Hoarding...not just on TV

falady

idristhedragon wrote: »

Yes a greyhound! although the others followed suite- a Vischler (sp) a collie cross and a little black curly thing lol.
He is still stinky and currently sulking in his cage looking naked with no collar on cos I had to wash it ha ha

Really enjoyed Dirty Dancing- DD has seen it before ages ago but at nearly 15 she understood a lot more of the underlying *issues* now. I welled up at the end as per usual and am now sulking cos I cat dance like that LOL

Little DD has a really bad cold and I think she may be off nursery tomorrow. Is it really bad that Im hoping she is so I dont have to go out middway through the day and can De Richard ALL DAY

*see, I try to bring my pointless wittering back to hoarding eventually lol

Brilliant! Greyhounds are the best :-) We will be getting another one (or two) at some point, whatever hubby says :-) I think he has probably resigned himself to the inevitable and is just employing delaying tactics now......

At least you try to bring it back to hoarding!

I guess i had better give an update on my decluttering progress..... I am getting OH into my way of thinking and he has a big sort out of all his clothes and I'm taking lots to the charity shop tomorrow. I also have to do some ebaying tomorrow of clothes I want to get rid of. If I get 3 things listed I'll be happy. its a bit of a sloe process when caring for LO.

I am getting much better at dealing with 'stuff' as soon as it comes into the house, eg post etc and binning it and putting it away etc. OH still has a lot to learn, but I am tidying up after him in the meantime. However, our kitchen dresser and table are generally much tidier and will stay that way.

Hope everyone is OK, and great news on your progress Blossomhill xxx

lostinrates

Hahaha,

I have greyhound too.

Never knowingly without a bottle of shampoo, a spray of doggy perfume. Nothing you can do about the wind though:(

Tbh, my girl is not that bad. She likes a roll, but if I see her thinking about it I call out'did you want a bath my darling? ' and she thinks better of it .

(edit, new pup is onbviously not a greyhound, but it's my first non sight hound in adult life and I have to say I think my greyhound girl is my 'dog of a lifetime. My vet refered to her the other day as a Swiss army knife dog....she turns a paw to most thing. She herds like a collie, she points as well as any pointer, (we used to walk with gun dogs and she was nominated honorary pointer by all the setters) yet she still loves a cuddle, and climbs on my lap. I thought she would be jealous of curly dog arriving, but I have fallen more deeply in love with her now I see her with him, she is being endlessly patient, and displaying maternal behaviour better than many dogs do with their own pups.

Greyhounds are fabulous.

idristhedragon

Ok so clearly all hoarders have abandonment issues and a love of greyhounds!

Funnily enough the majority of greyhounds are rescued, saved, and as we all normally have more than one, quite possibly hoarded LOL

Saying that though 2 out of 3 of my previous greyhounds I had from puppies _ they are the CUTEST puppies! We had one ex racer and he was VERY grumpy. I have a gorgeous photo on my fridge of big ex racer and current one as an 8 week old puppy sat side by side on the sofa. Ill try and post it here- its TOO cute

lostinrates

Mine was not a rescue either. I had her from a fat wriggling puppy to the quite oversized but lean beauty she is now. I was given her by a breeder friend of the family when ip mentioned I was looking at terriers (my mother bred sight hounds) they wanted to keep me in the fold. Rofl. Now I have one of the most beautiful greyhounds I know loving me for the last five years AND the terrier puppy, hahaha.

My next will be a sight hound again, but may be something smaller. A whippet or a saluki maybe.

idristhedragon

I love whippets and want a stripy one! They are so tiny and delicate. My dog surpassed himself on Sundays walk by jumping up at a woman and putting two muddy prints on her chest. She was wearing a white fur coat. Oops!
I would love another dog to keep mine company but is massive no no to husband when kids leave home I will replace them all with gryhounds. We are still waiting for The Immortal Rat to die on the subject of pets. He is a grumpy bitey rat and lives in my kitchen (I feel a song coming on) in a massive cage. Everyone ignores him except husband who appears to quite like him and he has outlived his two brothers by FOREVER!

alec_eiffel

Ches wrote: »

Not being a hoarder but fascinated by this thread can you please answer a question for me. I work for a charity where they take in donations and so many people who donate feel it important to go through the bags they bring in item by item. Every thing is gone over, described, explained how useful it would be for this that and the other and generally treated as if it was treasure. We go along with this, of course, as its only polite but I never understand the thinking behind it and TBH it all gets put into a heap to be sorted through before the best (and saleable) items get sent to the shops. Some things I would never have kept in the first place and they go straight into recycling as soon as the customers back is turned. What do you see in these things that I don't.

I've been on both sides of this. I was a hoarder and I worked (paid and unpaid) for 8 or so years in various charity shops. When I got rid of my stuff I just wanted it gone and because I know the CS process I didn't have a big conversation about it, I just let them get on with dealing with it however they wanted to. That was because I'd been through the process and dealt with my mental stuff and could now see the items for what they really were, not what I had made them into.

The thing is, hoarding isn't about stuff, it's the physical manifestation of a mental issue. I'm always happy for someone who doesn't understand it, there's no reason why you should understand it because it's a coping mechanism. The stuff is secondary, it doesn't matter what it is, it's all just there as protection (or whatever). There were times where a paper napkin was as important to me as a diamond ring, so why would you make sense of it - it makes no sense, on the surface at least.

BUT, I have dealt with the kind of thing you're talking about and I'd say the more someone wanted to talk about their stuff and what great quality it was and all that stuff the less likely it was it would end up anywhere else than the bin or the rag pen.

A lot of the time it seems to boil down to a few things - the idea that something cost "good money" and the person doesn't think they got full use out of it so it's important that someone else does to make them feel better about getting rid of it (I include in this the house clearances where elderly people had pristine, great quality but never used clothing that was so old fashioned it couldn't even be sold as "vintage". Things that were kept "for best" but a good enough reason never arose so their carer or children donated the stuff).

There are people who have a memory or meaning to go with every single item they own (like me) and it's important that people understand how precious things are. It's almost as though because something means so much to me that that gives it intrinsic value, which of course it doesn't.

There are people who know they're dumping junk and go over the top about the stuff to ease their guilt. I know I've said this before but the final bag I ever opened in the sorting room was "all good stuff" according to the donor but actually contained an unwashed chip pan basket and a chewed dog lead.

thriftwizard

the final bag I ever opened in the sorting room was "all good stuff" according to the donor but actually contained an unwashed chip pan basket and a chewed dog lead.

We had a lady who donated acres of really expensive curtains & beautiful vintage designer dresses; problem was, they were all filthy. Loft filth, plus they'd not been washed before going up there. "I didn't wash them because I know you'll only have to wash them again!" she trilled before trotting off with a cheery wave... Needless to say, they were straight into the rag bin. I rescued one lovely 70s cotton maxi-dress, which had an irretrievably-stained collar, for patchwork fabric, but still had to pay the full recommended price - £12.99 for a long dress - for it!

Sometimes I'm dubious whether what I'm giving will be worthwhile, so I always ask, and if it's a no-no I'll take it elsewhere (if for example it's electrical & they don't have a PAT tester) or dump it. But one local shop was even glad to take the offcuts from my textile workshop; they get paid for them by weight now, so they're grateful for every loose thread! Once in a while I will explain what something is, if I think it's necessary; for example, there's a world of difference to a stitcher between a broken-down 80s sewing machine with non-replaceable plastic parts, and a 60s all-metal Bernina, but non-stitchers will just see the Bernie as old & basic & the 80s machine as more modern, with more functions, & therefore better.

Hoard-wise, I now have a car boot full of hardwood chunks & offcuts... I've just taken in a stunning spinning wheel, which belonged to a spinning tutor, with one vital part broken. I know my woodworker will need a good lump of suitable wood to make a new one, but I don't have enough knowledge to pick the right one! So I scooped them all up... what he doesn't take, can go on the fire. But we never know when he'll turn up - he goes missing for large chunks of time, whenever he falls in love, or is disappointed - so I may be stuck with this for some time! But the wheel will be well worth it to someone when mended; I can't keep it as I'm a lefthanded spinner & like most wheels, it's right-handed.

alec_eiffel

Yep, we had a lot of that too, beautiful things but stinking of cigarette smoke and/or dogs. We would very very very very occasionally take something home to wash if it was so amazing it was worth a lot of money but I can only think of a handful of times in 8 years.

lostinrates

thriftwizard wrote: »

We had a lady who donated acres of really expensive curtains & beautiful vintage designer dresses; problem was, they were all filthy. Loft filth, plus they'd not been washed before going up there. "I didn't wash them because I know you'll only have to wash them again!" she trilled before trotting off with a cheery wave... Needless to say, they were straight into the rag bin. .

Forgive my ignorance, but....would it not have been worth cleaning them? Second hand expensive curtains still cost hundreds, and often thousands at places like the curtain exchange, and vintage clothes that are nice would surely recoup more than their costs in cleaning?

alec_eiffel

lostinrates wrote: »

Forgive my ignorance, but....would it not have been worth cleaning them? Second hand expensive curtains still cost hundreds, and often thousands at places like the curtain exchange, and vintage clothes that are nice would surely recoup more than their costs in cleaning?

Depends where you are in the land. If you live somewhere where people have cash and will pay the money for old and expensive things then yes. Live in a deprived area where people won't pay for it then it isn't. We would send really nice things to a shop in a posher area where they would be able to sell things for more money but the sale was their sale and did nothing to help our sales targets. Still helps the charity but doesn't help the shop that took the donation (which is a big deal).

And if you're somewhere where people are more likely to steal the stock or use a nice bit of fabric as toilet paper (or for other uses) in the changing room then no, it's not worth it.

Also who pays for the cleaning and transportation to send it elsewhere or takes the photos and runs the auction online? Not the charity! Where can it be stored taking up space in tiny processing spaces when lower value but higher volume stock could be going through instead. Working in a small shop can be a very hand to mouth existence. There's no time or resource to take a punt on something that may or may not bring in an extra £50. Posher shops can - they're more likely to have more vols with more time and more money to spend on caring for potentially profitable donations, people who are living from hand to mouth themselves can't do that.