Hoarding...not just on TV

moneysavingmumofone

PipneyJane wrote: »

[press delurk button ]

I'm a former [STRIKE]vampire[/STRIKE] radiotherapy and oncology nurse, and that's just a load of bunkum. It is more difficult taking blood from the veins in the hand because they're smaller and you can't take as large a volume as you can from the veins in the elbow. However, a competent phlebotomist should be able to do it easily with a butterfly needle.

For anyone with a phobia: often the fear of the phobic reaction is worse than doing the actual thing that scares you. Ultimately, the only way to break the cycle is to confront it by acknowledging the fear and doing the act anyway, whether it is decluttering the hoard or facing the phlebotomist. You do have to learn to control your breathing, though, and breath slowly and deeply. Most physical symptoms are due to the effect on your body of the panting-type quick, shallow breaths we do when we're panicking. Oh, and tell your "evil angel" to p*ss off (that's the voice inside your head that keeps reminding you "last time, you fainted").

(I can thoroughly recommend Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway but the above is a quick summary. The title summarises 95% of the book's contents, anyway.)



[ / press delurk button ]

You have completely hit the nail on the head! Thankyou so much for delurking to give me this advice. Ive bought the book from amazon as luckily I had a few pounds of leftover credit from a gift certificate! Thanks so much. xxx

SpikyHedgehog wrote: »

I struggle with an infestation of whatifs - but what if I get rid of the surplus plates & we have an unexpected dinner party? The boys break all the other plates? I make a cake to take to mothers for someones birthday & need a plate to put it on? The kitchen tap breaks? The boiler breaks?

All very silly when I type them for you all to see! & the unexpected dinner party has never happened yet, I've had people for in impromptu dinner, but had more than enough plates.

I think I need some whatif repellant :-)

I've used 6 plastic boxes to organise the stuff hidden in the ' spare wardrobe that lives in my room for winter prep stuff that just gets crammed in it so I don't know what is in there'. & now it is to be known as the ' spare wardrobe that lives in my room for winter prep stuff'. (I have 11 tins of baked beans, & as many of tomatoes.)

I've separated all our warm hats etc into separate boxes for each of us, so the next step is to find out how much of DS2 full box still fits him, & get rid of the stuff that doesn't.

Another whatiffer here! Im terrible for keeping little bits of stuff 'in case they belong to something' like bits of plastic that *might* be off one of DS' toys or a screw that *might* be oh so important. End up with pots and tubs of 'stuff'!

Byatt wrote: »

Thanks Blossom, for letting me know about Calico. xxx If you're reading Calico, many hugs.

Back from the dr's and I'm continuing with meds as I don't need as much and they are helping other symptoms, but I also forgot to ask about a couple of other things. He's a lovely dr, but I just become so intimidated.

I took 2 pictures to the CS on the way, and there were lots of murmurings of how nice they were. Taken me a while to take these 2, but one was on the floor leaning against the wall and not even the right way around, so not sure why it was so hard.

However, I have a new arrival, a mini oven as my other one is on its last legs, it's flipping huge and yet another cardboard box to dispose of! Going to get the old oven in the car ready for the tip so it doesn't look so bad.

I'm not sure it will fit on cupboard I have, it never occurred to me to measure. Talk about dippy.

You are doing a fab job donating things. I would have found it very hard to get rid of a cute pink mixing bowl. I know what you mean about intimidating doctors and forgetting things, I always forget to mention things. I get flustered and then feel worse afterwards as I know Ill have to go back! x

idristhedragon

well I havent managed to ebay as I had to go to school and watch my boys end of term thing (90 mins sat on concrete with a nursery child flicking my foot) but hey, when Im old and theyre not at school anymore and I have daughter in laws that think Im an inteferring old bat Ill be glad I went, wont I??:o

I will do it tomorrow. I keep thinking I cant do it tomorrow as I read somewhere that its best to have ebay finish on a Sunday night but surely having ebay on there to finish AT ALL is better than being in a heap in a hoard :cool:

I am really excited about clearing the kitchen- i also have breeding lasagne type dishes, despite spending a load of money on beautiful red le creuset ones a couple of years ago....where are they? Hidden in a cupboard that causes an avalanche each time its opened.................:mad:

Tomorrow- all I have to do is drop big DD off at a party so tomorrow I will be packing boxes for CS and listing ebay. Kids break up Thursday so better attack it while I can!

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

I have a nice and sparkly living room, kitchen, both bathrooms, entrance hall, a clean bedroom with one washing basket of clothes to put away/cull as I go, one carrier bag of filing, a clean and tidy garden that has been weeded to give better circulation of air around the sunflowers and tomatoes - and one spare room which looks horrid but could be done in a day.


Once I work out how to link to stuff using an iPhone, I'll post photos.

moneysavingmumofone

Once again, thanks to everyone. I certainly feel Im living half a live, its a sad state of affairs when you're on the way home from school run and think how nice it would be to take DS to the park then in the next thought think gosh Im struggling to even get home. Im 24 and just skimming through life. I really need to get it sorted I know, I will set myself the target of a month (panicking at the thought!) to get it done. I just want the relief that its over but obviously need to have it done to feel the relief!
Huge hugs to everyone struggling healthwise lately. I know there are people with much worse problems than me, feel bad moaning about a simple blood test! I havent done much at all today, we popped to Asda and did nip into the charity shop on the way. But I didnt buy anything! Theres a bin bag of clothes to take to the cash for clothes place (40p a kg but even a few pounds will be useful at the moment. ) but they've moved so need to look at the leaflet for the correct address and drop those off tomorrow. Ive literally done no tidying/clearing at all, my oomph has just fizzled out. Oh I did get rid of a baby nest/playgym yesterday (cant remember if I already said) which was DS',. he's 7 so about time.
Everyone is doing so well, hopefully tomorrow will be a good day. :T

moneysavingmumofone

idristhedragon wrote: »

well I havent managed to ebay as I had to go to school and watch my boys end of term thing (90 mins sat on concrete with a nursery child flicking my foot) but hey, when Im old and theyre not at school anymore and I have daughter in laws that think Im an inteferring old bat Ill be glad I went, wont I??:o

I will do it tomorrow. I keep thinking I cant do it tomorrow as I read somewhere that its best to have ebay finish on a Sunday night but surely having ebay on there to finish AT ALL is better than being in a heap in a hoard :cool:

I am really excited about clearing the kitchen- i also have breeding lasagne type dishes, despite spending a load of money on beautiful red le creuset ones a couple of years ago....where are they? Hidden in a cupboard that causes an avalanche each time its opened.................:mad:

Tomorrow- all I have to do is drop big DD off at a party so tomorrow I will be packing boxes for CS and listing ebay. Kids break up Thursday so better attack it while I can!

Im so fed up of all my pretty things being hidden, I bought a dressing table Id been after for AGES for £20 in a charity shop (moved faster than the speed of light when I spotted it. :rotfl:) and so far two legs have had to be repaired as they collapsed under the weight of stuff on top of it and its been basically covered in junk for about 2 years! School breaks up on Friday here and Im hoping it will all be done by then. Wishful thinking me thinks?!

P.S Ive also read the thing about listing on sundays, to finish around 8pm is apprently the best lol! Im listing a few bits tonight, have got loads of surplus gifts and clothes on facebook pages but most is just not shifting so on ebay it goes!

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

I have a nice and sparkly living room, kitchen, both bathrooms, entrance hall, a clean bedroom with one washing basket of clothes to put away/cull as I go, one carrier bag of filing, a clean and tidy garden that has been weeded to give better circulation of air around the sunflowers and tomatoes - and one spare room which looks horrid but could be done in a day.


Once I work out how to link to stuff using an iPhone, I'll post photos.

Well done. Thankyou for starting this thread, sorry Ive just pressed the thanks button I thought Id already done it. x

katep23

Hello everyone, sounds like you are all doing well.

After a promising start I have stuttered to a halt and need to find my mojo again

I had confirmation this weekend that my spending / hoarding is emotional (as if I didn't know!) Was feeling quite emotional, a little "down in the dumps", and what's the first thing I did? Hit the charity shops :eek:

(Then the supermarkets for YS stuff I don't need for a freezer I want to run down and defrost when I didn't find anything to buy at the CS!)

Oh well, at least I recognise the pattern now so that is progress at least.

Tonight I plan to find the bottom of my wardrobe which has become a dumping ground for "things which don't have a home" and unpack my bag from when I was away last weekend (got home on Saturday afternoon so no excuse).

moneysavingmumofone

katep23 wrote: »

Hello everyone, sounds like you are all doing well.

After a promising start I have stuttered to a halt and need to find my mojo again

I had confirmation this weekend that my spending / hoarding is emotional (as if I didn't know!) Was feeling quite emotional, a little "down in the dumps", and what's the first thing I did? Hit the charity shops :eek:

(Then the supermarkets for YS stuff I don't need for a freezer I want to run down and defrost when I didn't find anything to buy at the CS!)

Oh well, at least I recognise the pattern now so that is progress at least.

Tonight I plan to find the bottom of my wardrobe which has become a dumping ground for "things which don't have a home" and unpack my bag from when I was away last weekend (got home on Saturday afternoon so no excuse).

((hugs)) I tend to head out shopping too when I feel rubbish, half the time its because the flat is horrible and I cant bear to come back here so Im just going round in circles! Definitely progress to work out the reasons. x

blossomhill_2

One thing I think we need to realise with charity shops ... they are just about the only shop in many small towns now with decent window displays ... maybe if we'd gone window shopping years ago, when there was bread in the baker's window, wool in the wool shop, sweets in the sweet shop, cardigans in the clothes shop, material in the haberdashers we would have been better able to resist.

So many small shops just have backs of display racks in their windows, or white opaque glass, or are just banks building societies or estate agents that the CS seems even more alluring.

Add to that the "buy now or it will be gone" mentality,our "rescuer" mindset and our "need" for a bargain, it is no wonder we find it hard to resist

short_bird

blossomhill wrote: »

Thank you for letting us know that none of us will be on this thread at 9pm on 26th - I've just watched a clip of the first show - is anyone clever enough to provide a link to the full show please ?

Er... try this.
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/obsessive-compulsive-hoarder/4od#3295278

Byatt

katep23 wrote: »

Hello everyone, sounds like you are all doing well.

After a promising start I have stuttered to a halt and need to find my mojo again

I had confirmation this weekend that my spending / hoarding is emotional (as if I didn't know!) Was feeling quite emotional, a little "down in the dumps", and what's the first thing I did? Hit the charity shops :eek:

(Then the supermarkets for YS stuff I don't need for a freezer I want to run down and defrost when I didn't find anything to buy at the CS!)

Oh well, at least I recognise the pattern now so that is progress at least.

Tonight I plan to find the bottom of my wardrobe which has become a dumping ground for "things which don't have a home" and unpack my bag from when I was away last weekend (got home on Saturday afternoon so no excuse).

My mojo disappeared too, but the last couple of days have been better.

I do the (did) the YS stuff too. Like a guy said to me in the Coop the other night, it's not a bargain if you don't need/want it.

xxx