Hoarding...not just on TV

cherie1122

I've been lurking mainly on this thread - it's so interesting and inspiring.

Recently I got rid of two airers and a vacuum cleaner on Freecycle

Today I took a car boot load of books and other odds and ends to the Charity Shop and after that took two old chairs down to the local recycling centre (council dump) - hooray - all that clutter gone from our home.

whitewing

Which china matching companies have people used? My aunt has some Royal Albert to go to a good home.

DH took a pile of stuff to the recycling place yesterday. Am very pleased about that. Feels a lot clearer.

DS has cleared his room somewhat and chucked out mountains of draft homework etc. He won't do it willingly though.

Byatt

Thanks Blossom and BB, it isn't new stuff, but stuff being churned. I know it's inevitable but it does get demoralising at times. I see Dr tomorrow about new med, which I was hoping would be a wonder cure but turns out it isn't of course and not sure of the alternatives.

However, I did tidy (ish) the pile on the sofa and have started again on the kitchen with the intention of cat flapping a few more items I had originally intended to keep, but how many dinner plates does one person need?! :rotfl:

Has Calico Cat been missing?

Brighton_belle

Byatt wrote: »

... but how many dinner plates does one person need?! :rotfl:

I tackled the kitchen last year. Ever since we have.. 2 dinner plates, 4 bowls, 2 side plates and 4 mugs . That's it. Keeps the washing up pile down I can rell you and makes everything easy to access in the cupboard:D. We don't need any more.

Byatt

Brighton_belle wrote: »

I tackled the kitchen last year. Ever since we have.. 2 dinner plates, 4 bowls, 2 side plates and 4 mugs . That's it. Keeps the washing up pile down I can rell you and makes everything easy to access in the cupboard:D. We don't need any more.

Thanks BB, that's decided me!

SpikyHedgehog

Brighton_belle wrote: »

I tackled the kitchen last year. Ever since we have.. 2 dinner plates, 4 bowls, 2 side plates and 4 mugs . That's it. Keeps the washing up pile down I can rell you and makes everything easy to access in the cupboard:D. We don't need any more.

I struggle with an infestation of whatifs - but what if I get rid of the surplus plates & we have an unexpected dinner party? The boys break all the other plates? I make a cake to take to mothers for someones birthday & need a plate to put it on? The kitchen tap breaks? The boiler breaks?

All very silly when I type them for you all to see! & the unexpected dinner party has never happened yet, I've had people for in impromptu dinner, but had more than enough plates.

I think I need some whatif repellant :-)

I've used 6 plastic boxes to organise the stuff hidden in the ' spare wardrobe that lives in my room for winter prep stuff that just gets crammed in it so I don't know what is in there'. & now it is to be known as the ' spare wardrobe that lives in my room for winter prep stuff'. (I have 11 tins of baked beans, & as many of tomatoes.)

I've separated all our warm hats etc into separate boxes for each of us, so the next step is to find out how much of DS2 full box still fits him, & get rid of the stuff that doesn't.

blossomhill_2

SpikyHedgehog wrote: »

I struggle with an infestation of whatifs - but what if I get rid of the surplus plates & we have an unexpected dinner party?

Oh Spiky you made me laugh, what sort of friends do you have –that would turn up for an impromptu dinner party?!?

And if you needed to take a cake ... what are you storing all those plastic boxes for .. you’d be taking tosomeone who owns a plate, surely! But we all have this type of thinking (wellhoarders do anyway!)

The plastic boxes sort out sounds great – so well done, it is so easy to have a couple/three of each thing spread around without knowing it. Winter clothes are a pain – I always decide in summer that I don’t need them – then it snows and one pair of gloves gets soaked and I want another while they are drying out ...

My what-ifs came true this weekend – having batched up all my green vases saying “why on earth do I have so many same colour vases” and ready to fling, I entered a flower show that didn’t provide vases – 3 classes meant I had to provide 7 vases! They are now going in a lidded plastic box, in the shed, clearly marked Flower Show Vases instead of being among the china cabinet and on shelves.

One what-if I was always concerned with was “what if I had to go in hospital, I keep all these little sachets just in case but DD would never find them in a hurry”. So I set up a “hospital bag” like you do when pregnant. It has sachets (freebies) of shower gel, toothbrush/paste, shampoo, mini soap, deo, flannel etc and has made it easy to see that I wouldn’t actually need too many sachets – if I was in for more than a week I’d need a bottle of shampoo. Same with nightwear –the ones I wear at home are not suited to communal public living so I have one pair of the sensible PJs I was given (!):p packed too, and ditched the others.

Then I set about using up all the other multiple sachets on short trips and everyday use.

thriftwizard

Blossomhill, your hospital bag sounds much like my "going to Spain in a hurry" bag - this is not as daft as it sounds, given an elderly & improvident FiL - not to mention my uncle - over there! And it'll now be known as the "going to Spain or Chile in a hurry" bag as one of the offspring is going over there to study for 9 months shortly. As someone with hoarding tendencies, I'm struggling hugely with balancing a sensible level of preparedness against outright hoarding just now. But I like to know I can just throw a few appropriate clothes into the bag, which already contains wipes, flannel, soap, toothpaste & moisturiser, a small sewing kit & safety pins, tweezers, a sachet of coffee & a tea bag, comb, mirror, lip salve & emory board and a purse full of small change & a 10-euro note left over from previous trips. Then I can just grab my passport & driving licence (from their safe place, of course) and handbag & be at our local airport in 10 minutes if I need to. As it happens, though, it was DH who grabbed the bag & went this time, as we thought The End was very nigh. He was a bit baffled by the moisturiser, it didn't stop him sunburning... and he never did find his driving licence & cost us a small fortune in transfers.

It's knowing when to stop, isn't it? I really don't need the sachets of ketchup, brown & tartare sauce, mayonnaise & vinegar I turfed out of it a few weeks back, nor the sugar (I don't take it) or the make-up kit & tube of shampoo. I could do with adding in some loo roll & "allergical crema" though. Anything else I might actually need, I can buy out there perfectly easily, and there's a branch of my bank in either of the towns I might have to rush out to.

DH thinks I'm woefully lackadaisical & unprepared, but he'd take 50 tins of baked beans out with him if Ryanair's baggage allowance didn't prevent him! As it was, he wore two pairs of trousers, two t-shirts & a sweatshirt to "get round" the allowance (I can pack for two weeks & stay within it) and was in mortal danger of heatstroke before he arrived.

Today's task - finish the conservatory. I have evicted about 15 small wicker baskets & put them on Freecycle; the lady who has asked for them is swapping me some rare-breed bantam hatching eggs, which was the next post up. That's saved me a few bob & a trip to one of the deepest & most rural corners of Dorset! :T

lostinrates

Ladies,thank youdor the going top hospital bag idea. I am having a nightmare health week and trying to teach my dad about how to do the animals my way, while the builders are here. Eg, normally i chuck the dogs out in the garden for play time, or prop the back door open so they can go in and out, but atm not possible, because we have huge holes in the house and the dogs could walk through them and walk out. Similarly he is having to grips with the way my business works, and he is not a natural horseman, and deal with the chickens etc. just in case i need to be admitted.

The doctor told me at the weekend i need tomplan for a monthoff, a month in bed, doing nada, And i just cannot bear the idea. I am inactive enough through health that the idea of taking steps backwards is terrifying, i am a little scared if i take a week, let a lone a month, off i will never get out of bed again! Dh does weekends for me often enough, after a really arduous work week too, but....a while week

Anyway, if i have a bag ready at least it is something off my mind.

blossomhill_2

Byatt wrote: »

Has Calico Cat been missing?

Yes she has, well spotted Byatt - I PM'd her as a result of you mentioning it and she has had some pressing family matters to deal with recently, sounds like quite a tough time for her.

She is thinking of us all, hopes everyone is ok and doing well - says she will be back de-richarding or just popping in to say hi when she get time.