Hoarding - Springing Ahead

roundtuit

Greyqueen - you are amazing :smileyheaWe do have doorstep recycling here, so that's a bonus. I work in a town centre, but rarely venture out into it - my goal during tomorrow's lunchbreak will be to find the nearest CS. I have a carrier bag of books and a small bag of gibble that they can have - which have been stood by the kitchen door forever waiting to go.

I'm going to put them in the car boot now...... done it:T. (Future bags can go as they fill up instead of loitering - I like that idea. It's a bit exciting isn't it?)

Minniemousesmummy - we are in this together and we can do this.

Yesterday was very fragmented but I did bin/recycle the packaging from a new pair of shoes (needed for work) and several newspapers plus some junk mail.

And because I had washed, dried and PUT AWAY some pots I was able to use the cooker hob and make bacon butties for me and DS for tea last night :T.

I am now going to wash, dry and PUT AWAY another bowlful of pots.

And I'm going to put the shredder on the kitchen worktop where it can be plugged in and used!!! I know it won't live there forever but it'll be better there than stood nowhere near a socket with an ever-growing pile of 'to be shredded' on top of it.

I'll be back later xx

whitewing

I am really impressed with the burst of bank holiday sorting that people are doing.

Yesterday we went out for the day and had a lovely time. Even better, we had a clear, clean and tidy house before we went out (a combination of this thread and american flylady keeping me on track). I also got DH to drop me off on the way home to do a 3 mile walk. I am losing weight, but not measuring my weight loss, just clothes getting looser.

In fact, everything would be fantastic, had I not been told that I have next-to-no chance of getting a business loan that I need to grow my business. That has shaken me up because it feels personal, and it makes me wonder whether the situation will ever improve.

pigpen

Todays challenges... If I list them I HAVE to do them or you can all be cross with me (please?!)

Landing table
4 boxes of clothes to sort
3 chests of drawers to sort
lots of vacuuming which is easier now the floors are visible at least!

That looks like a MUCH shorter list than was seen on the flylady thread lol.. I might stay here!!

whitewing

Vacuuming the bits that you can see if a good way to get going, because it does make a difference to how the place looks and feels.

tattooed_lady

GreyQueen wrote: »

The starting is the thing. You don't need to wait until the stars are in a certain alignment/ until you have assembled lots of fancy gear and cleaning products/ you're about to move house/ houseguests are incoming in 5............ you'll never find a perfect time so you have to use the bits of time you have.

Here's a few tricks I play on myself;

Unshopping Version 1; you're going shopping anyway. There are charity shops on most high streets. You could take a bag or two of Stuff out with you - unshopping in practice.

Unshopping Version 2; if you don't have doorstep recycling, put the recycling in the car. Sooner or later the car will be in a supermarket carpark and most of them have recycling bins. Don't drive right up to them as you could pick up a puncture, tho!

Let people steal it: Put it out at the foot of your garden with a Free sign on it. If that doesn't work, put a price ticket on and look away....the wombles will have it off ya. I was in an office and a 3 piece suite was taken from the skip outside our window in ten mins flat and we never saw it go. Gobsmackingly fast work and if I hadn't've been there I wouldn't have believed it possible.

If it's really ugly, try giftwrapping it before leaving it outside.

Have a giveaway box: If you have people in, have a large but shallowish box somewhere conspicious where they can see it. Put in usable but unwanted stuff like books etc. Invite visitors to have a rummage and take away anything which takes their fancy. People tend to be happy little bunnies when offered the opportunity to choose their own freebies.

Use halfwit time: I have ME and often feel bleugh, with my brain running at half-speed and not capable of advanced mentation. Hence half-wit time. You can sit on the floor in such a frame of mind and do something like test biros to see if they work, match up your socks, sort thru the catalogues to make sure that you haven't left your passport in there.......

Invite a trusted friend around to help: Emphasis on the trusted and only with such things as you feel comfortable with. Can be a great laugh and they may even take some stuff away with them.

Give unwanted photos away to the people in them: I had a turf out and decided to mail some pix to an old pal who I'd drifted apart from. They were of her and of her other friends and I thought she'd get more from them than I would. Boy, was that the right thing to do; she came back to me to say that two of the women in the photos had recently passed away and she realised that she had no pix of one and hardly any of the other. So my decluttering meant the world to her, and I got the warm & fuzzies. You don't have to dust the warm & fuzzies.

Imagine you've fallen under a bus and your nearest and dearest have to root through your toot: If it's bad enough to cause you to want to die of embarrassment at the mere thought, you need to get the worst stuff out of there.

There's a million and one ways to trick yourself into decluttering, just find whatever works for you and go for it. Good luck!

What a lovely, helpful post - thank you :T

roundtuit

The bowlful of pots has been washed, dried and put away.

3 empty glass coffee jars have been washed, delabelled and put into the recycling box.

Shredder has been moved and shredding has begun.

6 plastic pop bottles to be washed, squashed and put in recycling bin next.

Then I need a cup of coffee. I can now shred while the kettle boils haha.

Rx

GreyQueen

roundtuit wrote: »

The bowlful of pots has been washed, dried and put away.

3 empty glass coffee jars have been washed, delabelled and put into the recycling box.

Shredder has been moved and shredding has begun.

6 plastic pop bottles to be washed, squashed and put in recycling bin next.

Then I need a cup of coffee. I can now shred while the kettle boils haha.

Rx

:T Bravo!

I accidentally found out that I can do quite a few chores whilst waiting for the kettle to boil, which is something I do many many times each day. It all adds up and certainly beats watching the darned thing on the stove.

Going to have a light lunch, heave all the carp off the kitchen counter and then scrub it and leave it to air-dry whilst I go to the allotment for a few hours. And I will be very selective about what gets put back on...........I pledge this to you all.

Picklepot

Mcculloch29
'if the stuff is lying unused now, what makes you think it will be needed? The chances are you have more than one jacket for work for example, and you can only wear one at a time. What circumstances will lead to the items currently being used becoming unavailable for use?'

Mcculloch29 ..of course you are absoloutly right ..and thats part of the frustration , i can see the distorted thinking. It drives me mad that always i have this.. if i can just put a scarf wth this, just one more outfit created until i find something better to replace it type of mentality. I will try your idea though because this has to stop.

Gingernutty
'The jump from part time to full time means you don't have as much time to yourself as you did. The amount of time you have for housework is reduced and you have less 'down time'.

Yep. Been there. I can't drive and travelling to and from work took nearly three hours, I worked eight hours and came home to a pile of different things to do.

Now I'm on 'an as and when' required contract, I've got all the time in the world to tackle projects but no money. I'm skint!'

You have hit the nail on the head!!!
I really have purchasing of clothes under control, using a lot of the criteria you suggested. Its the old stuff that i really struggle with which is really odd.Thanks for the tips and links i am going to go back reread and inwardly digest now.

Picklepot

GreyQueen wrote: »

The starting is the thing. You don't need to wait until the stars are in a certain alignment/ until you have assembled lots of fancy gear and cleaning products/ you're about to move house/ houseguests are incoming in 5............ you'll never find a perfect time so you have to use the bits of time you have.

Here's a few tricks I play on myself;

Unshopping Version 1; you're going shopping anyway. There are charity shops on most high streets. You could take a bag or two of Stuff out with you - unshopping in practice.

Unshopping Version 2; if you don't have doorstep recycling, put the recycling in the car. Sooner or later the car will be in a supermarket carpark and most of them have recycling bins. Don't drive right up to them as you could pick up a puncture, tho!

Let people steal it: Put it out at the foot of your garden with a Free sign on it. If that doesn't work, put a price ticket on and look away....the wombles will have it off ya. I was in an office and a 3 piece suite was taken from the skip outside our window in ten mins flat and we never saw it go. Gobsmackingly fast work and if I hadn't've been there I wouldn't have believed it possible.

If it's really ugly, try giftwrapping it before leaving it outside.

Have a giveaway box: If you have people in, have a large but shallowish box somewhere conspicious where they can see it. Put in usable but unwanted stuff like books etc. Invite visitors to have a rummage and take away anything which takes their fancy. People tend to be happy little bunnies when offered the opportunity to choose their own freebies.

Use halfwit time: I have ME and often feel bleugh, with my brain running at half-speed and not capable of advanced mentation. Hence half-wit time. You can sit on the floor in such a frame of mind and do something like test biros to see if they work, match up your socks, sort thru the catalogues to make sure that you haven't left your passport in there.......

Invite a trusted friend around to help: Emphasis on the trusted and only with such things as you feel comfortable with. Can be a great laugh and they may even take some stuff away with them.

Give unwanted photos away to the people in them: I had a turf out and decided to mail some pix to an old pal who I'd drifted apart from. They were of her and of her other friends and I thought she'd get more from them than I would. Boy, was that the right thing to do; she came back to me to say that two of the women in the photos had recently passed away and she realised that she had no pix of one and hardly any of the other. So my decluttering meant the world to her, and I got the warm & fuzzies. You don't have to dust the warm & fuzzies.

Imagine you've fallen under a bus and your nearest and dearest have to root through your toot: If it's bad enough to cause you to want to die of embarrassment at the mere thought, you need to get the worst stuff out of there.

There's a million and one ways to trick yourself into decluttering, just find whatever works for you and go for it. Good luck!

Fab post thank you!

Gingernutty

I've laced the garden with more weedkiller - there's nothing worth salvaging so all the nettles, dock, dandelions, thistles and grass can go.

I've started sawing up the wood. There's a pile of little cut pieces, but the 'gate'/barrier someone kindly left me is still mainly intact. I've blistered my hand sawing it so given that up for the day.

I've knocked fallen bricks back into place for the fence base.

Gone through the green bin and thrown a load of stuff I don't need into the recycling, including two unused fence post shoes and a pile of plastic storage jars.

I use the green bin as a tool storage thing rather than a green recycling bin.

Litter picked through the weeds and found drinks bottles, plastic carrier bags, a bicycle mud guard and yet more remnants of the EDF insulation debacle.

I'm doing two loads of laundry, I've emptied the bins around the house for bin day tomorrow and now I'm off now to find a decent pair of jeans - starting in the charity shops first.

Edit : pigpen? Those two naughty cuties and a baby on the way? :eek: I don't know how you can remain so calm!!