Hoarding...not just on TV

Brighton_belle

Sybil - another one that's worried about you here. Please contact a dr: let them decide if it is indigestion or not. And telling us how you are feeling is not being self indulgent...it sounds like you DH lack of help is leaving you feeling like maybe you are 'making a fuss about nothing'. I am sure he has some lovely qualities but I could cheerfully have a few words with him on this one.

You deserve to be as well as modern medicine can make you. I've been putting up with some bad side effects from meds I have to take, and it is only pushing from others on an line forum specific to my health issues that has made me return to the GP when they'd previously said there was nothing else they could do. Turns out there was and now I am in much less pain.

Decluttered scale on our shower head yesterday: it was getting really feeble, so went on line to find out how to do it, and first article up linked to MSE forums 2004:D. Soak in white vinegar and lemon juice fo a few hrs - and blow me it worked:D.

Been lugging DH's books upstairs as part of clearing downstairs room and re homing on new shelves I have fixed to the wall up here in previous weeks. Yup, his books, me doing all the work:rotfl:. It's the only way it gets done though.
Trying to cull more of mine as we go, and have pulled out about 20 of his I want to put forward as worth decluttering. Not geting my hopes up too high though.
All four walls of sitting room now have 6ft high shelving covered in books. I don't mind him loving books, it's just I am trying to explain if we live for another 30 yrs x his rate of aquiring new ones...where they gonna go if he doesn't cull a few?

Byatt - great to read you feeling so motivated by the experince of where you are staying. It all helps keep the momentum up.:T

I've been sorting my wardrobe - all summer stuff now packed away and autumn winter wardrobe culled, now down to 17 pieces of outer clothing. Have ordered a few more to top up but aim to keep it under 25. Makes life so much simpler. A couple of pieces in the c.s. bag that I have been hanging onto for years that I love.... but never wear. Next step will be actually getting them out of the house.

whitewing

DH came out of the bathroom with 6 empty cans. Now, as he only smelled subtly, I assume these have collected over time. I don't check his or DS' stuff.

He was so inspired by this that when I had thrown DS out of the living room to tidy his bedroom, DH went to help. One can now see the floor and it has been vacuumed. I was annoyed with DS because yesterday I got him to get all his dirty washing out, which he did. After everything had been washed and dried, when I went to put it away there was a discarded school shirt on the floor still with grass stains.

Anyway, I learnt today that tidy is definitely not the same as decluttered. I decided to sort out the pens and pencils in the house. There are now nearly 200 pencils (I use them for work too) too small to use comfortably that I pass on to a local group for quiz nights etc. DS had 5 pencil pots in his room stuffed full of pens and pencils and he doesn't use any of them. The pots are going for recycling. The pens are being sorted by DH with strict instructions to bin manky ones.

As part of this, I decided to get those lurking at the bottom of my handbag. This turned into a full blown clear out, whereupon I decided that my bag was grubby and in need of a wash. That is now in the washing basket and I got my winter bag out. Getting the bag out led to a pile of bags that have accumulated since I swapped to the summer bag being looked through. 2 big piles of paper have gone for recycling, a cagoule (sp?) and bag is going to SIL . 3 bags that are still useful but not needed right now will go into the drawer.

DH os now clearing something in the kitchen from the sound of it. I can't interfere while he is on a roll or he will chuck out less.

blossomhill_2

VJsmum wrote: »

MIL is down visiting and brought me a cyclamen. I bl00dy hate the things. Only just got rid of 2 others her and SIL bought. She means well but I now have to put up with another

I think we should start listing things we are given onto the "Today someone gave me" thread ...

whitewing

DH has cleared out 'his' cupboard and drawer in the kitchen. I don't know - and am probably best not knowing - what he has chucked out, because he I was banished from the kitchen until it was all done. But the nearly empty cupboard is impressive.

Then I found another cupboard too high for me to reach easily that he has shoved stuff in to get it out of sight. It annoys me when he does that. Goodness knows how long stuff has been there. Months. Anyway, half used candles etc have all gone, moneybox thing (awful tat) is going to the charity shop. New dishcloths are going. Xmas tea clothes to my relative - new but we won't use them. My mismatched old tea cloths are in DH's cupboard for the car. He drives me crazy when he uses tea cloths for that but I haven't been able to break the habit. Tesco website has nice replacements - hopefully they will have some in store.

All in all a very productive afternoon, albeit not quite what I set out to do.

Also found a summer skirt that I swear I have never seen before. However, it smells of my friend's perfume so I think DH must have picked it up from her in passing once and then it ended up in the overflow cupboard. So that is in the washbasket too.

I am pleased because if we just get housework done on the weekend, I don't feel that we make progress. Now I feel organised and ready to face the coming week.

GreyQueen

blossomhill wrote: »

I think we should start listing things we are given onto the "Today someone gave me" thread ...

Because I'm so into decluttering and struggling with those issues myself, I work really hard not to give things to pals which will become a burden instead of a pleasure.

I aim to give consumables like foodstuffs or toiletries which can be enjoyed and disappear all of their own accord. A relative gave me cash last year for Xmas and I used it to pay for a trailer load of manure for the allotment. Just what I wanted, money into the coffers of a local farmer and, no one had to wrap a blinking thing.:rotfl:

I give books to bookwormish close relatives but with the repeated instruction that they should feel free to get rid of them when they have read them. Given the quantity of books we get through as a family, keeping them all would be an impossibilty.

Well, today I nipped out and bought another pair of work trousers to replace a pair of knackered worn out ones which will go to the textile recycling. And I found I was a size bigger than last time so have made a Decision; chocolate only on weekends and I shall spend the cash saved on the odd bunch of flowers which will give me pleasure but won't add to the lard on my haunches.

Because I'm worth it.:cool:

valk_scot

I went to the allotment today and hauled another pile of stuff out of the Shed-Tardis. Some of it (nets, spare tools, drying racks) got taken to fellow plot holders that had requested bits and pieces but there was still a lot left, like two Ikea blue bags of recycled punnets, plastic boxes and small plastic bottles. (These last are for putting on the tops of canes so you don't poke your eye out.) I dithered about these for a few minutes than sorted them out into plastic types and put them into the car beside the chair from yesterday. I was half inclined to bring them home because I'll need punnets to harvest into next year in the garden, yes? But then common sense prevailed, I can bring down a bloomin' bowl from the kitchen now, can't I? So I tipped the lot into the recycling hoppers at the dump when I took the chair up later. And a third bag of absolute rubbish, like old paint brushes and bits of string and broken pots. So pretty good going today for both decluttering the shed but ESPECIALLY for not bringing any of it home.

One thing about the dump...DD was with me, her year is really into all the eco-stuff at school and she's on the school project board dealing with this. I am good at recycling, despite the excess of possessions in the house I do recycle as much as possible re composting, plastic, glass, paper and of course everything that's worth taking to the CS goes there too, or gets passed on friends if they need it. So she's used to this, but what she's not used to is the sheer amount of usable items people were throwing out today. There was one woman unloading a transit and chucking out new, unused light fittings of some sort, still in their boxes. Dozens of them. Twelve fire extingushers. What looked like a brand new hoover and oil filled radiator. A cot bed and buggy. Dozens of plant pots including some big ceramic ones, the type that cost £15-£20 each. (I would have asked for these if I'd seen them coming out a car, trust me.) The sheer wastefulness of it all! Of course you could argue that this is the flip side of hoarding, all these nearly new and still useful items going into landfill but it is really wasteful of resources. As DD said, what happens when we run out of resources but the countryside is covered with landfill sites? Do we have to go back in and start mining it as a source of raw materials again? The Reduce part of reduce, reuse, recycle definately seems to be passing some folk by, no?

wannabe_sybil

Thank you for the kindness - I am in tears.

Definitely calling the GP tomorrow.

Off to tackle little bear's bedtime routine. OH is, thankfully, doing a lot of the 'up and down stairs' for little bear.

And while it isn't strictly de richarding, I have been stuffing the cushions I have finally finished sewing up with the unravelled sweaters, the one I got from the jumble sale recently. I am not sitting on a project but getting on with it, and that feels good. And I will take that feeling to the undone projects and get on with it.

Hugs to all, and thank you again.

D&DD

cooee fellow hoarders
I've just surfaced from the loft clearance..started at 8 am sharp :o
Have filled the car,bins,recycle bins (and next door with 'gifts' lol )

I am so very,very pleased with the progress made in just one day it really helps me reading your posts and although I haven't had time to write much back this week please know you're all an inspiration to me,I've had such a problem with useful stuff for years now and although I have kept a fair bit I have been (for me) surprisingly ruthless my hubbie is in shock :rotfl:
XXX

SpikyHedgehog

wannabe_sybil wrote: »

Thank you for the kindness - I am in tears.

Definitely calling the GP tomorrow.

Off to tackle little bear's bedtime routine. OH is, thankfully, doing a lot of the 'up and down stairs' for little bear.

And while it isn't strictly de richarding, I have been stuffing the cushions I have finally finished sewing up with the unravelled sweaters, the one I got from the jumble sale recently. I am not sitting on a project but getting on with it, and that feels good. And I will take that feeling to the undone projects and get on with it.

Hugs to all, and thank you again.

Hugs back at you, honey!

Sybil, you know you'd be one of the first to be saying 'get to the doctors!' if any of the rest of us were saying we had the symptoms you have - take some of that Ramkin spirit and say it yourself as well!

Byatt

Sybil, we will be checking on you tomorrow :A, so first thing, call the surgery and insist on an urgent appointment if they try to fob you off, Monday morning and all that, although if you tell them your sypmtoms, they should give you one pretty d@mn quick. I truly don't want to scare or worry you, but they should be very proactive when you tell them something of your symptoms.

xxxx