Hoarding - Springing Ahead

pigpen

Flugelhorn wrote: »

Oh this thread is making me feel better already!

Just curious - have googled "cash for clothes" - there are loads of people! Any recommended?

they all rip you off to an extent but.. if you would otherwise send to charity shop and get nothing any money you get, however little, is a bonus!

One here does 70p per Kg which is the most I've seen.. I think that is called 'clothesbank' .... it has a pig logo if that helps..

tibawo

There's only one near me so I have to use that one.

I used to eBay but postage puts people off. If I took to car boot they never seem to sell as well as my other items and are quite weighty to lug so now I just take to cash for clothes.. Not brill paying but they are GONE and so less clutter.

lobbyludd

hello new people! (and lurkers ).

major result (to me!) I gave away 2 pieces of fabric to a friend who is revamping kitchen on very tight (read zero) budget. She came over to mine on saturday and ran out of fabric as we were making things. I have enough fabric to make an entire house (hmmm...turner prize idea coming on), and was wrestling with myself to offer her some, but couldn't,I wasn't sure I'd be able to actually let her have some, and I couldn't bear her seeing me struggle with letting go of the fabric. felt really panicky at the prospect of her choosing something and me not being able to let it go, possibly repeatedly

so I didn't, and felt guilty and silly, but yesterday I did go through when finding things for dd's rug and chose 3 for her to choose from, she's picked up 2, and will make lovely things from them. it's only 2 yards, but it is a start, and I understand far more how people feel when faced with someone else going through their things deciding what to keep/let go of.

plus 2 cot sheets have been incorporated into dd's rug now. It's raining up a storm here which I am glad of as feeling cosy inside making things.

tonight I need to finish application for job. I've been in the old one for 8 years, it has been very useful whilst I had very small children, an abusive alcoholic H and subsequent divorce to get through but there are no prospects of advancement and the role frustrates the bejeezus out of me. I've been scared to even apply for other jobs as I feel lucky to have this one, and it's known, and clearly I have a problem with change and letting go! the vacancy isn't more money but it's a bigger organisation with less to do for the money and perhaps a chance to advance career. Closing date is tomorrow. I've found my old cv, for dates of employment and quals etc, tonight I just have to finish it!

Gingernutty

:j :T :j :T Go for it Lobbyludd!! :T :j :T :j

calicocat

boultdj wrote: »

Calicocat, if it's any help, you 'damp dust' laminate flooring, go over with a well rung out wet mop and if your in a hurry then go over it with a dry mop, if your not in a hurry then just leave to dry on it's own.hth

Hi, I do do this and it still gets on my nerves....i will get used to it, and sorting stuff out won't be helping, plus the fact that I like air through the house so have doors open half the time....thanks for advice though.


There is a SLOB LADY thread......how fabulous.!!!......(post 3 n "well I was going to wash up but just couldn't be bothered and if i'm honest I really don't care" kind of thing i'm expecting) , i will find time to read that soon hopefully, i'll bet it's a right giggle.

Well I have got to a bit of chaos point again as have opened more boxes with no real idea where to put stuff, even the cat has sprawled her things everywhere which I find funny....various pretend mice all over the place and balls....balls on laminate I have to watch for that I don't step on one and break my neck. on my shifts at the moment too so not much done here, and when off I need to go looking for beds/wardrobes etc so it's going to get worse before it gets better for a while.

A friend needs her poorly dog looked after whilst she's away for a wedding soon too so that will have to take priority .

I did get organised last week and get a plumber in to check kitchen sink (slight leak) and to block up a hole so that's a positive step in the right direction. Only possible day this week to de-richard again is thursday so hopefully will get some motivation to get cracking again.

Books are also a problem area for me as I love them, I did cat-flap a load to my estate agent before I moved, so hopefully when I open the rest of those boxes I will mainly only find the ones I really want to keep.




Good luck folks.

calicocat

Good luck with new job application LOBBYLUDD...!!

GreyQueen

Go, Lobbyludd, and the best of luck.

Came home and, with my ne handle-it-once mail habit, got straight into both envelopes. One was from Hoxfam telling me what my gift-aided stuff made in the fin year to April, and reminding me of the year before. Just under £200 together.

I know that doesn't sound particularly impressive, but when you know, as I do, what a humble lot of stuff was donated, it shows that even bags of modest things can add up to something useful over time.

Next donation bag is on the way to being filled then up the road to the charity shop and out of my life.

Today and yesterday, I made a meal from a storecupboard item which had been hanging around a bit, so that's one less thing in the cupboard.

When I still lived at home, we'd have one meal a week which was a "scratch" meal, in that the main (non-vegetable) ingredient was probably different for each of the four of us. This may have looked a bit eccentric but it caught us up with things which might have otherwise gone to waste.

I think scratch meals are a great idea, if you plan them into your life. Heaven knows, the price they want for groceries these days, we can't afford to be wasting food.

Sez she, wandering off to eat the good bit of an orange.......;)

suzitiger

Hi guys, How is everyone?
I've had a good day tidying up the house, not much has gone out but things are going into sensible places where I am likely to find them. e.g. spare toothbrushes (in case guests forget them..i know,i know... ) were in a drawer in the living room. Silly place, so they are now in a drawer in the bathroom. I'd forgotten we stillhad them so just shows they were in a really silly place! :rotfl:

roundtuit wrote: »

Some progress made here - despite the heat! My bedroom has been 'turned round' and henried ready for a furniture delivery today (allegedly). There's a CoD for my room, and a CoD + wardrobe for DS's room - and with this influx of STORAGE we'll be able to dispense with floordrobes :T:j .And henry swallowed all the HUGE dust bunnies that were hiding behind the bed....think they had mutated into dust were-rabbits :eek: .
EPIPHANY: whilst going through stuff, enlisted DS and his dad to help with the carrying - DS kept asking 'What are you going to do with that?' accusingly - as in 'you are not going to throw it out are you?' cue Puss in Boots eyes!!!! And his dad kept saying 'you don't have to decide now, I'll store it for you' AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH. NO..... you said you'd do a skip run for me, do one'. My mother was backing him up; and my dad was laughing 'cause I was the one saying 'No it can go' and looking wild-eyed at these people who CRITICIZE ME for hoarding :rotfl:

Many things I want to reply to on your post roundtuit I felt like I had to quote loads of your comment
Being friends with lots of males makes me read CoD as Call Of Duty (sorry) which made me giggle to myself when reading this!
Yeah dust bunnies! they are everywhere in my house, I am amazed at the state of the carpets sometimes, they look so unsuspecting, then when you hoover, WHERE does it all come from??! haha!

Also ur parents made me laugh too. My mum and dad are hoarders but they admit it, my fiances Dad always comments on how much stuff we have. yeah we have a lot and we want to keep scaling it down but he is totally a hoarder in denial. he came round to help us put some shelves up and got shelves from his garage that he said he had been 'saving' for 17 years!! Yes they really helped us out.. but 17 YEARS??...and he says we have too many books......... pffffffft

Flugelhorn wrote: »

Hello. Have far too much clutter and it has really got to go - thanks Pigpen for showing me this thread. You will have to keep me on the straight and narrow,

First thing - too many books - used to have secondand bookshop..

2 bags done already this morning (not a lot I know but a start ?)

2 bags is a very good start, welcome to the thread!
Ahhhh books, they are my friends! I feel your pain

lobbyludd wrote: »

tonight I need to finish application for job. I've been in the old one for 8 years, it has been very useful whilst I had very small children, an abusive alcoholic H and subsequent divorce to get through but there are no prospects of advancement and the role frustrates the bejeezus out of me. I've been scared to even apply for other jobs as I feel lucky to have this one, and it's known, and clearly I have a problem with change and letting go! the vacancy isn't more money but it's a bigger organisation with less to do for the money and perhaps a chance to advance career. Closing date is tomorrow. I've found my old cv, for dates of employment and quals etc, tonight I just have to finish it!

Good Luyck Lobbylud, fingers crossed for you :T

gentleorange

Hello I am very tired but hyper after my day so I'm hoping to exhaust myself typing!

I started reading through the old hoarding thread but it was over 200 pages and I don't have the time yet to do that much reading so I thought I'd better just jump in to the current day!

My house isn't currently as bad as it has been - at worst there was just a square of clear floorspace in the middle of each room and paths leading to and from doors - but it is still pretty bad, bad enough that I wouldn't answer the door to anyone who might want to come in.

The council re-did my bathroom and it's still looking nice, if crowded (I may have enough body lotions and shower gels to see me into the next decade).

I've been working on the kitchen for the last three days, initially inspired by our cat knocking a very over-ripe watermelon off the counter which smashed on the floor and covered everything with red goop - skip this if too long and boring.
First I cleaned the sticky floor,
started to make dents in dish washing mountain and clothes washing mountain,
and finally started to organise the cupboards - one for pots, pans and large baking items,
one now has a shelf that contains all my cat food, treats, meds, brushes, etc and the other holds all my small gardening things (may seem odd for the kitchen but when tidying I found six pairs of gardening gloves and five pairs of secateurs so will be helpful to have them altogether for now.)
I bleached and scrubbed the gross sink, draining board and tiles- don't want to describe the grime but it looks okay now aside from one stubborn rust patch and water marks.
Scrubbed the cooker.
Cleaned all cutlery and cutlery drawer and organised.
Emptied and cleaned out the fridge - filled bins with expired food - some of it looked and smelled scary.
Cupboard under the sink is organised into the out of the way DIY section, the general cleaning supplies on the top shelf and all the laundry stuff on the bottom shelf (my plan is to have nothing on the floor but the cat bowls.)
Then I cleaned the counters and decluttered.

Tomorrow I have to finish decluttering the microwave area, organise the crockery cabinet and go through the dry food cupboards, then probably clean the floor, sink and counters again.

Once the kitchen is done I hope to start cooking again. I used to love it, and I feel so ashamed that my son and I don't often eat well because of the mess. I also need to clean and declutter the living room and both bedrooms, and tackle the garden. A big problem is paper - I hoard paper, there are piles of it everywhere. that's going to take forever to deal with.

Okay, am tired now. hope this post isn't too long and boring! I hope to be a regular on this thread, the mess in my house is a recurring problem and though the actual cleaning/clearing method seem to be working for me now it would be nice to talk about strategies for maintaining results!

Edit - oh dear, that's a very long post. Sorry!

whitewing

Welcome gentleorange!

I loved reading your post, it made me realise how much I have achieved and I'm looking forward to more updates from you.

Got rid of two itchy blankets yesterday. They had not been in the house long and we were keeping them as spares but when I felt them I thought we'll never use anything that scratchy so out they went and someone less fussy can get the benefit.