Hoarding - Springing Ahead

thriftwizard

Made a bit of headway in the porch today; only a tiny bit, really, and it's quite depressing when you feel you've worked really hard but you can't actually see any difference. But I'm determined & will carry on until the job is done...

In reality I took two big bags of clothing to the Sally Army bin, two bags of random curtains etc. that just aren't the right style for my stall back to the Tip, and another big bag of garden rubbish - broken hanging baskets, that kind of thing. I Freecycled a shopping trolley, which went off within minutes; I felt quite guilty that it'd been hogging space in the porch for the last few weeks.

I also dropped off a whole load of unused artist's canvasses at the craft centre, where they'll be used by the children's art classes. That alone was taking up half of the boot space in a Grand C4 Picasso, which is a BIG boot. And I took a chair, 3 saris and some other bits & bobs down to my stall. Then stowed a huge bag of incomplete balls of wool & other yarns & patterns n the boot ready to take down to my mother's on Friday, for her knitting group.

So if even after removing a shopping trolley, a chair, a big bag of curtains & all the rest, it STILL doesn't look any less cluttered, you can tell it's bad. Really bad... More tomorrow.

Aaleigha

Angie that was a good lot to get through
as for the knitting yarn I will be down your way on sunday and have a bin bag of yarns - part balls and some multi balls I just dont like them
would you mind if I brought them down for your mums knitting group - I dont know where else they would be appreciated as we have nothing like that round here - E and I did start one but there was very little interest and as I became less able to leave the house it sort of drifted apart

so today I have done more upstairs not much to show for the effort just like you Angie but I have done it
I dont think now apart from coats I have anything else to wash but I could very well be surprised

as for the hoard more clothes have gone as I had a tentative second cull
I hope to have found a home for some sewing machines I have been hoarding - they need more love than I can give them now

tomorrow I will still be focussing on the clothes - I really do want to sort out my bedroom and I have a ton and a half of makeup that needs sorting too - I know I wear a lot but even I cant wear that much
might do some of that tomorrow so do 10 mins clothes and 10 mins make up

will also be unhoarding the freezer tomorrow but a pack of chicken thighs not sure what to have with them yet but sure I will find something

thriftwizard

Bless you, Aaleigha, yarn can always be rehomed down here! Even if Mum's group have enough, the kids craft club at the craft centre can always use almost anything - last time I was down there, I handed in an enormous collection of 1950s embroidery transfers that had lost their magazines. Mags with transfers are very saleable, so I'll buy in a job-lot that has some, but there are always orphan transfers & it was a puzzle to know what to do with them - they're really lovely, but I just don't have the time to do any embroidery at the moment, let alone lots of it! Then a friend of mine who is a professional embroiderer & designer - yes, there really is such a job - suggested the kids club, and they were chuffed to bits with them. So by all means bring the yarn, I'll find a good home for it - but not here!

Aaleigha

Angie that is great I will bring the yarn there is no point in keeping it I still have enough yarn to open a small yarn shop

good news everyone I have found a home for some of my hoard - several items will be winging there way at the weekend
will give me a bit more room to move and if they are not wanted perhaps the tip will be open when I get back as once they are out they are staying out

hardly done a thing today but I was playing with my camera (I have two a bridge camera and an sldr) so taken some pics of a lovely per una garment to put on fleabay will see how it goes I am going to try abotu 5 things over the next few days and if I dont get a bite (they will be relisted) then I will give up fleabay as a time consuming waste of time - I want stuff gone so everything will be at a low start just to get rid of it have to remember I will not make any money on postage (in fact I will lose as there will be fees to pay on it - maybe I should put it at 30p more to cover the fees - I will either need some good advice or spend more time looking round ebay

caitybabes

Aaleigha wrote: »

hardly done a thing today but I was playing with my camera (I have two a bridge camera and an sldr) so taken some pics of a lovely per una garment to put on fleabay will see how it goes I am going to try abotu 5 things over the next few days and if I dont get a bite (they will be relisted) then I will give up fleabay as a time consuming waste of time - I want stuff gone so everything will be at a low start just to get rid of it have to remember I will not make any money on postage (in fact I will lose as there will be fees to pay on it - maybe I should put it at 30p more to cover the fees - I will either need some good advice or spend more time looking round ebay

Hi Aaleigha, just wanted to say that, for me, eBay is reliably great for selling furniture, you advertise it as no postage, local collection only. It's great because people actually come and take bulky things away which would usually be a pain to get rid of and they give you money too! Just thought I'd mention it in case the clothes don't work out, there is still a use for eBay. Hope you have success with your clothes though. Looking forward to hearing how it goes.

Cait

Aaleigha

Cait thank you so much for that idea

today I listed one more thing - I find it quite long winded and will do a couple a day and then put them all to go live the same day

now I have got the hang of the camera its easier

I have a whole list of things I have agreed to move on this week

some small sewing machines
a couple of hand cranks
one treadle
and huge bin bag of yarn
and hopefully a spinning chair

I have sorted some more stuff for the charity shop
I have an oval linen basket the sort you carry washing in - dont need it but I love wicker - I have been filling that with stuff for the charity shop - its nearly full- they can have it basket and all

I sorted through my scarves today - the sort of indoor scarves not winter ones - I have put them all through this

I have very plain walls in my bedroom could use it as an art work but no I will hang it on the inside of the wardrobe door

some shoes have gone into the wicker basket

now all this is being done but where is the space I am supposed to be getting - I promise you all NOTHING has come in but all that stuff has or will be going out and I still cant get into the back bedroom

my wardrobe is tidier but that is about it - I honestly did not know how much stuff I actually had let alone still have

but I have a weekend off - saturday I am going to see my son - not a good place to go as he is in prison - I visit monthly and I find the stress is almost too much - then Sunday I am off to deliver quite a few unhoarding things - and to meet a lovely lady who I am sure will become a very good and dear friend

all week end I will have DH with me as he is not going into work - first weekend off since xmas

thriftwizard

I've been out all day - at the market doing the weekly shop, down to my stall to tidy & re-stock, down to the Tip with another two bags of stuff, then off to my mother's for the afternoon. But I've discovered that the porch isn't quite as bad as I thought; one of the big boxes underneath the debris is actually TDiL's Kenwood mixer and other kitchen stuff too precious to be out in the damp garage. Two more are vintage hats; they're a good earner for me at the shows, but not at our regular venue.

There are still three boxes of random unused crafty bits I need to sort & get rid of, but suddenly it doesn't seem so overwhelmingly awful!

lobbyludd

I have been MIA sorry - hangs head - I think that things have probably been on balance static over the last year: in that more or less as much stuff has come in as gone out, but I am still running at a 10-20% more-stuff-than-is-manageable level.

I have delivered a chest of drawers back to a friend that I have been storing/using for a year whilst she relocated and am consequently over-run with piles of clothes/linen - I theoretically have enough storage for all this to be put away - but in practice it doesn't work - my dressing table has 6 drawers that don't work properly so are more or less empty. - the drawers in my cod are too thin to be used for my clothes or bed linen so are almost completely vacant too.

I have a tall boy that was used for the bed linen but again the drawers were a less than optimum size. I "inherited" all this furniture, and am thinking now - as none of it is actually useful to me, I should get rid of it and restock with furniture that fits my needs. there's a bit more cs work to do with stripping down the clothes and bed linen. but I am allowed to release the furniture to people it will work for. 'tis pointless to keep storage furniture with empty drawers whilst things are left piled on surfaces because they don't fit the storage - they will work for others.

nice to be back and work things through in safety

recent wins are dd (6) identifying a large box of pretend wooden play-food/bake ware for cs as she now has real baking stuff, and ds (12) who has more anxiety problems than dd identifying toys to cs. This is such a BIG move forward, his very early childhood was much more traumatic and anxiety producing than dd's because I got out when she was <1y.o but he was 6. he has recently rediscovered things in drawers from that period, remembered the toys fondly and happily passed them on to the cs without a backward glance which is a huge step forwards as previously he couldn't let go of anything from those years.

onwards and outwards everyone

ivyleaf

Huge WELL DONE to Master lobbyludd :T There's a lovely lady on another thread whose children had a different sort of trauma - their father was killed in a car accident, and they were in the car too - and her DD has since found it impossible to get rid of anything, even packaging from parcels.

Aaleigha I've pm'd you, hope you don't mind

Aaleigha

Of course I dont mind and your pm was so well timed and made so much sense so thank you yet again

so tomorrow I am doing something very brave for me
I am taking some of my hoard off to its new home - no I am not just moving it from my house to another I have checked it is wanted so all is well
not only am I letting it go but during the day I am meeting someone from the forums
this evening when I came home from the visit I opened a chest (we throw paperwork in there) and went through a handful and put it for shredding (done - now in the worm composter) recycling (in now full) and for filing which for now I have put in a drawer as we have no filing system in place - also that will give me a second opportunity to go through it
I think I will put all guarantees with the pages that are in english from manuals into a polly wallet by the end date of gaurentee so that that can be emptied as soon as it is no longer relevant or I might do the manuals separately in alphabetical order - what do the rest of you do with such paper work please)