Hoarding...not just on TV

D&DD

Idris I know how you feel hun I've sorted my seeds out today to take to our meet and made more mess than I've cleared out
Keep at it as everyone suggests little bursts so you don't feel so overwhelmed.

Val well done! Books,mags etc are my real downfall I love to read and have amassed ridiculous amounts over the years :eek:

whitewing

val, can you get white and dye them?

idris, very well done on the stuff you have got rid if so far. When there's a lot of stuff, I find it easier to set mini targets eg get rid of 10 items or sort out 5 of a particular colour. Or 30 in a month. Anything to make it a task rather than never-ending project.

Today, I have done no decluttering, but did get some normal housework done, which I am pleased about.

GreyQueen

Wow, some great stories of personal progress on this thread. Loved your post, Picklepot. I look forward to the day when I can have my pal SuperGran over without jokingly-apologising for the mess in my sitting room.

I haven't been feeling 100% on these past days (go off on annual leave and get ill seems to be my pattern) but have told myself that pecking away at the edges still counts as decluttering.

Accordingly, two bags went to the c.s. yesterday and the third is being added-to during today. Plus I have been busy shredding things and have re-oranised 3 drawers and recycled some kipple relating to appliances which are either themselves gone like the dead mobile I replaced last month or are past their warrantly period.

Anyone else driven nutso by the exhortation that we should keep the original packaging from stuff we buy? I know that most people's homes would probably be bigger than mine, but does anyone have the room to keep box after box after box?

Surely it'd be a fire-hazard if you did?

whitewing

kipple - great word. I had to look it up as I'd not heard it before

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=kipple

GreyQueen

Kipple is such a great word; I collected it when I read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? which was filmed as Bladerunner, but there is much more subtlety to the book than the film.

Kipple needs to be ruthlessly-challenged at every opportunity because, if left unattended, it quickly proliferates and before you know where you are, the floor level in your home is two feet below the kipple you are actually treading on, your cats have left home in disgust and your friends think you don't love them anymore because you never have them over...........

Mind you, Philip K !!!!!!, who wrote Do Androids..........? was completely off his face on drugs for years at a time. But I think he was bang on the money about the kipple.

Jo_anne_2

GreyQueen wrote: »

Anyone else driven nutso by the exhortation that we should keep the original packaging from stuff we buy? I know that most people's homes would probably be bigger than mine, but does anyone have the room to keep box after box after box?

Surely it'd be a fire-hazard if you did?

I struggle with this. Our attic and garage has lots of boxes kept from things we've bought. I do try to get rid of them from time to time, but I doubt if we need to hang onto them at all.

wannabe_sybil

hugs to all, esp elona, I am thinking of you.

Went to supermarket today with little bear and didn't buy much - I just got some basics in. I went to a garden centre with my brother and father and only picked up one small item which is a Christmas decoration with little bear's name on it, and when I went to the farm shop I stalwartly resisted all the stuff that was tempting but unlikely to be used in the next few days. I managed to get some meat that I knew I would use, and in what circumstances and when I would use it, and resisted all the tempting periphera. I am so proud of myself and slightly surprised. I haven't got rid of stuff today, but I haven't brought extra and unnecessary stuff in either, and that for me is a positive.

logged in to say that on our local news there was a story of 11,500 (eleven thousand five hundred) thimbles, amassed by one collector, now going up for auction. The linky is here to the auction site, but I haven't been able to find the linky to the news item. I just can't imagine dusting all that lot!

Picklepot - I think I can say that we are all on the journey. I have been on this journey for two years. It is not easy. Good luck

And also hugs to all. It is amazing all the victories that so many are managing. Just one thing gone, one little step, one item not brought in is a victory.

valk_scot

whitewing wrote: »

val, can you get white and dye them?

I occasionally dye a batch of my own t-shirts black to cover up the tea and tomato sauce stains. Works quite well but the thread never dyes, obviously even cotton t-shirsts are sewn with synthetic thread. I don't mind contrast top stitching but I think DS would, especially if it was white. I used to be able to go to Decathlon and buy a rainbow of t-shirts for a couple of pounds each but clearly this is no longer fashionable for men.

Ebay calls, I thing....

Patchwork_Quilt

Going back to the issue of packaging, my Mum kept/hoarded every cardboard box that came into the house for years, as she felt they might be important. She has a huge loft and there were mountains of them. The only really satisfying job in the massive clear-out was stamping those boxes into little squares and throwing them down the hatch.

Unfortunately, we also stamped on my brother's new telly box and he wanted it. However, if one stashes significant parts of one's hoard in other people's houses, it's bound to be at risk of decluttering.

In other news, and as mentioned on another thread, my cousin was very pleased with some bits and pieces of family stuff I catflapped her way and so I feel less guilty about getting rid of it like that.

Keep going folks. Every post is an encouragement.

Byatt

A kind of insight. I am house sitting as I've previously said and tomorrow the cleaner is coming in. The house is tidy although I was stressing about the little things I needed to do, load the dishwasher (bliss) and such, and in my mind it seemed horrendous and I became panicky thinking I didn't have time to do it all (truly, there's been hardly anything to do), as I was building it out of all proportion. I realised I do that all the time, anticipating what needs to be done, thinking about it so it becomes a huge thing and then panicking that I won't finish.
I tried to calm myself down and then later pottered and finished tidying the kitchen. It wasn't hard and it was done quickly. So does anyone else do this even for normal everyday stuff.