. If you don't have space then it can't be there.

One helpful question to keep in mind is how hard it will be to replace if you do need it. I don't know where you live but my community has gemachs for gowns and the like, even purim costumes. So I don't have to worry about these things because they will be fairly easy to replace. Same goes for bar mitzvah centerpieces - unless you have another one coming up AND you want to use the same decor, when the time comes even if you have no gemach you can get a bunch of vases and stuff on ali express or at dollar tree for a lot less trouble than storing.

Another thing that may help is giving your unneeded things to someone who will put them to good use. If you might need gowns in the future but someone else definitely could use the gown now, let them have it, be happy it's going to good use, and hope the favor comes back around if you need one in the future.

Anything that gets dated fast should definitely go. Even if you get the low odds that your younger daughter will be the exact same size and season as the older one was at that simcha, there is close to 0 chance she will also like the same style.

Start with the things that are the most maybeish. If you're strongly considering having a baby in the near future, then the baby things don't need to be the first to go. But the "I don't teach but maybe in another 10 years I'll go back to it and maybe it'll be the same subject and grade level and maybe they'll still be using the same types of materials... Or maybe not" sounds like a decent place to start. (I'm thinking along the lines of books. If you have things you made personally that are really special, you can save space by scanning them to keep digitally but I wouldn't be so quick to get rid of something unique and creative. Which may be why my house is also pretty cluttered but right now I don't have a space issue.)

↑ seeker

Yesterday at 3:21 pm

Anything with elastic, give away now. By the time you need it, the elastic will die.

amother

↑ OP

Yesterday at 3:42 pm

If I were to go back to teaching I would definitely do the same age and grade. I spent 10 years collecting beautiful collections of props and toys and books for each topic and season. For example my tishrei box has fake apples shofars books etc all the props needed to teach. All in its own labeled bucket. Taking up tons of space in my sons closet right now. .cannot figure out what to do with it.
Clothing yes I definitely need to give away. Gowns etc.. above responses answered the question.
Centerpieces I guess cuz I spent so much money on them I have a hard time giving it away. But realistically no it wont match any future event I may have.

zaq ↓

Yesterday at 3:47 pm

Decide on ONE storage unit-- a bin, box, drawer, basket, closet, suitcase, or shelf--to dedicate to such items--NO MORE. Select ONLY as much as will fill that space and get rid of the rest. Goodwill and rummage sales are good. Sell or give away what you can and discard the rest. For the slender possibility that you may ever want to reuse that costume or that centerpiece, it's not worth the hassle of owning, storing, cleaning, tripping over, and rummaging through all the rest of that clutter. If you were going to use it, you'd be using it now.

Now for the dedicated "junk bunker" --Purge it quarterly or more often. Don't add anything to it unless you first get rid of something to make room for it.

↑ zaq ↓

Yesterday at 3:52 pm

"But it was expensive"doesn't justify hanging on to stuff. Either you got your money's worth, in which case be happy and kiss the item fondly goodbye, or you didn't get your money's worth, in which case you never will. Kiss the item a less fond goodbye. The money is gone either way and hanging on to clutter won't bring it back.

amother

Coffee

Yesterday at 3:56 pm

I put it away in storage boxes like party plates, disposable tablecloths; anything for party serving

clothing is the same like for summer, winter I stack it in storage boxes

blankets I store in empty suitcases in the back of closet space

old photographs I would love to toss dh wants to keep nobody has looked at them in over 20 years I have no desire to keep them. These are like yeshiva pictures, high school pictures nobody needs them.

anything that won't be used for a very long time I sell or donate.

↑ zaq

Yesterday at 3:58 pm

In my own life I've found that even if I remember getting rid of something I "could have used now" I manage just fine without it and would probably not have used it if I still had it. The problem with clutter is that either you forget what you have, or it's too much of a hassle to find and retrieve it when you need it.

happy chick

Yesterday at 4:06 pm

Im making a bar mitzvah soon and can use centerpieces. I have more boys, so if I love them I'll be happy to use them again. If you're looking to give them away, let me know.

emee2

Yesterday at 4:10 pm

HaShem gives you what you need when you need it. Post it on a resell group and see if it sells. If it doesn’t sell within a week then post it in a free group. If nobody wants it then throw it out.

Take all the money you earn from sales and put it in an envelope to buy stuff you do need when you need it!

amother

Cinnamon

Yesterday at 4:12 pm

You can only save as much stuff as you have space for.

For example, it's helpful to have extra towels that you can fit in your closet. It is not helpful to have extra towels if they're going to be sitting on your couch.

At the point when you don't have room to store it comfortably, you're losing more than your gain by keeping it.