Hoarding - Springing Ahead

thriftwizard

And I was going really well in the conservatory when I got a phone call to say that Mum really isn't well... Poor soul, it's not her fault, but it is frustrating! Grabbed my BoB (see SHTF thread if you don't know what that is) and am off down there in a mo until she's on her feet again. Leaving a room that doesn't look a whole lot better, but at least I know what's in there now and where it is. And half a car full has gone to the Tip too.

parsniphead

Thank you janb5. I'm a very visual learner and need to see things to make a difference.

Thrift wizard. Sorry to hear about your mum. I hope she is better soon. Take care.

thriftwizard

She's on the mend now, thank you, Parsniphead, on very strong anti-biotics & with some HM leek & potato soup inside her. I'll roast her a chicken tomorrow before heading home again, provided she's well enough.

I love the idea of your photos of how your house used to be, and can appreciate how they can act as a spur to help you return to & build on its former glory. I wish I had more than our former elderly neighbour's recollections of how our house used to be; it fell into the hands of a "developer" in the 80s and lost so much of its former character as well as 75% of it's original garden. Bits of it are all over our neighbourhood; one of the fireplaces now resides two doors up the street, and the old kitchen range lives halfway down the poshest avenue in town, having been scooped up out of a skip by a lady who later became a good friend of mine. We still have the old larder slab; broken in two, I keep pots of herbs & geraniums on it under the garage window. And the whitewash is still visible on the wall, outside the back door where the larder was.

Anyway, enough! Time to get some sleep - in a clutter-free environment for once!

Tibbie's_mum

I haven't signed in or posted on this forum since December 2013, life and clutter just took over.

But it has now come to a point where I am completely stuck and it is all to do with my hoard. I have a house and 2 twenty foot storage units stuffed full of junk, that I have been meaning to sort and sell for the last 4 years or so. I have done no sorting or selling, and my house remains a dump! We are half way through renovating our house with a view to selling it, but trying to finish it is impossible when all our time is spent moving stuff from one place to another.

I know that logically it would be less stressful to just pack all the items we no longer need and take them to the charity shop, not to mention the money saved on the storage units but I do find it really hard letting go of things. I have started and have sent 17 boxes of my late father's books to the charity shop, that has taken me 16 years to get round to as he passed in 1999, but it is an achievement!

So here goes my decluttering journey!

thriftwizard

17 boxes of books is a HUGE achievement, Tibbie's mum. It's all I can do to manage one box, but I probably need to part with 17. At least.

I have a house and 2 twenty foot storage units stuffed full of junk, that I have been meaning to sort and sell for the last 4 years or so.

You raise a very good point there. I do sell, as I may have mentioned a thousand or so times. I have a fixed stall that I'm constantly updating, I do regular markets & pop-up events, and even the odd car boot, and I list on Ebay and Gumtree. Yet I still have a house, garage & shed full of what my husband calls "old junk"... In the dark of the night I sometimes find myself wondering whether what I do is actually mentally healthy for me... but some months I bring in as much as he does, and most months I manage to pay for things like driving, dance & music lessons for our admittedly technically grown-up but not yet financially independent kids. This is money we just wouldn't have, otherwise, as due to extended family commitments I'm not in a position to take paid employment, even if anyone were willing to give it to me!

To be fair to myself, time has been a problem; I take stuff on thinking I'm going to do it up & sell it on, then one or other member of my vast family (including seniors & a "hidden" special needs young person) has a crisis of some sort & everything else gets shoved onto the back boiler - or into the garage. I do shift most things through very quickly, either straight off for sale or into appropriate storage for a specific event. But not enough... It's been compounded by having had a fair amount of space which has now vanished as two of the offspring who were living independently have now returned, hopefully temporarily - but no guarantees or timescale. So my tools & my stock have been squished into an ever-decreasing amount of space, often at a couple of days' notice, and have become quite chaotic.

So selling stuff on is not necessarily a guarantee of gaining any space back! I think the trick is probably not to acquire any more, but that'd put me out of business...

Tibbie's_mum

Thanks Thriftwizard, it was really hard to part with those books not just because they were my dad's, but I just love books and wish I had enough shelving for them.

I used to sell things of ours on Ebay before we started renovating and did quite well? But recently I started a business selling new toys online, which is doing very well and I need to concentrate on that, but I still find it difficult to let go of things that I know would sell well on ebay if I had the time to list them correctly. I need to drill it into my head that the time I would spend doing ebay is better spent on my business and is more profitable, but I think it's a bit to do with being scared of having a job rather than a hobby.

I've also found it hard to get rid of my children's stuff and seem to be clinging onto it all, as I am having difficulty coming to terms with them growing up.

Tibbie's_mum

Have just taken 13kg of clothes to Cash4clothes, mainly stuff that I wouldn't ever Ebay or even take to a charity shop. They checked it all and just gave me back a few pairs of baby socks, which they don't take, and one soiled child's vest which I was most surprised about. The last few things I had put in the bags were actually good items that I could have sold on Ebay, had I the time! It took all my willpower not to ask for them back again, but I managed it and with the very small amount of money I got, I paid for a cappuccino and bacon roll as a reward to myself. :j

I even threw the socks and vest in a bin to prevent me from bringing them back into the house, although I now feel guilty for not recycling them properly!

I have two, very much past it, duvets that have been waiting to go out for a service wash for what seems like an eternity, now waiting in a black bin liner and they will go out with the rubbish. I've come to the conclusion that it is cheaper and more hygienic to just buy new ones, if there is ever a need to have guest duvets. Again, I feel I should recycle them somehow, but tomorrow is bin day and I want them gone.

So babysteps does it.:T

whiteguineapig

i think you are doing really well
i find it much easier to keep the house in some sort of order when i haven't as much stuff (including furniture ) in it
it is ongoing though, we seem to bring in more than i get rid of so its a permanant battle

thriftwizard

Suddenly feeling a whole lot better, even though I haven't kept to my target or even managed to do very much at all this week, as my mother's been ill again. Quote from VintageVixen's blog:

" Vintage trading is no career for the house proud."

Says it all really! I am not alone! I need to stop comparing my home to glossy architectural magazines - or indeed that of my very house-proud but lovely neighbour - and relax & just get on with living life & doing my best. Not constantly bog myself down with either excess cumber or negative feelings about something that's unfortunate but can't be helped. It's no use feeling guilty and depressed about a situation that's been thrust on me almost out of the blue, because the feelings themselves are hindering my attempts to actually do anything about it.

Onwards & upwards! But in a much more laid-back way...

dragonlily

We have been trying really hard here to clear. Whilst we have been decorating tons of stuff had been stored piled up in the conservatory and I realised that actually all that would happen with it post decorating would be that it would be shoved back into cupboards and again not be used. So we have been culling ruthlessly, charity shop / ebaying etc

I am surprised by how much the eBay total has come to, so far at £450ish after fees (although it does include a couple of pieces of furniture). We will want to buy conservatory furniture so it is nice to think all our old things will have been rehomed and we can put the money to something we really want.