Hoarding - Springing Ahead

catshark88

I have a clutter problem.

I have 2 young kids that I adore and between them, they produce a lot of paper; things from school, pictures, cards etc. I'm struggling to even throw away the envelopes that they have written "mummy" on from various cards. I am beginning to have storage problems. I thought it was harmless, but then I saw one of those US hoarding programmes and the lady had started in just the same way. :eek:

How do I handle an over abundance of things I'm overly sentimental about??

Help!

pigpen

catshark88 wrote: »

I have a clutter problem.

I have 2 young kids that I adore and between them, they produce a lot of paper; things from school, pictures, cards etc. I'm struggling to even throw away the envelopes that they have written "mummy" on from various cards. I am beginning to have storage problems. I thought it was harmless, but then I saw one of those US hoarding programmes and the lady had started in just the same way. :eek:

How do I handle an over abundance of things I'm overly sentimental about??

Help!

Photograph the thing and bin the actual one and have a folder of photo's on your lappy/pc

parsniphead

catshark88 wrote: »

I have a clutter problem.

I have 2 young kids that I adore and between them, they produce a lot of paper; things from school, pictures, cards etc. I'm struggling to even throw away the envelopes that they have written "mummy" on from various cards. I am beginning to have storage problems. I thought it was harmless, but then I saw one of those US hoarding programmes and the lady had started in just the same way. :eek:

How do I handle an over abundance of things I'm overly sentimental about??

Help!

This is where most of my clutter is coming from now. I still have ALL of DS clothes. I know that someone out there would use and appreciate them but I'm still struggling to let them go.

I have started to find letting go of other stuff easier though so at least there has been progress. That said I have done b*gger all since returning to work at the start of the month. I really need to get on with it again.

parsniphead

DH said last night that he is going to get the house retired after Christmas. I'm pleased about this as the wiring is very old and does need doing but :eek::eek::eek:.

Some serious decluttering is going to have to be done now. I did have plans for tomorrow when the little on is at nursery but I think 3 hours in the cellar throwing out and sorting is probably the best thing I can do.

savingqueen

parsniphead wrote: »

DH said last night that he is going to get the house retired after Christmas. I'm pleased about this as the wiring is very old and does need doing but :eek::eek::eek:.

.

Will the house be eligible for a pension?:D sorry.....


Eeeek parsniphead a big old job, ours probably needs rewiring too but it will have to join a very long list of other house jobs.

savingqueen

My decluttering has slowed right down but just due to more pressing things and will resume later. However I will confess I threw away a broken plastic peg basket yesterday that I have been using for years. The pegs used to fall out of the side. I am currently using an old toiletry bag until I get round to making a peg bag.

noelphobic

I haven't been on this thread for a long time but would like to come back please!

I did make some inroads but have pretty much come to a grinding halt for the last few months or so. At the moment my spare room is one of the tidiest rooms in the house. There's still lots of 'stuff' in there but it's neatly boxed up and I have an idea what's in the boxes.

A lot of my clothes are in my son's bedroom and I need to go through them. Some of them were vacuum packed but when the weather improved in the spring I got a lot of them out. It's a bit of an inbetween time as far as the weather is concerned but at least I could get them into some kind of order, ready to pack some of them away when the winter sets in properly.

I've just been reading this:-

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/hoarding/Pages/Introduction.aspx

GreyQueen

noel, you're welcome to slip in and out without apologies or explanations. The decluttering mojo will wax and wane with the seasons of our lives.

I'm away from home this weekend, which means that I have some distance from Stuff and have decided that two tops which really have worn out can go for ragging. They're favourites and really should have gone some time ago, but I'm a terror for keeping favourite clothes a bit too long.

I shall get onto that next week. I am also going to declutter a 500 ml bottle of hair conditioner which Mum decluttered to me - she'd meant to buy two bottles of shampoo in the same range and hand ended up with one shampoo and one conditioner.

I have this bottle in reserve, for after I use the bottle I have on the go, plus the two travel mini bottles. Only I have now had my hair cut pretty darned short and don't really need conditoner at all, and certainly don't need what amounts to a 5 year supply in reseve. So that can go and be sold to someone who'll use it.

I'm also going to lose a cookbook. It's the only one I own, the rest of the recipes are either in my head or in my recipe folder. On persuing this baking cookbook, I think there is 1-2 recipes which I might actually bake, so will copy them into the recipe folder and donate the book.

Isn't a particularly big book, but every little helps, hey?

roundtuit

Hi - can I come back too please?

I'm back where I started thanks to a whole jungle-full of life that has left me balancing on a tiny teatray of sanity and surrounded by chaos- literally as well as analogically :-(

I've had to let workmen through the door and a old friend called on my birthday and I had to let her in - I wanted to curl up and die, but my heart kept beating and I survived!

My 'hoard' is actually contained in the spare room, cupboard under the stairs and shed; but I can't get to it for clutter - especially since DS came home from Uni. He put his 'stuff' in the spaces that I had created and it's still there - because there's no room in the spare room, cupboard under the stairs or shed!!!

I've got a man coming to fix the washing machine tomorrow - so at least I'll be able to 'attack' the mountain(s) of clothes piled everywhere.

Workmen have just about finished on the house - had external insulation fitted, plus new windows; mum is in Rehab and should be allowed home soon - for the first time in four months! Having teetered on the edge of a breakdown worrying about Mum,Dad is more his usual self now that she's nearer home and improving. DS is down as he can't find a job, but has perked up since he got a car - every time he goes out in it my anxiety levels go through the roof (not that he knows that of course).

Anyway my tiny teatray of sanity appears balanced enough for me to want to start work on the 'elephant' again. One bite at a time; tiny steps. I'll just feed my unicorn and then I'll make a start!

Rxx

parsniphead

savingqueen wrote: »

Will the house be eligible for a pension?:D sorry.....


Eeeek parsniphead a big old job, ours probably needs rewiring too but it will have to join a very long list of other house jobs.

Oh dear, I'm such an idiot.:o