Since moving back in with 'rents (out of convenience more than anything - I can walk to work!), I decided to clear up my old room. Most things like clothes and other rubbisb I have thrown out but there are some things I'm in a quandry about.

School books - I have every exercise book since the beginning of secondary school, in every lesson I took. I also have all my old A-level work and past papers etc. Debating whether to keep them or not. I will never look at them but can't bear to throw away eight years of hard graft. Though currently kept for sentimentality reasons (I would like to show my future kids my old work but I suspect they will never be interested), just wondering what you have done with your stuff?

Old computers - I have some old computers and equipment lying around including two zx spectrums, neiher of which IIRC work, as well as a load of copied games. Again the ZX Spectrums have been kept more for sentimentality than anything else but the old PCs are so I can still play my old games (some of which don't work on anything other than DOS/win95; won't work on dosbox either). Again what have you guys done?

Old toys - again I have a collection of toys and models, some which work and can be played with and others can't. Again with the airfix/heller models, a lot of effort went into making them and they are examples of my (crap) handiwork. The toys I've always envisioned giving to my children.

With these things I could clear up a lot of much-needed space, making my life easier. The loft hasn't been converted so not suitable for long term storage. They all have no value other than sentimentality but I'm still finding it difficult to give them up. More importantly, when I do get my own house there is unlikely to be any room for them (unless I go for loft/basement storage).

What would you do?

Bin/sell the lot. You'd be amazed at the space you recover and how liberating it feels.

Get rid of most of it probably - you always think you'll use/sell it later on, but few people do I suspect

The old toys might be worth a few £ though

Why not scan some of your most interesting school books - say, one for each subject, or one for each school year. Store them on an external drive as JPEGs/convert to PDFs, or burn to DVD for future reference. Then bin the lot!

Give me some of the old kit

im interested in the airfix stuff

I'm such a terrible hoarder, at the moment I have a 3rd bedroom, garage and self-storage unit filled with all that sort of crap. Never look at it, but can't bring myself to chuck it!

I've thought about this but honestly none of my stuff is worthwhile - I never worked hard until
a-levels so my secondary school work was nothing to be proud of.

I'll probably end up burning it in a 'cremation'.

What the hell did you guys did with your school books?

Most of mine are under the bed in the spare room, where they've been for over 10 years

I have a storage unit and there is a lot of stuff still at my parents’.

I filed them under "B"

In the round file cabinet?

The big black one?

Yep.

I think I stripped out the blank pages for scribbling on. Most of them went in the bin. The only thing I still have from my school days is my CSE History project, because I'd put a lot of effort into it and the interest in that particular subject has become a lifelong obsession.

Yes, CSE. I'm that old. For our younger viewers, the Certificate of Secondary Education was the the thickos who weren't clever enough to sit an O Level paper. Both were superseded by the GCSE, I understand.

Nuff said.