Hoarding...not just on TV

valk_scot

alec_eiffel wrote: »

I don't get button tins. Well, in understand why they're beautiful and comforting to have and make us feel like we're prepared but a Danish butter cookie tin full of buttons how in the name of hecky peck would I find the button I wanted? At the last charity shop I worked at we had about a dozen button tins, whenever there was a house clearance there was one. No one would let me get rid of it because "people always come in for buttons". In 4 years no-one even asked.

I use a lot of buttons because I sew and knit a lot of clothes and most of them need buttons. To buy buttons in the shops...well, they're not cheap, nice ones can cost 50-60p each. I've been known to buy charity shop items just to get a really nice set of buttons and then put plain ones on the garment and return it to the shop. And you can buy an inexpensive Primark garment and make it look far nicer by putting on good buttons.

I'd have had your charity shop button tins like a shot tbh. My charity shops never have any buttons!

lostinrates

I never even thought to ask at CS if they had buttons hidden away.

alec_eiffel

I understand that people use buttons, I make and mend things and use buttons all the time, what I don't get is the big thing of disorganised buttons that's there just because everyone "should" have a button tin! I just think, most of the time, that as whitewing illustrated button tins are mainly for sentimental and recreational rather than functional purposes.

valk_scot

I don't have disorganised buttons, I thread them on a scrap of string or knitting yarn or a safety pin to keep sets together. One use for wee pieces of string!

lostinrates

valk_scot wrote: »

I don't have disorganised buttons, I thread them on a scrap of string or knitting yarn or a safety pin to keep sets together. One use for wee pieces of string!

Fwiw i do something similar with earings. I have a couple fo long pieces of ribbon which i stab with my earings, in their pairs.

Any that have missed a partner go on another ribbon incase its mate should resurface.

wannabe_sybil

Falady - in the end I didn't get the AF order. I decided that the few bargains that were worth it would not make up for the shipping cost and the other stuff that would inevitably slip in 'somehow'. And our recycle bin is full and not due to be collected until October, and the only way to get the AF boxes out is to immediately take them out and put them in the recycling, or they stay forever

Elona - lots and lots of hugs, hope things improve.

Byatt - this is a journey, I think, for all of us. I think you sound really lovely and wish you were my neighbour, but I understand how those sort of words can bounce off you if you are in a bad place. Things that have helped me are setting very, very, micro small targets, and also finding things to concentrate on or think about that take you away from those awful circling thoughts. Heres' hoping that you can get better, for your own sake.

Buttons - one of my lightbulb moments was keeping only a small amount of shirt buttons. Little bear isn't crafty for buttons, and I have no use for them at this time, so they go. And thinking about it, I can't remember the last time I had to sew on a button, little bear is more likely to need marker removed than a new button, and so many shirts now have spare buttons attached - I can feel a dumping of shirt buttons coming on!

And speaking of little bear - he wants to hang on to a pair of trousers that have holes in the hems (after wearing once! Not just shoddy material but M&S shoddy material, they are not so long that they are constantly worn and they look sandpapered!). I am thinking of just 'disappearing' them and picking other battles, as he has many identical trousers. If I turn them into shorts for the summer (if we get one) I think I am encouraging his hoarding - or I could be encouraging his thrift. Not the biggest problem on the thread, I shall sleep on it.

hugs to all

blossomhill_2

WS - I had a sudden vision of you combining both into a pearly king costume for LB - I wonder if the tradition started because of a surplus of buttons!

Jo_anne_2

whitewing wrote: »

I used to play with my Nan's button tin. I'd forgotten about that. Some of the buttons were beautiful.

I'm glad I'm not the only one with a button tin! My Nan had a red tartan shortbread tin full of buttons and I used to play with then on a Saturday afternoon as a child. I expecially liked the mother-of-pearl ones So of course, now I have my own shortbread tin full of buttons, or rather two shortbread tins of buttons - as I found another one buried under stuff today!

Now to tackle the box of ribbons...:o

D&DD

I confess to sending buttons in to school for art projects today as I was embarassed at the amount I'd collected also assorted boxes,cardboard tubes and suchlike.

My friend is doing a stall next week and is coming to collect some bags I have from when I last did one years ago,will try and palm some more useful stuff off on her :rotfl:

Byatt

Thanks for all your support. :A

I don't want you to think I live a miserable existence :rotfl:, here is just a snap shot of my life.

I am making changes, to my home especially, and that's thanks to this thread. I get out more, albeit job related and company is mostly cats and bunnies and chickens but they happily listen to me as I waffle on! Captive audience.

I've now admitted I have a problem whereas I was making excuses before.

Scaredy-cat, no I don't live near you. I understand about the lethargy, strangely this time my depression is much more buried if that makes sense. Having said that September and the winter months are usually awful for me because of SAD.

It's taken me over 2 years to feel this place is home. I hated it, truly hated it, and didn't want to make it a home as I was intending to leave. Partially self preservation as had too many moves in the last few years, plus losing my "forever" home. Somewhere along the line I began to accept it and I am motivated to make changes, ie reduce the clutter/hoard. When I first moved here, it was from a 3 bed house. I couldn't move despite getting rid of loads. Two people who visited said I had to be ruthless...I thought, but I have been ruthless. I resented having to lose more stuff, so it stayed until this year.

I am getting a real buzz out of seeing positive changes in my home, I can walk through the kitchen now and my bedroom has a theme! An actual theme...:D

PM me anytime Scaredy-cat, we may not be close geographically but we are close through this thread.

Thanks Sybil and Val, some fab advice...I am determined to be well...and to have "my time"...it's been a long time coming.

Jo-Jo, I'm going to come back to your questions again in maybe a couple of months time...it will be interesting to see what response will be then after working on myself. You gave me a lot to think about, and I will ask myself these questions when I feel the bad thoughts entering my head. :A

Funny this talk about buttons, the counsellor used buttons to illustrate the push and pull emotions of getting close to people.

Oh Sybil, I would take the trousers back to M&S if you can. It's a really difficult call, encouraging hoarding or thrift...but I agree you have to pick your battles and if he forgets about them, after you put them away (or return), all well and good.