Hoarding - Springing Ahead

mothernerd

Fingers, toes and anything else that can be crossed for you Thriftwizard.

Swings and roundabouts for me today. Finally booked the Council bulky refuse collection (5 items for £20) but no date yet. DS3 has broken his bed base as well as the mattress being wrecked. Have had to enter them in 'other' category as only double and single beds were on the list (have added that if both parts of the base cannot be taken I will keep one half).

In addition a desk, the 'spare' mattress currently stuffed under my bed and a chest of drawers (all rejected as not good enough for the homeless, even though the organisation has a refurbishing workshop) will be going. I am keeping the bed drawers.

DS2 has still has the old fridge freezer which needs taking to the tip when his friend can take him and I have asked if he can take the bag of electrical waste when they go (having been told off 3 years ago when I took a large rucksack full of cables, non working games etc as I wasn't allowed on without a car :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:) but not holding out any hopes.

One of the things the Council wouldn't take last year (mainly things left behind by DS2 when he moved out) has been stomped on so I may put some of the broken pieces in the bin (I know it shouldn't go in there and I hate doing it) and do a litter pick in the backs (litter from the car park and blown from the side shopping street until it hits a metal fence) as I have room for an extra bin bag this week.

I have brought the latest cs offerings back from mum's and can cross off the job of tacking up the curtains allocated to her spare bedroom. She has decided the yard/ back garden of the bungalow should be flagged (currently a mish mash of grass, concrete patches, slabs and some 'stepping stones' - not at all safe for her) and the same men are going to replace the bedroom window with French doors, so the curtains can stay full length.

I will be glad to get them out of my house (especially as they sit balefully on my bed so I am aware of them from waking in the morning) and also glad to see some signs of mum doing what she wants rather than picking options to suit various members of her partner's family. The 'spare' bedroom might become a dining room to accommodate his twins grand-daughters who have been turning up for tea on Fridays since they were teenagers and still do some of the time now they are 29, along with husbands, 2 daughters and 2 mad dogs.

Have done a little more of mum's filing and took two letters for her to sign. Although I don't need more of someone else's clutter, I am intending to keep a lot of it here so it is safe. I will only take things back to her which she is likely to need short-term and they will be in the lockable file box I bought for her. Partner has started to mess with paperwork and mum was hiding the sheets the daily nurses and assistants have to fill in behind her back.

Also I am still deeply unhappy with the way her partner's children handled our family paperwork (and some precious possessions) during and since the move. Mum asked me again about her wedding album and I said that I had searched everywhere possible but did not now what they might have moved or discarded when I wasn't there.

Anyway I must shrug off this resentment, as it is tying me in knots and if I cannot change things I must accept them and work on what I can do.

I have moved a lot this week. I had mostly moved the contents of two sets of cube shelving onto the new under stairs shelves and I have cleared a path and across the kitchen then got DS3 to put the larger 12 cube set under the stairs on it's side (so 2 x 6 cubes and then the side used as another long shelf) and am moving my sewing/ embroidery/ material plus whatever is left of the diy and tools from my bedroom and the front room. Not ideal but the kitchen is likely to have least mess (and that will be localised, sawdust not plaster dust) during the works I want carrying out. Drawn a little plan as I went along so can easily identify different sets of threads etc if I need them (use up first/ anchor / dmc and unused skeins - most are wound onto cards, some the proper ones and some onto strong card used before I could afford the proper ones).

Hoping to buy a camera once the new financial year starts and start selling some excess materials (probably need a new printer and other things but if any large purchases can be held off until after the building repairs).

Think I have Kondoed some knickers (some tried to escape in inconvenient places) and may only have 3 pairs left. :eek:

Good luck with your progress everyone.

Happygreen

Oh, I so know where you are coming from....DD1 came to visit today and although she took some stuff with her and sorted out clothes to go to CS there is still a ton of boxes and stuff. Her flat is small and us being a thrifty household I do not encourage senseless "chucking out"....each time she comes she's going through some but so far we are the "storage facility". £ 145 a month is not acceptable for storage! I think around here it's £ 50 but maybe you have neighbours with a cellar or attic space they don't need and would share with you for a bit of cash?

thriftwizard

If only, Happygreen! But we're just above the level of the river flood-plain, so no cellars round here, and I think everyone's lofts have been converted already to make the little 2-up-2-downs into 4-bed town houses - ours is the biggest house in the street, but also has the most inhabitants!

The smaller storage units (8'l x 8'h x 4'w) are £75, but there's virtually no chance of one coming free as they're next to the market & I gather there's quite a queue for them. And the rest are all stacked-container facilities, where stuff is just kept whilst people are between homes; if you want anything out of it, you have to make an appointment, they then haul your container down, you fetch your item, then they put the container back. Not much good when it's just a specific cake tin you're after!

pollyanna_26

Hi all just bumping the thread for a newbie
polly

thriftwizard

Bad news, good news...

One of my fellow traders sadly died unexpectedly last month. She was a very talented lady with superb taste, from the States but with dual citizenship & living, making & selling over here. To cut a long story short, her husband had to dispose of her belongings inside a month, as he doesn't have dual citizenship & can't stay here for more than 30 days; no visa. To cut a long story short, I agreed to buy her stash & equipment... so now I have double the problem! And no-one to blame but myself.

However, it's forced me to really sort my stash out too. Two binbags have been given away, and there are two more filling up now. I've been sorting stuff in the porch & conservatory as I go, and was horrified to find that the two random bags of fabric that had been stuffed into the porch over Christmas (and had been pointed out as "part of Mum's hoard") were actually bags of clean washing! Probably stuff the owners have been hunting for for months... and blaming me for losing! So both rooms are already looking quite a lot better, as other people's bits are going into the new shed - carefully wrapped & labelled - and mine are going into the room that doubles up as my studio, and getting sorted as they go. I've bought some clear plastic containers to store fabric in; much though I prefer the look of old wooden boxes, you can't see what's in them...

Did a car boot sale this morning, cleared some clutter & raised £50. There's a long way still to go, but I'm just beginning to believe there might be a faint glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel...

Catriona_P

Hi everyone,


It's been a long long time since I was last on the thread but you guys were such a help to me when tackling my own hoarding problems in the run-up to selling my house last year after divorce. I wouldn't say I'm a refined character but I'm much better at parting with the 'clutter' than I used to be. I'm still messy though!


However, I now have a new boyfriend who is lovely but a bit of a neat freak. His place is spotless! He's coming over to my place for the first time this weekend and I'm now in a bit of a panic about it. We're in a rental with very little storage and my daughter has a lot of toys - I know it won't really matter to him but I still want to make a good impression. Any suggestions on what I can do and where I should focus on between now and the weekend?

mothernerd

Hi Catriona P. When my children were small and I had to get the house 'visitor ready' eg my useless partner finished work at 10pm, went for a drink, wandered in at midnight, told me his parents had phoned him at work to say they were dropping in on their way to Blackpool next day (Saturday). Reminded him that he had a meeting on Saturday and wouldn't be home until after dinner. I had new baby who did not like being put down to rest, messy house and no food in (started peeling potatoes at once and made a corned beef hash but it was the worst one I ever made - possibly because the spuds were left overnight).

I used something I called 'the big cardboard box method'. I went round the house scooping up paperwork etc, anything left lying around and hid it (in the baby's room/ under the bed/ under a table with a floor length cloth over it). Once all the stuff was out of the way it was simple to clean and wipe all the surfaces with baby in his sling and then later (when they had gone, chortling with glee at all my partner's remarks about my cooking) I could sit down with the box and sort through it.

Probably your daughter's toys are the biggest item, could you put a bin bag or two in the bottom of your wardrobe leaving her with a limited selection to play with (I did this when mine were old enough to tidy - gave them a certain amount of time then bagged everything left. When they were good they would get something back but I would also check for broken items, send some to charity or put away babyish things for when one of the others grew into it).

Is your boyfriend going to be happy if everywhere looks okay or is he the sort to go looking in cupboards and wardrobes to see if there is stuff hidden (as aforementioned partner did when I was pregnant and we had just moved back into the house. He knew when he left to go and meet his mother there were bin bags and boxes full of stuff everywhere and he couldn't work out where I had put it).

I think some people on here (please forgive me if it wasn't one of you lot but I thought it was genius at the time) who hid stuff (the mess or it may have been the laundry/ ironing pile) in her car when visitors were coming.

Hope this is helpful.

Happygreen

Just a short note - taking a bag of curtains to CS today! Another step in the right direction.
Hope everyone is well

thriftwizard

I think some people on here (please forgive me if it wasn't one of you lot but I thought it was genius at the time) who hid stuff (the mess or it may have been the laundry/ ironing pile) in her car when visitors were coming.

Don't think I've ever mentioned it on here, but I've been known to throw stuff into my van when I have warning of unexpected guests! But am doing better now, in that the living room & kitchen are generally tidy enough to receive guests without anything more than a cursory sweep of washing airing on radiators. Which is just a fact of life in a big family household with no airing cupboard...

Catriona_P

mothernerd wrote: »

I used something I called 'the big cardboard box method'. I went round the house scooping up paperwork etc, anything left lying around and hid it (in the baby's room/ under the bed/ under a table with a floor length cloth over it). Once all the stuff was out of the way it was simple to clean and wipe all the surfaces with baby in his sling and then later (when they had gone, chortling with glee at all my partner's remarks about my cooking) I could sit down with the box and sort through it.

Probably your daughter's toys are the biggest item, could you put a bin bag or two in the bottom of your wardrobe leaving her with a limited selection to play with (I did this when mine were old enough to tidy - gave them a certain amount of time then bagged everything left. When they were good they would get something back but I would also check for broken items, send some to charity or put away babyish things for when one of the others grew into it).

Thanks this is really helpful! Although my wardrobes are already full - but I like the big cardboard box idea. Got a few days to get through as much as possible in the house (I've been doing a room a night although by no means all of it) so if I get stuck I'll try that idea.

My daughter is pretty good at parting with old toys now so think I'll go through some things with her - whether or not we have time before the end of the week I'm not sure.

I've discovered over the last few years of de-cluttering that inviting people over is a good way to encourage me to keep tidy. It's when we go weeks without a visitor that the house starts to get messy again!

Does anyone else find that they buy plastic boxes 'for storage' and then end up with these boxes being empty with nowhere to put them but you don't want to get rid of them since they might be useful???