how to kill a hoar-der

We hoard all kinds of things in this house. Books, recipes, hardware, cardboard... And there's always a great excuse, generally something along the line of "it might be useful one day" or "but it reminds me of the time when"..... 

I'm mid-organising all our hoarding, which has left the house in a sorry state:

I figure we're not the only ones that struggle with letting go, so here's a few ideas that we use, which you might find helpful: 

• Take a photo, it lasts longer: We've gotten in the habit of photographing objects and scanning documents we no longer need and then throwing the object/document out. We've also found most of our manuals online so have a folder on our server and have halved our "manuals" pile. We have as many of our bills as possible emailed to us so we don't have to hold on to the paperwork. 
• Clothes swaps: my girlfriends and I get together every so often to swap clothes/household items. Anything that isn't claimed is taken to a charity store. 
• Join a community: I follow a couple of blogs and facebook groups that I've found really helpful to get a bit more organisation in my life. My favourites are Unclutterer and The Organised Housewife. 

You can also check out my thoughts on hoarding via my article on the Markets Central Blog. 

Kate xxx