Clutter and hoarding - help!

Sofa_Sogood

Edinburghlass wrote:

I want to buy the house next door to your neighbour's, any of them

does that mean you will baby sit for me and do my ironing :j

No! I'll babysit but noooo to ironing :rolleyes:

Is 70p chreap though?

who the heck cares??

Not me

(I'll have to find that quote in quotes thread lol)

Savvy_Sue

Well Sofa, I bought my bread machine second hand for not quite the same reason as you: we don't get through a lot of bread, but when we run out I really resent paying £1 or more for a basic white sliced loaf from the corner shop just because I can't easily get to a supermarket. And none of us like frozen bread. It only makes a 1.5 lb loaf, however, which means it's not big enough to cook a packet of bread mix, although I can just knead it then put it in oven.

So I usually buy a loaf of white (for the kids) and a loaf of brown (for us) at the weekend, then 'top up' with the machine part way through the week. Sometimes I make it at the weekend, but it all goes at one meal!

Just realised, no brown bread in the house and hubby and I are home today ... mmm, fresh bread needed!

and yes, 150 shirts is excessive: my DH has lots but not quite that many, his dad passed a load on to him when he retired, doesn't intend to wear a white shirt ever again! Make sure you keep a grotty one for painting in and then throw out the oldest ones: you don't want to have to go and buy any more in a hurry, do you?

Sofa_Sogood

I'm going to invest in a bread maker Savvy_Sue.

I opened a 'fresh' loaf from Asda yesterday, and thought my cheese n onion sandwich tasted of chemicals but put it down to the onion. But it's the same today - as if the plastic wrapper's reacted with the bread. I'd go as far as saying it's giving off 'fumes' yuk

As for the t shirts? I'm boxing them up and sending them to work. The lads might as well have a change of t shirt now the weather's changing and I'll hide the more expensive ones till he's run out of clean ones

Savvy_Sue

Sofa_Sogood wrote:

I'm going to invest in a bread maker Savvy_Sue.

There's been various discussions about them on Moneysaving Old Style, and on I wanna as well I think, so if you've got an hour or two to kill one day you could do some research before you buy.

If there's just the two of you usually then a small one should do you: no point making big loaves because it doesn't keep well. Or maybe you can make half-quantities in a large one, don't know!

End of my week off, and what do I have to show for it? Zilch. But my blood pressure's coming down! So I've probably just stopped caring ...

Edinburghlass_2

Savvy-Sue you have just brought my blood pressure down too as your confession relieves my guilt at having done nothing either.......

Sofa_Sogood

Savvy_Sue wrote:

There's been various discussions about them on Moneysaving Old Style, and on I wanna as well I think, so if you've got an hour or two to kill one day you could do some research before you buy.

If there's just the two of you usually then a small one should do you: no point making big loaves because it doesn't keep well. Or maybe you can make half-quantities in a large one, don't know!

End of my week off, and what do I have to show for it? Zilch. But my blood pressure's coming down! So I've probably just stopped caring ...

I've seen those threads Savvy_Sue but didn't take much notice at the time because of the space issue etc, but I'll have another look through them all. I can always find an hour or two to kill (touch wood )

There's just the two of us, but I don't mind feeding the lads at work. Luckily they have strong stomachs and big appetites , so I don't think there'll be much wasted. (And tbh - I waste so much sometimes I doubt I'd notice it which isn't good.)

But like EdinburghLass, I've done very little (apart from add to my ever increasing weight - I blame reading this site ) and I've had more than a year off :eek:

But well done re the BP. That's a fair swap in 'my world'

I'll have to start again with the Money Diet book, the tips, the everything.

Thanks to Asda and it's awful bread I might be a moneysaver after all

But I'm still surrounded by clutter lol.

Maybe cheap filing cabinets hidden in the understairs cupboard might be better. I'm a bit like KK I think - hoard unnecessary things. I'll start again.

Tomorrow

Savvy_Sue

Edinburghlass wrote:

Savvy-Sue you have just brought my blood pressure down too as your confession relieves my guilt at having done nothing either.......

but I haven't got a broken wrist to use an excuse!

Sofa_Sogood wrote:

There's just the two of us, but I don't mind feeding the lads at work. Luckily they have strong stomachs and big appetites , so I don't think there'll be much wasted. (And tbh - I waste so much sometimes I doubt I'd notice it which isn't good.)

I have a very good recipe for bread pudding, so I haven't 'wasted' too much, but it seems we share another problem not helped by bread pudding...

Sofa_Sogood wrote:

But like EdinburghLass, I've done very little (apart from add to my ever increasing weight - I blame reading this site ) and I've had more than a year off :eek:

You'll have to come and join us on the I wanna ... lose weight thread! I won't make it too easy by pasting the link - it's a sticky at the top of the I wanna board!

Curry_Queen

Thanks to Ed'lass for reminding me of this thread :A

I seriously need some help! ... preferably my own personal version of Agi & Kim I think

Are there any companies out there that actually provide that sort of service, as opposed to just regular cleaners? What I would really like is for someone to come in and help me sort out all the clutter (and preferably remove it for me!) and give the flat a good bottoming (it's not filthy or anything, but there are areas that have been neglected this last year due to ill health and disability) so that I could start with a clean slate and try to keep on top of it.

I've struggled with it for far too long, going round in circles trying to do bits and getting nowhere really. By the time I've done the daily necessities, i.e. cooking, washing-up, laundry, cleaning the bathroom etc I'm just too exhausted to do anything else, and even struggle with these at times

Thing is, I contacted an old friend recently and she wants to come and stay for a few days soon and I'm absolutely horrified at the thought of her seeing my home in such a mess :eek: as I used to be extremely fussy and everything was always in pristine order. I know she won't mind in the slightest and it's me she's coming to see, not my flat, but I can't help panicking over it. Plus, my bed has been buried under piles of clothes and clean laundry for months and I've been sleeping on the sofa all this time, so I haven't even got anywhere for her to sleep at the moment.

The other reason I need to do something now is that I'm desparate to move and have recently applied to a HA, as there's very little suitable property available privately round here, and although I know I could be waiting some time there's always a chance they might find something quickly due to my circumstances. If that happened there's no way I could cope with trying to pack everything and sort out all the clutter, so I need to start getting prepared because I don't want to move it all on to the next home and end up in the same situation.

The trouble is I just don't know where to start and I'm getting more and more depressed each day looking at it all and tearing my hair out with the stress at being stuck here like this. I don't have any family or friends locally to help out and my eldest two boys are worse than useless if I ask them for any help so I'm stuck on my own to try and sort all this out, which makes it almost impossible with being housebound on top of it all.

Sorry for rambling on so much but I just can't cope with it any longer and don't have anywhere else to turn

Savvy_Sue

Oh dear C-Q, what a state you're in! Keep on with telling yourself it's YOU your friend is coming to see, and why not warn her now that things have got on top of you? Maybe she'll give you a hand with a few things?

But yes, there are people who will come in and help you, I've sometimes seen adverts down our local shops. Although I'm also doing a bit of lateral thinking here: is it worth asking your GP if he is aware of any 'home help' type services you could access? Or do you have a Social Worker? Because they might be able to help you access extra help. It's a shame you're too young to approach Help the Aged or Age Concern or anyone like that!

Is the Flylady site any good for you? Doing little bits at a time, that kind of thing.

And I seem to remember you have a 12yo son at home? If I'm right, I know it's hard but make sure he helps you with the day to day stuff. I don't wash up any more: there are five fit young men - OK, 2 of them are 40+ but they're all younger than me! - around the house, so why should I fall asleep at the sink? Cooking, washing up, cleaning the bathroom and laundry are ALL within his capabilities, so leave at least one of them for him to do each day while you do something that's beyond him, like sorting out the piles of paper which breed in every house I live in! If I'm wrong and you're all alone, be very nice to yourself. Use paper plates. Eat ready meals if you like them (bought on special offer from the supermarket, of course). Give up ironing, if you haven't already.

Oh! Are you a council tenant at the mo? If you are, contact your Housing Officer and ask if she can get you any help: I know it may sound daft, but your support needs should be assessed and help found for you.

Good luck, we'll all be rooting for you! Well it's got to be better than sorting out our own messes, hasn't it? :rotfl:

BTW, a friend came round the other day with several large carrier bags of things surplus to her requirements which she thought I might like to sort through to see what would be useful to us at work, and what wasn't useful to go to the next Scout Jumble Sale. Well, I managed to not only do that, but also do a 'shoe cull' of the porch and part of the hallway! One bag of stuff gone into work, four bags waiting for the Scouts! Result!

Turning_into_scrooge

karen23 wrote:

Not sure how much help this will be...................but I find I'm best off de-cluttering when I'm pre-menstrual. I'm far more ruthless about what I chuck out for some reason I've recently thrown out things I've previously hung onto for over 15 years. Feels good and I haven't regretted chucking anything yet!!

I'm good at chucking things out when its a nice sunny day :T . gives me a bit of get up and go lol Got to the point recently where the dogs started hiding, i think she thinks shes going the bin too :rotfl: