Hoarding - Springing Ahead

pigpen

I have not run away, I have just done NOTHING recently.. then I had a bit of a flurry.. I charity shopped 5 binbags of toys and clothes.. I felt so bad sending stuff the girls got as gifts but they didn't play with them so hopefully someone will love them like they deserve.. and I sent all the ebay'ed clothes from DS3 which didn't sell and all the gender specific baby stuff that had been unworn by the baby.. if I did not need it for her it is totally unlikely I would need it in the future.


I also sorted 2 boxes of kitchen trash.. scales, old plates, unused loaf and bun tins etc.. I'm pretty sure bun trays is excessive.. I'm down to 4 now.. 1 for cupcakes and 2 muffins ones I use for yorkie puds! I flung some old cacke tins.. I have stacks of those too.


I want to get in the pan cupboard soon and sort that too. I am trying to work my way through 2 cupboards of cleaning stuff .. that is no easy task, it requires cleaning and using something other than bleach. The actual difference is not noticeable but I know it has gone!

Bathroom and toilet look much nicer and the kitchen is very very much an ongoing project but I am trying to sort the back room at the moment.. there are a few huge items I need to let go.. I just need somewhere for them to go! I've done a small furniture reshuffle but it is just cramped and cluttered.

Baby is poorly at the mo so getting nothing done as she just wants to sit on my all day long, but it will only be a few days so it can wait, she can't.

So, though I may be away from here I am still trying!

Saver-upper

Had a lovely balance today of spending quality time with the children,and getting decluttering/cleaning/sorting done.I like it when I can get the balance right(not easy when you have to throw work/school/after-school activities into the mix.At the moment got none of those.)

Again cleaned kitchen from top to bottom.It wasn't too bad (have given it a couple of really good clean/declutters this week),but if I do it when I have the time,it covers me for days when I might not have time.
I hate clutter on my kitchen benches.The only kitchen bits I allow to be sitting out are:
- kettle/tea and sugar cannister/roll of paper towel in one corner
-fruit bowl and herb+spices carousel in another
-at the moment have paper-clutter corner,but getting rid of this tomorrow.
And that is it.Everything else on my kitchen benches is only ever there because it either needs to be seen by me,put away,or chucked!

Over the years I have tried different ways of storing notes etc that come from school/afterschool clubs,etc,that need keeping for the short-medium term. I have tried a kitchen drawer,an A4 size plastic box,currently using a magazine file.But what happens is it still gets surrounded by papers(to remind me they need to be seen to :wall:).
And that looks dreadful,and takes up too much of my limited kitchen bench.
So I think tomorrow I will re-instate the kitchen drawer system.Probably devise a filing system using foolscap plastic sleeves,or a folder with dividers.

This afternoon I 1/2-watched very noisy children's tv while decluttering paper.Set the alarm for an hour,and worked on the most recent papers(that had been sitting on the kitchen bench):notes from school,notes from clubs,notes and pictures from my children,latest school reports.........
When partner came home tonight I made him sort out his mountain of unopened mail (mostly statements and work-related magazines:about 6,so who knows how many months they have been there :eek:)
Tonight I set the alarm for another hour and sorted more papers that had been moved to the front room for me to sort while watching tv about a month ago :eek:.On days like today I love seeing the amount of paper that either gets put out for recycling or torn up to use for shopping lists,etc.

I had to go up to the loft tonight for the first time since I started on it afew weeks ago.It doesn't look as good as it did in my head,but I think that might be because a big area I had really thinned out has been filled again with stuff I have sorted,ready to go to charity.Depending what my 2 eldest children are doing tomorrow,I might get a chance to drop some stuff tomorrow.

Thank you everyone for all the words of encouragement and wisdom .

lobbyludd

mcculloch29 wrote: »

That's a better idea Gingernutty - or would bags being left open be OK? Perhaps one of those moisture removers from £land in the tub might help. They do work.

I have had to have a severe word with myself to convince me that I don't need this gorgeous Aldi mixer. This would mean retiring my lovely Krups hand mixer, given to me by dear friends in Germany as a birthday present 34 years ago.

I will keep on using that until it dies, so I have resisted temptation. I won't be up at the crack of dawn on Thursday to make sure I get the red one. (Sniff...)

I also have a mixing attachment on my Jamie O. food processor (given to me free by Amazon Vine to review) that I have never tried, so getting it 'in case the Krups dies' is not really an option either.

It's progress.
Not so long ago I would have bought it.

ooh - i might though, no food processor here, I have an electric hand-held whisker, but annoyingly the flex is too short to use comfortably (it's less than 2 ft, who designed that?). The blue is lovely. Unlikely to get anywhere at crack of dawn though, so unlikely to get one.

had an hours sleep, woken by anxious dreams about ds's anxiety issues, how pointless is that?:o blinking mental health.

whitewing

lostinrates wrote: »

We live on a farm, - a mouses waddle from where the cow cake is stored.;)

That is my favourite, unexpected quote of the morning.

ginnyknit

Im having a major blitz on my crafty stuff. I am sick and tired of the mess so have started set boxes for things and one big box is now in the re-cycling. Decided only so much stuff can possibly be used so have piles for fleabay, freecycle and charities. Wow I feel so good getting a grip on it all and looking forward to space. This is a major development for me and will make it easier to make things as all the bits will be gone. Had a break as my arthritis is making it slow progress but the small bites approach is working.

Sorted the kitchen work surface first as it was annoying me All pots done and ready to put away after lunch.

Hope everyone is having a productive day too xxx

noelphobic

166million wrote: »

Just had a bid on my load of vinyl (records) on ebay. Bit sad about it but I hope it will go to someone who will use/ appreciate it rather than sitting here dusty and untouched

I've got quite a few records myself but can't decide what to do with them. It always seems a bit of a faff to sell them on Ebay and wasn't sure whether there was a market for them. Do charity shops generally taken them? Or would Freecycle be worth a try?

Ames

noelphobic, I think it depends on the bands. Some have a market on ebay, but some even charity shops don't want. Although there are specialist charity shops for music - Oxfam have one in Leeds.

I saw the Aldi mixer too. But it would be buying for an inspirational life. I don't bake or cook beyond simple meals - I don't have a proper cooker. I'm diabetic and low carbing, so baking is a bad idea anyway. I do want to do more interesting cooking, when I have a kitchen big enough for a cooker, dishwasher, and with surface space for a mixer to go on. Therefore it's stupid buying a mixer now, I'm sure they wont suddenly go out of production when I'm ready to have one.

I did see an advert for the new Tefal steak cooker grill thing and thought 'I want', until I realised it's £150!! Hopefully lots of fools with more money than sense will go out and buy them, and in a year or two they'll lug them out of the cupboard and put them on ebay for a fraction of the cost. Or does that make me a bad person?

Another 'I want' moment yesterday - the latest Hobbit film in 3d. I don't have a 3d TV, and have no desire for a 3d TV, but it had the delicious Richard Armitage on the front in 3d *swoon*. So I just gazed on it in the shop and moved on. I may make the occasional detour past the dvds when I'm in the supermarket over the next few weeks...

Hmm, everyone's making me feel like a serial shoe abuser! Most of my everyday shoes are a bit scuffed anyway. I've got three pairs - a pair of pumps which are falling apart that I only use when I'm popping out to hang out washing, get something from the car etc. I've got a good pair of doc marten fabric pumps, which seem to cope with anything I throw at them and still look new. Even when I dripped ink on the top of one it just wiped off. Then there's my new to me doc marten soft leather boots, which are lived in looking. I do have some 'proper' shoes which could get scuffed, but they wouldn't be going in the shoe bin as I don't need to wear them often.

After making a start on the bedroom I've been pondering how to get my clothes sorted. There are literally dozens of bags of clothes that need laundering and sorting and sent to the CS. The big problem is getting them clean, or more specifically dry. I got up this morning and saw it was a nice day, I'd just got to the end of hanging out the first load with a second load in the machine when it started raining.

So I've figured I have two options.

1. Buy a tumble dryer. The problem with this is space, but in the long run it'll be good - I wont be buying new clothes because I haven't got any clean and dry, which usually happens a lot in winter. And, when the flat's sorted (which will happen a lot quicker with a dryer) there'll be lots of options of where it can go.

2. Do the washing at home then take stuff to the launderette to dry it. The problem with this option is time - I'd have to waste hours just sitting around waiting for the machines to finish, whereas at home I'd be able to do other stuff while it's drying.

Cost wise, given the amount of clothes that need sorting, I reckon it'd probably come out about even (assuming I get a cheapy dryer from Argos).

Hmmm.

greenbee

Ames - I was thinking about your clothes dilemma.

Could you sort the bags into 'stuff to wash because I need to wear it' and 'all the rest'. Wash the stuff you will actually wear, dry it, and clear drawer space to put it away. Then start slowly sorting through the stuff you are going to discard - take anything clean to the CS to get it out of the way, and then eventually you will have space to process the rest.

At the moment I suspect that adding a TD into the mix is just going to hold you back as it will take up more space, plus it will mean trying to do lots at once rather than in bitesized chunks.

Also, with the CS stuff, you could take it to the laundrette to dry (and take books to read that you want to CS) and then drop it straight off at the CS (with all the books you read while waiting!) on the way home.

Hope this helps. You are doing incredibly well, so keep working on the solutions. Every bit of space you make yourself will help!

166million

noelphobic wrote: »

I've got quite a few records myself but can't decide what to do with them. It always seems a bit of a faff to sell them on Ebay and wasn't sure whether there was a market for them. Do charity shops generally taken them? Or would Freecycle be worth a try?

I sold them as one lot, buyer to collect. Depends if you've got individual ones you think might be worth more?

Saver-upper

Have had a lovely day with children today.
I did find time to start decluttering the kitchen drawer I will use to store papers.Dear,I did find some tat:
-copies of the magazines that the kids bring home from school at the end of term(Primary Times)-there were duplicates,because I have never been able to convince our school to implement an "eldest and only" policy.So six copies of PT,including three from December 2012 :eek:
-school newsletters
-notes I have scribbles to myself
-wrapping paper,used labels(don't ask )
-random balloons
-who knows???

I did think I had found some treasures as well ( close to £100 of in dateTesco vouchers),but they are not listed on the Clubcard website as being unspent,so they must be more tat!Will phone Tesco tomorrow to check.

When I have finished here I will continue clearing out the kitchen drawer.Then I will declutter the magazine file that currently holds papers,and transfer across.That will be another job done.
Didn't get to the charity shop to donate today (went to park with 2 youngest littlies instead.)