Hoarding - Springing Ahead

roundtuit

Home again - fed and watered by my aged parents, bless 'em.


When I went up to strip my bed I couldn't find a bottom sheet to replace the one on the bed - then I remembered that last time I washed it, I dried it and put it back on my bed as I couldn't find a replacement. That's not an option today as it has worn thin and developed a large hole in it . Aged P's to the rescue - came home with three bottom sheets from mum's hoard! One is now on the bed


Did find a couple of single bed past-their-best flannelette sheets during the search though....which dad say's he'd like for rags plus the sheet off the bed - when I've washed it!!! So that's a job for one night in the week - take off the elastic and bag up for dad. And that'll be 3 usable sheets in, 3 unusable sheets out:T


Being realistic I am not going to be moving mountains Monday to Friday as I usually come home from work and flop. I am going to do something each evening though - to keep the momentum going.


I cannot tell a lie - I also brought home a paperback book from dad's - but I'll read it and pass it on, so I can live with that


I still keep smiling at the draining board - and I made DS's dad look at it too. :rotfl:


Step 3
change Charlie's (budgie) seed and water
look for passport photo of DS to attach to karting licence application - that one could take some time!
wash a bowlful of pots


Back later


Rxx


PS Orange clock was successfully binned :T

Patchwork_Quilt

'Barely processed lifetime hoard hadn't been properly digested' You have a way with words GQ. That made me laugh aloud.

Have one small empty cupboard (again) as I examined the jam jar hoard and managed to cram the best ones into the big jam jar cupboard and recycle the rest. DH's one comment amongst all this activity was, "You're going a bit far, aren't you?" Which was worrying.

Feeling the need to declutter more chocolate. Keep going, folks!

GreyQueen

:T Good work on that clock. Now leave it there. I'm watching ya; no pulling it back out again.

Just back in from the lottie. It was surprisingly pleasant and the sun came out and I was able to work without a jacket. I dug thru the other half of the patch of ground I cleared in the autumn, the bit known as The Rough.

It's clear but I knew that there'd be trouble underfoot, due to the nature of the horrors which had been entrenched for many years; brambles, nettles, couch grass, docks and horsetails.

I wasn't wrong either and got a 1/4 tub of vegetative horribleness up from underground. It doesn't like cold steel, does it, my preciousssss? Took that and some more from previous week's efforts off the pile and IKEA-bagged and made it to the tip just before closing time.

Plus found loads more non-organic carp like glass, nails, plastic and brick fragments. Plus evicted some very nasty grubs and suchlike which are up to no good and will be after the veggies in a few months.

Just got an errand to run and then nip into the little supermarket to see if there are any YS bargains which need to come home with me. Sometimes you go weeks without much luck then it's bargains galore.

Wish me luck.

ETA; YS haul for total of £1.82; 1 loaf wholemeal bread, 3 bundles salad onions, 4 Danish pastries and a chicken salad which I have have for lunch at work tomorrow. Not too bad at all. Could have saved £1 by leaving the pastries but what the heck, live wild, young woman, live wild.

Picklepot

noelphobic wrote: »

Sounds like a very wise man. I'm 54 and that all makes sense. Part of the reason why I'm doing this. I'm living in a 3 bedroom house on my own and, if and when I move, it will be to somewhere smaller -much easier to do if you've got less stuff. I couldn't sell my house in its present condition and need to declutter in order to get work done on it. Then it would be win, win. I'd have a much nicer home and if the time came when I wanted or needed to move it would be easier to sell and easier on a practical level to move.

When i first came on this thread i was very pre occupied with the thought 'what if i get ill?' what if i need someone to come in and help ? Even thinking about it makes me cringe anyone rootling through the stuff. I have made good in roads into being very aware what comes into the house and purchases. My problem is dealing with the old historical stuff.
I have a garage and loft full of it and there are so many emotions tied up in there. Some of it is not mine it was DH nan left her house contents to us many years ago:eek:. At the time we lived in a diddy starter house and she lived a 5 hour car journey away. The logistics of getting it to us and then not having anywhere to store it was a nightmare, not to mention the guilt that we lived in a tiny modern house and it was all old traditional stuff . We selected a few pieces of furniture and boxes of trinkets and glass and pictures but they have virtually moved from garage to loft to garage in various house moves. This has just added to the stuff thats is stored.

I feel that i am at the age when i do not want to have all this around me i do not want to live with the' what if' worries .

noelphobic

Just been trying to fill in a job application form. The new way of doing this (competency based) is a big shock to the system when you're not used to it. I worked for my previous employer for 23 years, although I did several jobs for that during that time. I did have several competency based interviews when I was applying for promotions/transfers and I hated them. Don't think I had to do much on application forms though.


One of the many frustrations at being so disorganised and having so much clutter is that I don't know where all my exam certificates are. Filling that part of the form in should be the easy part but when my certificates are here, there and everywhere it's going to be a pain. I did a lot of part time courses (GCSEs, an A Level, IT courses etc) over a period of quite a few years and at different locations.


My degree is very recent (end of last year) and I've not yet got the certificate so I don't have to worry about that one.


I can't even bear to think about going for interviews but if I don't make a good job of the forms I won't even get that far. Luckily I am getting some help. My son is brilliant at CVs/application forms and am also seeing an employment consultant on Wednesday - I get 4 one hour appointments with him as part of my redundancy package. Hopefully he can help me with this form and I will also be able to see him before the interview(s) if and when I get any.


If anyone has been through this angst recently I would welcome any tips (and if anyone knows where my exam certificates are then please let me know - at the moment your guess is as good as mine!) :eek:

GreyQueen

noelphobic wrote: »

If anyone has been through this angst recently I would welcome any tips (and if anyone knows where my exam certificates are then please let me know - at the moment your guess is as good as mine!) :eek:

Based on personal experience, the degree certificate is in the sock drawer. Or at least mine is; it's oversized and still in its cardboard presentation tube. I keep my other certs in a rigid plastic folder, with pockets. It took a lot of gut-wrenching scrabbings around before I got to the point where I had them all in one place and finable.

You won't have thrown them away, will you? So they are Somewhere, in The Safe Place(s) and will come to light when you are looking for other things.

Haven't got any job-hunting tips but can send you positive lucky vibes and one of these:

roundtuit

Found the photo :T


After washing and drying the bowlful of pots - including another plate, dish and 4 plastic receptacles to be returned to S -I washed and delabelled 5 glass jars - 3 jam and 2 marmalade- which are now draining/drying and will be put into the recycling box in the morning. Lids are already in bin.


I've also recycled two pieces of cardboard and binned a broken pen and a plastic bag from DS's bedroom. Every little helps


That's it for today. I'm out of the house 8am - 5pm Monday to Friday, but I'm determined to do a little each evening - maybe sort through paperwork or some other sitty down jobs.


I'll post progress reports as I go.


Night Rxx

lobbyludd

good luck noel (()).

been on the final christmas visit away, was lovely, and decluttered 2 bin bags of cs things on route, the last lot of christmas presents to those visited, plus a load of things they'd left behind on their visit and my very practical and requested birthday present brought back.

I was getting quite agitated about this isit as it was taking away a whole weekend that I felt I needed to get on top of things, but since coming back (an hour ago) I've realised I've slipped back into the grip of some sort of perfection paralysis and overload, i.e. if I don't have time to do a job "perfectly", (and I never do) then I just don't even start it.

e.g. the kitchen has been a pit, I haven't had time to get the steam cleaner out to clean the hob and floor etc properly so i haven't done anything in there.

I've spent half an hour in there doing a quick wipe, putting the dishwasher on half full rather than waiting for a full load, emptying the bin and getting rid of bits and bobs, putting away etc, and it looks LOADS better. not perfect, but definitely progress.

a broken umbrella has gone from my car too, and after 20 mins looking at Ike* hacks on pinterest I've realised there's nothing useful I can turn ds's old wardrobe into (I've got a "new" sturdy 1940's short wardrobe for him that fits under his highsleeper), and that frankly if it had have been sturdy enough to turn into anything useful it would probably still be useful as a wardrobe, so that's this week's destruction and recycling centre project is the ike* wardrobe.

onwards and outwards everyone!

whitewing

I made myself do a quick vacuum before I sat down and started dehoarding today. I am so glad I did as it was lovely and sunny so I opened all the windows for a couple of hours. Felt great.

Did loads of washing today so the house now smells fresh and lovely.

Have thrown out another carrier bag full of stuff. That is stuff that I will never had to move or sift through again.

Early in our dehoarding days we sorted out a load of stuff into piles that were going to the recycling centre and some stuff that was going elsewhere. Took it to the rc and it was closed for a number of weeks. We'd popped in to see the parents on the way back and they said we could leave it at theirs until the rc opened again. When we went back to it, they had churned it around so much, we no longer knew where it was exactly/what was ours or theirs, plus of course the emotional wrench. As far as I know, it is all still there somewhere. It made me so cross at the time, as it just summed up their lack of respect for anything. A lot of the sorrow from my childhood was that nothing I had or was given was classed as mine, no matter how much I valued it. It all was 'family' and had to be shared. While this is nice in theory, it actually meant that younger siblings got their hands on things that were too old for them, or that things got given away to other people without even asking or telling me.

Kittenkirst

Sorry to hear that Whitewing; it's funny how something can trigger off emotions/unpleasant memories from childhood isn't it. What has happened with the things you had sorted?

We're on a bit of an sorting, de hoarding adventure starting with kitchens and wardrobes. I usually give a lot to our charity shops but have spent the evening listing 9 things on Ebay. Takes a little while but if they sell it's some pennies in the jar (& less clutter) if they don't will see if charity shop want anything decent left.

This is just starting with some things thrown in the spare room, but will try and rummage through wardrobe/accessory piles. If it's not worn in last year it needs to go! Time to be a bit more ruthless.