Hoarding - Springing Ahead

Happygreen

more paperwork today - having to sort out DD1's student loan application. First time never goes smoothly....

thriftwizard

Back on this thread again... Ds2, now 24, is returning home to save up for "a while" complete with fiancee and furniture. They've discovered that paying rent for a place of your own from two just-about minimum wage jobs, whilst living in one of the most expensive areas on the planet, is a mug's game and leaves nothing in the kitty to save up for a deposit, or further/higher ed., even whilst scrimping like mad. So they're back next week for an unknown length of time.

In the meantime, I'd happily turned his room into a sewing/guest room. And now have to relocate/store all my "hobby" stuff (again - "hobby" in inverted commas because I actually make money from what I do, as well as saving it making gifts. I mend & remake vintage clothing, & make cushion covers, aprons & quilts from scraps of vintage fabric, damaged table linen & lace and they sell like hot cakes) Plus I have all my stock for the summer fairs & festivals in the other "spare" room, whose inhabitant is threatening to come home for a weekend soon. And we have students booked in for the summer holidays...

The situation will ease in September, when DS3 trots off for a year working in Provence. DS2 & the trainee-daughter-in-law will take over his room, which is better suited to being a bed-sit as it's next to the door (he works unsocial hours) and the smaller bathroom, which can be effectively theirs at night. It also doesn't have any built-in furniture, so they can have more of their own stuff in with them.

But storage for my stock in the meantime is a bit of a nightmare; it'll have to go out into the garage, but that's damp & sometimes has small furry inhabitants. We're on the edge between town & country & mice of many different species take refuge in there! I may have to invest in some more plastic storage crates, but first, I have to clear some space to keep it in... it's like a hoarder's paradise in there. I did a car-boot yesterday, and am planning to do another next week (can't do the weekend, due to prior engagements) & am already freecycling like mad. I have to be totally ruthless; just goes to show, if you don't face up to the clutter when you do have the time, you may suddenly find yourself having to do it when you don't...

Wish me luck!

pigpen

Thrift.. I can't think of anything more horrific than adult children moving back in and bringing a partner too!! :eek: I'd have said no.. I'd rather make a contribution to their living expenses to keep them in their own home rather than in mine.. My oldest is VERY hard work. He moved back for 'a couple of weeks' a few years ago, after 3 months I was kicking him out he drove me insane.. the mess and 'aroma' and noise was unreal.

Recycling flung already today 3 carriers! Where the heck does it all come from??

I hope to get a few more bags/boxes out today.. I will have space in this house!

anirtak191

morning all,

pigpen hope you managed to finish off your cardy. i cant knit (unless its plainstitch all the way,) but i can crochet, but dont ask me to follow a pattern cos i cant lol, all i do is crochet shawls.

hg, cant stand paper work, can rarely understand what they saying on it, and half the time im like didnt they just ask that question in a different way? lol

thriftwizard, its nice that your helping out your son in that way dont think my parents would do it for me, but then i think id rather be in a cardboard box than have to go back to my parents house lol.
will have to be cheeky and ask for some tips on your "hobby" lol, i do quilting and cardmaking and as mentioned above crochet shawls, but i can rarely sell them, people dont want to pay the prices, even when most the time all i ask is cost price. and i cant afford to book a table at any craft fair type places as usually what im quoted is close to a week of hubbys wages.

well today i have to pack my bag, kinda been procrastinating about it thinking i got plenty of time and im leaving at 6 in the morning, so now out of time, sort of.
got the mattresses outside ready for when the skip turns up. just hope i can drag them there on my own as my back doesnt feel too good today, hubby in work so he cant help but he did help with getting them down the stairs ready for me.

not got much to do at the moment, a few bits to tidy up, not really done much yet i seem to have bits floating around that have been increasingly getting on my nerves, might go down and start sorting through one of the sheds. after i packed my bag of course, so that i can get in there with a few tools that seem to have appeared again lately.

if i didnt get so nervouse when im driving around new palces id take the bootsale stuff with me and do one on weekend as they are bigger around that area than they are here, but i will more than likely have my friends kid with me, and having a panic attack with a kid in the car would not be a good thing. wish i could explain it right to hubby as he doesnt understand when i say i need him with me when i go somewhere new, or i go somewhere i dont go to often.
and i feel like im getting worse with going out again than getting better, last time i was down looking after the kid, we didnt go anywhere apart from my nans, and usually i go out with him quite often, often enough that usually we end up eating at my families than at his home.
every time i get in the car i have to keep chanting to myself that i can do this, i wouldnt have past my test 2 years ago if i couldnt. but then is spose a lot has happened since then. and like i said to my councilor last time i was there, every time i get knocked down it gets harder and harder to get back up from it.
ive managed to sort this place out lately as you know, but now event ho it feels better not having so much around me, im feeling like i have less and less energy as the days go on and no idea why.

im going to have a cuppa then, start on my bag and get rid of the matresses, hopefully the weather will pick up a little and i will feel like i can go down and start on the shed. fingers crossed i dont open the door and go yeah ok and close it again as thats what normally happens, especially since hubbys had his bike and its in the way.
dont even know why he wanted it or got it, he probbaly used it half a dozen times when he got it and not touched it since, but he would like it if i suggested he get rid as its still getting paid for through the bike to work scheme.
but he uses all the excuses i suggested he doesnt use when he was saying about getting it.
they are
its too wet,
its too hot,
its too cold.
we live in wales what else did he expect from the weather lol

anirtak191

well bag not packed yet.

took one look at the shed, and walked away, theres just too much to comprehend, actually its not like theres a lot of stuff in there, its just very badly organised, nothing is tidy and its just hard to get in there, maybe what i will do is get hubby to empty it then i will go and sort it out, put away what needs to be and try and throw what isnt needed, that would be a lot easier than me just looking at it and not being able to really step inside. even the little basket with small tools in gave up balancing on whatever hubby had put it on cos its on the floor with everything spilled out around and under the bike and whatever else was there with it.
but i have tidied the kitchen while i was making my cuppa took all of 4/5 minutes, decluttered the weeds from my pots out the front wasnt that many and didnt take long to tidy up and the 2 mattresses, into the tiny skip that finally turned up, they thought they were getting a bigger one and the one that turned up was almost full in less than 40 minutes.
they said it was a one off when i asked if it was going to be regular, cos they want to tidy up peoples gardens, well sorry but if they want my garden tidied of weeds they either need to come and do it themselves or move the oil tank from the middle of the garden and and change my neighbours to people that arent going to stand in their window with their arms crossed watching me like im doing something i shouldnt be, actually a 6 ft fence on 3 sides blocking the view from their bedroom window would be really great and then i wouldnt have to deal with that stupid hedge thats on 2 sides and would only have the weeds from the farmers field to contend with and then i wouldnt have them to deal with all that much with the plan i had for the garden from the start, just some weed killer a couple of times a year on my side of the fence

whitewing

I mean this kindly....stop making excuses about the oil tank and try and improve your garden anyway. If you're out once in a blue moon, the neighbour will be 'interested'. If more than that, she may well get herself a life!

anirtak191

i been trying to work out there around the oil tank for 7 years the last 18 months i gave up cos no matter how much time or money i spent it never looked tidy to me.
and its not just me with the downstairs neighbours, other neighbours feel the same and have told me what they are like.
there was a couple living here years ago, that didnt want to leave but felt like they had no choice but to leave.
about 5/6 years ago i was told that we were the longest tenants to stay in this flat since the sisters moved in downstairs. and we been here 9 years now.
the one sister isnt too bad when you can understand what she says. the one we have problems with admitted to my husband a couple of months ago that she doesnt like people living above her.
personally if i didnt like the thought of people living above me i would have opted for an upstairs flat rather than downstairs. if i remember right you can specify on the application forms if you prefer upstairs or downstairs when your applying for a flat. its been about 8 years since i put in for a transfer, so it may have changed since i filled in that form.
i got fed up with having to go in to the council and have to explain or whatever it was i had to do when i received a letter telling me they had complained about something or other.
at one time we had a council worker knocking on our door to check our radiators cos we apparently had a leak that was going through our floor and down the wall into their flat, that was leaving a smell.
he checked the offending radiator and said he couldnt explain it there was nothing wrong with it and definately no leaks so he didnt know where their water damaged had come from.
dont know what complaints the other tannants had had, but its no wonder they have stayed barely long enough to cover a year before putting in a transfer themselves.

littlegreenparrot

It sounds like your becoming a bit overwhelmed, and it makes me very sad to hear that you are limiting yourself because of what you believe other people are doing/saying/thinking.

It is a difficult thing to do, but I am of the opinion these days that if I am being considerate and am within my rights everyone else can (in the nicest possible way) clear off. For me this has meant wearing lipstick, bright colours, and patterned trousers for the first time in 10 years. I finally realised that the size of my thighs is no-ones business but my own, dark colours make me miserable. So I don't care

Do the garden or don't, sit out there anyway with a book if you like, smile and wave politely at any interested parties. But try to do what makes you happy.

GreyQueen

anirtak, when I sort out sheds, the only way I can do it is to disembowel them. You can't stand in a crowded shed and sort from the inside, it'd be like sitting cross-legged in your understair cupboard and sorting it whilst inside it.

I sorted my allotment shed out this past weekend. It was 4 hours start to finish, with the occasionally interuptions (nice interuptions) from passing lottie pals, plus teabreaks. I had everything out, rootled through everything, swept out and replaced stuff to be kept in a more orderly fashion, and took out a black sack or carp for disposal. I've since found a few more additons for the next rubbish pile, and have a carrier bag hung up in there for these items as I find them.

If you haven't the energy to do this all on one day (and it may not be a good idea with a bad back anyway), how about piecing it? Could you, for example, take out 5 things nearest the door and decide what to do with them, and then do it? Such as bin/ sell/ offer to your neighbour/ brother/ friend. Just take those and deal with those. And on the next go around, take another 5, the most reachable ones.

Eventually you'll get there. It helps to have a '9th square' to sort stuff into when you do this, for those things which really are keepers, but as a fellow flat dweller, I know that may not be possible. My 9th square is usually the living room floor.

This sort-of picking stuff off the top as you pass can work with lots of different scenarios of clutter. The advantage is that it's far less disruptive to normal home life than trying to declutter a mahoosive amount of stuff in a short space of time. After all, when you've dragged it out from under, it still has to be somewhere until you've got rid of it.

thriftwizard

Went through the garage like a dose of salts today; I hauled everything out onto the lawn & to my horror found evidence, not just of mice, but also MOTHS - aaaargh! So an entire car-load of stuff went off to the dump; however I did sort out stuff that is genuinely useful, like pinking shears and good scissors & thread, which is now in a pile in my conservatory. Again. It went into there when I closed down my shop, and was still there months later...

So my task tomorrow is to go through that lot and decide what, if anything, I actually need to keep, and Freecycle the rest. Then I'd better start on the porch - again - see the start of the thread for my conservatory & porch; they are ongoing "problem" areas where clutter gathers when I'm not looking! And I'm going to have to store my fabric in the porch, which isn't ideal as it's very light, but at least there are no mice out there. And I do have nice boxes to store it in - when there's some space.

ETA: it was probably the last hoarding thread that I posted some pictures on...