Getting rid of things

I am talking about getting rid of things that were given to you as presents.

One of my favourite animals is the giraffe. Because of this I bought a couple of giraffes to place on my hearth and later on a couple of more to put on my mantelpiece. Then my sons and friends decided I collected giraffes and started buying them for birthdays, Christmas and Mother’s Day and now I overrun by giraffes

The same thing happened with rocking horses. I bought a rocking horse to celebrate the birth of each of my sons and later on I bought a couple more that I liked, as well as a rocking giraffe, and then people decided I collect rocking horses and bought me many more.

I am hesitant to get rid of some of these as I am afraid that the person who gave them might be upset if I throw/give them away.

I just wish people would buy me craft supplies like I ask for.

So I am asking people how do go about getting rid of objects that were given to you as presents?

 

The "giraffe lady" eh?

Yeah, I've gotten stuff for presents, esp from my late mom, that I didn't really want or need. After she passed I gave a bunch of them to my sister to give to her grandsons. It was silly stuff she got it into her head I collected, like you.

 

Unrelated, but excuse me sir, do you have a moment to talk about our lord and saviour Morgoth Bauglir?

 

Some say just take a picture of your possessions. Then too, if you have a private library…some fool will call it hoarding

 

I have been doing a recent purge. I have too much crap and my family has too much crap. Out of pure laziness and convenience I feel the pull of shoving things into garbage bags...but Satan, I will resist thou!

Re-gifting presents is an obvious way of getting rid of presents you don't want, but especially now in these covid-times, it's too slow a solution.

I donate or make a post on facebook as a freebie. The facebook venue is funner; I feel twinges of happiness when someone is willing to take sometime I've posted.

 

I'm exactly the opposite of a packrat. I get rid of things at the slightest provocation. My house is a shrine to minimalism!

 

Interestingly, I was just reminiscing with someone over the old Amazon wishlist days.

Frankly, a good idea.

If i was socially acceptable for everyone to have a wishlist in one site, not necessarily tied to one company this would be truly excellent. You let it be know faaaar and wide that if it's not somehow connected to your wishlist you do not want it.

 

I generally re-gift them (being careful not to give them back to the original gifter, or someone in their circle) or they get donated to Sally or Goodwill.

Ditto. I revel in minimalism... Marie Kondo's got nothing on me.

 

My husband passed away last April and I'm beginning to go through things: I have to check with the family first to see if anyone wants anything. Only then can I decide what to give to charity, toss, or keep. Such a slow, emotional process.

 

I have bought a pack of 10 archive boxes and I plan to put many of the giraffe/rocking horses/other crap into them and put them on top of my wardrobe. if anyone asks me about something they have bought me is missing from my shelves I can say I am rotating my collectables. If no one misses something at all I can give or throw it away.

 

But you might miss something you have just thrown away.

 

Well things can get "accidentally" damaged when cleaning.

 

While growing up, nothing on my shelf was ever safe during my Mom’s cleaning sprees

 

Unlikely.

 

Sadly, I have realized I have Too Much Shit. I managed to purge a lot almost 2 years ago when we re-did the floor in our bedroom and had to move everything out. By request, a friend's teenager got a bag of concert tshirts that will never fit me again, but a lot went to Goodwill and completely trashed stuff went in the trash. I had trouble at first with stuff gifted to me, but my imminently practical hubby reminded me that once something is yours, you can do as you will with it. So, no more guilt! Mostly...

Plus, purging makes room for things you *actually* want!

 

A court recently ruled that the parents of a 43-year-old son must pay him $45,000 after they threw out his porn and sex-toy collection.

Link

 

My mom was like that too!

 

<Looks around> I wish mom was here now.

 

I am in the process of trying to clear out a bunch of stuff I've bought or persuaded relatives to buy for me across the decades. It's not fun trying to figure out whether I should try Facebook Marketplace, Trash Nothing, straight-up gifting to others, or send it to the recyclers. Mainly because some day soon, I expect to have to move out of my current housing because of others' health needs.

It can't be helped, it can't be stopped, barring a lottery jackpot win.

(I assume there's a sub-forum here somewhere for selling and/or re-gifting?)