Hoarding - Springing Ahead

kayester

sold a bundle on ebay, 16 items and crammed it all into one delivery bag, doesnt look like 16 items now (DDs baby clothes) but did take up a lot of room! will be posting tomorrow along with a few other items. a small toy piano has been collected today.

whitewing

DH managed to squeeze in a trip to the recycling centre before they closed. I am pleased as I got it all ready and I had to stop myself taking stuff back out. Now it is actually gone, I don't miss it at all.

Condensed DS' shower gels into one bottle. He had about 5 on the go. Every time I pulled something off the shelf I got rained on by plastic. DD was fascinated at the whole process so we had a spillage or two as she tried to help. (When I was dehoarding big quantities, there was too much for her to help with - an avalanche would have ensued. Now there is space, it is easier for her to learn the skills of letting go).

I pulled out a posh concertina file and dehoarded that. I think I may have shredded one of DS' primary school certificates by mistake. Nothing crucial though. I did find a £5 M and S voucher. It is approximately 8 years old, but I can't see an expiry date, so I will try to use it. The file itself was given to me by a friend who loves buying stuff and is forever in a project of trying to organise her crafting goods.

I think I will give some of my scrapbooking paper to nursery. There is some babyish design that I wont use as the pictures are too big. I refuse to beat myself up over money I have wasted though. I know the nursery will be pleased. I also know that my dehoarding of paper etc has been good for DD as she has been practising cutting things up. Before, everything was too precious to let her loose. Yet she learns and grows when I let her do things.

GreyQueen

Evening all.

Well, have slung the broken dumb-bell carry case and will put the too-small dumb bells in the bottom of the next charity bag. I am having a bit of an internal dialogue about some smallish things in my home. Even smallish things are relevent targets for decluttering in this smallish home.

I was thinking the other day how I'd managed to move past the LikeIt-WantIt stage for some things and allowed myself to like something, including really liking it, but walking away because it wasn't something I had space to keep or long-term interest in using.

Then there's another category of stuff. Useful stuff. Some stuff is inarguably useful. But useful isn't the same as being used, or going to be used or will be used more than once a decade.

Just because I could put nibbles into that chic little glass bowl doesn't mean I will do so. Or that a person needs 4 x more wine glasses than she has mouths, particularly when her home isn't big enough to accomodate more than 2 guests as a time and not all her closest pals even drink wine. Heck, we're not going to be enjoying cocktail parties in this dollshouse size apartment, although should a cocktail be necessary there are bars which mix luverly ones 5 mins' walk away.

I think I will have a little shedding session on the glassware shelf. I am not running a public bar and I am not required to serve alcohol by certain measures nor am I required to serve wine in stemware when I am clumsy and much safer and happier with a small tumbler. I shall keep a couple of wineglasses and the other two can leave. They are a pair with each other but not a pair with the others, if that makes any kind of sense.

I have bought 3 books for £1 today. But they are things I shall read in the next couple of months then recycle into another charity shop. Hand on heart, it's the honest troof, guv'nor. I own less than 40 books altogether, despite reading nearly 200 per year, so I do turn them around, see?

Oh, hear the self-justification of the booklover.........:rotfl:

I am defrosting another pkt of the luxury fishcakes with the strong silver card inside as we speak. And the silver card was added to the bin and the whole lot spirited away outside instantly.

Well, it was very nice strong silver card and we all know how seductive packaging materials can be.

greenbee

GQ it was nice strong silver card that would smell of fish

Tigersilly

I'm someone who has lived with a hoarder for many years and I thought others might find this useful - it's a study being run at the Institute of Psychiatry.

- They pay £10 for taking part
- For those who do live around the London area, they offer a free intervention to family members and close friends of people who hoard.

Here are the details:

Do you have a family member, close friend or partner who hoards?

If you have answered ‘yes’ to the above question and would be happy to talk to us about your experiences, we would like to hear from you. We are currently running a research project about the experience of family members of people who hoard and the strategies they use to cope.

What will happen to me if I take part?

You will be asked to fill in some questionnaires and complete a brief interview with the researcher about your experience of having a relative who hoards, including the specific challenges, emotional impact and how you cope with this. These can be completed online or through the post and will take up to 1 ½ hours to do.

All participants will receive £10 for time taken to complete the measures.

If you live in the London area we are also running a new group intervention for family members of people who hoard. This will begin on Saturday 8th February 2014, running for 6 weeks.

If you are interested in participating, or would like to find out more about the study, please Contact us through the website form or you can also contact Claire Thompson: claire.c.thompson@kcl.ac.uk or 0207 848 0733.

REC Reference Number: PNM/13/14-28

GreyQueen

greenbee wrote: »

GQ it was nice strong silver card that would smell of fish

No, honestly, they were breaded fishcakes, I'm sure the card would have been fishless once wiped with hot soapy water. But I didn't save it. And I managed to discard a plastic pot from a YS bargain fruit pot last Sunday, as well. I'm trying (very trying, family tell me).:p

One of my friends has just tracked down the source of the Pong in his garage. It took a while as it was very cluttered. Dead hedgehog - eww.

And as part of my job, I book pest-control treatments and the amount of times I hear that rats have set up home in stuff stored in garages and sheds is shocking. And the amount of damage they can do. Never mind Freddie Starr Ate My Hamster it's more a case of Roland Rat Ate My Three Piece!

Sooo, if you're storing stuff to donate or use later on, please be aware that our four-footed friends might have moved in on it when you're procrastinating.

roundtuit

whitewing wrote: »

I did find a £5 M and S voucher. It is approximately 8 years old, but I can't see an expiry date, so I will try to use it.

M and S vouchers must be coming out of hibernation! I just found one for £10 in the Christmas 2012 bag I've started unpacking! I can't see an expiry date either. I have a friend who regularly shops at M and S so I'll ask her to try and use it - and she'll give DS the cash if successful. (The voucher was a Christmas present to him after all )
I'm starting to see a difference in the house. Lots of glass bottles and jars have been washed, delabelled and recycled this week - freeing up a considerable amount of kitchen worktop. There is also floor appearing in the kitchen and living room as I pootle through one bag at a time.
I'm taking a whole carrier bag of books to work tomorrow - first dibs for M, my colleague, and the rest are going to cs in my lunch break.
I'm starting to get a buzz out of this
Rxx

VJsmum

Spooky, I also found an old M & S voucher today (did anyone else read it as S&M? No? Just me then :rotfl:). I am not sure if its been used or not, but only one way to find out.

Out old pine bedside table went to the chazzer today, along with the two carrier bags I'd sorted a while ago, a clock I thought DD would take exception to going (she didn't) and an old recorder of the kids. And I didn't buy anything :T

GreyQueen

Yes, I do tend to transpose letters which means I've been "seeing" S & M vouchers, too.

I'm a little disappointed that my decluttering hasn't turned up any vouchers. I know this is because I very rarely had them and tended to spend them asap, but still, you'd think the decluttering fairies could give me a voucher as an award for good behaviour, wouldn't you?

Today I'm not at work, due to having to take back flex time and am waiting in for a tradesman. As I have 'extra' time and can't leave until he's been, I propose to pootle around doing bits of decluttering - interspersed with playing on the interwebs to stop me getting too bored - and will report back on progress.

I have several things to do, so can dot around and have a variety.

I'm starting to see areas of flatness and calmness, as in seeing flooring and bare surfaces on kitchen counters and other furniture surfaces. It's amazing and inspires me to do more. I was wandering around last night just before bed looking for stuff to put in the donation bag or in the bin.

I had a bit of a LBM; if I don't own it, I don't have to clean it. Or move it to clean around it. I won't have to tend it, or repair it, or think about replacing it once it dies.One day, I may move again, and then I won't have to box it or bag it and heft it on and off a van. The absence of something can be as useful as the presence, sometimes.

One declutterer referred to the 'lost or stolen test' as in, if this item were lost or stolen, would you replace it? Sometimes, we own something because we own something, and that's not the best reasoning at times, unless it's adding other value to our lives.

Chiselling away at it; going to declutter a slightly-brown banana with my breakfast porridge. Keep nibbling away at the hoards, one and all. Even finishing up the last of the Crimble choccies or a book counts as decluttering, you know, it needed be all grimness and effort. GQ xx

whitewing

M & S voucher successfully used this morning. We'll probably bankrupt M & S if we start redeeming vouchers from years ago, lol.

I must remember to trade in some of DS' text books. He won't be resitting exams so they can go while they still have a trade in value.