What's the real problem?

Lately, my husband and I have been feeling that our house is too small. Well, it *is* small. It's about 800 sq ft on the main level, with close to that in the finished basement. We'd each like our own space, and we'd like our two young children to each have their space. Sounds reasonable on the face of it. But take a look around our house...and you'll see that while more space might be nice, it wouldn't fix the problem.

We feel squeezed because there is so much in this little place that is squeezing us--layers and piles of stuff. So, shouldn't we clear out the stuff, so that we can have space to breathe? And how easy to say that, when we've live like this for years. Our friends know we have clutter (one friend has seen this side of us for over a decade and helps bring us down to earth when we suggest that perhaps we are doing better. He's honest, I respect that. But the truth is still painful).

Here's another small tour, and a problem. In one of the photos below are some canning jars, full of jam, chutney, preserves. These were gifts, and while tasty, they are much more than we can use. They are also over five years old now. I've been holding on to them, puzzling what to do. One can't give home-canned items to the food bank, they just won't take them. At this point, they're old enough so I'm not comfortable passing them on to other friends. Should they just go into the compost pile and let me move on with my life?