Hoarding - A New Start

Pitlanepiglet

MrsAtobe wrote: »

Another two and a half bin bags cleared from the wardrobe yesterday! .

A busy day here today, I'm taking the swimming springer over to Brean beach to meet up with some members of a springer forum that I use. I will hopefullly get back home in time to get the bags to the cash for clothes place, I'm running out of room...

Well done! I'd recognised you from FB (it was the throwing up dog status the other day!). Have a lovely time, Lola would have loved to have come but it's a bit far for us x

GreyQueen

Morning all, and hello and welcome to NinjaB. You'll have a task-and-a-half reading thru this thread and it's immediate predecessor. All good stuff, tho!

blossomhill, I don't hide newly-bought stuff (not much point as I live solo) but I do have a very annoying habit of coming home with bags of shopping, which could be a mixture of fruit and veg and c.s. stuff and putting them on the floor for a day or two before getting around to unpacking them. And, sometimes, an hour or two after coming in from a trip, I open the bag and have forgotten what it was I bought until I saw it again.

Embarrassing, or what? It was obviously very important to me, this new purchase that I forgot so quickly - not! I've been thinking along the lines of avoiding c.s. and (when the weather warms up) the bootsales. I really don't need anything or have room in my tiny flat to store it and end up creating clutter which has to be churned and then de-cluttered.

I only tend to buy 2nd hand stuff (excepting undies) so only modest amounts are being spent, but it's still unnecessary and is perpetuating a habit which is unhelpful, and could easily get out of hand. It will be very hard to keep out of c.s. as this is the only form of shopping (other than bookbrowsing and buying food) which I do. And I like doing it. But I don't like the consequences of it.

I was thinking back to when I lived at home, I must have been 13-14 and Mum and I are in the hall, putting our coats on, about to go to town to shop. Dad, who isn't coming, asks what we're looking for?

We'll know it when we see it! Mum exclaims and she and I exchange a big grin while Dad looks baffled. Mum is a hoarder and Dad would probably be a minimalist if left to his own devices. Dad shops to a purpose; he'll identify something missing or in need of replacement due to wear and tear. Could be his hiking boots, a pair of trousers, deciding he needs an Ordinance Survey map of the area they're visiting.

Dad will go to one shop, and if they have something suitable and he feels the price is reasonable, he will buy what he came for and then go home. If the first shop doesn't deliver the goods, he'll go to the second on his list (he rarely visits three shops for the same class of item).

He doesn't have to visit each and every shop in town which sells hiking boots or OS maps to compare price and quality nor does he fret endlessly that there might have been a slightly-better choice around the next corner that he missed out on. He won't buy 3 shirts when he went out to buy one, and wouldn't notice a BOGOF or Buy one Get one Half Price unless a passing female pointed it out. And even then he'd be a hard sell..........:rotfl:

Multiple this attitude and you could bring a consumer economy to its knees within the year.

I was browsing on some hoarding blogs last night, skipping from site to site, reading bits and bobs. I was reading one woman about how she had a tendancy to jump on goods that were free or very cheap, without needing them, and ending up with cupboards and wardrobes full of clutter.

She was working towards having a more considered approach to consuming less but buying what she really wanted and of good quality. Pointing out how if you shell out a goodly sum, you're likely to give far more consideration to what you're buying and if you really want, need and will use it.

I'm trying to apply this approach to my own life as I suffer from bargainitis. Y'know, when you get a chance to purchase for pennies on the pound something you know is quite costly new, and would be covetable by many. OK, maybe it doesn't exactly fit you or your lifestyle but hey, it's so nice and they're almost giving it away, it'd be rude not to buy it.

So, you end up with clothing and accessories for your fantasy self, furniture which will be just the ticket in the larger and nicer home you aspire to have one day, equipment for sports which you played briefly 20 years ago and may take up again sometime, hobby stuff which you bought on a whim and shedloads of improving books which you really feel you should read to be a rounded and cultured person.

Yestrday, after I went offline inspired by you lot, I got out the low stool and ventured into the top of the kitchen wall cabinets. I'm just shy of six feet but the top shelf in there is above my reach and anything at the back is outta sight from ground level.

I found that I own 4 peppermills. Everyone I know who uses black pepper has several peppermills. Most of them stop working after a while but it seems impossible to get rid of them. I had the peppermill in use (one of those supermarket ones you buy loaded with peppercorns) and an identical one out of use, but full of peppercorns which I would have like to have emptied but and discarded but I couldn't get the top off.

And I couldn't throw one away because that would have been Wasteful and I'm hardwired to find it virtually impossible to waste things. But, there is a happy ending; despite many unsuccessful previous attempts, I got the top off the full-mill-with-defunct-grinder. The peppercorns are now in a working peppermill, the glass bit of the defunct one is in the recycling and the milling bit in the bin.

I now have just 3 peppermills; the one in use which will be discarded once emptied, the working one freshly reloaded, and a working but empty one which matches the salt grinder (which is accompanied by a sepatate container of crystal salt). These mills are a pair and were a present and thus have Sacred Object status.

Except I rarely use salt, and then only bog-standard kind, so it'll take me a long time to use this up naturally and I can't really give away a half opened salt container and what if the friend who gave me the mills comes over for a meal and they're not on the premises? Kitchen's too small to plausibly pretend to have lost them..............:rotfl:

My username is GQ and I have prawblems.....:rotfl:

whitewing

I have chucked out 30 flat pack containers that can no longer be used for their original purpose, and which I am not going to keep 'just in case'.

I have shredded some bank letters and got myself set up online.

I have passed on a bag of DD's outgrown clothes and a pair of nice shoes. I was going to sell them via a second hand shop but the person wasn't there both times DH took them. It grates a little not to get something for them as they were in excellent condition. But they were just hanging around and I don't regret the decision now.

I need to put away the dry washing. DH did some tidying before he went to work, DS did some before he went out (he had to be asked though) so I can do some stuff. I am suffering from GQ's 'haven't got long enough to do the whole job so keep pondering it rather than start it.' DD is out so I could take the opportunity to sort out some paperwork but am putting it off. Why? Because no one will give me a medal afterwards and it is an invisible job?

Byatt

I'm in the middle of moving furniture around to see where it best fits, being such a small place and not having enough walls, it's somewhat chaotic here, and like you WW, I don't really have the heart for it, but know it must be done. I think I'm getting sick of myself and the constant reshuffling and tidying. I know if I really sort the kitchen I have cupboards and drawers I can put to good use, but I'm struggling with getting rid of some things including a trolley which I don't use except to pile things on, but keep feeling it will be useful and as I don't have a dining table, no room, think I could use it as a food/plate holder, but there's no room to store it. So... a couple things should go, but it's not easy to decide.

OK, decision, the trolley is going...I could get a tiny folding table for eating from I guess, and store under the stairs. aaaaahhhhh....

whitewing

Get rid of the trolley. We have a small fold up table, like this http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3400298.htm

which is quite useful. Ours has a beech-effect top. The good thing about it is that folded up its legs are behind so we just prop it against the wall by the side of the sofa where it is handy, and is not intrusive. It gets used a bit most days. Because you can fold it, it doesn't gather kipple, And because it doesn't gather kipple, it is always available.

You just have to watch the hinges.

Byatt

Thanks WW, yep the trolley is going.

Just sorting through the bedding and I found 3 duvets, not counting the one on my bed! Plus a brand new set duvet cover/pillows I'd forgotten about.

This_Year

When I shop for clothes, I buy them, bring them home and put them by the dressing table. In the carrier bag. Same as anything bought online. My OH is convinced that e-v-e-r-y purchase I make is because of a glitch or special offer, which happens to be true a fair amount of time, but sometimes it's just "oooh! a blue top! I don't have a blue top [STRIKE]that fits me[/STRIKE]" and I buy it. Once in a while I sort through the carrier bags and file the clothes away, this is always after the last date that the shop would have refunded so I then have to keep them.

This is not a conscious process.

I have only realised that I do this since this redundancy came up and I stopped spending money overnight. My last credit card bill was £10.26 in total. Previously it would have been £360+ each month. I'm not in debt, thankfully, as I pay it in full monthly. Which shows how much I spent but for why? I'm a compulsive shopper. If I went upstairs and counted my never worn shoes in boxes there's going to be around 25+ pairs. This scares me. I wear boots in winter, court shoes at work, and flipflops in summer, trainers if walking. Why does this make my brain say "now buy those pumps, those bronzey dolly shoes, those green sandals?" I'm not a girly-girl. If I wear anything floaty I'll catch it on something, rip it or spill something on it.

My DD can go to my wardrobe and select one of 6 unworn pairs of jeans. What was up with my head? Luckily, like I've said, I now don't buy a thing - but what if I start again when I get another job?

Moving on:
I have re-sorted the airing cupboard now it's all been washed and dried. Each bedding set is stored in a pillowcase and I have thrown the odd couple of mismatched, torn and mended sheets away.
Back upstairs and I'm focussing on under the bed and my bedside cabinet. Wish me luck!

Gingernutty

I've just had a run around with the vacuum cleaner upstairs.

As there is less stuff in the bedroom now, I've been able to plug the vacuum in at a point outside the room, dragged it round chasing the dust bunnies and having a go at the cobwebs and all without flailing the cord up, over and around stuff and furniture to get around the room.

When I buy clothes, I try them on to see if they fit/how much needs taking off to shorten the legs/see what I have to tell the tailor. Then I wash it and hang it up or it joins the sewing pile on the back of one of the dining chairs.

Nowadays, I try to shop like GQ's dad. I have a specific need or a specific purpose for the item and try to use it straight away, if not, as soon as possible.

I've got stuff I haven't worn yet but that's because it's Summer gear and it's the middle of Winter. If I haven't worn it before September, then it's going.

I've bought four pairs of new shoes. Well, four pairs of CS shoes. Two pairs are leaving (too worn for CS, so they're going in the bin) and I've still got space/boxes for all my shoes.

I've found temporary work at the hospital I've just left, starting Thursday. I'm dreading it. It's an 'admin' role to facilitate the discharge patients. I'll be going onto wards, meeting the new patients and the relatives and seeing what needs to be done to get the patients discharged safely.

The lady who interviewed me told me that she regularly takes abuse from relatives who accuse her of spending their inheritance. That during the interview to try and sell the job to me.

Still, it's money and it's just until the end of March. Fabulous.

whitewing

I used to think that people who were minimalists led sad, empty lives. Now, I think that they just make decisions about what is going more quickly.

I have decided 2 plastic jugs can go. We have a water filter jug. The other jugs are aspirationally summer for long drinks with friends in the garden. The reality is that we do this at friend's house not our house.

I sorted a bit from the various surfaces today. I probably keep paperworky/business stuff three weeks longer than I need to (i.e. three weeks after any contingency time).

I don't think we buy much and we mostly deal with it. If it's clothes it gets hung up but I don't take off tags until I am ready to wear it. DH tends to file the tags in his top drawer. If I go into the drawer for anything I tend to now have a quick cull of things I can see are empty wrappers etc. (I don't go through his drawers!)

Oh that is so clever to store a bedding set in its pillowcase. I have never thought of doing that.

I have packed away dry clothes and put the airer in the cupboard.

I need DH to do a cull of the bathroom when he comes home.

whitewing

Gingernutty wrote: »

I've found temporary work at the hospital I've just left, starting Thursday. I'm dreading it. It's an 'admin' role to facilitate the discharge patients. I'll be going onto wards, meeting the new patients and the relatives and seeing what needs to be done to get the patients discharged safely.

The lady who interviewed me told me that she regularly takes abuse from relatives who accuse her of spending their inheritance. That during the interview to try and sell the job to me.

Gingernutty, a very worthwhile role, even if SOME of the punters are not grateful. It sounds like the interviewer was trying to prepare you for some of the more thoughtless/nasty comments. There are bound to be others who are very pleased with your services. If not, post here and we will offer our experiences.