These sort of scenes are fairly common around our place at the moment - not the washing on the line, but the stuff spread out everywhere.
We're sorting through everything we own, and it ends up in one of four piles - coming with us on the bus, going into storage, going somewhere else (being sold, given to the kids, donating to the hospice shop), or onto the trailer to go to the tip.We live in a very small house (just 72sq.m), but have a garage like the Tardis - there's a mammoth amount of stuff in there.
The sorting process goes in fits and starts. Some stuff gets sorted very quickly, then you'll suddenly realise you've just spent an hour going through a box of photos and old school reports - it's the sentimental stuff that slows you down.
And deciding what to keep can be a real challenge. It's nice to hold on to memories, but when do they just become clutter? Craig's Mum's china for instance - in the end we can't keep it all, even though it meant so much to her. So, a few pieces with special meaning into the storage unit, a few more given away to friends, and the rest for sale on TradeMe. At least it's being bought by people who will enjoy it.
I totally agree about treasures becoming clutter! I have had many clean outs and had to part with lots of memories - in reality the memories are still with you anyway. It is so hard though getting rid of things that were once special!
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