Hoarding - Springing Ahead

Florenceem

No decluttering as such here today - although I did use some fabric out of my stash to make an apron - does that count?
Still not found my wedding ring - it went missing while sorting out stuff - a couple of weeks ago. I feel naked.

GreyQueen

Well, that was surprisingly painless, I must say.

I had to deal with the pile of clothes on the bed one way or another. Put them back in the drawers or shovel them somewhere before bedtime. Decided shovelling not correct form so puttered to and fro the pooter, the dishwashing and the sorting, 5 mins on each by the kitchen timer.

Might seem (and probably is) eccentric but it kept me from being bored.

I found some clothes I had forgotten, including some I had to unroll/ unfold in order to see what they were. Several LBMs were had. I have ejected two items for the next chazzer bag and put everything else away neatly. I have put the things I have been wearing a lot to the bottom of the pile and put not-seen-lately stuff ready to use. It's like having all new stuff without the pain of going shopping.

Amazingly, they all fitted back in the drawers. Not much space above the Plimsoll Line, but they all went back. A good job, jobbed, and very satisfying indeed.

I have worked out that I probably won't need to buy any socks until circa 2025. If then. So that's all right then.

mcculloch29

I'm the same with knickers, GQ, as well as socks. I discovered that the absolutely perfect panties for me were Primarni's 3 for a fiver Sloggi rip-offs. So every time I went shopping I bought 3. One of the great joys of these is that they don't wear out. I probably haven't bought any for two years now and not a single pair has gone out. One pair has developed a small ladder, but with roughly one pair for each day of the month it could be years before it gets long enough for them to be discarded.
I do love them though. Wash like dishrags, dry very quickly and are incredibly comfortable.
At least I've not bought any more...

Gingernutty

It's a series of long and complicated stories of how I came by some of this stuff but

Out to a CS.......

One cheap, cabin/flight case with inadequate 'feet' which, despite my best efforts, kept falling over when it was packed, didn't have a side carrying handle (so always had to be carried from the top at it's longest length) and with two zippers which, when brought together wouldn't allow a padlock to be fitted. It was an emergency/impulse buy, but still......:o

As a bonus, it came with a cheap and nasty holdall with poorly finished metal fittings, one zipper which couldn't be locked and a nasty cheap plastic-ky smell.

The four dinner plates which were so big they didn't fit into the washing up bowl and always annoyed me. :mad:

I only have the side plates left from that dinner set now. The mugs were too small and the egg cup shaped bowls were too big. They're all long gone.

I've got one Pyrex dinner plate, four plastic bowls, a ceramic pasta bowl and two big melamine salad/fruit bowls. None of it matches, but that's okay.

A cream coloured dinner plate which showed up the silvery scrape marks from the cutlery - that annoyed me. :mad:

Two vests which gaped at the armpits and showed off my bra. :eek:

Two fancy belts, which although nice, I never wore.

A dainty, cream coloured scarf with a silver skull pattern - didn't match anything I wore and I'm not going to buy stuff just to match a scarf.

A shirt which although nice looking, was entirely synthetic, failed to hold it's shape when I wore it and the collar ended up bunched around my neck whenever I wore my ID lanyard.

A couple of books - including the Don Aslett 'Freedom from Clutter'.

An extending chrome shoe rack which I found on my doorstep one day - I had a go at the corrosion, oiled it with WD-40, got it looking nice and then realised there was no where to put it and I had no use for it. :doh:

A pair of shoes which, although nice, were berluddy painful to wear.

A oddly made fleece which was too short in the body and with arms made for an orangutan.

A fake sheepskin jacket with the same faults - Tu by Sainsbugs.

:think: Hmmmmmm........Won't be buying there again.

A couple of jumpers which haven't been out of the wardrobe since last year.

A body brush and a foot file from toiletry gift sets.

A thick, fluffy, white hat - replaced by a thinner, warmer, less fluffy, grey hat.

A small, over the body purse - don't need to wear that now I don't have to travel around away from the office for hours on end.

A H&M, BiB, stone washed, denim dress I 'rescued' from a CS, thinking it would look alright as a light Spring/Autumn overcoat.

I shortened the sleeves, dyed it and then found it looked horrendous on me.

The dress had been hanging on a rail for months waiting for me to decide what to do with it - more work or chuck, more work or chuck.......I chucked it. I have enough clothes.

One dud energy saving light bulb which I delayed getting rid of because it meant going out of my way to the recycling bin in Sainbug's car park.




Less than 100 feet out of my way....:o

Some out of date tablets and some old medicines containers to the pharmacy.

An old printer cartridge to a CS that collects them.

And some old batteries.

On a side note....

I have been offered a part time night shift job and had to take all my identity documents in.

All I had to do is open the filing cabinet drawer and I pulled out and found everything I needed within 10 minutes.

Passport, birth certificate, utility bill, bank statements, mortgage statement, proof of national insurance number, proof of NHS employment, job reference number, my qualification certificates and, after a little firkle in the stationery box, a little wallet to keep all the loose bits together.

I was able to put it all back within 10 minutes too. :beer:

I like being organised...:A

:hello: Hellos and hugs to all the newbies. Good luck! :hello:

Historybuff

Well, I need to get started on sorting out my clutter, which has been made worse by me giving away the bedroom furniture I didn't like, so I have no drawers to put the stuff in. I had intended to buy some lovely old vintage chests of drawers, but now can't afford to...And the wardrobes aren't ideal either. I was given them as a stop gap in 1986, but never got round to replacing them. I'm also fed up of rummaging around every morning to find a decent outfit to wear.
I'm going to see if I can summon up the wherewithal to tackle this room at the weekend. I don't know if I will ever have a lovely tidy house...

GreyQueen

Wow, gingernutty, that's a heckuva impressive list of accomplishments. Give yourself a mahoosive pat on the back. I do know what you mean about the cut of some garments just being wrong. You can't get on with them and they must go.

Errm, these Primarne Sl0ggi knock-offs, do they have a name or would I find them easily? I like the S brand but they're not the knickers they were about 25 years ago (quality wise) and I bedrudge their price.

Historybuff, something I recall from Shirley Conran's Superwoman book was a suggestion that you work out what you're going to wear for the week in advance and rack it. For speed and ease. I appeciate from what you've said about the current situation that this might not be possible but could you perhaps bring forward in the evening what you're going to wear the next day, and put it conveniently, with whatever footwear and accessories (assuming you accessorize ) so that you could just grab it and dress?

I'd categorise myself as a lark rather than an owl but I'm not at my best first thing and the fewer complexitities in my life before work, the happier I am.

Today's cunning plan will have a big chunk of the day taken up with that four letter word (w**k) and a few other bits and bobs afterwards. Reall need to excavate the half of the sofa which is inaccessible and then tidy up the whole living room.

Yesterday, I used a jar of cook-in sauce and it was washed and out into the communal glass recycling bin the same day. I have an unreasonable love of the communal recycling bins.

The next chazzer bag is already half full, so will see if there is anything which needs to be added to that. I have a present for Mother's Day on the side, so think I will wrap that with paper from the stash and look for a nice card (from the card stash).

By golly, I probably don't actually need to leave home for supplies for some time...........:rotfl:

ginnyknit

I found that walking round the hosue with a carrier bag in my hand worked really well, soon filled it up and made a difference. Going to do it again with a bag for the Cs as I found a couple of bits yesterday in the sock box - horrible aftershave and a brand new thermal vest that wont fit.

Donated a few rather nice black dishes to DS for his new appartment. Mum bought them me and I havent used them so now have a nice space in the cupboard.

Oh changed the inks in the printer so have popped them in a bag to post to sainsbuggy - you get points for them - bonus!

Am on the last lap with the throw I am crochetting so that will be posted asap and its huge so more space. Dd sent her parcels here whilst she is away so have collected 2 posting bags which I can re-cycle for my own parcels thus getting them out faster instead of dithering about how to wrap the things up. Went to Hobbycraft yesterday but only bought things which I really needed to finish off a couple of gifts so they can go soon too.

keep up the good work peeps :j

whitewing

DS changed the cistern on the toilet. I broke the handle the other day but decided to replace the whole thing as the original was manky and discoloured. The new one is so white it reminds me of celebrities dazzling with their whitened smiles.

I have just seen this on another thread, which demonstrates perfectly http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2568550/Singer-sports-deep-tan-white-teeth-new-modelling-campaign.html

I have decided the plant can go. It had a regular home until we moved out some furniture. It is alive but straggly and misshapen and has already regrown following a severe chop down. There is no where suitable for it and it can't be given away.

DS or DH will go to the recycling centre later (although they don't know it yet).

I am awaiting a delivery, so have been doing financial paperwork while I wait. It is a horrible job that I have delayed but I am nearly at the point of setting timers to force myself through it.

I had a doctor's appt (they wanted to see me) but it has been cancelled by them. This will mean I can just carry on today without being interrupted, so I am pleased really.

whitewing

Recycling has gone. DH is sorting through DD's toy boxes. A fair amount is going out, which I am pleased about. She has had a lot in for Xmas etc. Cuddly toys and bags are the worse for having millions of.

I am resisting the urge to go through the bags or I will get upset!

DD is mostly a part of the process, although we are distracting her from some of it. (I'm getting lots of kisses)

I am plodding on through my paperwork. It is looking a lot better now. I have hope that I will finish it at some point within the next week.

GreyQueen

I had a convo with my lovely mother yestereve on the phone. She mentioned that she couldn't get 'the black jacket' into her wardrobe.

This was the c.s. jacket she bought when shopping with me 6 weeks ago, intended to be used, among other garments at a family do later this year. We share a deep loathing of clothes-shopping so she wanted to do the shopping with a big enough lead-in.

Anyway, I digress.........

So, we explored why it wouldn't fit; too much else in wardrobe. Mostly dresses which don't fit. Mum doesn't tend to wear dresses. She's a pensioner and tends to wear casual trouser and tops. But she's of a generation which subconsciously thinks you should wear dresses to be dressed up for a social occasion. Even if you don't feel particularly comfortable in them, and you have varicose veins which make your legs less attractive than they used to be, and you flat-out look better in trousers.

She suggested she could move some of the dresses across the bedroom to the Big Cupboard (a true cupboard-from-hell which extends backwards over the stairwell and probably forms another gateway into Narnia. Stuff goes in and is never seen again.). I suggested that she could maybe fold a few of the too-small and unloved dresses into the donation bag and drop them off at the chazzer.

She demurred. And I had a light bulb moment from several of the comments in this one convo; she hates sorting stuff out (I love it, sorting mine and sorting yours, given half a chance). She has an all-or-nothing view. If the dresses are to be sorted, they can only all go, it isn't a case of keeping a few back. And that it has to be done all at once, it cannot be pieced a bit at a time.

I gently pointed out that if the dresses go into The Big Cupboard they'll never be seen again.The ones which don't fit now and she doesn't particularly like will still be too small and unpopular, just about 10 feet from where they are now. She wears a dress maybe once or twice a year, so having 3-4 faves would be more than enough. And that she and Dad walk into town 5 days a week and there are 6 chazzers down there gagging for donations, so you could take half a carrier bag at a time and still get stuff off the premises.

She also admitted to finding an outfit still with tags which she didn't even remember buying. It was a chazzer outfit, so the bank wouldn't have be busted, but still that was a waste of time and money. She's going to re-donate that.

And, I have been offering for years to help her out with the clothes-sorting as she regularly complains of having drawers and wardrobes rammed with clothes and not being able to find what she wants or put away what has been laundered. I expect most of us are no strangers to the teetering piles of clean clothes in the bedroom look.:o

But there's always a reason not to do it, and so the cycle goes around yet again. But there is some hope in that she finally allowed me to help her sort out the much-moaned-about knitting pattern stash, the accumulation of 50 years of knitting. And she frequently says with glee about how she doesn't miss them a bit.

I just wish I could help her see that the happy lightness of having just enough knitting patterns could be expanded all over her life and how joyous being decluttered is.