Hoarding - Springing Ahead

pigpen

Whitewing.. the midwife only comes twice here and the HV comes at 10 days and then at 6 weeks and you never see any of them again.. I just think if they leave children in families who are drug addicts and alcoholics and violent criminals my 'few' boxes of clutter are nothing to worry about.

Just2Ashamed

Well, I've managed to completely clear out 2 kitchen cupboards and the top of the fridge this afternoon.... which has led to 2 full bin bags being slung! :eek: The other cupboards really aren't too bad though (I did them recently) and I'm now confident that there's nothing open / leaking / out of date in the kitchen :j I also spoke to the HA about sorting out the garden and they've agreed to make it decent.

I'm nowhere near done in the kitchen yet, but it definitely feels like some progress. I've also reserved a space at our local car boot for Sunday and sent 2 eBay items today, so things are gradually leaving the house and nothing has come back in as yet. I need to make sure the kitchen and hallway are as done as possible by Thursday morning as apparently the gas men are coming round At the moment they'd be lucky if they can get close to the boiler.

I've also realised that we need a dehumidifier. The HA are being useless and refusing to put extractor fans in the kitchen or bathroom, so the whole flat gets full of condensation and things become mildewy even when they've been washed, ironed and put away. I'll have to keep an eye out on eBay / at the car boot as it's really disheartening to work hard on sorting out the clothes situation only to realise that nothing's wearable anyway.

Whitewing - I'm sure my midwife is lovely, however I've only ever spoken to her on the phone... each appointment has been with a student midwife who is in various stages of gaining their qualification - and there's no way I'd feel comfortable discussing my mental state with a teenager fresh out of college. I know I'm probably being unfair to them, but I've met lots of student nurses / midwifes (I was one!) and can't help feeling that there is the distinct possibility of mountain-out-of-a-molehill if they feel overwhelmed.

Pigpen - Thank you for letting me know that it's not just me! I also have SPD along with other health issues, so am trying to walk the line of doing 'enough' but not 'too much'. DH was scandalised when he found me standing on a stool and cleaning the top of the fridge earlier, but I feel I need to weigh up the smallish risk of me falling over / fainting / having my hip pop out with the very real risk that there is something potentially mouldy and gross lurking out of my line of sight.

I am trying the sort out 1 room technique, but unfortunately the madness is beginning to creep back in - there's just no space to sort things in this place.

Catriona - I know what you mean about baby things! The second you announce you're expecting they just start to appear and multiply as if by magic :rotfl: Fortunately MIL has said we can keep the baby's things at hers (and she will wash them and keep them nice) until we have a nursery rather than a box-room-of-tat. She's absolutely wonderful and I know would help us in a heartbeat, but she lives a fair distance away, and to be honest she has enough issues to be getting on with from DH's sister who is very unwell.

Procrastinator - It's really hard when we become emotionally attached to our 'things' I know others have suggested in the past that keeping a picture of the item rather than the thing itself can be helpful, would this work for you?

Thank you so much to everyone who's welcomed me and given some advice, I should go and actually *do* something now! The dishwasher is calling me :rotfl:

calicocat

Hi J2A, you have had loads of brilliant advise already. It definitely does help to set a timer or give yourself a time limit of some description. As I am quite a lazy hound, plus wasn't quite sure where to start, I started by making myself tidy or throw out or wash up dishes when the adverts were on. Gradually this grew to longer and longer, and I still do that now when in lardarse mode.

Also having one or two rooms that were better than the rest helped (which room did change as I was sorting things) , but if you have somewhere to chill and relax away from it you can feel better about yourself and say "hey look I can do it this room is ok".


Monday......oh lord, 2 sets of drawers, a rocking chair, and a cheval mirror that needs new glass put in arrived via ex. So switched some of my stuff around as these drawers are better that the ones currently using, and friend is coming to collect the ones I don't need anymore as hers are at collapsing point.

Today.....went off to train shop to get a friends birthday pressie, B&Q to get fixings for fire surround and to hang mirror properly, borrow pals lawn mower. fire and mirror sorted (friend did it for me bless him), and lawn at front done. Conservatory windows, blinds and sills cleaned and door locked into it so Asbo cat can't wreck it all again before saturday night.

Plan.....tomorrow do all washing (this has to be dried outside and is not allowed in conservatory but put away) . go to shops to get wine and some beers for sat. Also may get paper plates as will save on mess. Food plan already done but will get this and cook friday. Clean bathroom and dust all the bottles of stuff in there. Rig up some more fairy lights if get time.....may pop into a shop to get some outside ones as security light not working outside. sort pink room out some more. Sunbathe for an hour if nice weather. Tidy kitchen...again.

That seems like quite a lot actually now i've written it down.....oh hang on there is tomorrow and Thursday to do it.

Cat-flapped another 2 pairs of boots to a friend.




Just thinking, don't the HA 'HAVE' to put extractor fans in kitchen and bathrooms , I might be wrong but I thought they did.

lobbyludd

congrats pigpen somehow missed the safe arrival of the newest piglet. bad news on the SPD though, hope you are getting lots of rest and help.

J2A - I became rather manic about trying to keep things well ordered when pregnant (not a usual state for me - well the anxiety is, the desire to tidy isn't!). I also had a useless HV who assessed me as depressed on the Edinburgh depression scale said she would come round weekly and then never turned up again, when I rang to check if I'd missed her she denied all knowledge of this despite me having a copy of my appointment schedule. I became severely depressed and was terrified they'd take bambino away from me, but they didn't. I had wonderful support from my gp who did see me weekly.

If other half is unhappy about you doing the high/heavy stuff can he do that instead? Even if he doesn't do it perfectly, I've got something in my head from either flylady or here or somewhere along the lines of "don't let perfect get in the way of good-enough", I up-grade that to "don't let perfect get in the way of slightly better than it was before I started"! you've made great strides, and this is really a great place to be.

interview this friday!! very much hoping to get new job and declutter old one, today at work definitely confirmed it, but interview will get me back in the swing of things even if I don't get it.

bins out. have been through the clothes friend dropped off, and sorted into keep/cs. and then I've been through my pile again and got rid of the ones I think might be useful but are wrong in some way (i.e. I think I can alter them to fit, colours that don't really suit me or they are fibres that will irritate my skin etc ) but that's it for today.

calicocat

Had a bit of a chance to read posts more closely this morning whilst having a coffee-break. Congrats PIGPEN on the new arrival. The stories of women not really feeling supported by HV or midwives are a bit bad though, i'm guessing things may be even worse at the moment with all the cuts and people having case loads too big for them. Still, it's bad that people aren't getting the help or support they need. When my friend had her first little boy (over 2 weeks overdue), the woman who came (not sure if she was a midwife or HV) was like some kind of mini Hitler, not a nice woman at all. One of the staff at the hospital wasn't much better either and I can remember going in to visit to find one of them practically screaming and shouting at my friend who was scared to pick her baby up and change him.......shouting at her seemed very unhelpful at this point with a new mum who's hands were shaking. it's also a shame that often PND often gets recognised when it's been left too long and not caught early when easier to treat/help. I hold my hands up to all you mums who are coping with bambino brigades and trying to de-hoard at the same time....makes my situation seem quite silly really in comparison , so good luck to you all battling on and doing it.


Right, I initially just came on to post what i'd done so far to keep me going at it then started reading.......any excuse.

So far.....

Bed linen off and in washer.
Clothes whirly-gig thing put up so don't use conservatory to dry clothes.
Outside conservatory windows cleaned( haven't found a window cleaner here yet).
Porch windows and sills cleaned.

It's now 9.30....in next hour must make bed and put washing out on line. Then make more of a go at sorting the 'pink room/dumping ground' and find more to either recycle or throw out.
By lunchtime must also have dusted and cleaned bathroom. There is also still a box of 'stuff 'in the lounge to sort.

Good luck to those attacking the situation today.

11.50.

Washing out.
Bed made.
Box in lounge sorted (but means I have 'stuff in kitchen with no place to go as yet)
Got sidetracked with box and ended up dusting lounge instead of doing bathroom.
Some stuff organised for clothes bag to take to clothes bank.
Some stuff thrown out.
Paperwork from box sorted out or chucked.(kept stuff I shouldn't have done really but don't feel I have time to look at it properly to decide what to do with it.
Some stuff shoved in drawers instead of proper sorting due to wanting place to look tidy for saturday.

Next...hoover the dust-bowl laminate flooring of squished spiders, sand from beach,and general dust seeing as already on a roll with downstairs.

Catriona_P

calicocat wrote: »

Had a bit of a chance to read posts more closely this morning whilst having a coffee-break. Congrats PIGPEN on the new arrival. The stories of women not really feeling supported by HV or midwives are a bit bad though, i'm guessing things may be even worse at the moment with all the cuts and people having case loads too big for them. Still, it's bad that people aren't getting the help or support they need. When my friend had her first little boy (over 2 weeks overdue), the woman who came (not sure if she was a midwife or HV) was like some kind of mini Hitler, not a nice woman at all. One of the staff at the hospital wasn't much better either and I can remember going in to visit to find one of them practically screaming and shouting at my friend who was scared to pick her baby up and change him.......shouting at her seemed very unhelpful at this point with a new mum who's hands were shaking. it's also a shame that often PND often gets recognised when it's been left too long and not caught early when easier to treat/help. I hold my hands up to all you mums who are coping with bambino brigades and trying to de-hoard at the same time....makes my situation seem quite silly really in comparison , so good luck to you all battling on and doing it.

That's awful calico, who shouts at a new mum?! I remember getting told off for not having dressed my daughter after about 2 hours (I was still pretty traumatised by her birth and in a daze). I had a pretty poor experience once out of hospital - HVs not turning up, turning up late, on the wrong day, I had one who left without saying goodbye when I dashed upstairs to change DD who had pooed everywhere! In hindsight, I'm pretty sure I had PND (for lots of reasons) but nobody ever asked me if how I felt at any point. It wasn't until I had counselling for other things when DD was 18 months that I started to feel a bit better. The system doesn't do enough.

I must have missed your new arrival news, pigpen - congrats! :T

But enough of my ranting! Had the morning off work to take the cat to the vet for her vaccs, so spent half an hour 'decluttering' weeds in the garden, then FINALLY put up a towel rail in the bathroom that's needed doing for a year, then put up a picture in the bedroom that I've also been meaning to do for ages. Does that count as productive?

Good luck with your interview on Friday lobby!

calicocat

Catriona_P wrote: »

That's awful calico, who shouts at a new mum?! I remember getting told off for not having dressed my daughter after about 2 hours (I was still pretty traumatised by her birth and in a daze). I had a pretty poor experience once out of hospital - HVs not turning up, turning up late, on the wrong day, I had one who left without saying goodbye when I dashed upstairs to change DD who had pooed everywhere! In hindsight, I'm pretty sure I had PND (for lots of reasons) but nobody ever asked me if how I felt at any point. It wasn't until I had counselling for other things when DD was 18 months that I started to feel a bit better. The system doesn't do enough.

I must have missed your new arrival news, pigpen - congrats! :T

But enough of my ranting! Had the morning off work to take the cat to the vet for her vaccs, so spent half an hour 'decluttering' weeds in the garden, then FINALLY put up a towel rail in the bathroom that's needed doing for a year, then put up a picture in the bedroom that I've also been meaning to do for ages. Does that count as productive?

Good luck with your interview on Friday lobby!

The woman who came to the house was awful to be honest. As the little dude was very overdue he came out king of resembling some form of little lizard baby going through a shedding skin moment..!....lol. so he had to be rubbed a few times a day with oil and his skin massaged to get the dry skin off. My friend was frightened to do it and the witch's attitude stank to be fair, so when I was there I did it and just glared at the horrid woman giving one of my 'back off my mate' looks, she ended up with depression for a while later, and i'm sure that the fact that she felt ridiculed and judged in the beginning by these women contributed to her lack of self worth later on.

Anyhow.....off to continue the mammoth cleaning and sorting.

Good luck Lobby too, I miss half the flipping stuff on here reading on a mobile....however that may be just as well so I can't keep replying about stuff and crack on with the job in hand...lol.

penelopedee_2

Morning . One of the boys birthdays today and first day back at school so its been chaos here.

Wrapping paper flung into the recycling, both boys rooms de-littered and all of the teenagers washing drying on the line (might even find his bedroom floor one day).

Three bags of summer clothes and shoes taken to the charity shop but I forgot to take the jigsaws, so will have to do another trip at the weekend.

Just had a call from school to say they are sending youngest back already today - not bad for him, managed 3 hours or so and gave me time to tidy his room. Will keep DH busy this afternoon whilst I'm at work

Lovely and sunny again here today, so hopefully washing will be dried by the time I get back and I can get that put away. Makes such a difference when I can get it all washed and dried in a day, somehow gives me the energy to sort and re-home it before a mountain grows in the dining room.

Have a good afternoon all x

Knit_Witch

Not much happening here but I did get rid of some old knitting needles (all bent and 'orrible) and some zip up bags that OH's polo shirts came in that "might come in for something" (never did of course), so getting there!

Just2Ashamed

Well - progress! The kitchen is DONE (well, the dishwasher has yet to finish and there are some cups soaking in the sink, but still, it's almost there). Every cupboard and worksurface is now clear and bleached, the only food left is actually edible and stored correctly, the floors have been cleaned and even the oven is hygienic :j I pulled out the cooker to clean behind (gross) but think I may have solved the missing cutlery mystery :rotfl:

Even more shocking is that the HA have turned up to sort out the garden, IN THE SAME WEEK I ASKED THEM TO :eek: They've even sorted out the neighbour-from-hell's garden!!! I don't know what has gotten into them but I'm loving it :rotfl: I think they got reprimanded for their 'customer service' recently so maybe they're taking it to heart (or maybe they were threatened with a fine lol).

I'm feeling pretty tired so going to take a small break and then crack on with the bathroom and hallway this afternoon. In an ideal world I'd rather do the lounge next, but unfortunately we have the gas men coming round tomorrow morning so I should probably make it safe for them to reach the boiler :rotfl: I feel much better for actually *doing* something and went to sleep last night at a sensible time for the first night in aaaages. I'm hoping all today's busyness will do the same for me tonight.