Hoarding - Springing Ahead

silvasava

Put a couple more of DH's 'toys' on Fleabay. Just got my attache case out yesterday that has all the important papers in it & this morning I've been shredding old documents of my Mum's. She died 13 years ago & I'm just getting rid of receipts & paperwork from banks & building society's & her work that she'd kept - its not that I couldn't do it earlier I think it was 'just in case' so now they are going! Might stir myself to have a look at some other areas that could do with shredding..........;)
Hope the rain is easing wherever you are & you all have a good day

GreyQueen

Behold, I have ventured into The Shed, one of three sheds at Mum & Dad's, the biggest one with the most clutter in it. Mum and I opened the door and had an OMG moment (there was very little fresh air visible, this was three-dimensional clutter).

Short version is that we have removed quite a bit of volume. Their general waste bin is now full and can't take any more until next week. The recycling bin was only just emptied and with some judicious flattening and arranging should be good.

I have packaged some stuff (to be recycled stuff) to go to my city to go to the tip, and have prepped some wooden stuff as burnables.

The best bit was when we were putting some spare stuff back into the shed and Mum said we could now put the cardboard boxes back in and I pointed out that they were already back in. :rotfl:There's easily dozens of hours of sorting in there as it's a workshop/ junkroom, but we have found the floor, found what we were looking for and got rid of some stuff so the next pass will be easier, and the next after that easier still.

Isn't decluttering satisfying?!

pigpen

My daughter is a hoarder!!!!!!!! She is 13.. I forced her to part with 3.5 binbags of shpoop from a 6x9ft room. I have 2 items for ebay, a bag for CS. everything was squashed in carrier bags and old shoe boxes.. Her room is now beautiful.. Tip run is now required though!! .. I haven't sorted her chest of drawers/clothes yet!!! :eek:


I donated the rabbit cage and remaining food and accessories to the local animal rescue.

5 ebeast items posted and 5 listed.

3 rolls of wallpaper returned

I'm still not seeing a difference upstairs.. it is a swamp!

silvasava

Thought you'd gone rather quiet GQ - almost sent out an APB for you
Oh Pigpen - i know just what you mean - DS1 was given the smallest bedroom 'cos he hoarded c**p. Funniest was when I'd told him to clean out his stick insects & apparently the jar had fallen over on his bed so he just shook the 'bits' off. Unfortunately those 'bits' were eggs & he woke a couple of mornings later to find he was covered in baby stick insects - good job they're clean (probably cleaner than he was!) I couldn't stop laughing 'that'll teach you to keep your room clean' but it didn't last long.

GreyQueen

Lol, got taken to a town about 20 mins drive away in the morning, back just after lunch, spent the afternoon pulling stuff around.

I hadn't seen the state of Mum's workshop shed for months but I'd heard ifrom her that it was bad (they have 3, smallest is 5 x 7 and is for wood, the middling 6 x 8 is mostly for pushbikes and a few other bits and the largest 10 x 8 is wired to the house - professionally- for light and power and contains some exciting and large power-tools).

:eek: It was a HORROR. And garnished with dropped screws and sawdust.

Mum said something to me yesterday as we walked along the road which cracked me up It's not that I mind decluttering, I just don't want to be there when it happens.

Of course, as it's her stuff and she won't relinquish authority to Ms Bossyboots (moi), she has to be there when it happens, but tires easily and gets horribly stressed. Sooo, if I play my cards right, I can do bits and pieces of decluttering with her/ in her presence with her decision making, as long as I don't push to do too much at once.

When I go back to mine, I will be taking some strange stuff with me; the metal bits from former underbed (broken) storage trolleys, to go to metal recycling, the wooden sides of same (my bonfire), various small bits of cut-off wood from the workshop (bonfire again).

Anyone who tried to nick my luggage would probably have me committed. We are visiting Nan tomorrow afternoon but I am hoping that if I'm subtle/ sneaky/ cunning we can find some other area to declutter. The house is full, there's always something just begging to go out the door, if I can get an agreement.

Happygreen

Hello all,
I've been away for not even a week and as always when I return I am shocked at the state of our house. I know they are trying but I have to clean out used pots from the whole period, clean bathrooms, throw out rotten food, empty smelly bins, etc., etc., 5 days!!!!! This will keep me busy for a day before I can take stock what else need to be done. I need to check my room for mould, which I have been doing since the discovery - so far successfully, fingers crossed.
I took 5 books to mum's and a large CS bag is ready to go, just a pair of in-line skates need to go in from the shed (once the rain stops...). See you all later!

pigpen

5 more items put on ebeast..


You'll be so proud of me... I made a start on the landing!!! I emptied a box filled 10 years ago.. 90% is in the bin and I have a carrier for DS1 and bits for OHs mum and half a dozen bits for CS .. it will be gone if it kills me!


all the Christmas stuff has been put away so there is a visible fire surround in the girls room!!

I have sorted Pixies clothes and flung a broken chest of drawers. I have a box of clothing to be made into stuffed sheep for my 3 girls. and I sold lots of knitting patterns!

It is utterly trashed upstairs now but it is reducing the volume of carp very slowly!!

GreyQueen

The whole family have been visiting Nan for a few hours this afternoon and one of the outbuildings, a very small brick-built shed which was once an outside WC but hasn't had plumbing in it for 50 years had a Bit of An Issue.

Most specifically, a mouse, which had damaged some stuff and chewed a door. Dad and I hauled all the carp outta there, gradually removing the hiding places, cue cries of It's behind you!! as the mouse scarpered underfoot. Dad shut himself in there with it (stick in hand) vowing only one of them would come out alive.

I have to say that I was simply shocked that a small grey mouse bested Daddy-o, a former farmboy who's a dab hand with a stick.:rotfl:

Le souris est mort. And buried in the garden beside the beetroots. Time was, Nan had cats to do such chores, but we rallied around. Had a bit of a declutter in the shed whilst we were in ther (with Nan's consent) and some stuff has hit the general waste and recycling bins over there.

Apart from that, and drinking tea and nattering, I washed the kitchen floor on bended knee, so am feeling all domesticated etc. Nan has also agreed that various knackered ex-flower arranging baskets from the sheds can be added to this autumn's bonfire, so that's all to the good.

greenbee

Your bonfire is going to be pretty spectacular GQ! I suspect you have the makings of a guy to put on it too...

GreyQueen

greenbee wrote: »

Your bonfire is going to be pretty spectacular GQ! I suspect you have the makings of a guy to put on it too...

Oops, misunderstanding there, the bonfire mentioned above will be Dad at Nan's garden, having the big end-of-season bonfire. The baskets will go on there.

My bonfire will be to burn up a large quantilty of bad things like couch grass and horsetails which are piled up for drying and I will use any little bits of 'proper' wood I can get my hands on as the heart of the fire. With bonfires, if you're just burning twiggy rubbishy stuff it can be hard to get enough heat in the fire to burn the grass etc efficiently.

I am a bit of a bonfire afficianado, I indulge my pyromania once a year in early October on the lottie and use the opportunity to give the place a darned good clear out, and the potash is very good for certain plants, too.


Dragging stuff out for the great mouse hunt was a preview of the work which will eventually have to be done to clear the outbuildings when Nan passes (she's 91 and in poor health) so I guess anything which she can authorise us to do now will be once less thing to be done later.

On the lottie, I use things like old pieces of wood for row markers and they last a couple of years before getting rotten, so I then put them aside for the burnables, plus any broken bamboo canes and other stuff like that which would otherwise proliferate in the shed and around the jpoint. I really like the circularity of the the seasons and getting rid is part of it.