Hoarding - Springing Ahead

whitewing

Arrgghh lost my post.

So, very quickly...

27 items of clothes of DH out. Pleased with this, he only went in the bedroom to pack away dry washing.

Parcel out via DS, who was home earlier than expected.

Recycling out.

Present purchased over the weekend is wrapped up and away.

It feels like the house can 'breathe' again.

GreyQueen

Spent 2 hours on the lottie despite the unpromising weather, and cleared another metre of ground from The Rough.

There is a bit under one quarter of the original area left to clear, and my explorations today have established that this is the bit with the buried tarpaulin; deep deep joy. Will have to clear the blighter in two levels' above, remove tarp, and head under.

Also forked thru the area cleared to date, as the soil was compacting in the rain and also some of the bad perennial weeds were starting to regenerate. This will require constant attention in the coming months as you don't win an area back from dereliction in one fell swoop.

Uncovered; more bits of plastic, an earthenware bottle neck, rusty nails and bits of glass (both window and bottle glass) plus a metal something which I speared on the tine of the fork which is either the plate which goes around the keyhole on a piece of furniture or something just like it.

I also spun by the tip with one of the wadges of chickenwire; couldn't fit the other two into the basket as was carrying some other stuff, but will hopefully get on top of the chickenwire later this week.

Got a bit of a DIY day tomorrow caused by decluttering the corner shelf onto the wall later this week; need to rub down the polyfilla from the telephone holes, wash the wall (this bit is about 1 foot wide but behind the sofa so bliddy awkward to get at) and then paint it in. I did re-paint the adjacent bit (with the same colour) last year but didn't do this bit.

Easy enough to do it before the shelf goes up but a major fiddle to do afterwards.

Keep on trucking, my lovelies; we have nothing to lose but our [STRIKE]sanity/ fingernails/ social lives[/STRIKE] errm, I meant our clutter.

lobbyludd

GQ - I actually think corduroy is the perfect decluttering outfit - when I go back into the loft I may war it head to toe to get rid of the last of the infernal degraded insulation.

FIVE HOURS yesterday and I still haven't finished clearing it out. This area is 1.5m x 3m with a head height of 1.2m to zero in a slope.

I took a lot out a while back and went up again yesterday to finish and lay the new insulation. 12 bin bags, a cot, some broken china bowls, plate glass, numerous slates from the roof before it was redone a ballc0ck, broken light bulbs, polystyrene and much other detritus later, it still isn't clear - this isn't my hoard!!! it belongs to the people we bought it from who live 4 doors down. I am now thankfully down to removing the obsolete wiring (encased in WOODEN trunking) that runs all over it, and trying to work out how to get the DOOR that is stored up there out through the tiny hatch.

The obsolete water tank will have to stay because I think it's still attached to something and I can't lift it.

once that's done, I can lay the new insulation and burn the clothes I was wearing. Other than that the house looks worse because I can't DIY and DHW (Do House Work) at the same time.

Oh and the wool stash is going down as I knit the blanket for Mum for chrimbo, think I have definitely overbought though, am about half way through and seem to have 2/3rds of most of the colours left - so I'll have to find an oddments pattern to use it up, because I am very bored with the pattern now and don't think I can bear to extend the blanket to use the wool up

GreyQueen

lobbyludd, clearing out one's own carp and hoard is bad enough but clearing out someone else's mess must be beyond maddening.

Tell me, have you been the slightest bit tempted to drag it 4 doors down and dump it in their front garden? I would've been.

A couple I know moved into their new home and when they went to put stuff in the loft they found that it was full of the former occupant's carp. They contacted the vendor and were gaily told that he didn't want it and they could throw it all away............:mad:

My Dad still looks a bit pale whenever you mention loft insulation; he swears crawling around their loft, shifting Mum's hoard bit by bit so's he could put the insulation down, was one of the worst jobs he's ever done.

I have made various attempts over the years to organise this loft but it's beyond wit or wisdom. It contains the archival collection of suitcases; the heavy old vinyl non-wheelie ones that haven't been used for 30+ years, the several large wheelies which you have to be careful not to overload on the budget airlines, the smaller wheelie cases which do tend to get used, the cardboard cases from the fifties and sixties containing the non-used linens and cushion covers.

There's the orginal cat basket, the second cat basket they acquired when we ended up with two not one cat at a time from the sanctuary, the third cat basket from when my Nan's cat passed away a few years ago and wasn't replaced. A Readicut rug which is homeless due to lack of floor downstairs, a dressmaker's dummy, a prehistoric overhead hairdryer, a sun lounger and parasol for the table which never goes up as it's too big for the patio..........the list is endlessly complicated by bag after bag of yarn, boxes over overflow glasses from the cabinet in the kitchen and stuff beyond strange like the ceramic potty...........it might come in handy one day, apparently.*

Mum will be venturing up there any day now to get some yarn for her latest knitting project. We shall have to attach a rope to her in case she gets lost in there. Kendal Mint Cake may also be in order.

Two shipping trunks, enough holdalls to equip a coachload of holiday makers, several unused dustpans and brushes - one day, all this will be my inheritance - aaaarrrrrrgggghhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!

* We might end up poor but at least we'll have a pot to p-ss in.:p

lobbyludd

Oh, I've been very tempted lol however it's highly hypocritical of me as the bit of the loft with my hoard is far worse lol! - but that's all "useful" honest! - it's not, I'm chipping away at it in hit and runs missions, not done any for a while though - this lot is easy as it's not mine I can throw it all -feeling very superior, with a lot of "why did they keep this?" whilst not thinking too much about what I keep ho hum.

I'm putting in 300mm of insulation, which will leave no opportunity for boarding and storing otherwise I'll take it over and fill with endless rubbish of my own.

Catriona_P

I have been woefully quiet here, but I am reading and taking inspiration!

The last few weeks I have been struggling with repainting the fireplace in our bedroom which was coated in the strongest (external) paint known to man. So decluttering went firmly on the backburner. I finally finished it a few days ago and if I do say so myself it looks so much better now.

My studying books are open again in preparation for my exam in January so yet again decluttering time is very limited.

Last night, however, I did take a break from studying to sort all of DD's old clothes into 'size bags'. Now I just need to figure out what to do with them since the local Facebook selling pages are full of people trying to get pennies for their baby clothes and our local charity shops don't take baby clothes anymore.

GreyQueen

Good work with that fireplace. Having done something similar in another home, you have my every sympathy.

Just rang Mum for some blanket-laundering advice and she told me she's been in her loft and retrieved two cones of yarn from the stash for her new knitting project - heavy jumper for Daddy-O.

Here's a tip for anyone who might be in the same position as Mum; having a lot of coned 4 ply yarn but not wanting to machine-knit with it. I made a suggestion a number of years ago which she tried and was v.pleased to discover a success.

You knit two strands from different but complimentary coloured cones in 4 ply and was comes up is double-knit (ish). She'll knit it to a DK pattern and it'll come out slightly chunkier. Mum's been knitting for 60 + years (started at 7) and isn't phased about going a bit off-piste as it were. She's chosen a grey and an airforce blue this time. She winds the yarn off the cones and into balls before she knits it.

I have had the sofa out to sand the filled wall, sugar soap it and repaint it. Bearing in mind that my living room is 9 x12 feet and that the paint and dec materials are in the v. small bikeshed down the block.

So, out comes the sofa, which means it butts up to the pooter desk on the opposite side of the room. Fetch the paint and sugar soap and sandpaper from the shed. Remove the pushbike to access the rack at the back of the shed (which is 3 ft x5' 9" btw). Do chores and repeat in reverse. Tomorrow the folks will pop up and Mum will bring her drill and we'll put the shelf up to hold the phone in the corner. It's not that I don't know how to use a drill or am too tight to buy one, but with a rented property, I need to drill a hole in the walls about once every 5 years and it just isn't worth giving houseroom to a drill for that little usage.

Plus Mum likes playing with power tools.

Such a faff doing DIY in an absolutely doll-house sized flat.

lobbyludd

Catriona_P wrote: »

Last night, however, I did take a break from studying to sort all of DD's old clothes into 'size bags'. Now I just need to figure out what to do with them since the local Facebook selling pages are full of people trying to get pennies for their baby clothes and our local charity shops don't take baby clothes anymore.

freecycle? or one of those places that pay peanuts for kilos of clothes (ring first to find out if they take them), not sure what age these clothes are, but a local nursery might be glad of spare clothes? and we have YMCA/other charity "bins" in some supermarkets - could put them in there, or is there a local craft group who could use the material for a project?

In my experience, baby clothes don't sell apart from a very few specific brands, and it's not worth the effort.

pigpen

All our baby stuff is being stored for the next grandchild.. from there I might not care where it goes.

clothing doesn't sell well on ebay any more.

whitewing

If anyone wants to use up wool, take a look at this (tortoise is so cute)


http://thebigknit.co.uk/join-in?utm_source=OutBrain&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=Big_Knit_2013