Hoarding...not just on TV

Patchwork_Quilt

Well done 415SanFran! And well done lir too!

This thread has really motivated people and made them feel accountable but supported too.

Brighton_belle

Byatt wrote: »

Jo-Jo, that's wonderful news about your DD's! :j:T

I'm like this for you :D:D and like this because they could see you were not the untidy/cluttery one :D:D

Huge squishy hugs with excitement. :rotfl::o

Couldn't have put it better byatt:D. Really chuffed for you jojo.

415SanFran :T:T Thank you for updating us - it is so encouraging to hear when someone 's breakthrough is not momentary but the start of significant change.

***

Today I have managed to whittle our DVD collection down from 5 to 3:D Every little counts.

GreyQueen

Evening all.

I bring tidings of decluttering news from the family and a story which left me gobsmacked.

Today, we decamped to Nan's as the folks do every Saturday (Nan was with us until Thurs for Xmas) and I join them there when I'm in this part of the country.

As well as providing company, we do practical stuff and Mum's mission was to clear out the undersink cupboard as the droppings of those things we don't name had been spotted.

Everything was duly dragged out inc about 30 sachets of flower food from cut flowers. Bet you never thought the Nameless Ones ate flower food. did you? The toothy evidence is that they do and this may explain the expired specimen found in the nearby shed.

Some bottles were dragged out, inc one with a v. oldfashioned label with the handwritten annotation Blank and Blank's Wedding. This was Auntie and Uncle's do and we are shortly coming to their 49th wedding anniversary.:eek:

Ye gods, it's port from the 1960s. Is it drinkable? Why was it kept and even moved between houses back in the day?

I have [STRIKE]made [/STRIKE] er assisted the kid bruv in going thru a lot of his clothes and some of them have been condemned to the rag bag and some good-but-unused stuff is going to the c.s. About 20 items down and 100s left to wear.

Itching to get back to my personal homestead where I plan on decluttering some too-small plastic containers and hunting the last of the Great Grey Sock Triumvirate. Shiver in the sock drawer, me hearties, I'm coming after ye........

415SanFran

Brighton_belle wrote: »

Today I have managed to whittle our DVD collection down from 5 to 3:D Every little counts.

Every little bit really does help! At this rate that is 21 items in a week. Mounts up at the end of the year.

My daughter has been round tonight and she took her mandatory box (she takes one box a week that I have no choice over, knowing that I will never see it again) she talked about how nice it is now that we can sit at the clear dining room table. I mentioned that I need to do another boot sale when March comes and he is full of encouragement for that and said that she will help me sort out the stuff, mainly kitchen, plates, cups, pyrex, old pictures, shoes and ornaments that sort of thing.
As I said though the real push is to get the front room done so that I can actually have visitors in the house again and we can relax, at the moment people are only allowed in the dining room. But things are better, six months ago I kept people at the door!

yellowdots

Hi again everyone

I have caught up on the thread and read every single post since I last posted I really would like to be able to acknowledge and respond to every single post but I do realise I would be here all night in doing so.

I do want to congratulate everyone on their successes :T

GreyQueen your storyalso highlights the deterioration side of things being kept so long. Also the mention of port reminded me of something I want to share with you all and I hope some can relate to this.

On Christmas day I used two very lovely expensive crystal champagne flutes which have been kept in their box since received as a wedding present in 1988!!!! Apologies for all the apostrophes but really ...... 1988! And they didn't get broken and it was such a pleasure to drink from them and look at how pretty they were on the table. Didn't have a third to match for my youngest aged 20 lol but he didn't mind he had another glass.

Why not used before? Or even out of box before? Well my plan had been to put them in a perfect display cabinet in a perfectly decorated and perfectly furnished living room. All of which doesn't exist in my household

This also gets tangled up with the perceived value of items too I think. Can't use them because they are expensive.

So happy I did and we even kept pinging them at the table lol I've not put them back in their box, I've put them on a glass shelf in my freebie second hand corner cabinet and they look lovely I might put a photo up another day.

Currently tackling a box of computer leads/cables and old discs etc and another pile of band tour sweatshirts from the days of pre marriage and marriage.

Sorry for long post, I don't post too often but when I do its paragraphs lol xx

Thank you again for this thread and everyone who posts, its really helping a lot of people. :j

Byatt

Sanfran, I've found it so nice being able to let people into my home, I have no hallway, so they see instantly into the room. Even when a client said they would pop round, I was so happy to feel I could let them in...it makes such a difference to your self esteem and well being.

Yellowdots, so lovely you got the pleasure from using the glasses, it does make a difference. I still get a kick out of using my Portmeirion.

Well done LIR, :T

I've done some sale shopping, but no longer buying the Xmas decs and cards. I got some generic wrapping paper and some presents ready for next Xmas.

whichwhydoIturn

I'm just going to bed after an afternoon of due cluttering my cupboard of doom and my front room I feel so calm .... Tired but calm
If anyone was to pop over I could and will open the door to them with no qualms
Okay so we need a new staircase and a new kitchen as mine is virtually non existent but its tidy and definitely minimal !!
Doing under stairs NYD and then that area will be complete

greenbee

GQ - the port is probably just about ready for drinking! Do your research n the exact year and the house/brand and you might even find you have something valuable ....

blossomhill_2

GQ - that's from the days when they kept the top layer of the wedding cake for the Christening! I have commemorative bottles of beer from my old employers' - I wonder why I keep them?
Yellowdots - perhaps you and GQ should get together - her port, your glasses. Well done for pinging, best use for crystal!
greenbee - don't cry but I tipped a whole wine rack of wine etc down the sink after Christmas - vintage claret, old champagne - why - because I don't drink/need wine rack, get wine as a thank you when I give talks (wish they'd give me a bunch of garden flowers instead) - contemplated giving it to a bottle stall or a passing wino but opened one bottle and it seemed iffy/not stored properly so flushed it instead - rack's a butcher's block type so will free up a chunk of space

sanfran - thanks so much for updating us, we really do wonder how people who pop in and disappear are getting on, I like to think they are too busy decluttering to post ... unlike me. You have done so, so well - any chance you could put a nominal figure on the potential bootsale things (say £40) and cs or bin them instead it's hard to do but liberating ( I only manage it with a few things) but would accelerate things at yours and free space up for more eBying of the real treasure

Talking of which - oh joy, I have discovered the market in vintage print curtains - mine were so yucky after 50 years in the loft but after careful cold water soaking have come up well and sell as small panels for crafters or by the fat quarter or half metre - kerching! Selling these has let me shrug off some modern things as I see modern as valueless now.
I know the danger for us hoarders is that we see a value in everything but these are very marketable unlike stuff that was sold as "collectable" so I have used stamps from commemorative stamp packs to post these out

yellowdots - paragraphs, what's wrong with that? :whistle:

415SanFran

Blossomhill The reason that I go on and off the site is because I suffer from depression quite badly, when it stikes I don't come on the site, not sure why just the way it seems to go.
I can't just throw things out, it seems to be part of my recovery to see it going to the next person, now I do know that if things do not sell on ebay they go to a certain shop in the town that sells vintage stuff, but she gets a small amount for it.
Most all of the stuff that I have collected is collectable/retro/ vintage.
Silly as it seems I cannot just throw away, I will give it away to someone, in fact someone at the china fair that bought 3 items as that was all she had the money for ended up with about 6 items and my son helped her to carry it all to the car. But she was so nice and chatty, it was nice to see it all go to her.