Hoarding - Springing Ahead

Patchwork_Quilt

Wow! Massive progress everyone! Keep going! I especially like the one-a-day technique. Today I sorted out the 2013 folders. All the bills, important bits of paper and so on go in a set of six folders and at the end of the year, they go in the upstairs cupboard. 2012 will move into the loft as they've been available for a year and not been required. It sounds organised but it's SO BORING! Then, I went through the receipts tin and scanned all the big ones and threw the rest away. Lastly, I've photographed my jewellery. Now that sounds posh but it isn't. Quite a lot of it is very vintage but MIL got burgled for the third time recently and lost some of her favourite pieces. The insurance company wanted receipts and photos of her wearing it! Some of it is from 1963! There was no way she had photos and we were all drafted in to see if we had any. Of course, we didn't. And there's a reason why there are no photos of me wearing necklaces etc. I'm the one with the camera, deliberately. Anyway, that's all done. I also threw out a pair of shoes that DD pulled a face at but the washing that I should have been doing seems to have got ignored ...

Never mind, can't do everything at once. Just enjoy every bit of clear space.

whitewing

I opened the airing cupboard to get out some coathangers and was totally surprised at the clear space. What a joy!

I think I'm winning the battle - dry clothes are away and wet clothes all hung up. Dishwasher is on cleaning some newly emptied boxes.

4 medicine spoons chucked out. That was inspired by the post about the kitchen implement earlier.

There is still too much paperwork hanging about but I think 15 minutes at a time will help get rid of that.

GreyQueen

whitewing, I think if anyone can empathise with the joy of empty space, it's us here on this thread. I very much understand what you mean.

Has anyone else caught themselves repeatedly opening a decluttered drawer, or cupboard door, to check that it's still empty/ tidy? Or is it just me who is absolutely bonkers in this respect?:o

Took my big bag of seeds to the allotment and put them neatly into the old meat safe I use up there for seed storage. I'd brought them down to sort out as it's a bit chilly up the lottie to sit doing that at this time of year. I also added into the right envelopes some seeds which had been drying out on the windowsill up there, so it's all neat and ready to go.

Am managing to keep the shed in good order, which is very pleasing. The amount of time you can waste in this life rummaging for stuff is unbelievable. Well, perhaps not to us, IYKWIM.;)

Laundry spinning off now. I have to dry clothes indoors which isn't ideal but have decided to iron the bits which get ironed tonight before bed when they are still damp, or they'll be reproaching me before work tomorrow. I will leave a window ajar at bedtime to take the humidity out and keep the condensation under control.

Can I just say a big Thank You for all the fellow posters on here, it is such a comfort to have people who understand that crises can be caused by packaging materials and that a person isn't bonkers because of various attachments to things which would be better detached.

I forked through part of the bare earth formerly known as The Rough, the derelict top part of the allotment cleared for the first time ever last autumn. Found some more nails and bits of plastic and a few bits of horsetail and couch grass which were trying to regenerate, but the sheer unbridled satisfaction of seeing the bare earth all ready for planting, makes my heart sing.

I bet we all have something like "The Rough" in our lives somewhere and it feels sooooo good when you finally get it sorted out. Worth every blister, backache and trip to the dump to get it where is is today. And I'm determined I will never let it revert to its former horribleness.

Pitlanepiglet

Well done Picklepot and all....babysteps makes a difference, one a day is 365 items a year, that's a whole lot more than the big fat "nothing" I used to achieve because I was setting myself unachievable targets which I couldn't meet so didn't even attempt.

I can't do lists of items, I have too much to get rid of to bother to keep a list and anyway I find it very stressful to see the items written down, I find other people's lists stressful - I couldn't bear to think about my own!

Picklepot as you say there really is a change of mindset that happens and I think you'll find that keeps happening. I'm now starting to go over areas that I first sorted a year ago and I am finding it easier to be more ruthless second time around. I've just done the airing cupboard today which I did a year ago and I've managed to ditch a whole stack of stuff because I don't use it and I'm not going to; that's a bit of a sea change for me. Up til now it's mainly been things that didn't fit, were beyond use etc., not just "I've got too many duvet covers for the shelf so I'll freecycle a couple and then I'll be able to get at things without digging through a whole heap of linen".

Keep going everyone....one day at a time :T

lobbyludd

great progress on here today - mentally and de-hoardingly -

pickle - it does change how we view things doesn't it? I never would have thought the mind works that way but it does and you are making great strides, seeing things that you don't want any more or have out-lived their purpose and taking action

noel - other people's stuff is different isn't it? (it's not mine so I have no attachment to it unless of course for me, it's crockery or fabric ), I wonder if it's given you any new perspectives on your own stuff? - I often find when people post the thing they've managed to get rid of it somehow releases me to do the same with a similar thing of mine - it's like I've never thought it was possible or it's never occurred to me that it's possible to let it go, so when someone else does I have a lightbulb moment!

ds's extra furniture dismantled. and as a bonus he has said he doesn't want the massive scalextric set that his paternal granfather bought him 4? years ago, was played with once on xmas day and has been in three massive plastic boxes in his room ever since - he's agreed it can go to a charity shop - where someone with much more room than us can find and enjoy it!

in great news dd has found my work phone - it was lost months ago (has turned up in a toy box - fairly sure I didn't put it there ), in bad news I think a replacement was ordered for me last thursday, which of course is why the gods have allowed it to be found again. tssk, have they nowt better to do than toy with us mortals?

whitewing

lobbyludd, could the scalextric set go to paternal gfather's house to be played with there? Or would that be too inflammatory?

I have just done a big online supermarket shop and taken advantage of loads of special offers. I couldn't have done that before dehoarding as I wouldn't have known what we needed. I also find it comforting to have enough stuff to tide us over for 3 months or so if anything unexpected happens. It reduces incidental buying because we don't have to pop out for anything we've run out of. It makes DH feel better too to have well stocked kitchen cupboards. He can remember a childhood where he sometimes went hungry. Too many bare cupboards make him feel uneasy, but empty space out of the kitchen is his dream.

Pitlanepiglet

GreyQueen wrote: »

whitewing, I think if anyone can empathise with the job of empty space, it's us here on this thread. I very much understand what you mean.

Has anyone else caught themselves repeatedly opening a decluttered drawer, or cupboard door, to check that it's still empty/ tidy? Or is it just me who is absolutely bonkers in this respect?:o
<snip>

Can I just say a big Thank You for all the fellow posters on here, it is such a comfort to have people who understand that crises can be caused by packaging materials and that a person isn't bonkers because of various attachments to things which would be better detached.

<snip>

I bet we all have something like "The Rough" in our lives somewhere and it feels sooooo good when you finally get it sorted out. Worth every blister, backache and trip to the dump to get it where is is today. And I'm determined I will never let it revert to its former horribleness.

Oh all of these for me too please. When I finally cleared the bedroom around the end of November, I used to go up there and just stand and look, admiring the clear space :rotfl:

I really am now "over clearing" so that I can get everything in cupboards and so that everything is much more usable and accessible.

I've forgotten who said it (sorry....) but I have also replaced things that I just couldn't find and that I knew that I had no chance of finding in amongst all of the crud. Yet at the same time I was also stressing about giving things away because I felt that they owed me something......how contradictory is that?

ginnyknit

Everyone is having a positive time on here the last couple of days - its wonderful and inspiring.

Have convinced Oh to sell a piece of memorabilia from his collection to pay for a holiday for us. This valuable collection is stuffed under my bed at present and is likely to get damaged long term.

I have returned 2 large framed pictures to DD that she left hung on the stairs when she moved in and back out, also a folder of school work (she is 30 ) which has been jammed on the bookshelf in my bedroom.

Delivered my Mums throws so no longer a big shopping bag in the middle of the rug which the stray cat that lodges here keeps trying to sleep in - foiled that little bu**er

Im in some kind of daze as I look at things and re-assess my need of them. I collected a small amount of that blue and white china (can't remember the name ) simply because I had bought Oh a mug when we were on holiday once. the mug never got used, it just sat looking marginally pretty plus the little tray, then another mug and so on. So the Cs can have them then the top of the bureau will just have 2 things on that I love and look much better. Empty shelves appearing upstairs and the mountain of stuff I have knitted and crochetted is going down slowly as I send it to the recipients - e bay and charities.

I feel as if a weight is lifting off my shoulders and the future is looking much better. Once I get the wardrobe emptied in my bedroom I will be well on the road to a clutter free life.

Pitlanepiglet

Ooh another post (blimey, I'm embracing this de-lurking!)....

I have cleared the cupboard of doom and am rejoicing in the amount of empty space I now have. It's only got two shelves in it currently so it's difficult to use well and has just ended up with stuff piled in it.

I've been ruthless with the contents, relocated some things that ought to be stored elsewhere and boxed up the things to go back. OH is going to paint the inside of it and then we are either going to buy or build some shelving to go in it - hopefully build subject to there being enough points in the plasterboard to attach to. Property shelved it will give loads of space that I'm not even sure I have enough "stuff" to fill!

lobbyludd

GQ - I look at dehoarded areas frequently, especially whatever the latest one is - and it always pleases me immensely. I'm also immensely pleased that I can now open most cupboards without fear of a bang on the noggin from a random object.

WW - I might offer it to him. But ds has outgrown it really, and although it was a great hit on christmas day, they are so temperamental he lost interest very quickly, especially as it is impossible to keep it set up anywhere (even a small portion of it).