Hoarding - Springing Ahead

Catriona_P

I have been missing in action, sorry guys. Happy new year!

My next big exam is in 2 weeks so decluttering is very firmly on the backburner however I have discovered a very good way of keeping things tidy. Just keep inviting people over! I don't have many friends here so mainly its workmen doing various jobs around the house but it means I have to tidy bits little and often and doesn't give me a chance to let too much pile up. It's not a foolproof plan but it seems to work.

I really need to clearout daughter's baby clothes but they don't sell, nobody I know wants them, including charity shops and they're much too nice for the bin. I've found a local charity that takes baby clothes but they're some distance away and can't collect.

I have 2 bags of regular stuff for charity when I get a chance to walk up there. I can happily report that for some reason things finally seem to be clicking in my head, I'm being more ruthless about parting with things that normally I would hoard until I could sell them.

Regarding clothes, despite having parted with 56 items last year (see sig) I still have far too much. With my love of spreadsheets I'm thinking (once my exam is done) of putting together a list of all the clothes I own bar underwear, including photos, to help me use up items I rarely wear and get rid of things too old/unfashionable/small etc. Does that just sound really too obsessive on the organisational front?

Patchwork_Quilt

Catriona P, I think I would do things the other way around. Instead of listing all your clothes and wearing the unloved ones to use them up, I would take all my favourite/comfiest clothes out of the wardrobe and then bin the rest.

After all, you're worth it.

Picklepot

Pitlanepiglet wrote: »

Welcome Newbies :j

The point of the long post is to detail what I've leaned along the way...

Firstly do something, I've said this recently on here, I was prone to thinking that I had to be able to do everything - clear the shed, clear the bedroom - I never had time to do all of it so consequently I did nothing. From here I leant the value of little and often and plodded through a drawer, shelf and pile at time.

Secondly, and this is probably obvious, I've realised that most of the mess I lived in was because I couldn't put things away because my cupboards, drawers and shelves were already full of things that I mainly didn't use but couldn't be bothered to deal with. This made putting things away a nightmare as I was trying to shoehorn stuff that I did use in amongst stuff that I really didn't use.

.

Thank you for your very inspirational post. I lurk most of the time and am so pleased to see all of your progress. I have struggled to find why i cant make the progress you all seem to and i think its because although i read and love the suggestions on here i just couldnt make it happen .
In the last few weeks the light bulb moment has happened. Things have started to come together.As as you say piglet.. DO SOMETHING, i started with one item a day, i know it sounds ridiculous but that s exactly what i did,. Of course i cannot see big changes yet but my mindset seems to be changing because as im busying about i start seeing things that could maybe be tomorrows item and often it is.Sometimes its 2 or 3 items so that i am not under pressure if i miss days. It has made me realise i have more of a hoarding problem than i thought the difficulty in letting go.It has taken me a long time to realise that my past clutter clearing efforts have in fact just been churning stuff round the house. So i have after a long time realised i cannot flea bay or car boot or anything that may cause a delay and that has been part of my light bulb.
Your second point - i could have written, i have quite a big house but have stuff on all the sides because my cupboards and drawers are full of unused stuff . I think if i tackle the storage area i may be able to start putting things away

I may have to delurk every so often to ask for help letting things go!

ginnyknit

Picklepot sounds like you are well on your way to have a home you like again! :beer:

Still going strong here, de-cluttered some cherry cake and coffee and feel raring to go! Black bags outside waiting to go to the tip, loads of magazines and paper re-cycled and all parcels posted - yes shortbird that includes buttons :rotfl: and bag dropped off at Cs AND I bought nothing from there also went in Mr T and bought exactly what I went for - milk and mayo. Wow, am loving my new attitude to 'things' I looked at stuff and thought 'NO' Mind you the living room is chaos and have 2 piles of clean washing on my bed but there is no clean stuff hanging around the kitchen or living room ...aaaahhh and rest....

GreyQueen

Sounds like some real LBMs are happening. Just doing that little something can be the first step on the road to unclutteredness.

Nipped over to the recycling bank with my tetra-packs and got shot of 8 of them. They won't take them in the general household recycling, so cut the tops off, wash them and flatten them. It's good to get them gone.

Home is a bit of tip atm as I seem to have been rushing in and out of my life a bit since Crimble. I work 60% of a job due to health grounds, so although I am in theory around more than a full-timer, it's poor low energy time.

But do a little, eh? Have just put supper on the stove and will take yesterday's laundry off the clothes airer and get that folded and put away, which will cause a mahoosive increase in the space in this tiny living room.

Hokay, I'm on it. A couple of mins putting away then I can have my cuppa.

Keep up the good works, lovely peeps. GQ xx

lobbyludd

yay picklepot!! making that start is the biggest hurdle - and it does change your mindset - and doing the little things adds up (whitewing ).

I can't carboot or ebay either (i've tried and it's just not the best use of my time), sometimes I can't cs either, it just has to be gone. Any delay and it's all just too big a hurdle, I trip over it, it needs a place to store it whilst I clean/package/list/transport/post it.

Pitlanepiglet

Picklepot wrote: »

Thank you for your very inspirational post. I lurk most of the time and am so pleased to see all of your progress. I have struggled to find why i cant make the progress you all seem to and i think its because although i read and love the suggestions on here i just couldnt make it happen .
In the last few weeks the light bulb moment has happened. Things have started to come together.As as you say piglet.. DO SOMETHING, i started with one item a day, i know it sounds ridiculous but that s exactly what i did,. Of course i cannot see big changes yet but my mindset seems to be changing because as im busying about i start seeing things that could maybe be tomorrows item and often it is.Sometimes its 2 or 3 items so that i am not under pressure if i miss days. It has made me realise i have more of a hoarding problem than i thought the difficulty in letting go.It has taken me a long time to realise that my past clutter clearing efforts have in fact just been churning stuff round the house. So i have after a long time realised i cannot flea bay or car boot or anything that may cause a delay and that has been part of my light bulb.
Your second point - i could have written, i have quite a big house but have stuff on all the sides because my cupboards and drawers are full of unused stuff . I think if i tackle the storage area i may be able to start putting things away

I may have to delurk every so often to ask for help letting things go!

Thank you and well done Picklepot, it really does start with babysteps doesn't it? In the early days in the house (not the hoarded stash in the shed) I would just go over a shelf or a pile picking out the obvious rubbish and nothing else.

You'll make progress if you keep plodding away, don't feel bad about what others do, I've carried some of my boxes around like a millstone around my neck for 25 years....sometimes it takes a while to get going...

whitewing

Cards are away and I'm just about to tackle a small pile of personal post.

calicocat

Hello people, I am back in today as have a whole free day.

Not entirely sure what to do or where to start. Everywhere could do with a general clean and hoover.

Also the freezer is a mess as stuff shoved in all over the place and could do with a bit of a plan as to what to use first.

I also have mounds and bags of dressings etc from when arm was bad over xmas and NY, these need organising and put into one place, not entirely sure where they can go as there are loads, I can't return unused ones to district nurses even if still sterile apparently, and it would be silly to throw perfectly good and usable ones out. But it is getting to be clutter everywhere.


Xmas stuff got put into loft other day as planned, and dining room tidy.


First plan is to get up and have a cup of coffee, then I think I will start with collecting all dressing stuff and get that in one place...somehow. Then clean and sort bedroom.

kayester

de-hoarded a pair of DD snow boots on ebay. (last years, she only wore em twice) bought her a new pair a few months back.

I have bought crackers for next xmas for £1.25 down from a fiver!! I couldnt resist....

kitchen cleaning today and I aim to sort out one cupboard, they arent too bad as most were done before xmas so just keeping on top.