Dear Annie: Eight years ago, it felt like I had a mental breakdown trying to deal with all the clutter coming in our house. I told this to my wife, but her reply was to justify why she needed everything.

Meanwhile, my frustration turned from anger to rage, and I started throwing things and shouting at her and not understanding how attached she was to her stuff. I threw boxes and boxes into the trash. Fast forward eight years to the present, and the situation hasn’t gotten any better. Her relationship with me has been put in a box and stored somewhere in the garage. These last eight years, I’ve been trying to cater to her and make her feel happy again. Me throwing her stuff away was like I was killing the kids or something.