creative dehoarding ideas?

Burly_Shirley

fiddlesticks wrote: »

Alas I am a hoarder so it does matter that they are not turned to rags, if I wanted them in the bin, I would put them in the bin myself. I find it hard enough to get rid of things as it is without knowing they are not going to a good place.

Hi Fiddlesticks. If the old clothes which are no longer useful to you were 'rejected' and sent for ragging, then that would be very different from going in the bin (or the skip as in the case of the charity shop you volunteered at).

The Textile Recycling Association says that, of the textiles donated to them, 50% are reused and 50% are recycled. That's 100% used and none in landfill. It is all useful to someone, but that someone isn't you any more. Keeping it cluttering up your home is wasting its potential. Send it off to be useful and give yourself an extra bit of breathing space at home.

VfM4meplse

fiddlesticks wrote: »

I like your dad. :-) So what would you do with a towel in that condition then?

Stick them in HIS shed, for use when washing the car, as decorator's rags etc.

helcat26

Hi
He uses old underpants for polishing the car.


My issue with the towels is that he has a fair few towels of varying condition- some rags some excellent. At least once every 2 months he makes me go through the ritual of sorting sheets and towels as he says he does not "understand" (?) them!


This involves a process that is not allowed to be rushed where he hold up each item and I pronounce- put that for rags, start using that now, save for guests etc etc. We are not even allowed to do it by matched set.


Then I go away and the rag ones are put back in the bathroom and he might even buy more towels at the local market which then leak colour in the wash.


If I ask why the rag ones are in use again he feigns ignorance (does not understand towels you see). If I say we did this last month and just grab them and stick them in piles he gets upset. And if I take the rags ones away to stop him using them he sulks.


This takes at least 1 hour every 2 months.




I will eventually strangle him with a towel, and spend the rest of my life in a prison with scratchy towels.


I commend thrift but there is also a wasteful aspect to hanging on to stuff you do not use especially when buying more stuff and something slovenly about using tattered towels when you have perfectly good ones to use. Visitors have seen his towels (ragged) and brought him more as gifts! The shame of it!


People can also think you are batty.

VfM4meplse

helcat26 wrote: »

This takes at least 1 hour every 2 months.

See it as a bonding ritual

Purple_kitten

helcat26 wrote: »

I will eventually strangle him with a towel, and spend the rest of my life in a prison with scratchy towels.

People can also think you are batty.

Helcat26, I have to say thank you for making me literally laugh out loud.:T Loved your post.

lessonlearned

If charity shops won't take clothing, bedding etc then women's refuges will.

My friend volunteers and he tells me that the women are often desperate, their children too. They often flee in the middle of the night, in just their nightwear and bring nothing with them. Not even a toothbrush.

So they will consider anything, both for the women in their care and for the children too. So that's clothing, bedding, toiletries, toys, books, games etc.

The same with the Salvation Army. They look after homeless people - usually men and they are always grateful for warm clothing to hand out to the homeless.

Our local YMCA will also accept all of the above and also furniture and even electrical items. Furniture will be repaired if necessary and all electrical items are tested. The only thing they insist on is that upholstered furniture complies with fire safety regulations.

For towels, blankets etc that are beyond their best but too good for rags then animal charities will usually accept them.

lessonlearned

Helcat.....

I was once told that towels are too scratchy for cars. It can damage the paintwork - allegedly.......

Apparently soft underpants make the best polishing cloths.

Some of my father's towels are an absolute disgrace, they are so thin they can't possibly absorb much moisture, especially the holey bits. They are faded, ragged and scratchy. My late mum would have ditched them long ago.

Like your father he's saving the new ones "for later" .......he's 90.

[Deleted User]

Sometimes when people do this I think its a 'comfort ' thing perhaps happier times are remembered by certain things or object or even materials I recycle things as much as I can and have no strong affinity with anything really but I do try to find a 'good home' for things I no longer need or want that perhaps are clutter
Remember one mans clutter is another ones prized possession.My eldes DD sometimes comes and says
"what on earth have you got that for ?",perhaps an ornament which she dislikes but it may have memories for me that have nothing to do with her or her life.I keep what I treasure and find a home for things that I don't :):)

thriftwizard

Sometimes when people do this I think its a 'comfort ' thing

Absolutely! Yesterday I removed a ragged old tea-towel from my mother's kitchen - it had several holes in already, and more developing. But she clearly didn't want to part with it... so I've brought it home & will remake it into something, probably a pad for handling hot things. If I hadn't, I suspect the carers would have binned it sooner rather than later; I had to rescue a couple of her pot-plants from the bin-bag earlier this week for the crime of being "past their best" - i.e. in need of deadheading, feeding or a bigger pot!

Ad I'm still trying to live down the moment when I went to remove some sea-gull deposits from the windscreen of my husband's car, outside Mum's Very Posh retirement flats; the wind whipped my cloth out of my hand and bowled it down the car park, and no-one could have mistaken it for anything but a pair of my husband's old underpants... cue dropped jaws and round eyes from a selection of our county's most accomplished citizens! They may be great for the car but they're not so good for my reputation...

trolleyrun

If you use facebook there are lots of selling groups there.
As said previously, women's shelters and/or rescue centres for animals are very worthy. I take old towels, bedding etc to where my dog came from and they are very grateful.