Hoarding...not just on TV

seven-day-weekend

blossomhill wrote: »

A frauster could use your utility bill as proof of ID (ie address and existing legitimate account no = bona fide householder) to open a new fraud account - whereas they wouldn't be able to use an envelope to do this

But the real issue is that the more small pieces of info a fraudster can pick up about you all accumulates into a big jigsaw that fits together and tells them too much about you to use in ways you probably haven't imagined

Even things like the speed you say your postcode are used as ID checks on the phone

Well Byatt - this "useful thing" was on the Lakeland link too - My cakes turn out this shape anyway, does that mean I am height of baking fashion?

Thanks for that. I DO shred things as everyone says I must, but I never really understood why.

Would anyone really go through my recycling bin to find out this information? It's in the back garden until the day it goes out to be emptied.

Or is this not how it works?

Sorry to be such a dimbo.

GreyQueen

Gingernutty wrote: »

I haven't been doing much by the way of de-hoarding, although my boxes of craft stuff need going through.

Boxes. There should be only one box maximum. I'll sort through it tomorrow.

Good luck and best wishes to everyone sick or in pain at the minute - it's seems to be a hard world out there right now.

And so - if any of you pay attention to the House Buying, Renting and Selling thread on this forum check out this horror show from The "have a look at this!" thread II
This could be us if we're not careful :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

OMG, that is the most densely-furnished and decorated home I have ever seen. And it's giving me a panicky feeling just looking at it. But each to their own.

I once spent a few days in a B & B chosen by someone else and the public areas were knick-knack city. Every beam or niche was burdened with cute ornaments and tea sets and dried flower arrangements to give it warmth and character. I spent my breakfast watching things anxiously out of the corner of my eyes. Not sure what my subconscious was thinking; that they'd leap off the shelves and attack me?!

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

Thanks for that. I DO shred things as everyone says I must, but I never really understood why.

Would anyone really go through my recycling bin to find out this information? It's in the back garden until the day it goes out to be emptied.

Or is this not how it works?

Sorry to be such a dimbo.

You're not a dimbo, hun, none of us are. Just horses for courses. A fascinating convo I had with one of the Metropolitan Police's scene of the crimes officers (he attended burgled homes all day) proved an eye-opener on many accounts. Apart from the expected targets such as cash, jewellery, car keys, electricals etc, one of the main targets was stuff to forge ID.

When local authorities test-search bins, they find 70% have stuff in them which can be used for ID fraud. As well as the potential of someone faking your ID, you may come to the attention of a stalker and even receipts and shopping lists could give information about your movements. Stalking is a growing crime and most of the victims are regular people, not celebrities. My council has a dedicated officer to investigate fly-tipping inside the city and if there are black sacks in there, they will be opened and investigated for ID docs like things with addresses on, with view to prosecution. Wouldn't like that job, eh?

I have issues with paperwork, too. I'm not so bad with Important Stuff which tends to be filed quickly but I have a head like a sieve (ME/CFS) and have lots of stuff scribbled on pieces of paper to remind me to do stuff and these things tend to breed if I'm not careful.

I'm trying to re-train myself to only handle paperwork once. As in, open it immediately (my post is delivered whilst I am at work) and the bin, file or action it as appropriate. And deal with the envelopes and the enclosures as I come to them. The recycling in my area specifically bans envelopes (because of the adhesives on them) so I cut them up and hold them together for scratch pads to use at work, where I go thru lots of paper and it goes into the confidential shredding at the end of the shift.

There's one type of clutter which can lurk sneakily after a change in your home; accessories/ manuals/ chargers etc for things which you have already decluttered but forgot/ couldn't find the shrapnel.

These items have a habit of proliferating in homes and even workplaces. Every office I've ever worked in has a number of items of a non-stationery nature in a stationery-cupboard. No one currently employed has the foggiest clue what these things are/ were. so the cpboard gets tidied and back in they go, Justin Case.

Have you got any !!!!!! items is your home? If you genuinely don't know what they are, how about sticking a pic up here and seeing if the collective brainpower can identify them? Then, the lucky owner can decide if it's a keeper or not.

I once carbooted for a tenner a !!!!!! item. It was a lump of beautifully-machined steel the size of a housebrick, with holes through from one side to the other. The woman who gave it to me to sell hadn't a clue what it was, and the man who bought it from me said he didn't know either, but he wanted it anyway.:rotfl:I figured it was better to have £10 in my wallet than a doorstop.

blossomhill_2

I worked with a foreign fraudster once - his govt had put him into our offices to go through our bins to try to find cheque stubs/envelopes etc with our personal info on - it all came out at his trial and sent a shiver down the spines of the slackers who did their home admin at work in work time

CQ - I have two of those steel things, tried to metal recycle them this week but was offered peanuts so brought them back, will try CB instead! (I think they are "height-increasers" for engineers' benches)

lostinrates

I quite like the ghastly house. It looks clean and while not my decorative taste t all (although I do have one of the same cushions) I like that it's so obviously the owners and is not a replica of current trends or idea mundanity.

GreyQueen

blossomhill wrote: »

I worked with a foreign fraudster once - his govt had put him into our offices to go through our bins to try to find cheque stubs/envelopes etc with our personal info on - it all came out at his trial and sent a shiver down the spines of the slackers who did their home admin at work in work time

CQ - I have two of those steel things, tried to metal recycle them this week but was offered peanuts so brought them back, will try CB instead! (I think they are "height-increasers" for engineers' benches)

That's only been baffling me since 1993! Thanks.

It was the funniest thing having it at the bootsale. It was sitting on the edge of the tarp among a whole load of misc stuff, mainly of a household kind. Most blokes were trailing along in the wake of their OHs looking bored out of their minds but they spotted The Object and it was like someone had goosed them with a cattle prod! Honestly, the amount of them who had to paw it over (no one knew !!!!!! inc the eventual purchaser) was amazing to me.

See, never let ignorance get in the way of making a buck.

Angel_Jenny

How do you know if you are a hoarder or if you just have a lot of stuff?!

I have a craft mountain and lots of books and magazines but I don't keep rubbishy stuff. I do have clothes that are too small for me though .....

I tend to think that the issue is not enough space rather than too much stuff - maybe I am deluding myself!

blossomhill_2

GreyQueen wrote: »

That's only been baffling me since 1993! Thanks.

Glad to know that my years with EH were of some use (EH being Engineering Hoarder, not Errant Husband!) :T

GreyQueen wrote: »

It was the funniest thing having it at the bootsale. It was sitting on the edge of the tarp among a whole load of misc stuff, mainly of a household kind. Most blokes were trailing along in the wake of their OHs looking bored out of their minds but they spotted The Object and it was like someone had goosed them with a cattle prod! Honestly, the amount of them who had to paw it over (no one knew !!!!!! inc the eventual purchaser) was amazing to me

Are you telling me that I have had not one, but two,
man-magnets in my shed for all these years and haven't been using them?

Hi Angel-Jenny, the key is "does your "stuff" get in the way of a normal life, or the life you want to have, either for you, or your family?
Most hoards start off useful, but then take over normal life

lostinrates

Angel_Jenny wrote: »

How do you know if you are a hoarder or if you just have a lot of stuff?!

I have a craft mountain and lots of books and magazines but I don't keep rubbishy stuff. I do have clothes that are too small for me though .....

I tend to think that the issue is not enough space rather than too much stuff - maybe I am deluding myself!

I wou
Dn't call much of my stuff 'rubbish' but would call some of dh's junk, and recognise he sees it not as junk but as his 'stuff'.

I think for me, as a bit of a tight 4rse, one of the ways I am looking at things is....would I be prepared to pay for them. (answer is often yes) so how MUCH would I be prepared to pay for them.

IMO I have paid inordinate amounts to store stuff I might have loves at 21 yeara old, and I think fondly of now, but would not buy.

This summer I felt a pressing need to debunk, because I was pretty sure I had reason to want to have as little junk about as possible (I was npot well and thought I might be heading for more serious or final illhealth)

SpikyHedgehog

LIR, how are you feeling now? (((lir)))

whitewing wrote: »

Red, to blast into autumn.

Ooh, it has to be red!

I'm resisting dying my hair till I get some henna stuff from lush - but we don't have a lush in home town, so it waits till I go to nearby town & get some, or do an order & get it delivered in a box that smells so lovely I'll want to keep it...

Picklepot wrote: »

Just checking in to say hello. I am still lurking and read the posts most days. I have been a little disillusioned that i cannot match all your progress you are all doing so well.. i can only report 2 bin bags of clothes and 19 books to the charity shop since the beginning of the month.
However...my real issue is paperwork years of it in boxes, bags, carrier bags etc. I have set my self a little routine of sorting through a small pile whenever i am watching TV and shredding during the ads (which also saves me overheating the shredder). I now have two bin bags of shredding plus the non confidential that goes in normal paper recycling. I must be making progress surely??
Cats seem to be a common theme on here and my neurotic tortie nicknamed the 'demon princess' has been the catalyst (whoops bad pun!) for starting the boxes of paperwork first.. If she comes across a box of any type paper recycling, magazines, box files, even empty cardboard boxes she will wee in them hence paperwork being stuffed in bags and out of her reach.I am working on her neurotic behaviour but need to remove anything that could encourage it and paperwork is it.Trouble is you see so little progress with paperwork..

Any tips on paperwork or neurotic naughty torties gratefully received

Picklepot, torties are so naughty at times! Old cat hated women apart from me & drew blood from my sister too many times to count.

I'm slowing down, not from lack of stuff, but lack of energy... I manage about 1 bag of stuff to the cs a week, & try to keep rubbish under control.

I have managed to get DS1 to help me put some stuff in the loft, & we brought down more than we put up. Yes, more of EH's (& mine is Errant Husband, not Engineering Hoarder - that made me laugh, blossom hill!) beloved empty boxes, & more of his stuff! He will be grumpy when he sees the boys later in the week & I give him 4 boxes of ornaments & electrical stuff :-)

My recycling bin has gone from a quarter full, to full with his wretched empty boxes.

Angel_Jenny wrote: »

How do you know if you are a hoarder or if you just have a lot of stuff?!

I have a craft mountain and lots of books and magazines but I don't keep rubbishy stuff. I do have clothes that are too small for me though .....

I tend to think that the issue is not enough space rather than too much stuff - maybe I am deluding myself!

Craft is sneaky... You think 'oh, I need that for ... ' but don't get round to using it, but you can't get rid of it, or you won't be able to do the craft thing... & then you realise one day, the reason you don't do craft is because you've got too many craft things to have room to use them.

I'd get rid of the wrong size clothes though, I'm fairly good at clothes clutter

katep23

Oh dear, I have gone backwards

Went shopping yesterday for smart clothes for New Job - ended up spending a fortune which I don't mind as I haven't bought brand new clothes for years (everything has come from cs). But now need to sort out wardrobes but CBA.

Also got lots of new undies so need to declutter old ones but don't have the energy. Too much to drink last night and I am worse than useless today

Have managed to inventory all 3 freezers and merge them into 2 so have now switched off upright freezer so saving some electric. The inventory makes interesting reading... won't list everything but have 78 lots of meat which is all at least a 2-person meal portion or a joint which could do 2 or 3 meals for 2 of us 17 pies, 30 lots of fish...

Am trying to motivate myself to start of the larder but got as far as 63 tins of tomatoes and 81 tins of baked beans and shut the door :rotfl: This is an improvement (might not sound like it!) as last year I had over 100 of each :eek:

Hmm, I think we might be eating out of the freezer and larder for the foreseeable future :rotfl: