Hoarding...not just on TV

sjprmc01

Ive given up for the day. I feel a bit defeated. There is stuff all over one half of the livingroom however I tidied the kitchen a bit (by chucking stuff in boxes mainly) so all that need re sorted too. But my main priority will be making the place look tidy over the weekend when I'm at work or OH will just put the stuff anywhere out of sight and if he does that it makes me reluctant to find the stuff again in the first place to then tackle!

thriftwizard

Back to the de-hoarding grindstone today... have now painted DS3's bedroom ready for the German students, and realised that 50% of the "cumber" in there is mine or DHs. It's all gotto go... much of it straight out! I'm torn between getting that one room sorted for good, or giving that one a rest & tackling something else - decorating the understair office, perhaps?

I'm coming to realise that whilst I've kept thinking that I desperately wanted to move house for about 15 years, I've actually shot myself in the foot by accumulating all this stuff. It was almost like a security blanket that kept me here - which, by the way, is by no means a bad place to be, just not my ideal home in many ways - and if I really want to go now, I have to pare it down to what I really need. Every time I succeed in getting rid of some stuff, I feel great; lighter, freer & in a sense triumphant, but somehow it's still really hard to let it go!

OH will just put the stuff anywhere out of sight and if he does that it makes me reluctant to find the stuff again

- you too, eh? Maddening! How do they not see that stuffing things out of sight is not the same as dealing with them?

cyclingyorkie

I'm another sufferer here too - OH has more stuff than the rest of us put together! yet he moans about everyone else's stuff - he feels because his stuff is on shelves/in boxes then he doesn't have a problem - my problem is that his stuff takes up so much space that nobody else has anywhere to PUT their stuff!

themull1

How can you declutter a child's sock drawer and have over 25 odd socks? i've been in all our other drawers in the house, and can't find any matching ones!!

mollythewestie

Have added a pair of shoes and 6 or 7 books to the charity shop bag this week.

I have just offered a computer monitor on Freecycle, I have been overwhelmed with replies, but rather than pour over them and decide long and hard who to offer it too, I have just picked someone who can pick it up today so that it's out of the house straight away.

wannabe_sybil

themull1 wrote: »

How can you declutter a child's sock drawer and have over 25 odd socks? i've been in all our other drawers in the house, and can't find any matching ones!!

When the laundry is going according to plan, I have a bag with odd socks in to pair up as and when. However I have started being utterly ruthless and throwing the things out. Socks are not so expensive, and there are plenty in the house.

About to consider my third AF order within ten days. The first one was for 'bits'. The second one was because they then had a thing that OH loves at an exceptional price.

Now they have microwave rice in. I spend a lot on takeaways, and apart from anything else there is the health aspect. If I have microwave rice then with some cold (tinned) meat heated in curry sauce we have a swift meal. It isn't very frugal, but cheaper and usually healthier than a takeaway. I shall see if it is still in stock. The microwave rice is £1 instead of £1.79 at the local shop, but it is still expensive. However if I am feeling ill/low or chaos has happened, it is still going to be cheaper than the local chinese.

I am thinking about it.

One of the things I am thinking about is that I am low anyway, as I have been looking on ebay for wool which I do not need! I think I shall think about it.

thriftwizard - good luck. Whatever I decide to do I seem to do the opposite. For me, just try and do what you can. That is all any of us can do. Just doing something is a step.

sjpmc01 - the curse of things put away so that you can't find them - it really is a curse. Because OH will never remember where he put them, and you end up buying a duplicate and then you find the original. Good luck

Byatt - hugs

And hugs to everyone I have forgotten

thriftwizard

I have just offered a computer monitor on Freecycle, I have been overwhelmed with replies, but rather than pour over them and decide long and hard who to offer it too, I have just picked someone who can pick it up today so that it's out of the house straight away.

That seems to me to be the best way of doing it, mollythewestie. TBH a lot of the people who say they're coming "at the weekend" or "when I've organised a lift" are no-shows, around here at least. It's heartbreaking, when you've made the decision to actually part with something, to have it hanging around for days/weeks afterwards, not knowing whether they are actually going to show up or not!

Whatever I decide to do I seem to do the opposite. For me, just try and do what you can. That is all any of us can do. Just doing something is a step.

Wannabesybil, I seem to have done exactly that - I decided to do something completely different today, then wandered into DS3's room and just carried on - it's an elephant-eating job, one bite at a time. Sometimes just sorting one key item out makes a huge difference; it looks a whole lot better now & really all I've done is move some of his clothes & gadgets into their permanent homes & dispose of the newspaper that I used to mask the floors & furniture whilst painting. I don't think I've ever really noticed how much difference something like tatty newspaper makes to the look of a room before. Next job is to collapse the camp kitchen shelves that I use for drying fleece when he's not here; needless to say they are piled high with anything BUT fleece, and most of it does now have a proper home to go to. Anything that doesn't is on its way.

mollythewestie

The monitor has been picked up by a lovely lady, and I was given a jar of homemade chutney in return .

I intend on finishing going through my cookery magazines later (I've put it off for too long already!)

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

I've just looked on AF. The rice is NO CHEAPER than a special at the supermarket. And then there's P&P on top.


Are you sure this is a logical act? Or could it be the hoarding?

Ellidee

delurks to say that I have this for cooking rice in the microwave and it's one of my best purchases ever http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kitchen-Craft-Microwave-Cooker-Litre/dp/B0001IWD7O/ref=sr_1_1?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1345122782&sr=1-1

HTH