Hoarding...not just on TV

bobble_hat

Thank you for all the kind words everyone, I also spoke to DH last night about it and he said lets pack it all up and store it, you don't need to do anything with it yet. Plus DD might like to see some of it when she is older. I love him

wannabe_sybil wrote: »

Just logging in to say

Bobble - vast quantities of hugs. You are entitled to mourn, along with all the churned up stuff that goes with it. Hope things work out for you.

Thank you and thanks to all of you who I can't multiple quote And can I just say how impressed I am at the amount of de-richarding going on, I sat and watching him last night with my jaw dropping, but heard the familiar ring of the excuses for holding on.....:o

wannabe_sybil wrote: »

Also, OH has decided that we are buying a particular waste bin. And we have decided we are going to redecorate the house to match. This is possibly not the right way around.

:rotfl: :rotfl:

I Love this! Well you have got to start somewhere, I think the norm is to pick something you love and work around it to create the room. :rotfl: So the logic is sound

Thanks Jojo - that gives me hope as I haven't quite ruled out the idea of trying again.

Byatt - Well done! That's the first, most difficult step accomplished, I would count that as a de-clutter gold star too.

D&DD - well done for walking by the drop leaf table. They are ridiculously handy and as such very difficult to ignore.

sjprmc01 - I beat myself up for not having the 'perfect' house every day, but I have to mentally slap myself and say it's perfect for us, because we are all together in it and our spare time is family time, and those piles of clothes, dust and kibble are the indicators of that.

whitewing - thanks, once the loft is boarded I have room to store, but I agree I can't pass on without going through it all and I don't have the strength to go through it all yet, so storage it is.

littlegreenparrot - so true about expecting things to magically happen because you bought that diet book (looked at the cook book shelf yesterday, I have loads) I remember selling one at a car boot ages ago and a woman looking me up and down and asking 'did it work?' :rotfl: :rotfl:

SpikyHedgehog - thanks, will box for now and sort later.

Have a good, guilt-free day everyone, however much you achieve. Really must de-clutter my emails, and do some work! :beer:

Buffythedebtslayer

Morning de-Richarders !

I had a bit of moment last night thinking about moving out and stuff...... with a man like some grown up people do. And I looked round at everything I own and thought this is embarrassing....how old I am? why do have that?

Unpacking my "stuff" in front of a new partner would be weird! so yes new impetus for sorting through the crap!

Hugs for Byatt - v brave re docs

Love to everyone so many reasons why we hoarde, there is an answer to them all I am sure

Love Buffy xx

short_bird

bobble_hat wrote: »

littlegreenparrot - so true about expecting things to magically happen because you bought that diet book

This rings a bell: just because it's on the to-do list doesn't mean it does itself:D

Byatt

Thank you for all your kind words.

Well another day, monsoon weather here, and have decided to work on the living room, in the hope I will feel better being able to open my front door to people (door opens directly into the room)...

alec_eiffel

I had written a big list of things to buy next week to help me keep the pantry tidy - pan lid holder, something to hold chopping boards, under shelf baskets for the pantry for kitchen roll and packets of things, baskets to hold rice and noodles, you know the stuff.

I had to move things around when I went in there with my tape measure to check the new things were the right size. Hey ho, I already have enough space without all the "space saving" purchases and I resued some bookends to hold the chopping boards and just put the lids neatly into the cupbaord. Who knew it were possible? I will put the £25 I've not spent into the savings pot instead.

Well done Byatt btw. Have a good day everyone.

VJsmum

Hi all - I think I have been around on the earlier part of the thread but since have been reading and doing nothing about decluttering. Just nodding sagely.

I love that "If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got" quote - is it from "Feel the Fear and do it anyway?"

JoJo, love your German sig. :rotfl: Should we embrace the wurst or ignore the wurst though? Reminds me of a saying my sister in law uses "Es ist mir wurst", meaning it's all the same to me (not literally translated)

Anyway, today is a new day and the decluttering is beginning. I, too, have a stash of old craft stuff including a candle making kit! It was bought by my now deceased mum and I can't seem to chuck it - I have had it years and years. Someone give me permission, please! We have had to clear out our conservatory as it is having a new roof, I don't want to put a lot of the stuff back in it - camping gear and so on. We have paid a fortune for the new roof and I would like to use it as a proper room as the kids have taken over the lounges (yes, lounges. THey seem to have one each - but if we kick them out or interfere they would disappear to bedrooms and I would rather them downstairs). We have an office which we could declutter and a spare room, so I am thinking that the camping and other stuff could go in there. I just have to persuade OH.

Ah, just remembered I have been on the thread as I mentioned having a gazillion felt tip pens and old pencil cases. Jo Jo told me to chuck them and buy one new pack. I am going to do that today! :T I have also thrown one theme park cup that you get refills in. I don't need it (we have a dozen others that don't get used) and out it went. Baby steps.

I am determined to make steady progress and report in as I do so.

Byatt

alec_eiffel wrote: »

I had written a big list of things to buy next week to help me keep the pantry tidy - pan lid holder, something to hold chopping boards, under shelf baskets for the pantry for kitchen roll and packets of things, baskets to hold rice and noodles, you know the stuff.

I had to move things around when I went in there with my tape measure to check the new things were the right size. Hey ho, I already have enough space without all the "space saving" purchases and I resued some bookends to hold the chopping boards and just put the lids neatly into the cupbaord. Who knew it were possible? I will put the £25 I've not spent into the savings pot instead.

Well done Byatt btw. Have a good day everyone.

Thanks Alec, I cam on to post an insight I have just had, and funny you should mentions the getting new "space saving" things, as I do that all the time, I almost did it yesterday as I was looking at baskets (I love baskets ) to use as space savers but then looking around realised I had more than enough!

Anyway, I realise I have a problem putting things into cupboards, storage etc...one of the reasons why everything piles up around me. I have for instance a pine chest box, which I got last year at a boot sale with the intention of doing it up, I did decoupage the lid but nothing else so far and worse, nothing in it! :eek: Loads of stuff piled on top, but empty inside. Am I the only one with this strange reasoning...I am now trying to put stuff in it, it has to be tidy though, can't be all piled in and hidden away...or can it, mmmmhhh...

It's partly because I forget where things are, or out of sight out of mind, and I worry...about what I'm not sure. :cool:

Anyway, whatever it is, it's stressing me putting it in the box!!:o

alec_eiffel

I understand how you feel about the box Byatt. I always think to myself that there's no point in doing something just for the sake of putting it away when I'll eventually figure out the perfect way to do it then all my problems will be solved! Utter nonsense of course. Even though the perfectionist bit of me is always screaming "nooooooooo" if there's something that I want to pretty up I use it first then it eases the pressure of thinking I have to prettify it first before I use it - form follows function.

With things like trunks and crates I have learned that they are examples where, for me at least, things need to be easier to put away than they are to get out. So I try to put things in so they go next to each other rather than in a pile. If they're in a pile the stuff at the bottom either never gets used or it does and all the stuff on top of it ends up on the floor or stacked back on top of the crate not inside.

But sometimes if being shoved in is the only option then I go for it. It's the idea that everything is at least corralled in the place it needs to be then that's good enough. If it means I can move on to something else knowing that the things in the box are in the box even if they're not "sorted" then it's a bit less fug in my head. It's not a stash and dash as it's only things that should be there but I don't get hung up on the perfect organisation system. Because what's a perfect system in my head is rarely the one that works in my real life.

If you need to stick a sheet of paper on the inside of the lid saying what's inside then do that, it saves messing about looking for things.

blossomhill_2

alec_eiffel wrote: »

If you need to stick a sheet of paper on the inside of the lid saying what's inside then do that, it saves messing about looking for things.

Good idea alec - also once I started truly sorting and rehousing things I put up a whiteboard saying where I'd put things - listed the things alphabetically, because if you are looking for a perfect "system" then alphabetical is a pretty good one

Whiteboard is good because you can wipe off and relist as things move

It also stops DD & DS claiming they can't find anything since I tidied up (clothes? They'll be in the wahsing machine or in the wardrobe!)

Or take a photo of the contents and stick it to the lid (or even on your computer) - that's what I did with things I had in my rented garage until one lightbulb moment when I looked at the photos and thought "why am I paying £11 a week to store this junk"

If you see a blonde lady unloading a TV and some garden loungers at the dump in the next half hour, just walk on by, you don't need them and I don't want to read on here that you acquired them! But if you see her pondering around other people's car boots, throw a blanket over her head and wrestle her back into her car empty-handed :eek:

Byatt

Thanks Alec and good idea about the list. I am slowly putting things IN the storage box...

BH, you made me laugh! I think for me it's been a good thing there's been so much rain this year as I haven't been carbooting as much, just twice I think and one was for selling.

BTW and totally OT so said in a whisper there is a Jack Reacher film out in December and Tom Cruise is the lead! :eek::eek: Read on Lee Child's web site. Tom Cruise????? I've seen a trailer.:eek: