Hoarding...not just on TV

GreyQueen

imataloss wrote: »

Thanks katep23

I am quite pleased at what I have managed to acheive today. Now have a clear workstation and 3 drawers which are now tidy. I found lots of new pens, pencils and highlighters I didn`t know I had. These are now in a pencil case, I also found in one of the drawers. Thanks to everyone for your support yesterday. :T

I've rounded up all my stray pens and highlighters and ruler etc into a pencil case, too; makes it much easier to get hold of them. It's one of the clear ones so I can see what I've got in there.

One thing which I have found it that a lot of pens (I'm just talking ordinary old biros) have died in storage. I test what I have from time to time and there are usually a few dried-up efforts to bin. It makes me cross and determined not to buy any more until I'm really really out ofthem. Not that I can recall buying most of these, they seem to be strays from businesses etc.

Then I was in £land and they had a box, a whole bliddy box of Bic pens for £1 and I was tempted until I recalled the stash at home which I can see because they're in the pencil case. Visibilty is a great way of avoiding over-purchasing, I find.

The other week I attended a training course and there were little rubbery humanoids for each of us as well as pens. More clutter. I left my homunuclus behind and deliberately forgot the pen but I can see some of the critters made their way into our shared office, where they will be a part of the flotsam and jetsam of office life until it reaches critical mass and a senior has a moment and they're culled with the rest of the kipple.

Unwanted extra and then landfill. It's a metaphor for life, really.

Yesterday was good; the cardboard went into the recycle bin on my way to work and the 2 bulkies squatting in the sitting-room were taken to the c.s. after work.

My bathroom has been redecorated and is now pristine white. I love it's pristine-ness but was suffering from Empty Space Anxiety. Y'know, that feeling that a space with nothing on it is a space crying out for ornamentation.

The WC cistern is a white expanse which seems to cry out for an ornament or something. I was seriously-tempted to buy a picture at the c.s. to park on the cistern and lean against the bare wall. It would have looked fetching, it wasn't expensive, and could have easily been changed when I got bored with it.

Then I had a LBM. I was pre-acknowledging that I would get bored with it and would probably take it back to the c.s. in less than a year. I was contemplating buying richard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I walked out empty-handed. The space can stay empty and that's a valid aesthetic choice, too.

alec_eiffel

Love your LBM Grey Queen! You will get used to the space, it just takes time for your eyes to get used to being able to rest somewhere. If someone had told me 10 years ago I would live in a house with white walls and bare surfaces I would have thought they were bonkers, I couldn't imagine not being surrounded by my things. But now the whole ground floor of the house is white, surfaces have only what I choose to have on them (which is often nothing) and it's peaceful and beautiful. I think it's a little bit like being able to sit in peace and quiet, sometimes when there's so much stuff going on you just can't do it but then you get used to just being calm and it's not even something you have to think about.

GreyQueen

alec_eiffel wrote: »

Love your LBM Grey Queen! You will get used to the space, it just takes time for your eyes to get used to being able to rest somewhere. If someone had told me 10 years ago I would live in a house with white walls and bare surfaces I would have thought they were bonkers, I couldn't imagine not being surrounded by my things. But now the whole ground floor of the house is white, surfaces have only what I choose to have on them (which is often nothing) and it's peaceful and beautiful. I think it's a little bit like being able to sit in peace and quiet, sometimes when there's so much stuff going on you just can't do it but then you get used to just being calm and it's not even something you have to think about.

I love the description of your home.

I'd like to reach that point one day, don't know if it's feasible, given the exceptional smallness of my flat (240 sq feet in total) but I love to rest my eyes on plain surfaces. It's so restful.

People are funny about the blank spaces, aren't they? My main room is 9 x 12 feet. Since the bedroom is only just big enough for the bed and a chest of drawers, everything else I own that isn't specifically kitchen* or bathroom stuff is in this room. I only have 3 things on the walls, two of my own photographs, enlarged, and a watercolour painting. To me, that's plenty.

But one of my pals obsessed about a blank area of wall which is all of 5 feet square, so much so that she comments on in at every visit and has even offered to do my a painting to put on it. I can paint and draw myself, having spent far too long in art school, so it's blank because I want and need it blank, but she can't get over it.

I find it hard to visit her own home as it's so stuffed with stuff that it gives me a headache. All clean, loved and beautifully arranged, but absolutely stuffed to the gunwales. I've seen department stores with less stock.........:rotfl:

But each to their own taste.

One of my favourite stories was about a famous minimalistic designer or architect, so famous that his name escapes me, whose home was burgled whilst he and his family were on holiday. The neighbour who was supposed to be keeping an eye on it was mortified because he thought the burglars had taken everything.

They actually had never found the false wall of shallow cupboards with hidden catches and the absence of stuff out in the rooms was how it normally looked.

* Well, the slowcooker is in a pretty storage box in the living room because there isn't any space for it in the kitchen.

alec_eiffel

I think everyone has the potential to get to a point where they have a version of what they want. I don't have the cash to get the exact look I would like so I have what I can and look at the rest on the internet! I guess one of the benefits of having a small place that holds more stuff than it should means that there will be space -real and perceived when the stuff has gone. With a small space it's as much about tricking ourselves that the space is big than the space really being big isn't it. When I got rid of my stuff I just felt weird that I lived in a massive house and there were only two of us. I just didn't notice how big the rooms were as the pathways were quite small.

bobble_hat

blossomhill wrote: »

If some of the CDs are yours, can you get rid of them and leave OH hugging his? Personally I detest DVDs for the space they take up, DD has half a wallful and my rebellion is to refuse to keep any that are bought for me, I just watch them once and they go out, as I do with paperbacks

We have nearly 400 DVDs and both DH and I did not like them on display/taking up room. So I removed them from their boxes, catalogued them on a spreadsheet with their location in numbered storage boxes and wallets within. DH wanted to keep the boxes so they are in a storage box in the shed clearly labelled (if he ever needs them!)

We do still have the box sets on a shelf but they're stored neatly in the dining room.

This would work really well with CDs too, however I am currently downloading all of our music onto my laptop and boxing up the CDs to store alongside the DVD cases in the shed. It's a long job but worthwhile as all our music will be available for our portable media devices. 2 birds one stone.

Here is our DVD collection:

whitewing

Discovering or rediscovering the 'wonder of white' is definitely a part of the dehoarding process.

I can't bear putting food on a non-white plate at the moment as it seems too cluttered.

I have been decluttering some firmly held ideas since I had a good long conversation with a friend of mine yesterday. I have actually been in tears on and off since then because of it. Tears are a good thing for allowing moving forward? Right? (I haven't cried since I have been on anti d's, so I almost don't know what to do with myself at the moment).

alec_eiffel

Letting go of thought patterns or ideas can be a bit emotional and if your way of letting go at this point is crying then yep, it's a good thing. It's all releasing the pent up energy whether it's crying, laughing, screaming...

bobble_hat

idristhedragon wrote: »

I culled a long jumper dress thingy that cost me £25 at a vintage type sale. It makes me look fat, red and sort of like a woolly chorizo sausage. However every time I go to chuck it I hear " but it was £25" loudly in my head. However I tried it on yesterday and "but you look like a knob" was louder.)

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
Just choked on my Dairylea dunker

bobble_hat

whitewing wrote: »

Discovering or rediscovering the 'wonder of white' is definitely a part of the dehoarding process.

I can't bear putting food on a non-white plate at the moment as it seems too cluttered.

I have been decluttering some firmly held ideas since I had a good long conversation with a friend of mine yesterday. I have actually been in tears on and off since then because of it. Tears are a good thing for allowing moving forward? Right? (I haven't cried since I have been on anti d's, so I almost don't know what to do with myself at the moment).

Tears are cathartic, think of it this way, tears, like snot, are removing the yuck from our minds instead of our bodies. I couldn't cry for the longest time due to forced back emotions, nowadays, I let rip the moment I need to, it's healthy.

It sounds like you're making your peace with yourself, let the tears flow but once you're done, dry up wash your face, pull a silly one in the mirror and crack on. :T

savingqueen

Hello again!

Thanks for all the helpful and insightful comments - they all made sense and I appreciate them. I feel like I'm at the beginning of a journey and glad to have made the first step by posting on here.

At the weekend when we were preparing for our little boy's birthday party and stuffing things here, there and everywhere to tidy up (won't mention good places to stash things on this thread ) - DH asked if he could recycle a pile of mags that have lived in a pile near the wardrobes for a long long time. I really wanted to go through them and cut out receipes etc but resisted somehow and said after some hesitation "ok". I realise now there were craft mags in there I really wanted but unless I can get to grips with the clutter, I have no time for crafting. Proud of myself . I will aim to get rid of at least one thing tonight, hopefully the one thing idea will lead to a whole carrier full but baby steps right? I'm on a mission!!

Glad to hear of others' successes. Sending you all my warmest wishes and looking forward to hanging around on here some more.

off to do few more chores before shopping/school run in one trip

sq:)