Hoarding - A New Start

GreyQueen

I'm only being coy in case someone up reading up here should also be volunteering at the c.s. where I'm donating the item as I'm gift-aid registered. Stranger things have happened. You shall just have to wonder.;)

I keep my important docs in a go-bag, backed up with hardcopies off-site at my parents' place. The reason I do it like that is that my block of flats has had an emergency evac in the middle of the night before (bad fire) and could easily have to have one again.

I know there's a valid point that the go-bag could be stolen, but then, so can a strong-box/ portable safe etc. I have my previous corner-clipped passport with the off-site docs as well as a photocopy of the pix page from the current one.

If you're going to get a fireproof container, you'll need to hunt around for a correctly-rated one. According to the novel by Ray Bradbury, paper burns at 451 faranheit. And I'm assuming you'll want to have it somewhere relatively-accessible in case you have to bail out of your home in a hurry. In which case you'll risk that a burglar would see it and take it.

I do have a small fireproof locked box but I actually use it as a decoy item; it contains nothing of any value but is left where a cursory ransacking would find it quite easily, in the hopes that a villian would head away with it and break into it elsewhere. This isn't as daft as it sounds, it's actually recommended by some security experts.

Brighton_belle

Pitlanepiglet wrote: »

OK fellow hoarders, how many of us will admit to this one....hoarding of text messages....

I've got a new phone and it reminded me of one previous upgrade where DH looked at me in horror when I asked him to transfer over my huge batch of text messages - because they were "special" to me :shocked:
I'm hoping I'm not alone!

Wow - caught me with this one:D Well done for voicing it it. Yes, I have 75 stashed txts.. quite a few are from around our wedding 18 months ago and very special. I had started to write these down to store in our wedding memory box but haven't finished. I shall do that today and then delete them.
Other txts are supportive and uplifting txts from friends - I think these are worth jotting down in my trusty notebook so on days when I feel rubbish and that I have achieved nothing, these are the evidence I check to remind myself that how ever I 'feel' the evidence says otherwise.

Re the wedding memorabilia - we had a very clutter free wedding and everything from it we kept fits in one shoe box. I think that's that's pretty good

GreyQueen wrote: »

Anyone else hate having to chose their recipient? It seems to be like a blind beauty contest and I worry about hurting the feelings of the people who miss out. Imagining that they always miss out on things they ask for on freecycle and feel down, and unworthy.

Yes! Exactly as you describe.So much so that I'll avoid freecycle if there is another easy means to pass on. The agony of it is ridiculous:rotfl:.


I've been helping a friend declutter who was very miserable about the state of her home and didn't now where to start. It's been fantastic. And once I had started her off, with 'what one thing could we do in 10 minutes today in this room', she was away and has cleared loads.
One thing she struggle with, as manyof us do, is gifts from friends over the years she neither likes nor wants but feels obliged to keep.
She pointed at one (a jug ) So I picked it up and said, how would it feel it I told you I was taking this home with me today and then in a week I ask you if you want it back (and if not, I take to a c.s)?
Her face lit up, and she allowed me to take them away. Within 24 hrs she said she never wanted it back.
It was that simple. I am going to do this with a 'gift' everytime I go now. I passed on GreyQueens wonderful comment of a gift automatically becoming a sacred object even if you hated it we can feel stuck with it.

Brighton_belle

Good point about important paperwork.
What do you think should be in this file/box?
I know if our home burnt down, I would have absolutely no idea who our insurers were (even though it is me that aranges it every year). So i guess a copy if household insurance cert is one.
Other things?

decogecko

BB I think the suggestion is -

Home insurance docs, including contact number and policy number.
Passport
Drivers licence (I keep the card part in my purse, but you need the paper part to make any changes)
A note of utility account numbers (just in case your house becomes inhabitable due to flooding/fire)
Birth certificate

I'm sure some more learned people will come along and make some better suggestions

HTH

Deco x

Dragoncry

Brighton_belle wrote: »

Good point about important paperwork.
What do you think should be in this file/box?
I know if our home burnt down, I would have absolutely no idea who our insurers were (even though it is me that aranges it every year). So i guess a copy if household insurance cert is one.
Other things?

Hi just wanted to help out as I found a lovely site for making a 'Survival Binder' with just the kind of info you are looking for?
http://survivalcache.com/the-survival-binder/

Might post more when I can work out what to say, though I read this every day .

DC

Brighton_belle

Thanks deco and dragon (and whitewing and GQ). I shall organise this. I have all these papers well organised but they are within other folders, like the car folder/utilities folder etc. I can see pulling these out into one quickly grabbable place makes very good sense.

In fact I think I might photo copy these and keep them in my lockable desk draw at work in case I am not able to even rescue anything from the house.

GreyQueen

Brighton_belle wrote: »

Good point about important paperwork.
What do you think should be in this file/box?
I know if our home burnt down, I would have absolutely no idea who our insurers were (even though it is me that aranges it every year). So i guess a copy if household insurance cert is one.
Other things?

This reminds me of a remark of Don Aslett's in one of his decluttering books. At one time his cleaning company used to do post-disaster cleanups in homes where there'd been fires and floods. Often the contents of the whole house, or parts of the house, had been destroyed.

What he noticed was that the homeowners struggled to fill in their proof-of-loss for the insurance claim because, although the basement/ garage/ whatever had been rammed full of Stuff, for the life of them they couldn't remember what was in there. Even when hard cash was at stake.:o

He suggested taking inventory of your home, both for a potential insurance claim and as a decluttering tool. Reckoned that if you went at it room-by-room, you'd find stuff so worthless that you couldn't even be bothered to write it down, in which case you'd know what to do (get rid).

Well, have just dropped off the Mystery Item at the c.s. and am waiting for some negative emotion to kick in. Don't feel anything yet so this must have been the right time to let it go.

dragoncry, thank you for that link, and I hope you feel comfortable enough to post more, soon.

My docs which are duplicated are; inusrance policy, warranties and receipts for appliances large and small, bank account stuff, personal docs (birth cert and passport, although some people will have marriage certs/ divorce docs). I don't have a vast amount of belongings but a total loss would be wince-making to recover from. I'm also going to back up the PC onto a flash drive, on the to-do list possibly for later today.

If I get a round tuit.

VJsmum

The gift thing is tricky, but I should hate to think of someone hanging onto a gift I'd bought them but they don't like. I bought my sister a basket of cheeses and crackers and chutneys as a thanks for having us present at christmas. She felt awful asking if it was ok to have for lunch while we were there. I told her that my view is that if you have given somehting as a gift it is up to the recipient what they do with it, that gives me permission to do likewise. A friend bought me a joke key ring for christmas with a barking dog, I saw it yesterday and the battery has gone so it no longer barks, I'll never use it as a keyring, I appreciated the joke (it is an "in" joke between us), and binned the item. No regrets.

I have, however, kept hold of a cardi that was one of the last things mum bought me - even though I don't really want to wear it anymore. I'm working on that.

short_bird

GreyQueen wrote: »

If I get a round tuit.

Here you go:D
http://www.zazzle.co.uk/a_round_tuit_sticker-217914842665621887

GreyQueen

short_bird wrote: »

Here you go:D
http://www.zazzle.co.uk/a_round_tuit_sticker-217914842665621887

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

This has long been an in-family gag, so much so that when on a holiday as kids, we spotted and purchased a Round Tuit (the same message on a plate) for Mum.

Sadly, it must have been a defective Round Tuit, as it didn't achieve the desired result. I carbooted it sometime in the early 1990s, in hopes that it would help someone else declutter.