Clutterbusting again

I'm clutterbusting again.  Obviously I am not swinging into Operation Christmas Clean as I should - that would be far too easy. 

I have just got rid of some old cardboard boxes from the junk room and another three bin bags.  The bin bags are controversial.

The bin bags that I have thrown out have contained things that could be used by someone else. 

I have incredibly mixed feelings about this.  The bin bags included some sewing thread that I suspect is rotten (I was shocked when I found nylon thread could go rotten as well!).  I cannot see a charity shop wanting nearly a bin bag full of part used rolls of thread some of which are in dubious condition.  The thing is, I hardly ever sew.  I have a sewing plait, like this for the odd button (can't remember when I last did one, but I have some red skull buttons to sew on little bear's gloves) or to catch something down.  I have a roll of cotton for the cushions when I have enough to stuff them.  Apart from that, I don't know when I will next use sewing thread.  There was use in them, but I needed the space more than I need the possibility I may be able to use the thread and that it will be in a fit condition. 

I threw away some cross stitch kits.  I threw away all kits that I had started and not got round to finishing five years ago.  Also I threw away all the little kits that I had got from magazines.  I had no idea where the original charts had gone, so they couldn't be used 'as is', I couldn't imagine using the thread in any project and I did not want to collect something like fifty cheap cross stitch needles.  I already have at least one hundred somewhere, from previous kits.   

But someone could have used them. 

I think the feeling I have is from my grandmother who went through WWII and all the rationing that involved.  You couldn't get needles.  You couldn't get cross stitch floss.  Every scrap that wasn't used was recycled, or donated, or used up in one way or another.  To throw away something that someone else could use was just not done.  We threw away hundreds of her magazines when she passed, which she had kept, in case she wanted a knitting pattern.  I don't think she every bought a pattern in her life, all of them came from magazines. 

And there is the ecological side - all this to landfill.  At the very least I should separate the needles to recycle.  Except today I have put on washing, put on the dishwasher, watched little bear's nativity, loaded up Cats in the Bible to publish separately on Amazon Kindle (still pending as I type), made darling father's lunch, written Christmas cards, and cleared out a huge pile of rubbish.  If I wait until I make time to sort out the needles from the haystack of junk, the junk will never go.  My time is not going to expand.  I need the space that I am clearing, I need to sleep in a bed again. 

Apart from the desperate desire to get the bed sorted out, I am also aware that a lot of stuff I could theoretically donate, if I ever got to a charity shop, wouldn't be wanted, and is unlikely to be bought.  People are still half living in the economic climate of a few years ago when buying a reel of sewing thread or a packet of needles was not a big deal.  It is now less of a casual purchase.  So many have lost jobs or are looking at pay freezes while inflation gallops on.  I don't care what the figure says - food and energy have gone up so much that everything is being squeezed.  However the remnants and fragments that I have thrown away are still not worth hunting round for.  They may be one day, but I need that space now. 

It is the curse of hoarding - seeing the utility in things.  I just refuse to see more value in 'stuff' than in the space for me to sleep comfortably. 

(still conflicted, of course)