HELP! My husband won't throw anything away!

**ubumartin** · 04-30-2007, 10:31 PM

Does anyone have this problem. I throw away things I shouldn't and my husband keeps everything. He keeps old newspapers, I throw away important papers. We need a solution. I am at my wits end. I tell him that I wouldn't feel so compelled to throw things away if he would only keep the important things. We need to get organized and have a system for filing. He complains that he has no where to put things but I think he has things everywhere. ARGHH! I am buying him a filing cabinet this weekend and giving him access to it so that he can not accuse me of throwing away his things. Hopefully it can help.

**jamie79** · 04-30-2007, 11:46 PM

Oh yes I must be married to his twin so what I have done thru the years and when he is not home I throw things away. He never misses any of it either. To help hide the fact that I have thrown things away is I rearrange things in the house too. Sneaky I know but if I didnt do it then we would need another house just for all of dh's junk

**yankeegal** · 05-04-2007, 03:19 PM

Originally Posted by jamie79

Oh yes I must be married to his twin so what I have done thru the years and when he is not home I throw things away. He never misses any of it either. To help hide the fact that I have thrown things away is I rearrange things in the house too. Sneaky I know but if I didnt do it then we would need another house just for all of dh's junk

I do the same! I have a box in the basement-kind of a holding tank. I move things there for a period of 6 months-and if DH doesn't miss it, I throw/give it away. He has never missed anything I have tossed.

**TheRootedNomad** · 05-04-2007, 03:29 PM

Originally Posted by yankeegal

I do the same! I have a box in the basement-kind of a holding tank. I move things there for a period of 6 months-and if DH doesn't miss it, I throw/give it away. He has never missed anything I have tossed.

Oh, I like that idea!!!! My hubby is a pretty big saver. Not as bad as some but lots worse than I'd like. When we first got married I threw some things out I didn't think he'd miss (a couple of holey tees and a couple of empty bottles) and I never heard the end of it so now I

it out with him whenever I think something should go. The holding tank idea sounds much saner...even if I tell him I'm going to create a holding tank but not where it is. Especially if I don't use it for awhile at first.

**Marie78** · 05-04-2007, 04:44 PM

I had to laugh at this post! My fiance tends to throw the important papers away and I am the opposite, I tend to over save documents "just in case." Recently our renters insurance was due and they are charging us for something last year that we already paid for, well my fiance threw out the receipt for last years payment and now we have no documentation of it! It's only $10 they are claiming we didn't pay, but it bugs me because I know we did pay it. I am getting better at parting with things, but receipts and other bill information I have a difficult time parting with.

**kittykatstrong** · 05-11-2007, 07:15 PM

I would give him an area out of sight of company and set up some org. things for him. See if that works

Katy

**KandD2007** · 05-16-2007, 01:49 PM

I have this same problem. We haven't even been married for that long either! He keeps every little receipt for everything and every box. I keep thinking why in the world do you still need a receipt from Wal-Mart for toilet paper from 4 months ago?? Our spare bedroom is so cluttered because he hates getting rid of stuff. I figure my best bet is to clean it out when he is not around that way he can't try to talk me into keeping a bunch of stuff we don't need.

**lullaby80** · 05-31-2007, 01:16 PM

My DH is the same way. Our solution was to give him his own office room (we had an extra bedroom) and he can't do whatever he likes with it. I don't care if he has cc statements from 5 years ago as long as I don't have to look at them. So the door stays closed at all times and his stuff is out of my sight. I do go through his clothes twice a year and throw things away, he doesn't seem to have a problem with this, lol.

**IntlMom** · 05-31-2007, 05:56 PM

Originally Posted by jamie79

Oh yes I must be married to his twin so what I have done thru the years and when he is not home I throw things away. He never misses any of it either. To help hide the fact that I have thrown things away is I rearrange things in the house too. Sneaky I know but if I didnt do it then we would need another house just for all of dh's junk

I do this too - LOTS, I don't even think twice about it. He wants us save EOBs from years ago....and the power bill from 3 years ago.....we agree to save bills paid for one year in a filling cabinet - then I throw it away - I go through the EOBs and bank statements periodically too and burn them in the frreplace - I go through the boys toys and do the same thing periodically to. I hate clutter and stuff!!!