'Anti' hoarding?

VeggieCatLady

Softstuff wrote: »

I dread to think how I'd feel married to an untidy man.

It's tough. My OH lives with me and he is not naturally tidy. He is improving because I keep going on about it. But when he leaves piles of stuff dumped everywhere I feel really on edge and quite down at times. It has been the cause of many a heated discussion. I'm just hoping he will get into the habit of putting things away after using them, because I find the house stressful to be in when it's messy :-(

themull1

I get stressed if the house is messy as well!

VeggieCatLady

I can walk into a messy room and go from relaxed to tense and anxious very quickly. It is different to obsessing cleaning and tidying though I think. What do you think?

bossymoo

Hi
I'm the same. I have always been tidy as an adult, but my more recent, more extreme behaviour, connected with bouts of anxiety, I can relate to grief. Decluttering and organising is my coping mechanism, following my loss. It distracts me.
X

ellanutella

Am glad it's not just me! I hate having too much "stuff" although looking at my house atm you wouldn't know it.

Have been here just less than 18 months and have recently started to feel like I've got rid of most of the junk and was getting down to the possessions that are useful and worth owning. We moved from a 1 room studio (which would have suited me fine if there was a cupboard to put suitcases and the hoover in etc) to a 3 bedroom house and on the way we accumulated all the things that our parents saved for us/wanted to get rid off. Obviously we were grateful and some of it was useful but it really didn't help that my OH has hoarder tendencies

So that was fine, worked through it, could see the minimalist living I was aiming for on the horizon and then my mum goes through the loft and finds 7 boxes of my stuff she's put away....

Nightmare. I de-clutter as I go along and now I'm faced with my childhood in 7 boxes. There's lots of stuff I've forgotten about and don't need but at the same time it's been lovely to look through it all again. Just going to have to do it bit by bit.

I just feel that having too much stuff stresses me out. If I'm in a bad mood then things not being clean and tidy makes me flip out as I can't relax until everything is away. Am trying to calm down a little and aim for a tidy but lived in effect.

Ha, didn't realise I had so much to say about it!

Millie2008_2

I swing between buying too much stuff and accumulating things I don't need to being totally ruthless and chucking/recycling charity shopping anything that doesn't have a purpose.

Not sure where that leaves me then!

Softstuff

VeggieCatLady wrote: »

I can walk into a messy room and go from relaxed to tense and anxious very quickly. It is different to obsessing cleaning and tidying though I think. What do you think?

I'm fine if I'm at someone elses house and they have mess or clutter. In fact, I probably wouldn't notice it at all if it wasn't for them continually saying how bad it is and how I must think them awful given how clean and tidy our home is! It's only my own that has to be clean and tidy. Now if my own house gets messy or dirty for an extended period, then I get tense and anxious.

I sound a bit like I'd be running around with a dustpan following guests around, but we're not like that at all. I sit with my feet on the coffee table and eat without a plate... it's just I keep on top of everything.

GreyQueen

themull1 wrote: »

If i watch a programme about hoarders, i have to go and tidy one of my cupboards! my parents keep stuff - receipts etc for years, me and my brother went the other way, and chuck a lot of stuff out/give to charity.

If i take a bag of stuff for my mam to give to the CPL, she goes through it first and i feel like i have to justify why i'm getting rid of something!

Oh yes, been there, done that, got the tee-shirt. My hoarder(ish) mother always used to frisk the rubbish to check I wasn't throwing away any "good" stuff. And I stress, we're not an affluent family and would have always looked to rehome or recycle anything in the first instance.

Hoarder programmes or websites always get my fingers itching to get into the cupboards and drawers to turf some more stuff out. It's almost like how I feel when my pal starts grumbling about her kiddie bringing nits home from school and my scalp starts crawling with sympathy..........:rotfl:

And I love the spring in my step when I walk away from the c.s. having deposited a bag or two. Hard to beat, isn't it? I enjoy unshopping more than I do acquistions, tbh. I expect this is because I'm a bit odd. I even enjoy returning the library books; used tht, enjoyed that, don't have to keep that.:D

PS Nice to see you posting again, Softstuff.

oldtractor

I've been down the store cupboard route. I am changing my ways. Trouble is I end up throwing stuff away. eg dried out fly papers. out of date lentils.
Also i forget whats in there and end up buying some stuff again. Total waste. So I am running down the stores and in future will have a small amount of extra loo roll and food stuffs and thats all!
Hello empty cupboard space. Cant wait.
I am nearly at the end of a massive de-clutter and deep clean of the house. it feels so good. If its been in a draw for ages and I havent used it then its forgotten about even if its useful. no point in keeping it.
Having less will save money too i the long run. nothing to get dated [clothes etc] or go off [food].

delain

My OH is like the op. Plus he says his mum was very untidy and he was ashamed to bring people home. He gets really on edge if I have a washing pile or there's mess.

I, on the other hand, am a slob I don't know how we've lasted so long :rotfl:

He does seem to have a minor fear of running out of things and gets quite on edge if we do run out of anything. He recently got a card for the cash & carry and we now usually have hundreds of loo rolls, currently we have 12x1l bottles of kitchen cleaner, plus 10l fabric conditioner and 5l washing up liquid, that's not even starting on the food stash.

We are having to keep it all in the plastic greenhouse because there's no room in here for it!