So many "advice givers" want us to declutter.

[jaxs]

Clearly you don't have a wife who "borrows" stuff and doesn't put it back because "she's not done with it yet". Drives me nuts.

Never had that happen but i have a son that borrow's without my knowledge,keeps it until he believe's it belongs to him. This is a true story that happened years ago and still affords us a laugh today. Son had been married 3 or 4 years when their backdoor was kicked in and several things stolen. When he came home,he called sheriff then called his wife to let her why there would be police cars there when she arrived. DIL told him "you should have called your dad before calling the police,he might have done it to teach you a lesson".

 

[goeduck]

I don't have a wife, but a lady that stays here while she's waiting to have a house built, does that, and it drives me nuts.
A while back, my stainless steel kitchen tongs came up missing out of the drawer where I always keep them. I searched everywhere for them, when she came back a few days later, she searched for them too. Never found them, so I bought another pair.
Then, the multi bit screwdriver I keep in my center desk drawer went AWOL. Had that thing for over 20 years, gone, disappeared.
Argh!
That's the best thing about being single and living alone, everything is always just where I put it away the last time I used it, and in the same condition.

I had quite a go around with my wife over this subject early on. She would "put things away" anywhere there was room in a drawer or cupboard, no rhyme or reason. No logic and not where whatever it was came from.

Her family was like that, they were very unorganized. If they needed something and could not find it they would buy a new one. I ended up having to deal with the mess when the generations passed. Rooms and garages full of stuff. I think I inherited about 20 hammers as an example.

 

[jaxs]

I had quite a go around with my wife over this subject early on. She would "put things away" anywhere there was room in a drawer or cupboard, no rhyme or reason. No logic and not where whatever it was came from.

Her family was like that, they were very unorganized. If they needed something and could not find it they would buy a new one. I ended up having to deal with the mess when the generations passed. Rooms and garages full of stuff. I think I inherited about 20 hammers as an example.

You could have avoided the whole thing had you not been afraid to go home with your girl to meet the folks.

 

[Gem99ultra]

Not one of the posters prior to you described themselves as "hoarders".
Those of us that save good material for reuse or repurposing are vital to the planet.
As long as it is kept in good condition it should retain its value.

Decluttering is important. But it takes time. Often I've it found it takes less time if I let the "clutter" build up over the course of several projects before I sort, file and store it all. Rather than spend 15 minutes putting everything away four or five times I save it until the end. But until I wrap up it may look like a mess.

And as the supply shortages due to just-in-time supply chain problems keep piling up those of us with stock on hand just keep putting along.

A wise man once told me "Don't put your tools away until the job is totally done." Good advice but hard to learn.