Hoarding...not just on TV

sjprmc01

'I wish you would finish 'tidying' one place before moving on to the next'


Or. 'I wish you would stop buying clothes'

ellie99

GreyQueen wrote: »

And then we may die and some poor soul has to pick through our carp and examine everything to determine if it is Important whilst grieving and stressed. And starting to wish we were alive again just so they could wring our bliddy necks for being so disorganised.
.

You're a very wise woman GreyQueen

This line just jumped out at me, as I had a little scare this week which had me thinking exactly the same thing. I had chest pains (don't ever google "chest pain" -just don't!) and what was I most worried about?
That my children would have to go through piles of paper to find the important financial stuff. So now I'm slowly working my way through all the paper in my living room, and am aiming for one file containing all the important stuff, and the rest in the bin. I already have some empty box files...not quite managed to put them out though, I might need them!...but at least they're empty.

Oh, and I'm fine btw!

whitewing

Like a weed is a misplaced flower, clutter is a misplaced decision. God that is brilliant GQ. I'm having quite a week for revelations in my thinking.

Got a great big pile of unmade decision on my shelves, and I don't even see it at the moment. I'm going to have a streamlining December I think.

The_Dragon

Me about Dr Dragon - "can you PLEASE get rid of the paperwork from your Doctorate as you have had it 15 years now!"

Dr Dragon about me - "can you use/get rid of some of that yarn stash you have!"

alandbailey

I'm a hoarder, especially since living alone after my divorce. On the odd occasion I have a minor clearout, then usually find a month or two later that I need something that has been dumped. I freecycle a lot. I was brought up to "waste not - want not"; most of the time it saves me money. Apart from frozen and tinned food, most of my hoarding is clothes, books & magazines and tools/screws, nails etc. To be fair, I rarely have to go out and buy a specific tool or piece of hardware as I know I have it.
My latest hoarding, thanks to Cameron's intention to hike the price of alcohol, is to fill my boots with discounted wine,cider and spirits. At the age of 69, drinking is my only physical pleasure. On my low fixed income, I object to having to pay more just because a minority of the youth cannot handle booze - make the drinking age age 21 instead!!:mad:
Another minus is that I forget what I have stocked up with so I now find I have enough socks, briefs, shirts, trousers and jackets to last the rest of my life.
I do get a buzz from getting a "bargain" though!

VJsmum

Me to OH "can you please throw away some of your old clothes"

Him to me "would you please finally empty the freezer and defrost it, you've been trying to do it all year and just fill it up with more stuff"

lostinrates

blossomhill wrote: »

Ok, it's time for a game ... everybody can play ... even lurking hoarders

If you family/friends/victims could have just ONE wish, (to do with your hoarding behaviour), what would it be?

Could be "I just wish you'd let the kids rip open their presents without you saying "open it carefully so we can save the paper"

or "I wish you'd just throw stinky milk cartons away"

or "I just wish you'd use all our bags for life, there's more than one lifetime's there"

First one to say "stop B****Y HOARDING" is OUT! That's a given

OK, i'll start, mine would say
"I wish you'd throw out cellophane packets that greetings cards come in, instead of using them to store receipts, coins, buttons ... "

Dh would say to me he wish I kept more, was a bit more sentimental:eek:
He would also say he wished I put more away (aka hide the mess)
I would say...

I wish you didn't rifle through CDs leaving them a mess and putting them ion the wrong box.

I wish you didn't stuff drawers full of unrelated stuff, that you stopped acquiring Richard and let me throw more stuff away. I wish you helped me throw away the things I hang on to, instead of telling me to keep them.

GreyQueen

blossomhill wrote: »

All too true GQ, too true - I know I am in my "later" so am doing everything now or never

I've been musing on the fact we hang onto aspirational clothing without admitting that we've moved on - I've pictured the oldest lady I know, talking about how she used to go dancing. But wearing slippers, not tap shoes. A lovely serene image. Then picturing her in black gothic or rocky clothes saying "I can get into my favourite clothes now I've lost some weight"! - I know which I want to be!

I have decided to get all my Christmas presents bought and wrapped
by the 2nd week of December and then dispose of all the other wrapping paper either to the bin, or if sealed, to the CS while they still have time to sell it. I am sick of storing Christmas wrap for 11 months of the year when we don't need it! Because I make a lot of my gifts anyway I tend to use tissue for them, so will still have tissue for any last-minutes

Doh, read that and had a major LBM here right now.

I have a 5 drawer chest-of-drawers to keep my clothes in. And I'll let you guess what the bottom drawer is 3/4 full of, kitty-cornered because the rolls don't fit lengthways.............yup.

Bliddy Xmas wrapping paper. Dammit, I need that space badly and I'm using it for giftwrap, what the heck was I thinking?! Even if it saved me a tenner a year (which it doesn't) that space is worth much more than £10 to me.

I am SUCH a FOOL sometimes.:rotfl:

Got the family coming up at the weekend and I'm sending the Xmas gifts already wrapped home with them, to save me dragging them country on the bus on Xmas eve. And they can take the rolls of unused paper, too, and finish them up over there. If they don't want it, I shall c.s. it.

I read a useful tip about giftwrap on a simple living/ minimalism blog once; have only plain silver or gold gift wrap. You can use it for birthdays, for Xmas, for weddings and baptisms and it doesn't look out of place and you only need one roll at a time for all your gift wrapping needs.

I think this thread is brilliant, you know? We pool our resources and collectively become greater than the sum of our parts. It's like having a combination team of counsellors and cheerleaders on your side, just magic.

I've had custody of some fancy china of Mum's for a couple of years now for when my immediate set used to host ironically-camp tea parties with cake-stands and doilies and all the trimmings. Until most of us went on diets or low carb or wheat free and cakes became a no-no.

So I plucked up my nerve and asked Mum if I could return the stuff to her as I need the space for something else and she astonished me by saying to give it to the c.s.

Going to have a major depositing session tomorrow afternoon, I can tell thee, tha charity won't know what hit it...........

decogecko

Hi all

Been lurking not posting as not much progression in my 'things' reduction (why is is called dericharding btw? Can't find the meaning of it on the first page)

Lounge is progressing slowly but I am very grateful for my Dad doing it. Had a small victory - I have a built in shelf in my kitchen which was covered in 'things' and dirt :eek: last weekend I finally sorted it. The only things on there are cook books and it gives me a feel good feeling every time I go into the kitchen and I hope to replicate this all over my house.

I have another cs bag in progress and will take it over on Saturday morning. Have sold 2 books on Greenmetropolis but a couple of my other books there are lots for sale on there so I plan to pass them onto the cs on Saturday too.

The talk of wrapping paper - I have a wrapping paper zip up bag that gets chucked to the bowels of the understairs/pantry after a birthday or xmas. Late OH was a terrible hoarder as I've previously said, in fact there is still wrapping paper in the bag that he brought (he passed 2 years ago!!) GQ thanks for the brilliant idea of silver and gold wrapping paper, when I finally run out (probably some time after the next olympics :rotfl:) I shall get some.

Thanks to all of you that post, I find you all inspiring and reassuring that it's not just me and I'm not alone.

Take care x

GreyQueen

Hi hun, deffo not alone, lots of us out there wrestling with Stuff. Well done on your successess and may you have many more.

The term richard to mean clutter is a neologism coined on this very thread by Lostinrates. We are very proud of it.

Richard is named after Richard (surname forgotten by me) who had two documentaries about his chronic hoarding habits. Lovely bloke but with issues. I'm a TV free zone so don't have the whole gen but someone will surely wander by and tell us the details. I actually saw one of the documentaries saved on video at my folks and Mum and I (she's a hoarder and I have tendancies) watched it together with saucer-eyes and Ohmigods! of horrified recognition.