Hoarding - Springing Ahead

anirtak191

i dont get bank statements, that one set that isnt cluttering my filing draws as i do online banking, but my husband doesnt so unfortunately he gets them. need to talk him into i think.
ive been told i should keep the ones from the catalogue, but never really understood why i should.

as relaxed as i have felt tonight even tho im on my own (hubby in work) reading, background music, cuppa tea. i think im going to take some painkillers for my back as i have obviously done too much lately taking them most days again and im going to force myself to bed and try and sleep, been a bad day thinking about gramps a lot, maybe it cos ive not had as much to do to keep busy.

pigpen

Catalogues do paperless statements too.. you can access them online for a year, after that they are archived within their own system but they keep up to 12 years worth.. you don't need to keep any at all. I had an issue with something 5 years after purchase and they located the details within a few days.. I have never needed anything that was not easily available.

GreyQueen

Hi anirtak, wow, your council does interior painting?! Ours never does. If the place is a pit when they hand it over, they give you vouchers for paint, but they never do the work.

At least it's meant I know what's up on my walls, ceiling and woodwork.

Re paperwork, I'm not the world's best declutterer of it, but it's all very well orgainised and filed and accessible in seconds. I used to work for a debt and welfare advice service and have seen some horrendous cases where DWP or Tax Creds have suddenly sic'ed a claimant (or the estate of a deceased claimant) with bills for overpayments, in one case alleged £30,000 of income support overpayment to be repaid in 14 days. :eek: Hard to appeal stuff if you don't have the paperwork..........

I keep bank statements forever, about 18 months' to hand and the rest archived in sealed envelopes with the dates on. Old accounts I no longer have are bundled up and 'archived' likewise. I have an anxiety in case I have to claim a means-tested benefit and have to prove where any money I had previously actually went.

I don't have any paperwork relating to the several cars I bought and sold over the years, but none of them were on finance. Could you perhaps keep a final statement confirming that the loan was paid off and a bill of sale for the disposal, just to prove those facts? At work, we have people getting chased for cars which are still registered at DVLA as belonging to them which get parking tickets or turn up abandoned after they reckon they were sold for scrap, so I know what can happen, which is why I always registered the change of ownership with DVLA myself, rather than relying on the other party to do it.

At least a couple of times a year I have to use a utility bill as proof of current residence at this address, so I have paper ones filed. Isn't a huge amount; twice yearly for water, four times yearly for gas and electric. I also file P.60s, monthly payslips, and a file of letters relating to my employment (and archived stuff from previous employment) plus stuff relating to my home such as rent statements, tenancy agreement, gas safety certificates etc.

My active files take up one small file box, the 'archived' stuff takes up a tiny fraction of a tin box I use as a small coffee table and other stuff is in 3 lever arches, one for each category. One of them is for warranties and instructions and is decluttered as the appliance they relate to leaves my life.

My last filing tidy-up revealed a few bits of paperwork relating to a contested bill; I was charged for an additonal service I had not contracted-for, and it was several hundred pounds. I successfully disputed it, but it was only a year ago, so I think I'll keep the (not large) amount of paperwork for another year, just in case it rears its ugly head again, and then shred it.

I've seen a lot of grief and financial loss caused by people not being able to prove income and outgoings to some branch of the State, so I err on the side of caution. But, overall, I organise my life so that virtually all my transactions are cash or are done in such a way as they appear on my bank statement, such as direct debits for utility bills.

Ultimately, we're all going to have different lifestyles and different needs. I'd say the bill for the clutch repair to a car you sold 20 years ago isn't necessary, whereas if you owned that car and the bill was from last month, it'd be a keeper.

Anyway, whatever we keep needs to be organised and accessible, not just in random piles in random places, or it negates the purpose of having kept it in the first place.:rotfl:

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The decluttering bug seems to have passed from Mum to Dad, over at their house. Dad's a pretty simple-living guy but has turfed out two sweaters which he isn't using. One was a gift from a widowed neighbour, and belonged to her late husband. She's now passed herself. It's a nice sweater but isn't used and the other is also nice but Dad's put on a bit of weight and it's a squeeze to wear it, so he passes it over when choosing what to wear, so off they will both go to the c.s.

I've just finished a book this morning which I bought for 50p the other week and the bookselling websites seem to show others wanting £30-ish for the same, so will give that to the online bookselling brother. Most books are selling at 60p or so, not worth his time, so I re-donate them to charity. Got myself a lot more gift-aid tags from Hoxfam in earnest of my intention to keep turning stuff out when I've finished with it.

Righty, going to get dressed and ready to head to the allotment. Weather's a bit iffy but if it rains, I can come home again, it's no biggie.

anirtak191

afternoon gq, they only did it as part of the kitchen refurbishment, everything wasd one, new units, flooring, painting and tiling, and all the elctric sockets just in the kitchen checked, have to be honest the mess they made with the filler and paint i could have done it better. usually it is down to the tenant to do it,
i was entitled to a grant when i moved cos i did a swap, and when i asked i got told the previouse tenant had just had it to do it ready for the swap, and all i could reply with was but its purple including the woodwork, and not really a very nice purple either, and the door frames in the hall was purple aswell, but i was told i was still not entitled to it. maybe i could ask now and say i need to go over their work cos as they would have read in the letter i included with the survery thing on how the work went i put down everything that was wrong, filler/paint all over the new units and flooring,and i even found filler in the hall on the floor, was not impressed, ive not long been able to get the glue up off the floor, and im still trying to get the silicon sealant off the tiles that was put around the units and sockets cos it had spread on to the tils not just kept around the stuff it was sposed to be around.

we have a letter to say its been paid, well inkow we did, just hope hubby filed it when i asked him and it wasnt left in a pile that i would have thought was rubbish and thrown, and we have a confirmation slip witch i definately kept to say the car is no longer in our name. next time might take your take onthings and make sure we register witht he dvla, it was the first time we had sold a car and we didnt have a clue, the most basic things we forgot to do. the lady that bought it took all the paper work before collecting the car. and we forgot to ask for her details, i was feelign a bit nervouse and my brain wasnt in gear to ask the most basic things. and hubby admitted afterwards to not having a clue, normally we have just ended up scrapping a car. or on one occasion has it towed away cos the tax had run out and a neighbour had pointed that out and the council had it towed with no warning.

i have a draw for catalogue statements, 3 in total, v3ry, studi0, and gift shop. have about 5 years i think, witht he odd one missing,
hubbys payslips and p60s for the past 6 years. none of mine cos ive not worked in about 7 years, have gained a fear of working as ive never had much luck when it came to working, and one thing or another ive ended up never staying for long. but when speaking to my councilor the other day, she doesnt think it would be a good idea to work at present any way, due to my mindset. and she pointed out that when i explained a few things it was other people agendas that made not keeping the job rather than my own. then i got a draw for everything to do with the council rent and tax statements,boiler certificates and most of the letters over the years,
then a draw for all other bills, water, electric, oil receipts.
a random draw that has most of the paper work from working tax, and the carers allowance i had for when i cared for gramps, wouldnt have applied ofr it but he insisted i get something for it as id basically moved down there during the weeks duration of his illness.
and then a draw with all the paperwork we have for the car we have now. and my husbands quad bike that only spent abotu 10 motnhs on the road as weve not been able to afford to run the 2 vehicles, that he is now considering selling.

and saying about it being filed correctly, lol, usually it piles up on top of the filing draws for a few months then i get fed up of seeing it i put it all into its perspective draws and folders.

i was given a second hand kindle in january cos they had upgraded theirs for christmas, and there was a load of mills and boon on there, not usually what i read but i been decluttering at least 1 or 2 off there every day, i read a chapter that takes about 10 minutes now and then through the day while i sit and rest in between doing stuff.
normally i read virgina andrews books, about 2 inches thick, and take me 2-3 days. these books usually come in a set of 5 per story, and takes about 10 days for me to read. lately been into reading stephen king aswell, altho once i tried to read carrie, never again took me 3 months, wasnt going to pick up another stephen king, but i read misery and it seemed to go along side the film, and i got curiouse about the others if they went along side the films aswell, as im usually annoyed when i read abook then see the film and theres barley anythign the same and all out of order etc, so i dont normally read het books of films i like and they can ruin the film for me. want to try ad get mmy hands on stephen kinds storm of the century but cant seem to find it anywhere, i did once on @maz0n but not found it since.
dont think my husband likes it when i read as usually i end up not noticing anything else going on around me lol.

pigpen

This weeks project.. it's to go in the gap between the girls beds to sit their beakers on.

I have sent a carrier of stuff home with DD1 and sorted a binbag for CS.. just from 1 worksurface. I am so fed up of mess in this house it is distressing me..


I have persons in my house playing with wiring this week so I'm beside myself almost hysterical about the state of the place.


I have a friends coming on Sunday for a box of clothes and several bags and boxes of rabbit food that will clear a little house space.

anirtak191

pigpen i know how you feel when you sayabout the mess getting on top of you. i actually got to the point at one stage where if anyone did come in, i told them it was their imagination and it wasnt really there, cos i felt it was too much to cope with and no idea where to start.
and now i can see the difference but part way through when i started i did start wondering what was the point cos it felt like it was feeling/looking worse that when i had started.

pigpen

anir.. my upstairs is beyond horrific but downstairs is actually starting to get better, it is less cluttered and there is visible floor and it is actually possible to clear floor on an hour or so. I can't decide if I have too much stuff or not enough storage!

I've made a dent in the piles on the worksurface which is definitely a start.. I tend to clutter it quickly so I am considering making it into a 'grow your own' salad bar!! educational for the children and fresh veg/herbs are excellent.. and save pennies too.. not sure a veg plot in the kitchen is too hygienic though!

Knit_Witch

Pigpen I like the idea of the grow your own for the kids! Oh and if you get the downstairs sorted then you can take your time with the upstairs (as they aren't "public" rooms!)

GreyQueen

Ugh, purple paintwork, I feel quite bilious just thinking about it. I have white gloss paintwork throughout, two rooms and the hall are a soft warm yellow, the bathroom is white and the kitchen is Doolux Kitchens Sun Dried Tomato, which is the exact same colour as a strawberry mivvi, IYKWIM.

Doens't ovewhelm as very little wall visible between white units, white blind, white ceiling. If I was starting again from scratch, I'd paint every blessed thing in the flat pure white and just add the colour in curtains, throws etc.

I do know how everybody feels about the process of decluttering. You make a horrendous mess in the process of clearing stuff out, and it's tiring and disruptive to everyday life, and embarrassing if witnessed by outsiders, and all those negative emotions. It's enough to make you want just not to start the process at all, and ram stuff ever tighter in cupboards, drawers and under the beds and into the sheds.

Trouble is, don't you find that you subconsciously know that the stuff is there, even if all you can see is a blank cupboard door? Like it's lurking and sniggering and just waiting to escape back into public view? Or am I just a nutjob? Don't answer that!:rotfl:

Today's decluttering will be limited to taking out the rubbish, catching up on the chores and going to the allotment and visiting a friend. Who may or may not offer me some clutter to take home, lol.

The bottles of stuff in the bathroom are thinning out, I'm concentrating on one particular larger bottle of shampoo, then will get that into the recycling then I will be down to a single bottle of shampoo, several part-used mini conditioners and two big bottles of conditioner which will last me for years (shortish bobbed hairdo). Am on the last mini deo and holding my nerve not to stock up again - wibble!

pigpen

GreyQueen wrote: »

Trouble is, don't you find that you subconsciously know that the stuff is there, even if all you can see is a blank cupboard door? Like it's lurking and sniggering and just waiting to escape back into public view? Or am I just a nutjob? Don't answer that!:rotfl: !

I can practically hear it growling in the cupboard waiting to jump out and bite me. I class that as 'mind clutter' .. it's not out of sight out of mind it is out of sight growing into a major monster, crazy thing is once you open that door to deal with it you find it isn't a big scary monster after all it is like a wet cat.. all teeth and claws to start with and calmed to a purring kitten once done.

My whole upstairs is a monster.