Hoarding - Springing Ahead

thriftwizard

I just hope it's catching, GQ, but I don't think my family would recognise me, or our house, if I suddenly developed tidiness.

I might just pick up a couple of hard suitcases from my local stall today (where to be honest they are not selling, as they're not in line-of-sight for the customers - they're just adding some atmosphere) and use them to stuff the cuddly toys up in the loft. I also need to pick up a tin trunk next time I see one, to store a big rug in up there; it's not mine to dispose of, but it doesn't need to be taking up room in DS1's room when it's not in use. There's already one on the floor in there and that's enough.

OK - onwards & upwards - time to tackle the ottoman of spare bedding... I may be gone for some time!

silvasava

HaHa GQ - as I'm sure I've posted before my Mum's mantra was 'Dont put it down, put it away' unfortunately its taken a long time to filter down to me and only sporadically!!

GreyQueen

silvasava wrote: »

HaHa GQ - as I'm sure I've posted before my Mum's mantra was 'Dont put it down, put it away' unfortunately its taken a long time to filter down to me and only sporadically!!

I have quite a way to go before I reach such standards, believe you me.

The reason I'm liking tidiness is that I am lazy. I'm not being negative about myself for comic effect, I'm lazy in what I consider to be a positive way; I have chronic illnesses which limit my energy. I don't want to waste what resources I have constantly flailing around among the carp.

If I'm going to get on with something, I need to be able to drop my hands on the materials or tools and just do it. If I have to rip the place apart finding them, that's the energy to use them lost before I have accomplished anything.

And even if I want to be busy lying on the sofa reading a book, I do need to be able to have enough space on said sofa to lie comfortably. So, developing tidiness leads to more efficient laziness.

Plus it looks better, should you be surprised by random visitors, doesn't it?:rotfl:

catshark88

I've spent the last 2 days, with a friend, helping another friend declutter her shop, which was overwhelming her.

We found more stock than we believed possible and decluttered around 200 cardboard boxes, kept "in case" they would make good packaging. With so much less stock on display, my arty friend was able to make it all look lovely.

It was a really moving couple of days.

thriftwizard

developing tidiness leads to more efficient laziness

A true GQ classic, that one! Tempted to try it...

Not a lot achieved here today; a few old curtains reduced to saleable fabric, a bag of yarn oddments given away & a bag of fabric scraps Freecycled, is about all. Quite a lot of other things sorted out, but nothing major gone or sorted. But tomorrow is another day... a busy one, but I should be able to carve an hour or so out of it to get rid of more kipple.

Catshark88, that's a lovely thing to have done for your friend. Hoping she will be able to keep it up now.

GreyQueen

Steal away, my dear. It was the first time I had articulated, even inside my own head, exactly what I was feeling and why with regards to what I want to achieve by simplification.

Have had a mini-frustration already today about an item which I was intending to offer on our Freegle group. It's probably more than a year since I logged onto my Freegle account (since the password is in my 2013 diary) but it doesn't seem to recognise me. I tried both my regular email address which I've had 3 years, and the old email address, which I've had for 12 years and access via the old provider's website, but it wasn't having me under either.

Now I'll do a cost-benefit analysis of the hassle of re-registering and the hassle of the almost-inevitable annoyances of peeps who don't collect when they say they will, versus the portability of the one thing I want to Freecycle. Which is pretty portable, come to think of it.

I'm thinking I may well charity-shop it, just to be rid of it all at once. I'll think on matters today whilst going about other business and decide which course of action I'm going to follow tomorrow.

I get to think a lot about fly-tipping in my life. Partly because we have far too much of it in my neighbourhood (some !!!!!! with a van dropped off a 'delivery' of half-a-dozen manky old mattresses onto our carpark this week, SG saw it happen but couldn't get his registration, damn his eyes) and partially because I book to get fly-tippings picked up from all over the place when the public report them.

Soooo, never a subject far from my mind (I lead a very glamourous life ). And it's ultimately about taking responsibility for the Stuff you use, including what happens to it when you no longer want or need it. There's an awful lot of people who are perfectly capable of organising new things into their lives, bought new, bought secondhand or gifted, who become curiously-helpless when called upon to deal with the other part of the equation; getting rid.

I happen to think that we do have a responsibility to our discards. I really resent having to fork over one month's net income each year in council tax, with the ultimate threat of imprisonment for non-payment, when some of the resultant pool of money has to be wasted on fly-tipping pick-ups rather than used productively for education or social services and the like.

I like to get anything potentially re-usable but not needed for re-use by me, out into the public domain where it can be re-used. If it's gone beyond viability as an item of clothing etc, get it into the relevent recycling stream. Or compost it.

I've also been around long enough to notice a correlation between wasterfulness and wealth. One wealthy couple in a nearby council area were absolutely baffled when wheelie bins came out. What were these for? They barely ever threw anything away - they were old school old money. Since their local authority declined to remove the wheelies, and they didn't need them for rubbish, they got re-purposed as water butts.

And then I regularly pass homes where I know the people living in them are on benefits and I see, several times a year, discarded furniture which is perfectly usable and even saleable for a few tens, being left in the garden to rot, and kids' toys and pushbikes being left outside in all weathers to get ruined. As if nothing has any value and is worth taking care of.

Maddening.

thriftwizard

I've also seen that correlation in action. The genuinely, solidly-wealthy people I know are very much into not being wasteful, not buying things just because you want one (they establish a real need, then research, then buy the best one for the job) and getting good value for money. I usually bump into them in LIDLs, where the C3 or similar economical little run-around is parked outside; the battered old Landy lives at home & only comes out for the County Show now.

They hardly ever eat out, except when they're up in Town, they don't go to Thailand though they may go on special interest holidays - weaving in Peru, textiles in Rajasthan, kayaking in Alaska, sketching in the Greek mountains - or to visit family once every few years, and they buy good stuff when it's needed and usually when it's on sale; they have no cause to worry about whether it's last year's colours as they don't give a toss what other people think.

They got to be rich & stay that way by looking after their money, not by throwing it away in the form of discarded stuff. As my stepfather (no slouch at finance) would say, it isn't so much what you earn, it's what you don't waste that counts!

GreyQueen

Yeah, my late granddad (farm labourer before retirement) always used to say its not what you make it's what you keep. Nan is 91.5 years old and married in 1940. Her kitchen table is the original one from then, my living room table (small pine job, stained dark, think you'd like it) was bought by Nan during WW2 for 7 shillings 6d. Went through 40-odd years in her house, then to my Mum then to me.

I'm not 100% sure we've had our money's worth yet but, barring unforseen accidents, this little country table which probably dates from the cusp of the 19th-20th centuries should keep on trucking for another century. It's currently sporting a cargo of things which it's original owners would have been surprised to see; leccy sewing machine and a pile of silk upholstery fabric samples from a factory sale. Lush stuff.

I like to think that I live a little like the thrifty rich on my £10k a year. I certainly have things in daily use which are a lot older than I am, and will continue to use them, and will hope to replace them with things for a similar vintage, should anything befall them. I mean, Bakeloy baking tins, that stuff is brilliant, and just getting to be nicely seasoned after 3 generations' usage.:rotfl:

MyHappinessProject

thriftwizard wrote: »

They got to be rich & stay that way by looking after their money, not by throwing it away in the form of discarded stuff. As my stepfather (no slouch at finance) would say, it isn't so much what you earn, it's what you don't waste that counts!

Oh Thriftwizard, my old dad was an accountant and he used to say exactly the same thing! Thank you for the reminder..

silvasava

Hi All - hope everyone is having a good day. I decided to clear out the underbed storage drawers in our spare bedroom as I knew I had a lot of my Mum's linens etc stored there. Some I'll keep (a lovely embroidered tablecloth & napkins my Dad brought back from the far east before I was born!) I bagged all the surplus stuff that I wouldn't use & took to the local Sue Ryder shop - nice staff in there.
I was a bit miffed though 'cos my Ex DH has Parkinsons (poor man) & its getting quite bad. I know SR support Parkinsons so I asked if they had any info that I could pass on to Ex DH's wife as she is stuggling now. SR told me they don't have anything in our area - its all London way :eek: dont get me wrong I have no issues in supporting charities of many kinds - but people like BHF or Cancer Research, Help the Aged are all national & other charities support local issues so we can all benefit from them in some way if necessary. I'm sorry I shall not be supporting them any further - rant over - although I'd like to hear what you all think.