Hoarding - Springing Ahead

ginnyknit

I get so annoyed, everytime I get going with the getting rid of things something stops me. The flu jab made me sick for the last week or so and my head has been banging on and off. Yesterday I got to the point I just wanted to lie down but decided to mop the floors first then I wouldnt wake up to the same grubby floor - much happier.

Then last night while the kettle boiled I put the pots away and left the bowl empty - got up and the feeling of tidyness was priceless. All I had was a baking dish to wash but instead of leaving it soaking overnight and dealing with a bowl of mess this morning I left it in the oven and made myself wash it right away. I feel better doing it that way and the bowl just has 2 plates in now which I will do when I brew up.

More parcels gone to their new homes 2 posted and 2 to go. Long way to go but I am reasonably happy with the progress.

lobbyludd

I have started. I have taken a picture of the loft to spur me on and brought down two bin bags of carp, some bits for a child cage given to us by ex MIL despite not wanting one and never used, a large blind and located an airer that I actually will use (and if I don't in the next week it's being cs'd too). this has not made even the tiniest dent in the hoard, and unfortunately it is all stacked in my 9th square, which was my completely empty hallway, however, t'is a mere stopover on it's journey

I think the cs 9th square is going to have to temporarily be the less used half of the lounge until tuesday (annual leave so am able to get to the cs), have mentally assigned some things up there to go in this pile already. Have found some wool blankets which will be washed then decided upon, I want to keep them as this means we would have one proper wool blanket each, but I will have to release something from the blanket box to keep them in there, so I need to see how they look when washed.

there are loads of glass vases that can go to the cs, and a dismantled but study wardrobe, a wii platform, and various other things spied on a first recon mission. I don't have a problem releasing these - they are just a pain to organise, it's more the might be useful pieces of wood etc (and the 50 crates of fabric, but I'm not thinking about them yet)

GreyQueen

Wow, lobbyudd, 50 crates of fabric. Is it very wrong of me to be a bit envious? I'm sure it is, but I have a background in textiles and would rather go to a fabric shop to ahhh over lovely fabric than an art gallery. How could anything be lovelier than silks and velvets and fine wools and.... and.... and.

ginny, I'm hearing you about the dishes and nodding, nodding, nodding. Isn't it vile to lurch into the kitchen to start a new day and see a washing up bowl of greasy congealed water where the dish or whatever was soaking overnight? And how many of us have drained away the soiled water, refilled the bowl with piping hot and more w.u.l and, rather than get on and clean it, have left it to soak and get cold and icky again? Or is that just me?

And yet, I've found out that a very few mins of soaking is sufficient to loosen just about everything and then you can get things sorted on the same session and the bliss of not having to confront them again the next day.

Watched last night's episode of The Hoarder Next Door on 4 OD. Mind-boggling what goes on behind very ordinary front doors and how it blights lives. Sad, and heart-warming at the transformations.

I've done the freezer and hauled out some things to eat in the next 48 hours (they are defrosting) and have a list of what's in there, with the quantities written on in pencil. Will edit as I use (in an ideal world). It's amazing how there was stuff I'd forgotten even though this is a tiny tabletop freezer. How the heck to people with huge chest or upright freezers, or more than one freezer, cope with the organisation?! I stand in awe of you.

I also found the stash of mini waxed cheeses with spices and chilies and otehr lovely additions which I bought on YS at 20p each after Xmas. Oh happy day, with lots of novel little premium cheeses to play with. I've hauled two out to be going on with.

And to think I was about 40-odd before I realised that butter and cheese are freezable.

Have shoved a vac around after work, which is easy enough to do when I'm not using the floors for storage. Indeed, housework is flat out easier the less stuff there is underfoot and on cabinets etc. Ease is what I want in life.

Keep on trucking, my lovelies, I'm so chuffed to have listed all my frozen stuff and all my toiletries in just two days. Simple pleasures.

lobbyludd

50 is an exaggeration but there is more than 10, and storage bags. I love textiles, no formal training in it, but I am awed with what can be created out of fibres by even very basic fabric making skills, that whole 2-d string to fabulous 3d loveliness is wonderful. one of my dream jobs is to work/own a fabric shop (I'm clearly acquiring stock) although I did confess to a friend that I am not sure I would be able to sell any of the shop contents, which she pointed out was less of a shop and more of a museum.....

caitybabes

I put a Bonne Maman jar in the recycling without even worrying about it, this is a new carefree life! (slight exaggeration but it's nice to know that I don't have to antagonise over individual decisions because I have made bigger decisions about how I want my home to be). I had previously decided that I have a small basket of (about 7) jars and lids so if I want to make a preserve I'll have enough. If I need more, I can just collect them as we get through jars. Or, maybe I should get rid of most of them, because I bet I could post a wanted on freegle for jars and get plenty of responses. Hmm, interesting. I may aim to reclaim that cupboard so I can move the bread maker into it. I want clearer surfaces and the bread maker is light enough to lift in and out.

It's amazing what ideas evolve from writing down your thoughts! Thanks folks

Cait

GreyQueen

Morning all.

caitybabes, wow, binning a B0nne Maman jamjar. Those things are seriously-addictive. I was so attached to them that it worried me, so I freecycled a bagful the other year and, by gum, were people rabid for them. They went to a jam-maker. I have just one left, holding some herbal teabags. I'm also keeping 4 jamjars and lids in reserve, apart from those jars in use for storage. I figure that should cover all jar-related needs without being out of control.

Later this morning I am going to swing by the drop-off point for the paint reuse project with two started but mostly-full cans of emulsion and anothe can of part-used coloured gloss which I won't re-use, to see if someone else can get the benefit. I made this decision when drowsing in bed at 6 am, when some random thoughts come to me. That'll free up some space in my storage shed and give someone else a chance to use them.

That's another thing about hoarding stuff, particularly stuff with a finite life, or stuff that you haven't got optimum storage conditions for; it goes off and eventually becomes useless. So you have wasted it, wasted the earth's finite resources and deprived your fellow human beans of the benefit of whatever it was, from a pair of shoes to a tin of paint.

Plus wasted your precious and unrecoverable life dealing with it, as well as possibly having a larger home, or renting an additional storage space/ buying a shed, to accomodate it. And perhaps spending money on transporting it between homes, even.

Lots of things to muse on for me in that, I think.

ginnyknit

No GQ its not just you, its a really bad habit of mine , leaving things to soak and one I intend to stop. I have also decided as I sit here to start a big cull of stuff as its driving me mad. So whilst DGs is playing today Im going to sit and sort - I either do it or shut up now. I feel the piles of stuff are making me stressed so look out for a new Ginny any minute now :j

Caity, you just have to think 'how many empty jars can I accumulate before jam making season and do I really need to keep the ones I have?' Thats what I did as the sink cupboard was packed with the damned things.

Lobby, we had to empty the loft when the landlord was doing up the house and it was a mighty job aided by son and Sil but the feeling of finishing it was amazing and knowing it wont have to be done again is very satisfying. Good luck with the project xx
Right off to put my world to rights, have a good day all.

short_bird

lobbyludd wrote: »

(and the 50 crates of fabric, but I'm not thinking about them yet)

But I am :rotfl:
I don't care how many there are: 10? 50? It's all fabric :rotfl:

Florenceem

Mr F aka Mr Womble came home yesterday with a child's jumper that he found. I have put it in the wash and it will go to the charity shop.
Today he came home with - a wire circle - possibly from a bin lid + a pair of jeans with a bit cut out of the leg.
The wire circle is just right for me to make a Christmas wreath - so Mr F did very well there. We don't have a wreath for the front door.
The jeans are in the wash - I will cut them up and make a raggy rag bag for a Christmas present - so again - he didn't get nagged!

lobbyludd

LOL at your womble florence

I'm keeping the blankets, but have taken 2 things out of the blanket box to go to cs. Other than that I've only done 1 bag from the loft today, but everything from there is moved from hall to car for delivering.

I have wrested control of the kitchen and lounge from the dark forces of chaos, sorted/shredded some paperwork, sorted through dd's pen pots and recycled old art projects so that she can use her craft table again. Have also gone prune-happy in the garden because it's been a lovely day.

This included butchering the lollipop bay which was under triple attack from caterpillars, scale and some sort of mould. It has plenty of leaf buds but now only 3 actual leaves left (I was ruthless). It may die, but the point of it was primarily culinary, so I can't use anything to treat it, and I don't want scale insects in my stews, despite the extra protein they'd provide, nor do I want it transferred to my fruit trees. It arrived with the leaf scale a couple of years ago, and I should have sent it back, but you live and learn.