Hoarding - A New Start

JKJ

whitewing wrote: »

If you have too much craft stuff, your hobby isn't craft, it's shopping for craft stuff..

:eek: Me. This is ME :eek:

WhenI first read this thread and posted about my growing hoard of "just in case " plastic milk bottles, JoJo's common sense answer made me think I had caught things in time before they got out of control. But, I think the milk bottles were actually a catalyst to me recognising I have a hoarding problem in areas that I hadn't recognised at all, until I read this thread and the earlier one. Now I am beginning to realise it is not normal to have food stashed in every room in the house, and enough craft stuff enough for 2 lifetimes, which I add to regularly, even buying old clothes because the fabric could /might/maybe be useful.

My home is tidy on the surface but the cupboards are straining at the seams. I have nightmares about the ceiling giving way due to the weight of "stuff" we have in the loft and all my bookshelves (and I own a lot of books, so shelves and bookcases feature in every room of the house) have either food, craft items or empty jars in case I need to make jam, hidden behind the books.

I never had much when I was a child, always the one with no crayons in class, never went on school trips etc. First marriage was a nightmare of poverty, misery and loneliness. Now married 25 years to lovely man, not rich, but enough income to pay the bills and keep going, but still feel on the outside of everything IYSWIM and as if I could be starving tomorrow unless I constantly keep a good stash of everything at all times.

blossomhill_2

Just Because You Can Doesn't Mean You Should - one of my favourite sayings, and a great demotivater for a hoarder/potential hoarder.
In the 80s we went to a craft fair and were badgered by a woman who had made necklaces by painting flowers on piano keys. We stopped short of saying "but why would you, what part of your brain when faced with a redundant piano thought "people would like to wear these around their necks?" - ivory is a ghastly trade. piano keys are not beautiful, why why why".
We stopped going to craft fairs because of that. If you are faced with a source material and think "I could repurpose that" you can always think smugly "but I won't"

JKJ - a very poignant post. To me, as someone not attached to your stuff, the jamjars sound like a quick win compared with getting rid of material or books. Wondering how much jam you could reasonably make in one batch? 6 jars then reuse those jars once you've eaten them all? Do you have a freezer - that's the more modern way of preserving foods and the food in your freezer would buy you some time to collect a new stash of jars

Ref books; have you noticed how badly craft books date? I am using an upholstery book from the 90s and even in that modern a book, the tecniques are still valid but the materials in the pictures are very dated

I mentioned once that my dd's school never seemed to do trips and she laughed and said she never gave me the letters because she knew we couldn't afford them - hmmm, maybe if we hadn't been spending a couple of £ a week at jumble sales ...

whitewing

blossomhill wrote: »

Ref books; have you noticed how badly craft books date? I am using an upholstery book from the 90s and even in that modern a book, the tecniques are still valid but the materials in the pictures are very dated

All books date, even the classic novels, from the point of view of the front cover for example. Doesn't mean you shouldn't keep some, just not all of them.

I do move books on now. I used to think it was evil to not keep them and it was one of the hardest things. But I don't have space, and if I keep old books then I don't have room for new ones. Fiction is (generally) about people, and people have conversations and conversations often involve day-to-dayness. In one of the thrillers I started reading recently, they don't even have mobile phones! I will still read and enjoy it but I don't want my ideas/reading to be stuck in the past, I am enjoying Jodi Picoult at the moment and legal interpretations/medical science has moved on enormously rapidly from when I was young. I have a kindle but to be honest, I love the physical being of a book. An open book on the arm of a sofa in anyone's house is the most welcoming sight.

Carrier bags - these go to the recycling centre. I always want to keep a few back, but I decided to experiment and always send all empty carriers whenever we went, not even one spare. And you know what? We can always manage - if the worse comes to the worse we can use a proper bag, or a bin bag, or a visiting box.

cyclingyorkie

lostinrates wrote: »

I was thinking about those old camping trips and picnics people did in a servant filled past. And campaigne beds. (if they were not the poor chap carrying the equipment or being killed at war)

You know, how camping wasn't sleeping outside in a tent as we know it, but a grand thing, and how people had picnics not on a rug with barefeet in the grass, but at a table, set as if inside but slightly less so. And so on....

It seems so grand and delightful. And it's easy to forget the ARMIeS of people it needed to live like that. And how Two lucky beggars ate and others cooked, Packed, ate, cleared up.....

And how somehow, somehow this relates to me and dh and 'stuff'. I am not sure yet quite how, but connections keep being half made and I wanted to type it to try and make the thoughts more tangible.

Hmm.

Strangely enough one of the things we found in the garage at my mums was my dad's camp bed from WWII! And we found his army table (collapsable) in the loft! Both were in pretty good condition, given the fact that they were in use for 7 years and have since been stored in various houses for nearly 70 years!

I mentioned the box of railway timetables - well my sister was good to her word and they already have at least one bid on ebay!

wannabe_sybil

Duvet day here.

:o:o feeling a bit under the weather (just a cold with extra self pity) and can't concentrate on a pattern, but I like to knit. I normally do the blanket that I started a while back - cast on three hundred stitches, knit until you run out of yarn. However evil cat is nesting in it and I don't have the heart to move her. So I started another one. :o:o:o Starting new stuff before finishing old stuff is a real problem for me. I had a bag of yarn that I really wanted to get shifted and had earmarked for a blanket, and I had the needles that I wanted, and I thought I may as well try and make a hole where the yarn was. It is Bigga wool, which is roughly the thickness of mooring rope, and 15mm needles, so it should knit up quickly. I hope :o:o

I really want to use up my yarn, not throw it/donate it/sell it. I need to get a wiggle on if I am going to do that. Old bits of ribbon etc I had no problem with. This yarn is a problem as I actually enjoy using it. Fingers crossed, I have avoided buying more for a while, so at least the pile is getting slightly smaller.

hugs to all.

lostinrates

Wannabesybil, I crawled back to bed after animal duty this morning. I didn't sleep for more than an hour last night, and I am not now, but I just wanted to lie here still so not exhausting my tired body.

It happens, duvet days. I am running a bath that might be warm, And then I will be doing one load of laundary then having a 'flower day' to be kind to myself

nightsong

Thank you so much for the warm welcome

Byatt, I'm loving the expression "amoeba brain", I could get a lot of use out of that

whitewing, thanks for the idea of giving wool to a primary school, that's a good one. I'll check the school in the village and see if they want it.

blossomhill - yes, the wool I've sold so far on ebay has done very well. I think winter is the best time for it as knitters are indoors, knitting away and looking for fresh supplies. I always start everything at 99p to avoid listing fees and so far I've been pleasantly surprised, which is always motivating of course.

eandjsmum, "addition to stash" in an ebay listing - hilarious!!!! So very true of course, but a bit tactless as most of us don't like to be reminded of what we are doing quite so frankly!

suzitiger - thanks

mcculloch29, you are an enabler - I love Sloggi pants but don't often buy them as I do very little of "going into real shops" (online shoping is my downfall, apart from charries of course). I shall now be visiting the pants section of Pr..... shortly ...

JKJ, hugs. I understand where you're coming from.

What a lot of high-class intellectual discussion there is here! Great stuff. Is there a survey or study linking hoarding with brilliant minds? Only half-joking - I'm often struck with TV programmes like the US hoarding ones at how articlate the hoarders are.

Loving the discussion of First World Problems and the extent to which the rich in previous eras had the mental space and time to think in a way we can't today. Shall now spend the morning googling these, and catching up on the rest of the thread and searching out the old thread(s?). All without acquiring a single new object!

Granny28

Just reading the last few posts have made me aware of stashed away carrier bags (from posh shops), a box full of small bits of ribbons cut from inside clothes, jam jars (but I do make lots of jam) and a whole cupboard full of craft books. All hidden away, but there nevertheless.

I will decide where to start. Make another list - does anyone else write booksfull of lists instead of actually doing anything?
I once went to a training day and was asked if I had any hobbies. When I replied yes, procrastination, the facilitator gave me a puzzled look and moved on to someone else quickly!

JKJ - I have always felt 'on the outside' of everything.

I have managed to rehome some saved body butter plastic tubs I have been saving to contain the handcream I have been meaning to make.

lostinrates

Granny28 wrote: »

Just reading the last few posts have made me aware of stashed away carrier bags (from posh shops), a box full of small bits of ribbons cut from inside clothes, jam jars (but I do make lots of jam) and a whole cupboard full of craft books. All hidden away, but there nevertheless.

I will decide where to start. Make another list - does anyone else write booksfull of lists instead of actually doing anything?
I once went to a training day and was asked if I had any hobbies. When I replied yes, procrastination, the facilitator gave me a puzzled look and moved on to someone else quickly!

JKJ - I have always felt 'on the outside' of everything.

I have managed to rehome some saved body butter plastic tubs I have been saving to contain the handcream I have been meaning to make.

Granny 28, I live by lists, but you have to get them done.

To break the habit of not doing them may I suggest what I do on bad days? Write lists with stuff you know you can get done. Things like

1. Brush teeth am
2. Brush teeth pm

3. Mid morning tea

Get in the habit often build up the power of the list.

karren

ive managed to de clutter loads since new year, mostly because we had a furry visitor in attic but it gave me the push i needed!

chairty shop has done well and friends with little ones

and some stuff nibbled just had to be thrown

and the recycling place did well too, its a lovely feeling to have space in house and in head,