Clutter and hoarding - help!

Savvy_Sue

elona wrote:

So glad I am not the only one who loves her books. I enjoy re- reading them and getting even more out of them the second time.

At the risk of sounding soppy - they feel like pets or something ( two of my daughters feel the same way).

I feel that way about some of my books, but I buy quite a few at jumble sales and often send them back where they came from after I've read them. It's a good cheap way of checking out whether there is any reason why eg J Archer sells so many books (not that I can see). But if I think anyone else in the house will want to read them I keep them. Before anyone goes away there's usually an extensive search of the shelves to see what should go in the carrier bag of books.

BUT I still don't see how anyone can retain that kind of attachment to the second hand text books they bought when they were studying Maths A level ... nearly 30 years ago! I KNOW he says the boys might find them useful, but I've yet to hear them admit they can't solve a Maths problem, and certainly not to ask him for any useful books on the subject he might have!

Anyway, I'm glad I'm not alone in having boxes (not just books) not unpacked after years of living in a house. We did try to sort out the lounge last summer, but we bought the wrong size of cupboard and I got stuck again.

savvy

Savvy_Sue wrote:

BUT I still don't see how anyone can retain that kind of attachment to the second hand text books they bought when they were studying Maths A level ... nearly 30 years ago!

Crikey wouldn't they be out of date with todays teaching methods??

Curry Queen.........................I can totally relate to you feeling overwhelmed and not knowing where to start!!! I have the same problem and there's only me that will sort it too. I try to start in one small area at a time, usually an area that will be noticed the most........................only problem is that no sooner has it been sorted...............it's been filled again!!! :mad: :rolleyes:

Savvy_Sue

savvy wrote:

Crikey wouldn't they be out of date with todays teaching methods??

Well that's what I said 5 years ago when I'd put them in the box to go to the Liberal Democrat sale (where we lived then the LibDems ran an annual book sale to raise funds and had built up a good deal of expertise in book dealing!)

But no, HE thought they were worth holding on to because HE had sometimes found that looking at a different approach to the one in whatever standard text book he'd been given was helpful.

IF I ever find them again, they're out. When he's not looking. He will never know. Because even if one of our sons DID want to look at them - they do at least have a talent for maths! - we would NOT be able to find them. I know this for a fact: we now have THREE copies of Catch 22: one in a box which we can't find but we know we've got it; one bought in a second hand shop because I couldn't find the first copy and my middle son wanted to read it; and a new one given to my middle son for his birthday because I'd asked someone to get it for him when I couldn't find the first copy, only that was a few months before I bought the second copy and I'd forgotten that the third copy was on its way ...

savvy wrote:

Curry Queen.........................I can totally relate to you feeling overwhelmed and not knowing where to start!!! I have the same problem and there's only me that will sort it too. I try to start in one small area at a time, usually an area that will be noticed the most........................only problem is that no sooner has it been sorted...............it's been filled again!!! :mad: :rolleyes:

Well I've now been all through one table full of paper and it only took two evenings. There's now just a lower level stratum of Christmas cracker toys, a pile of paperwork which mustn't be thrown away but I haven't got the energy to sort it and file it tonight (assorted bank and credit card statements going back over at least three years!), a recycling box full of paper, and a pile for my husband. I have been able to re-construct some of the car's service history but not the stuff I know we've had done in the last year so that's probably on the dining room chair.

savvy

"I know this for a fact: we now have THREE copies of Catch 22: one in a box which we can't find but we know we've got it; one bought in a second hand shop because I couldn't find the first copy and my middle son wanted to read it; and a new one given to my middle son for his birthday because I'd asked someone to get it for him when I couldn't find the first copy, only that was a few months before I bought the second copy and I'd forgotten that the third copy was on its way ..."

LMAO! so know this scenario!!! Hoarding is not very moneysaving in the long run sometimes!!! :rolleyes:

Curry_Queen

savvy wrote:

Curry Queen.........................I can totally relate to you feeling overwhelmed and not knowing where to start!!! I have the same problem and there's only me that will sort it too. I try to start in one small area at a time, usually an area that will be noticed the most........................only problem is that no sooner has it been sorted...............it's been filled again!!! :mad: :rolleyes:

It's nice to know I'm not alone

The main problem is that I had to considerably downsize property during my last move and now stuck in a poky little flat with barely room to swing a cat ... (not sure either of my cats would like me to experiment on them to find that out though LOL!) ... and even though I had a major clear out prior to that move, plus left a hell of a lot of stuff behind (a shed and garage-full!) plus some stuff going into storage, I still have far too much stuff around me. The whole move and losing so many possessions in itself was traumatic enough and I think that's why I'm desparate to cling on to what I have now even if I don't need it. Would you believe I still have a box full of teenage memoirs (diaries, school books, letters etc ... and even a stamp collection!) that I packed when I originally left home at 16 and has followed me around for the last 20+ years, still in the same box! LOL! ... I think maybe the OP had the right idea about talking to a therapist about it!

savvy

I think you're right Curry Queen, there definately seems to be psychological links to this subject. My eldest son keeps hold of EVERYTHING as memories, even sweet wrappers!!! Grrrrr! At least when I did that when I was a kid, I categorised them and stuck them in a scrap book, AND had grown out of it LONG before his age!!! :rolleyes: I believe his hoarding stems from me and his father splitting up when he was young, I don't think he's got over it properly.

Wouldn't you be able to sell the stamp collection?? This is the way I'm trying to get through to the kids at the mo...............sell your stuff and turn it into something more useful!!!! It's working on the younger one, he can see the benefits.................but I think the older one is going to turn into another Mr Trebaskis (old bloke off the Life of Grime)!!

aliasojo

elona wrote:

So glad I am not the only one who loves her books. I enjoy re- reading them and getting even more out of them the second time.

At the risk of sounding soppy - they feel like pets or something ( two of my daughters feel the same way).

Yip! A full bookcase is a happy bookcase! (Only most of my books are in boxes at the mo'.)

Maybe we should all start a 'sad individual club' or something, lol! I'm happy to be a founder member.

Savvy_Sue wrote:

BUT I still don't see how anyone can retain that kind of attachment to the second hand text books they bought when they were studying Maths A level ... nearly 30 years ago!

Oh lol! This is me! Except it's Chemistry, French and History textbooks. It's not that I'm overly fond of the books themselves....it's more that they are a part of my past. They're almost 30 years old......they're collector's items.

System

they're collector's items.

You mean junk

Savvy_Sue

Judi wrote:

You mean junk

(smilie deleted because it puts me over quota! Sorry Judi!

I am with Judi on this one!

A few years after I graduated, DH let me 'lend' my Hebrew Old Testament and dictionary to someone who would otherwise have had to buy their own copy, and I haven't seen (or missed!) either of them since. I knew he wouldn't let me get rid of any of my actual theology books, but I also knew that if we wanted to refer back to the texts 'as originally written', there were tools we could use more effectively than my very rusty Hebrew to do so!

Have I mentioned the bent floor board nails? DH didn't want me to throw them away, but I was allowed to take them to a car boot sale. I was amazed when someone offered me 50p for them!

Oh, and I've found some of the car servicing bills I was looking for. Some of them were even filed in the right place!

aliasojo

Judi wrote:

You mean junk

Lol! Yes, that's what they are but I still can't bring myself to throw them out.

(Please note: I shall only ever admit that here, in amongst my fellow hoarders. )