Hoarding - A New Start

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Piglet - if you sort through these memories, painful though they are, you will be able to give a proper space to the good things, your Mum's love, the things that made you happy before, and the things that helped to ease your pain afterwards.

The things that represent the good deserve to be given proper space, not stuffed in a damp shed with the unimportant.


Dehoarding isn't about wiping every trace of your past from your life (if you don't want to) - its about not imprisoning yourself in a cell where the walls are made of Stuff and the bad thoughts scurry and hide and flit amongst them.

GreyQueen

Suzitiger, didn't see the Barcelona apartment prog as don't have TV but have seen several fascinating websites inc videos on the internet of micro-apartments.

My flat is a running gag among people who know me, hence this block having the online nom de plume Shoebox Towers.:) When newly-met people hear me and pals riffing on the amusing smallness of my flat, they think we're pulling their legs. Those who've been here assure them we're not joking, it really IS that small.:rotfl:

The plus side is it's very warm and cosy and bang in the city centre. I can't do a lot of mods to it as I rent and also don't have much money so my furniture is conventional enough, just slightly-smaller than average and with hidden storage.

It's an excellent discipline for someone like myself, daughter of one hoarder and sister of another with her own tendancies.

Haven't got any dehoarding planned today other than a few greetings cards as most of the day will be taken up with the four lettered word (w*rk). Hope everyone is treating themselves gently as they ponder their Stuff and sidle around the goat tracks.

GQ xx

blossomhill_2

I watched the Home Show on TV - 1970s house inherited by the husband from his parents, and he had hoarded a lot of their belongings. The belongings took up the space in the house which had most potential.

Geoge Clark commented that the house said more about their (late) parents than it did about the couple

Is this true of anyone else's house?

TudorRose

Sorted through the bed drawer with my handbag collection in & managed to chuck 9 of them. Still have about the same number left but at least they are ones I'll use (probably!).
I've decided that I'll review the handbag situation later in the year, after the summer, to see if I've used any of them or not & then make decisions whether to chuck any more.

I am now getting some space in cupboards which means I can put away items that I want to keep but I feel that I need to carefully consider what goes in these spaces as I don't want to be chucking it all out again in another couple of years time.

I am keeping a spreadsheet with everything I chuck on it. A bit pathetic I know but at least I can look at it & see my progress when I think to myself that I can't see much of a difference in how my house looks. It's over a 150 items since the beginning of the year.

Sezzagirl

Just wanted to come and thank you all for inspiring me to deal with something that irritates me everyday

I'm not a hoarder (honest, she says, kicking the craft room door shut quickly!) but I think that with a different path in life, we all could be, and I certainly have areas that need attacking at time

Everyday, I open the top drawer of my dressing table, where I keep my make-up in a bag (that was free with something - not even that nice) Everytime I open the drawer, the top of the bag catching and I have to dig it out of the back of the drawer. Then, there is so much junk in the bag and the drawer that I can't find what I want anyway!:eek:

So, yesterday I Cleared It Out!! I now have a bag of rubbish to throw out and a lovely drawer, where all my bits and bobs are in low, smart, lidless boxes so I can see what is there and use it up!

So, instead of starting the day with a grumble, I had a smile instead!:j

suzitiger

TudorRose wrote: »

I am keeping a spreadsheet with everything I chuck on it. A bit pathetic I know but at least I can look at it & see my progress when I think to myself that I can't see much of a difference in how my house looks. It's over a 150 items since the beginning of the year.

:jYaaaaay well done with the handbags, I think it is a good idea to come back to them later in the year. This is what I am doing with my shoes. And I think a spreadsheet is an excellent idea, take before and after pics too :T

Sezzagirl wrote: »

Just wanted to come and thank you all for inspiring me to deal with something that irritates me everyday
So, yesterday I Cleared It Out!! I now have a bag of rubbish to throw out and a lovely drawer, where all my bits and bobs are in low, smart, lidless boxes so I can see what is there and use it up!
So, instead of starting the day with a grumble, I had a smile instead!:j

Well done, that must have made you feel better. I would also say i am not an extreme hoarder, but I have hoarding tendancies and I am a 'clutterer' :rotfl:I do it everywhere I go, spread myself out. I think noiw we've been discussing the dyslexic thing and mind maps, its so I can 'SEE' what I have rather than keeping it put away where I forget about it.
:rotfl:
My task for today is to carry on with the hallway, I'm gonna stick post-its on things that need to go and where they are going so I know what's happening with things :T

nightsong

blossomhill wrote: »

I watched the Home Show on TV - 1970s house inherited by the husband from his parents, and he had hoarded a lot of their belongings. The belongings took up the space in the house which had most potential.

Geoge Clark commented that the house said more about their (late) parents than it did about the couple

Is this true of anyone else's house?

Interesting, blossomhill, thanks. It certainly used to be true of mine. My parents split up at about the time I was setting up home, and I "inherited" a lot of their furniture.

I've gradually reduced the original haul over the years. DH hates most of it. I like it on the whole - a lot of it is very solid plain late Victorian and Edwardian pieces (bought for very little by my mother when such things were undesirable in the 60s and 70s). DH would rather we had modern stuff and I think has been very forbearing, actually.

But there was huge pressure on me to a) take it in the first place and b) hang on to it. My mother (who has problems with seeing me as a separate person from her) was very upset when I got rid of my childhood bed. It was a very ordinary divan and 40 years old!!!

I've got shot of four more ebay sales today, trudging up to the village shop with them in the snow. It's all good

whitewing

Today, someone asked to borrow back something they'd given me and I found it straight away,

More course notes have gone today, and old financial paperwork. Some potentially still useful but got damp and damaged through not being stored properly so, again, decided that ifI needed something similar in the future I would either buy a book or look at it online.

Mostly working today though, just chucking out a few bits as I encounter them on my work.

Goldiegirl

Just been having a small rummage today. I attacked a box that I had been storing the paperwork relating to the time my mum and dad died, and I had to give up their house.

I've kept important things like the probate, and death certificate but all the general papers are going to be shredded this evening. There's no rational reason to be keeping their bank statements, when I only keep a years worth of my own statements.

The box that all this junk paperwork has been stored in is actually a very nice box, so I'm going to keep it as a central storage point for documents such as old family things like wartime army books and ID cards, and the older photos.

I read the term 'Memory Box' on here, I think it was Molly. I like that idea, so I think this will be a memory box.

I also found another box, that my nan gave me. I think she got it from a craft fair - it's quite unusual, made from old greetings cards. I don't have many things from my nan, so I do want to keep this. But it had a load of old rubbish in, which I have ditched, and I'm going use it to store my little collection of nautical memrobilia.

Now on to the other matter on my mind. Stuffed toys!

Bearing in mind I'm in my early 50's, with no children, there is no real reason for a stuffed toy to be in my house.

But I used to buy a stuffed toy as a souvenir of places that I visited. So of course, after time they built up, and were stored in the loft in boxes. Last year I had a severe cull of these toys and eBayed a lot, but there were still a few left.

So I've revisted them, and have selected a few more for eBaying.

So that leaves me with 4 to keep.

A seal - bought on our first holiday as a couple -a caravan in Newquay 1980.

A cat - bought on a brilliant holiday in Jersey 1983

A polar bear - bought Seaworld, Florida 1999. In the 90's we had a few theme park holidays, the last one in 1999. It seems to be something to keep as an end of an era.

A hedgehog - don't know when I got it, but I just like it.

It's probably four too many for someone my age..... but it's a manageable amount.

Oh, I still have my childhood doll and two monkeys, but they are keepers.

whitewing

I think a few soft toys around the place cheers it up.

We had a big cull last year but the numbers are creeping up again. DH is worse than the children for giving them a personality and a history and therefore making them unchuckoutable.