Good that you can consider letting it go. With certain things, I find that giving it a little time makes the parting less painful than if you chucked it on the spot.
But not waiting so long that you're drowning.

I think that we all have a few of those bags...

Consider giving it to Goodwill. Someone else might like them!

Julie, you wrote "I had too much effort invested in them to toss them". When I do my cabinet in the garage, I must remember your post. This is exactly the problem I've had in getting rid of stuff in all these years.

I have spent "years" on research for various projects that I know will never see the light of day. But I can't let go of all this paper because of the work put into it. And I know the key words are "will never see the light of day" (I can see Talley Sue pointing that out to me).

If I were able to focus on the future instead of the past when it comes to my various projects, I would be so much better off mentally and physically because of the energy taken away from me.

I think my interim step will be to put all these past projects into one bin and if I don't have a need to go into it within 6 months, I will toss it.

Thank you, Julie, for your post. It really helped me to see things so much more clearly.

It is so hard to get rid of things that I invested a lot of energy in! Sometimes, it's hardest of all when something didn't turn out the way I planned, or I never finished it. I feel shame and despair when I start going through this stuff, and avoid looking at it! Same with the piles of paper I seem doomed to create. Thankfully for me, I married a DH who is ruthless about tossing stuff. I don't think I'll ever go over to his side completely, but the challenge to my way of doing things is invaluable. The piles and boxes and stowed away stuff becomes invisible to me, and I would live with it a long time, except that he notices it and gets me to do something about it. (Before he throws it out! LOL)

Marie,

I was haunted for a long time by a LOT of unfinished sewing projects and craft projects that were stored away for years. I felt much better when I got rid of everything that wasn't worth finishing. I mean, why finish sewing a blouse that wouldn't fit anyway??

Although I *thought* a Christmas tree made totally out of poinsettias would be a good idea, it was NOT! LOL It definitely goes, and goes guilt-fee.

When I did the cabinet yesterday, I realized that most of my projects have notes in files in the filing cabinet making them out of sight/out of mind. I am going to move everything to the cabinet where I made space for them. This way, everything I have once started will finally have all the information together in one place. I will then continue to weed out even more. I should then only have the most necessary information regarding each project and at that point, because of actually reading what is in each binder and assessing its importance, I will be able to make the decision about what goes and what stays.

Funny story:

Those shopping bags did NOT contain what I thought they did! No bad craft projects after all; I must have tossed those already. Turns out the bags hold Christmas and winter decorations that didn't get put away last year. LOL

Glad you checked out those bags finally! Just the same, if we have projects or materials for projects lingering around, they are as good as in the trash. Donate them to a thrift shop where someone else can use them. Especially now that Christmas is coming, holiday project stuff will sell.

I'm finishing an afghan I just don't like, but I'll finish it bit by bit. As soon as it's done, it's going in one of those plastic zipper bags with a label, then off to my favorite thrift shop. I don't feel bad, just learned something! LOL

The key to all this is now paring down the Christmas decorations so the "forgotten" ones will fit in the storage boxes. I need to be brutal, and get rid of everything I don't truly love.