How long do you keep "stuff"

That reminds me. My niece, 30, recently sent me an essay that she had written in pencil at school when she was 7, "My favourite person". Seemingly she loved me because I used to bring her shopping and take her for trips in my car when she came on holiday. She knew that I loved her because I thought she was nice. Aw!

Ma

I confess. I am a serial hoarder. If something breaks, its taken apart and anything that might be useful is kept. Can't think of how many washing machine/lawn mower motors and parts etc I've stored over the years. Off cuts of steel/pipes or timber are always kept because they maybe useful for (insert completely ridiculous situation here).

Magazines and newspapers are kept even though I could just cut out the article I wanted.

they're a saying/point of view that "you never see an empty shelf", so the more storage solutions you acquire the more junk you hold onto. My pet hate is using unlabeled boxes where stuff dissappears, particularly where every box is a random jumble. At the least I try to put stuff of a type in a box, so you end up with a box of CD's, a box of books etc., so you know where to find things a bit easier/quicker.

I tend to be generally lazy and occasionally ruthless whereby my "home office" accumulates junk for 6 months at a time, then I clear it and thin it out to pristine condition, and the cycle starts again. Everything is relative, my folks house could do with a "desparate houses" type declutter where they put a marquee up and really sort it out. As it is rooms get tidied in series where the junk generally gets shunted around but never diminshes much (like those games where there's one free square and you have to move the others to move anything).