Hoarding...not just on TV

lostinrates

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

LIR, I'm wondering - are you going to read all of those books again or do you want to look at them sitting in a corner gathering dust and bookworm? And do they bring anything to your life right now, or could it be the memory of enjoying reading them once that appeals to you?

Neither! I will almost certainly looks at all of them again (or for the first time in the case of some of the new arrivals) but i want them on shelves not in the corners (and middles) , but cannot have them one shelves till the builders have been in and out, so autumn.

Books bring to my life. I will do without electricity before books. I am not a kindle user, and i think, for me, reading is more than the words, but the smell, the crumpled pages, the way books fall open at the most useful page.

PipneyJane

lostinrates wrote: »

Four boxes of books back in today. .

I cannot consider books 'clutter' but really wish we had some book shealves. (we will in autumn). I am getting two or three of those ilea billy shelves ina couple of weeks which i can put in the dining room for the next few months till the builders have been and gone.

Unless you're getting the Billy bookcases free, may I suggest you get the Ivor ones instead? These are the cases that you build yourself from two uprights, a cross-brace and as many shelves as you need. They come in two depths - I use the narrower as bookcases and the deeper in the kitchen as pantry and equipment storage. If all your books are novel-sized, you can fit as many as 8 or 9 shelves on a set of 6-ft uprights - set to just higher than a novel - so you may need fewer cases than you think. They're tough and the narrow version of the shelves can take novels trippled parked for years at a time, without any bowing. They're cheaper than Billy, too, since you only buy what you need. And, being undressed pine, you can paint them to match any room.

I have two Ivor bookcases in the kitchen acting as my kitchen storage, since we have almost no kitchen cupboards. Both have heavy weights on them, i.e. 10kg flour and 5kg sugar on the one shelf, my cast iron cookware on another, etc, etc. They're wonderful.

lostinrates

Yep, we are getting the billies for free pipney, but we will probably need to buy some shelving and i will certainly take your advice and look at the ivor ones for the other storage.

When we have regarhered money we are planning built in book cases in the study which will hopefully absorb most of the books, if not all of them. . That wikl be longer until we can afford that though.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

lostinrates wrote: »

Yep, we are getting the billies for free pipney, but we will probably need to buy some shelving and i will certainly take your advice and look at the ivor ones for the other storage.

When we have regarhered money we are planning built in book cases in the study which will hopefully absorb most of the books, if not all of them. . That wikl be longer until we can afford that though.

A study? Sounds wonderful.

If you can spare the cash, you can get glass fronted doors for Billy bookcases. They aren't hugely expensive and are easy to fit. It really protects the books - mine look good as new.

lostinrates

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

A study? Sounds wonderful.

If you can spare the cash, you can get glass fronted doors for Billy bookcases. They aren't hugely expensive and are easy to fit. It really protects the books - mine look good as new.

Hopefully it will be wonderful. Study is now the kitchen. I can get my arm through one of the 'cracks' and its falling off the side of the house. :D. I am really looking forward to that part of the house being finished because that will make it a 'normal' house, with a working (temporary) kitchen, and heating and less of a breeze when the cracks go, and proper rooms being used for what we plan to use them for forever, so when we put things there they can go in their proper place.

Edit: my thanks isn't working atm, it keeps unthanking you all spontaneously but i really do appreciate the help.

snoozer

I'm really enjoying this thread. We decluttered a lot three years ago when we had the house hugely extended and had to re-organise and redecorate every room.

Like many of you I have a problem with books, hundreds of the blessed things and I have recently developed a system to try to cut down on them. Any novels that come in I read and then recycle to charity unless it is one of the (admittedly many) authors that i or DH or DS really enjoy. I am also working my way through a lot of books I kept because I enjoyed and thought I might one day read again. I am re-reading them (and enjoying them because it's many years since I first read them) then i send them to the CS on the principle that I won't read them again before I die! I'm also weeding out our huge series of reference books now that info on everything is available online. Hopefully we will get down to just a few hundred instead of thousands of books.

Dh is a real hoarder and I often say to him that it is unfair to expect the kids to sort evrything out when we are gone. I'm quailing at the thought of my parents house, which is very full of stuff.

Sorry for the waffle.

Sue

calicocat

Hi folks,
Right , the plan is to tackle the under stairs cupboard tomorrow , I am going to be honest ans say I can't promise to do it as it is an epic job and often feel daunted be the thought of physically doing it and the 'brain-strain' of having to decide what to keep/throw. However have decided the tins of paint are all going out , I am not even going to look inside to see which are still ok....I am just throwing the lot.
More room for xmas decorations:j
I have made a very small start by cat-flapping a couple of coats in there , there must be about 10 in there still , some of which I haven't worn for years.

Keep your fingers crossed everyone that I keep my motivation to do this and force myself into moving to do it....:eek:

I also still have lots of books despite lessening my collection by around 100 books around two years ago. Re-books , a few friends and myself used to book swap to save money and storage and would right our name in it when it was read so you knew who to pass onto next , but this has stopped due to everyone having kindles now , I perfer books though for the same reason as posted before.

So.....onward and outwards tomorrow:o

blossomhill_2

Great thread folks, really practical advice and support.

I long ago identified that hoarding came from loss (loss of a person, loss of a previous life, previous home, previous marriage, wartime rationing, loss of time from working long hours etc) and apart from the professionals methods, think as an amateur declutterer it is important to convince the hoarder that the items can be replaced easily in the future

Those that can't are the ones to keep - eg carrier bags go out, photos of lost relatives get kept

I know from my own decluttering that after plodding away at it for a while, my mind clicks somehow and I start to see it all differently

Good luck to all others who are living through it

Byatt

blossomhill wrote: »

Great thread folks, really practical advice and support.

I long ago identified that hoarding came from loss (loss of a person, loss of a previous life, previous home, previous marriage, wartime rationing, loss of time from working long hours etc) and apart from the professionals methods, think as an amateur declutterer it is important to convince the hoarder that the items can be replaced easily in the future

Those that can't are the ones to keep - eg carrier bags go out, photos of lost relatives get kept

I know from my own decluttering that after plodding away at it for a while, my mind clicks somehow and I start to see it all differently

Good luck to all others who are living through it

Thanks Blossom, your post is really helpful, seeing it "verbalised" is always useful for me as my own mind is so cluttered at times I can't make sense of it. :A

Calico, keep posting on here if you need or want a break from the cupboard. I know it helps me to keep motivated.:T

Did some decluttering at my DD's over the weekend a she has had stuff hanging around in readiness for a car boot, but what with the weather and her poor health, it wasn't going to happen anytime soon, so we took it to the CS. I then decluttered some cardboard but did bring home a planter for the garden.

edit, I have this image of us on this thread talking "in real life" about cat-flapping...:rotfl::rotfl:

Hi Snoozer, I had hundreds of books but had to really, really downsize and just ahd no room...funnily enough I don't miss them especially. I love books, but know I have to pass them on quickly, and have decided whilst I may love books it seems a shame not to share them with people.

oldtractor

Books are a problem I have found that over the last coiple of years I have regretted giving so many away over the years and am finding I am scouring second hand book shops looking for out of print old favourites. Today for instance I have finished a Caroline Akrill book , begun a seigreid Sassoon; looked in an old Geoff Hamilton book for info and read another book at least 20 yrs old. All old and second hand and 2 of them the same titles as given away years ago and recently re-bought.
Years ago I just assumed everything would be available in the public libraries all the time. How wrong I was, fashions [and politics] come and go. I find anything about Beryl Markham for example in the library nor and monica edwards or k m peyton anymore.