Hoarding - Springing Ahead

Pitlanepiglet

Whitewing, do you know what I'd do in your position? Give up on making tags and burn all of the cards, letting all that negative feeling burn with it, new year, new start....I know you'll have to buy gift tags but I reckon that would be a couple of quid well spent if it gets rid of the negative stuff...otherwise are you not going to revisit all the negativity when you get the tags out to use over the year?

GreyQueen

Pitlanepiglet wrote: »

Whitewing, do you know what I'd do in your position? Give up on making tags and burn all of the cards, letting all that negative feeling burn with it, new year, new start....I know you'll have to buy gift tags but I reckon that would be a couple of quid well spent if it gets rid of the negative stuff...otherwise are you not going to revisit all the negativity when you get the tags out to use over the year?

(((whitewing))) D'you think perhaps PLP is right? To me it sounds as if a lot of these cards are carrying a very negative charge for you. Would they still have that charge even when reduced to things like gift-tags?

I would be tempted to invent for yourself a purging ceremony and get these onto an open flame and let the emotions go. I've done that with things in the past and found it cathartic. An outdoor bonfire on a cold and frosty night under the waxing moon?

Have been back at my flat for a couple of hours. The parents stopped only enough for a comfort break as they wanted to get back before dark, so we dropped my stuff and they left with a couple of bags of stuff which were waiting to go back to theirs. Good to see them gone.

I have acquired some extras but they are in the form of consumables. I have also realised that I started to look at my scrapbooking type project days ago, the one I was intending to do by today, and the interest wasn't there. So much so that I laid it aside at the folks' house and completely forgot about it when I packed up to come home.

I think this is possibly my inner self sending a great big memo to my outer self - get rid! So I will. I also intend to take absolutely everything out of my bookshelf and give it all a thorough scrutiny for usefulness and value. I only have about 4 feet of bookshelves but clutter can still creep in and it's as annoying to me in my tiny home as a whole bookcase would be to someone with more space.

I am also going to sling the opened bottle of kelp tablets. I've been taking these for over 6 months and they haven't made a blind bit of difference to my well-being and are tiny fiddly things. Can't be bothered to fiddle around any more until they're all used up so off they shall go.

Onwards and outwards!

Byatt

GQ, I have very few books now, as like you have such a small space to live, so I have again packed up 12 books for Amazon trade in, some I only got this year but I've not looked at them properly, gardening and cooking, so don't expect to look at them properly in 2014 either, and if I do, well they can easily be replaced through one form or another. I've also packed up 2 old laptops for trade in, not getting much but will be relieved to have the space they will leave.

Talking about cutting cards up for tags, I did that for a few years, never used them all and I also wished I could have bought some cheap but very pretty tags, each year, just a few as I love them, so disposed of all the cut up cards, as like WW, many had negative vibes to them. I love to burn things, it's just so freeing.

Oh, GQ, the kelp tablets...I slung mine in the bin, after trying for a second time to take them, because they made my nose bleed. :eek: Took all my effort not to put them back in the cupboard, for a justincase moment!

GreyQueen

Byatt wrote: »

Oh, GQ, the kelp tablets...I slung mine in the bin, after trying for a second time to take them, because they made my nose bleed. :eek: Took all my effort not to put them back in the cupboard, for a justincase moment!

I'm glad it's not just me. Some folks with chronic fatigue syndrome were reporting almost miraculous improvements on kelp and after 25+ years of the bliddy condition, I wanted me some of that.

Alas, no dice here. And well done for getting things away from that Justin Case geezer, he's the cause of a lot of clutter remaining on the premises, isn't he? :rotfl:

I've started to sort out a new utility provider but am not minded to run the calculation atm so will do that when I am not so much a bear of little brain. New Year's Day will be a good bit of downtime to get a few bits sorted.

I caught a reference in the newspapers to a new book about why we struggle with stuff; Stuffocation by James Wallman, which I will see if the library might have. Sounds good from the reviews.

whitewing

The majority of cards were just lovely cards that will make lovely gift tags, that I will appreciate all the more for taking time to actually stop and look at them.


DS and DD and DH were out this afternoon so I watched Big Fish while dehoarding my cards.


Then I was doing so well that I grabbed the big storage box off the pile and I have got rid of half the contents while watching The Hotel Inspector reruns that I stumbled on accidentally. It was the perfect background featuring people who are 'stuck' and need that kick up the backside to get them going again.


I went through some packs of photos from my teenage years. In the days before digital at least half the pack was rubbish and then there were the 3 versions of the same pose in case only one was any good. And the biggest moment was when I shredded a whole pack of photos of a week-long trip to Dublin. Most featured rain with varying background. The few that featured a person unfortunately only showed the person 3mm high. Not only did I bin the whole lot but I also shredded the negatives. I know I went to Dublin. I know who I went with. I know the moments that made me laugh until I could barely stand up. I don't need crap photos.


I also went through photos from hols as a teenager. As a child, we went away with grandparents but never on family holidays (lack of money plus other reasons). As an older teenager with a boyfriend from a more middle class background, I went with him to places like Cornwall and London. We took photos of anything and everything (well, nothing naughty!). So I have taken out photos that don't feature a person we know. I don't need the landscapes without people either, but have kept one or two.


Same with Uni photos. I have shredded most of the letters, which, after all, were mostly a less instant version of facebook. We also sent each other duplicate sets of photos from uni balls etc. I have taken out any featuring people that I didn't know even then.


I have shredded postcards too. Too personal to give to my daughter to mess around with, but not important enough to riffle through any more. It did occur to me that everyone I knew was busy travelling while I was struggling so much with suicidal thoughts that I was having trouble existing. Now that I understand that how I grew up wasn't so 'usual', I look forward to experiencing these situations with a post-therapy frame of mind. I am going abroad next year for the first time in over ten years. No more excuses - it's happening.


My proudest moment was when DH came home, and said, "I never thought you'd get rid of any of that."


Go, me!


This Christmas has been a revelation, I knew I'd made good progress this year but I am surprised with how deeply entrenched I still am in a few areas. There's no rush, it will all get better with time. I feel good about today.

GreyQueen

:j Oh whitewing, that's brilliant, you've really made headway, haven't you? And, by sharing your experiences on this thread, you'll be helping people you'll probably never meet unstick themselves, too.

I came back to my own home late yesterday afternoon and, between catching up with a few peeps by phone and playing online, managed to declutter a bag of stuff.

Funnily enough, I was also in the cards. I'm not one for hoarding cards from birthdays etc, but I do have a considerable stash of blank cards ready to gift, plus unused postcards from trips. I kept a few favourites of the postcards as I rotate them on the PC desk as "art" but the rest have gone. Have also pawed thru some of the stuff on the bookshelf and slung the disintegrating copy of The Rough Guide to (-) a country where I travelled extensively. It's now 10 years out-of-date and if I want to go back to that particular country, I'm sure I can spring for a new one if necessary.

I'm on a roll.

Hollyberry

Brilliant progress all round here. We're doing great! :T

And whitewing, that was inspirational stuff, thank you. On a practical level, my personal light bulb has just gone *ping* about our excessive mugs in the kitchen, so they are going to the chazza asap. No point in having the mugs I use sitting on the counter and those I hate on the mug trees. Doh! Small change, big difference.

I wombled a further 4 bags of books yesterday. The back hall is now full of book bags and I've started stacking bags at the front. There is so much stuff including furniture that I think the chazza will come and collect, which I think will help us all as we won't have to do at least two trips, more likely three and park on double lines to offload everything. Here they can park on the drive and it's an easy trundle from their loading bay (which we can't use). I now have two floor to ceiling bookcases left to purge. I also allowed myself the small pleasure (as this is the fun bit!) of starting to sort out the shelves I've already purged: a gardening shelf is emerging, one with aviation books, another for survival stories, novels sorted by author - aah, it's a veritable booklover's paradise in prospect. :j

Next jobs: one chaise longue to be shown the door. Investigate and purge stuff stored on/around piano. Move piano to where chaise sat. Desk into piano corner. Purge final two bookcases. Final book sort. Study complete. Ta dah!

whitewing

Thank you everyone. I know that at a later date, I will go through the box again and get rid of all of the manky old photo albums and some more of the contents of the albums. At one time, they were the important people in my life - I worked with them or loved them dearly. They are still special memories but will be part of my life story up to my marriage.

I did find a few treasures - a rare group photo of the girls that I shared a house with at uni.

Today I think I am going to pull out a few more bits and pieces. I am mindful of flylady's 'only get out what you can put away in 15 minutes'. That was great yesterday as we had 20 mins warning that grandparents were arriving back with dd and everything was put away for the night then. That was probably the biggest milestone as usually I create a lot of packing away that I am too tired to do. Hmmm, perhaps that is why partners and husbands can be unsupportive of fledging attempts to dehoard, as that is the point I tend to get shouty and grumpy.

Hollyberry

I have just purged under the piano. Three pairs of slippers (freebies and sort of disposable, so stashed for when I get my next outbreak of poorly foot ), two further bags of books for chazza, one bag of coat hangers for recycling, and a wicker chest which I've saved to go through after lunch. Onward & upward.

whitewing - I like that 15 minute rule. Noted, and will be applied here.

whitewing

I've done the 2011 cards.


I'm actually looking forward to using the gift tags too. We have cards saying 'nephew' and 'aunty' etc. It occurred to me that some other family members are getting in to more settled relationships now, and there may be new babies and husbands and wives in the next few years.