Hoarding - A New Start

Patchwork_Quilt

Welcome nil, you will find help and acceptance on this thread. Take it easy while things are still raw: this is a bad season but spring is on the way.

In other news, I was very nearly decluttered myself this week. My very small employer is hanging on by the skin of its teeth. Suddenly, the jam jar collection, which has been growing, I am sorry to say, is looking very useful as I contemplate cheap and tasty home-grown and home-made food for the family. Decluttering may stall for a little while until I get my life in order.

nightsong

Good to hear what everyone's been up to. Virtual hugs to all

Is anyone else worrying about the following?

The economy is in a right mess, frankly. It probably doesn't help me, that DH is an economist and very doomladen about the UK's prospects.

So, my sense of security about getting rid of stuff is very low atm. I keep thinking, not so much that whatever I'm getting rid of has value to me NOW, but that it might have soon. I don't work and am not well enough/am too old to do so even if I wanted to. Turns out though, that I can sell things on ebay quite effectively.

And so I'm telling myself that maybe I should minimise what's going now because I may need the money more, later - or it may be worth a lot more later, if say we get hyperinflation.

Juts wondered if anyone else thinks/rationalises like this?

ejbg2001

Just caught up with the posts and first want to say hi and big hugs to all the new posters and all of you having big life turmoils atm. Since I last posted I too had a de-motivator in the form of news that a friend recently committed suicide. It made me question how good a friend I had been, should/could I have done more. As a result I sorta hid from cleaning and clearing. A few days later I had no choice, as my estate agent called wanting papers for my old house, so I had to trawl thru papers and cleared so much out to burn/shred I couldnt believe it.

I am on FB but dont like it much, too busy, but it did come in handy when my bro urgently needed somewhere to stay in London and thru FB I was able to contact a long lost relative there who put him up. I like buying/watching (esp watching, buying w/out cluttering or spending cash lol) on Eby but like several posters here I just cant get my head round selling. Felt a bit better today so finally started to sort n pack (and declutter) xmas decs. That is kinda a record for me as last 2 yrs didnt put em away in old house till jun/july lol.

Tomorrow is another day and hopefully the troubles we are all facing will seem a little easier to deal with and the clutter is a little reduced. Amen.

VJsmum

ejbg2001 wrote: »

Since I last posted I too had a de-motivator in the form of news that a friend recently committed suicide. It made me question how good a friend I had been, should/could I have done more.

So sorry for your loss. My BIL committed suicide 3 years ago and it is an awful thing for those that are left to come to terms with. Obviously for his wife and children (who were 6 and 8 ) and his mother things will never recover and the legacy of what he did is still with them - not just that he died, IYSWIM. I do know that he had absolutely no choice and could not go on any longer - whatever anyone had said or done. My SIL knows Libby Purves, the broadcaster, whose son committed suicide and she said of her son that "he stayed as long as he could" and that is how i feel about my BIL - only being "in extremis" would have made him leave those two children behind knowing, as he did, the legacy he was leaving them. It is so hard, in grief, to not blame yourself and suicide particularly more so, I think. It is early days yet, you are allowed to grieve.

tattycath

Hi all. Sorry..I've been awol. (((hugs)) to all who need or want one.
I decided to start a diary for my debt busting-I think it's the only way for me to get motivated enough-without hijacking this thread-to not only de-hoard but also to pay off some bills.
My DH got rid of a bag full of old clothes to recycling today-so that'as one job done.

whitewing

I am not overly concerned about the state of the UK economy but that may just be out of plain ignorance!

I feel that my customers are now used to the cuts they've had to make over the past few years and are now reaching a new equilibrium.

I am finding it hard to make decisions about remortgaging - there's a little niggle in the back of my mind that thinks I should do something now but waiting a few months could be better in terms of family circumstances.

Even if you want to keep hold of slightly more than you need, there will still be some stuff that is actually in your way. You want to be able to find the stuff you need.

Gingernutty

I've just pulled an all-nighter ripping my cds to a USB stick.

Next step is to sit down and see whether it's worth sending them to Music Magpie or whether I just take them to CashConverters.

As every penny counts at this stage (and I'm not doing anything else) it's worth trying to see what I can get.

I've had three job interviews this week and I've already been rejected for one already.

And it was the one I really, really wanted.

Still, I've got another job interview set up for the 20th and I've still to hear back from the other two.

I might get lucky.

blossomhill_2

The way I view the economy and dehoarding is like this:

you/I need the space and money now, for our sanity

If a time comes when things get worse, it will also have got worse for other people, so the richer ones will need to dehoard too

So they will be selling their items for less than retail value

Other bidders won't be any richer than they are now
So the items will still be available to you at a reasonable price

But IF you were to let your home devalue by becoming a tip ... it would cost you much more than the slightly peeving price you may have to pay to buy back what, one, two out of the 100 items you have decluttered?

If you continue to fill your home with "useful" items, beyond the point that is reasonable, you may have to pay out for emergency boiler repairs because you had to neglect the service that was due - the boiler malfunction may cause a leak that would damage irreplaceable goods, not just the spares, but the treasure too

You may have a fall in your home because it is too cluttered to walk through freely, and loose pay because of your injury, have to employ someone to do jobs you do yourself now, maybe even loose your ability to stay in your job ...

I could go on with examples... but I won't, they've been listed before

The fact is that it is natural to want to pull a blanket around you when feeling under threat, but you need to make sure it is a safety blanket not one made of things that will damage your aims and scupper your achievements

If things get really tough there will far more sense in sharing skills, like joining a community letts scheme, than in hoarding empty jars, and to be of use in any scheme you need to be able to invite fellow letters into your home, to babysit, childmind, grannysit, share meals or have sewing clubs or to be able to find the things you need to be of use to others

And if you are the person in the right mindset, not the prematurely-ageing bag lady clutching her decomposing carrier bags, YOU will be the right person for the job, the person who can survive the tough times - survival is about being able to adapt, not about clinging to a tree branch that is about to be washed away, it's about learning to swim when you've previously been landlocked

Just how I rationalise it all to myself!

GreyQueen

Hi nightsong, can't claim to be an economist or have one under my roof (just have O level economics) but I manage quite handily by exercising commonsense, and talking to people who have been through tough times.

As always, blossomhill's post is great good sense.

Just imagine a hypothetical return to the Great Depression or even the stagflation of the 1970s. I believe the latter could well waiting in the wings. The welfare cuts already announced will mean that by the end of the financial year 2013-14, this Govt will have achieved £8 billion of the £30 billion they want to save from social welfare expenditures.

Since they're currently carving deeply into the working age people, but most of the budget is spent on pensioners, it's a fair bet that they'll be hitting up that age cohort soon. The vast majority of us will be poorer in a few years than we are presently.

Politically, I don't think that the coalition will be in power after the next general election, but I don't think that an incoming government of a different stripe will want (or be able) to reverse the cuts already made.

So, what I think will happen is that budgets will get a lot tighter for a lot of people and this will inevitably effect discretionary spending. So, someone who is currently happy to cruise Fleabay and buy designer duds or collectible ornaments, may well have to cease or curtail this habit.

If I was selling, I would hang onto things of value and utility which won't be degraded by the passage of a few years and offload knick-knackery and fashionable items.

I used to trade in collectible kitchenalia and other misc around the bootfairs, so have a bit of background in buying and selling. I also assist my brother in his online bookselling business by scouting 2nd hand sources in my city. Have turned £5 into £170 with a single volume, so not ignorant about wheeling and dealing (indeed, there is a family history of it, so much so that Dad jokes that brother and I are throwbacks to his own grandfather who died before we were even born ).

The very wealthy will probably hold their wealth but they may rein in their spending. I know of some very wealthy souls who are so parsimonious anyway that they'd make Scrooge blush. It takes determination, guile and a bit of luck to preserve wealth over many years and pass it from generation to generation.

I've also talked to older people who'd gone through the inflationary period of the 1970s when money just wasn't holding its value. They'd done some strategic purchasing of antiques esp fine furniture which this one particularly lady was releasing onto the market, one or two pieces at a time, in her widowhood. We're talking Sotherby's sales btw, not your local freeads paper level. 30+ years on, it was helping her eke out her pension and she'd had the pleasure of using the stuff in the interim.

So, in terms of how the economic situation interacts with dericharding, esp for items with resale value, I'd be realistic about the value of items and consider the old chestnut cash is king.

You could look to having stuff that you will need and use, if it can be stored without decaying itself or impeding the fabric of the building or the convenience of your lives in your home.

Anyroad, that's just my twopennorth, must go and have a cuppa now, my brain hurts.

Lozzy88

Hi all just a poping in, my oh took all 3 kids to visit his family they were gone for 4 hours! So I cleaned the kitchen, bathroom and frontroom it made me feel much better

I then rang hump it and dump it man to come and assalt a wardrobe full of clothes that don't fit anyone and also took the wardrobe so that's a bit of space reclaimed.
I then filled the recycling with loads of bits of papers, enverlopes
and lists!

Its not loads but my piles of junk are gradually being looked at and filed in the bin mostly.

I think tomorrow I am going to empty a kitchen draw of junk and liberate some electrical kitchen appliances on freecycle, let's hope someone will want them! Lol

I have read back but not much has gone in am shattered lol, so am going to burn something for tea and then read it again.

I hope we are all having a productive day.