Hoarding - Springing Ahead

Catriona_P

lobbyludd wrote: »

Catriona - re the clothes, is it the money or that you want them to be useful that's preventing them all going in the bin? I've struggled over stuff that I couldn't throw away because they were in very good nick. In the end, if I couldn't sell them OR give them away then I had to accept that they weren't useful to anyone I could get them to and therefore they weren't useful, they were just rubbish.

It's both really - part of the reason I struggle to let go of things is because I'm so desperate for cash it feels wrong to let good things go for nothing. Anything of mine that I can sell, does get sold. But I want stuff to be useful too (I've given plenty away to a friend who had a baby daughter).

I've just sent an email to my local Women's Aid asking if they're in need of baby clothes. Will wait to hear back from them - it'd be lovely if they need anything as I had to use their services last year and it'd be nice to pay something back.

ModestyB

GreyQueen, well done on clearing the rough with help from your parents. It must be such a relief not having to face that anymore. I'm another one who gets twitchy when things I want gone are still hanging around.

Re: baby clothes, I once gave a big bag full to a friend for her new baby and she chucked the lot in the bin. They could have gone to a c.s. if she'd said she didn't want them. It still rankles though it was years ago.

GreyQueen

Yeah, I'm happy knowing The Rough is gone.

It'll require ongoing attention in the form of being forked thru every few weeks as the couch grass, nettles and horsetails regenerate, but now the surface is cleared and the ironmongery and tarp is removed, it'll be do-able.

I suppose that a good analogy would be the difference between massive decluttering and routine housework.

I now have to move on to the strawberry bed, which I foolishly allowed to get infested with couch grass and docks. So it's an area of rough grass with strawbs in it somewhere. The bed is due to be divided and moved anyway, so I will start pecking away at that next.

And when that's done, there is the small matter of what my Dad dubbed the Alpine Carrot Bed.

Dad is prone to humour, and this area is the last of a 2 m wide earth berm caused by my moving earth from the side of the allotment which was very erratically lumpy and much higher than the rest.

For those who don't visit alllotments, a common issue is that decade after decade of poor gardening causes the side/s to be higher than the middle. Typical cause is hacking up great divots of earth with lumps of grass, pitching them up the sides and never clearing them out and levelling back down.

My lottie is over 30 m long and I cleared the banked up side on the second year I had it, put in manure and grew two long rows of spuds. Once they were clear, I laboriously raked the soil sideways, temporarily causing an earth berm about 2 m into the plot, from front to back. This was progressively raked sideways across the whole width of the plot as the ground was cleared of crops.

Only the bit at the top couldn't be raked over because the bit to rake it across onto was The Rough. And I didn't want to move earth from the top of the lottie (heavy horesetail infestation) to the bottom half of the plot (light horsetail infestation) for obvious reasons.

So I had this raised area which I grew carrots on one year, hence Dad's nickname. I haven't cropped it for a couple of years and it's currently holding the sections of the most-of-a-shed which I will burn later on, as drying racks for the grassy clods and roots from The Rough (and the Strawberry Bed, in due course).

Everything on the lottie is a bit kneebone connected to the ankle bone; X has to be done before Y can be tackled etc etc.

Took the knitting pattern folders to the charity shop, took the recycles (mine and neighbour's) to the communal bins. Keep glancing across at my new little shelf in the corner which is keeping my phone off the tin trunk I use as a coffee table and making my life steadily better.

Well pleased.

lobbyludd

Catriona_P wrote: »

It's both really - part of the reason I struggle to let go of things is because I'm so desperate for cash it feels wrong to let good things go for nothing. Anything of mine that I can sell, does get sold. But I want stuff to be useful too (I've given plenty away to a friend who had a baby daughter).

I've just sent an email to my local Women's Aid asking if they're in need of baby clothes. Will wait to hear back from them - it'd be lovely if they need anything as I had to use their services last year and it'd be nice to pay something back.

that would be perfect wouldn't it Hugs Catriona, I've had minor use of their services too, wonderful organisation,hope you are safe.

littlegreenparrot

I have a plan for my living room.

It involves getting rid of an enormous uncomfortable sofa that has broken (and was always to big, DH doing unsupervised 'helping' :mad: Got it from a charity shop as well, so felt bad about returning it)

This will mean we have more space, I can get at the bottom book shelves (which will also need clearing of junk, so cook books can come in from conservatory, where they get damp), and the parrot can have lovely new bigger cage. Everyone's a winner.
So why have I done nothing about this for 6 months?!

Have been inspired by the final conquering of the 'Rough' and everyone's progress to get on with it. Freecycle first, (would suit a student share where would get wrecked anyway) if not council collection - which have to pay for. This will happen by the end of next week - I have to have deadlines!!

kayester

Big task of sorting through DVDs today. DD is only young and went through a stage of opening them all and moving them around the house.
Have sorted out all of the disney ones, along with the other kids ones into one cabinet with a lock on.
and others have been moved into a space in my bedroom altogether.

bin men have been today, always makes me feel better when they have been. empty green boxes and black bin!

whitewing

Yes, I like empty bins.

Threw out a couple of pairs of newish tights today. DH bought them (for me!) last winter from a different shop than was on the list. I should have got them refunded but instead I tried to use them, but I knew they wouldn't fit properly. I never felt comfortable in them.

DH went to the recycling today too en route to work. Not sure what mysterious things he'd found to dump as he only went earlier in the week- it's safer not to ask sometimes. I feel somewhat miffed that something is being thrown out without my permission. (I have a mug with the same 'better ideas' slogan as the cushion someone else mentioned).

DH has also done a big clean up today so it is looking great here. (I helped indirectly in that a few jobs have been chipped at over the last few days and he just got around to finishing them off).

DS is sorting tea out so I am supposed to be working at the minute.

lobbyludd

all the insulation is in the loft, laid in place!!, the tools are put away, the loft hatch is replaced and ladder taken down. I actually need 2 more rolls of the top layer, but that's for another pay day. I now can see the corner of the lounge that has been "insulated" for weeks

Tomorrow will start to turn my attention to the rest of the house as that bit of the loft is DEFINITELY the least cluttered part of the homestead lol, and I could do with one room that doesn't want me to throw a match on the lot.

first on the list is to mend a hole in the bathroom ceiling (small) made when I tried to move a redundant copper pipe in the loft that is apparently integral to the structure of said ceiling.

some electronics that are useless binned (baby monitors without cables and 1 walkie talkie that has been waiting for it's partner to turn up. Some tip runs necessary over the next few weeks.

nervousdaughter

For those of you who read my first couple of posts - I thought I'd let you know that there's been progress, slow and sure (and expensive as some of the repair work has been done) but still a mountain to go and unfortunately I'm at a juncture in my own life which is stressful so don't have as much time / energy to spare.

But really, in all, I feel much more like we'll get there in the end.

SueMaggie

De-lurking for a moment re the "getting rid of baby clothes" issue - though I'm a bit late to the party on this one.

The charity DH works for and I fundraise for has recently started working with this website http://www.clothesforcharity.org.uk/

You choose which of their charity partners you want to benefit and order a collection bag, fill it and then arrange a date and time for it to be collected by a courier.

Only potential drawback is that there's a minimum weight of 15kg for a collection.

There aren't loads of charities to choose from (yet!) but there should be something that most of us can opt for.

So thought I'd throw it into the mix and hope it's useful for someone.