2023 Fashion on the Ration Challenge

Cherryfudge

Oh @Laura_Elsewhere, that's so sad. Sending you some gentle hugs.

Nonnadiluca

That's such a shame Laura, it's upsetting to see things going to waste.

retiredinfrance

Laura, so sad. Big hugs and a return to tranquility.

Laura_Elsewhere

Thankyou all - it's really making me very very aware of just how much *stuff* there is, in our flat but also "in storage" (hollow laughter) at my parents' place... we will see how we get on when we go up in May... 

Liverpool_Anne

Hi all, 
@Laura_Elsewhere, big hugs. Would it be possible when you go to the parents in May to only take clothes you want to let go and actually leave them there, maybe keeping your travel clothes in a sealed plastic bag in the car? Probably a total impractical idea but just a thought.
Take care everyone

MrsCatz

Oh Laura sorry to read that, a bit of moth ridden carpet made it’s way into my house from my grandmothers. The person who brought it didn’t realise. I lost vintage jumpers, and my grandmothers lace. So frustrating and upsetting.

The sleeves on my Mac are worn and I am going to need another. I plan to make one in a colour I like and a shape that suits my body. This means I am going to have a large and unavoidable coupon spend…..

MrsCatz

Just counted that is a 24 coupon spend!!

Laura_Elsewhere

@Liverpool_Anne - I once arrived from the railway station, came in the front door and hung my coat up and a clothes-moth appeared and flew straight onto my coat...! I thwacked it instantly but that gives you some idea... living there was a struggle. I remember once taking a jumper off and leaving it on a chair; about three weeks later, I thought, ooh, I never took that jumper back upstairs to my room, picked it up and it had two moth-holes eaten into it... given that they take 2-3 weeks to hatch the eggs must have been laid almost as soon as I put ti down... 

I found out in November that they've been using the 12 cans a year of moth-killing spray we've been ordering to be sent there, but instead of spraying for 30-45 seconds to saturate the air before leaving a room closed up for a few hours and then airing well, Dad's been opening the windows, spraying for 5-10 seconds and leaving it will the door open to air it immediately... very expensive air-freshener basically...  so for three years the moths have had virtually no control at all... 

The only thing Mr E and I can do now is to work out what we really do want, and get rid of everything else so that the wanted-things can be stored properly, in special boxes we will buy, possibly with locks on them. 
The plan when I moved 8 years ago was always to go through everything I left behind - I moved with one car-full, so you can imagine how much stuff a 45-year-old has and I have been struggling lifelong with hoarding tendencies. But before leaving, we spent multiple long weekends packing up as much as possible, so that the room I used as a study-sitting-room was left with a neat pile of sealed boxes, with table and sofa and armchairs all ready for use by whoever might want to use the room. On our first visit back, only three months later, the boxes had been moved (although still closed then) and a big pile of old carpet off-cuts, a huge roll of old carpet, assorted dead food-processors and bags of unsorted junk was blocking access to the boxes, so we left it til next time as Dad explained they would be getting rid of the other stuff shortly... and it just went from there. And now our stuff is loose, unboxed, and mixed up with old telephones and flower-arranging wire and piles of old torn curtains and mum's excess food supplies that don't fit in the kitchen, scullery or pantry... I suspect those will all be nibbled open too. I certainly wouldn't want to use anything from there.

I feel disloyal describing how bad it is, but they just have piled all the junk in there and done nothing to reduce pests - in fact have done things to attract them such as putting packets of dried fruit in there, and when Dad asked my advice in the autumn about his jumpers and I opened the drawer to find dozens of moth larvae and carried the entire thing outside, told him the jumpers would all have to go - none was salvageable, huge numbers of holes in every single one - and I cleaned and sprayed the drawer... but yesterday I found he had simply put all the jumpers, live larvae and all, in a bag labelled "jumpers - fine apart from moth-holes" (?!?!) and put that through in the room with all my stuff, so literally adding moiths to the closed room... 

They aren't going to change - no point trying. But we need to try to extract anything still intact that we want. 

Liverpool_Anne

@Laura_Elsewhere, not disloyal at all, hugs. I think they are probably overwhelmed with it all and if they won't take your advice there really isn't much you can do except, as you say, extract what you want and write off the rest though if I were you I would think about removing as much as possible of your things rather than planning on continuing to store anything there. If you really can't make room for it in your flat do you have any friends who might have some garage space they could offer you? I am thinking garage as you could possibly treat the stuff with the moth killer and leave it securely boxed and return to check it out without bringing them into your flat or friends house. I do sympathise though, my moth attack still haunts me. Hugs

PollyWollyDoodle

Laura, I really feel your pain.  It's not disloyal; I would be devastated if I found that things I was hoping to recover and use one day had been treated in this way.  And of course it wasn't intentional, they just didn't appreciate the possible consequences of what happened.  They probably feel overwhelmed by the amount of stuff they have and the lack of organisation, and simply don't know how to deal with it.

However, and I mean this in the kindest possible way, if some of your stuff has been their for eight years I am guessing that you have either replaced it, or found a substitute, or haven't needed it in that time.  And clearly now some of it is going to be unusable.  I'm not suggesting for a minute that I don't have clothes much older than eight years (or fabric/yarn either!) and I know how much you treasure vintage items, and reuse them successfully, so I'm sure it all had value.  But I wonder if now it's time to review what you can actually use/store safely to avoid this sort of heartache in future.  I'm still gutted about my moth-eaten carpet, if I had mouse damage as well I'd be beside myself. 

Anyone who has had to deal with elderly parents/clearing a house will know exactly what you are going through, and it's not the physical challenge, it's the emotional one.  All of those items are valued in some way by your parents (yes, even the dead food-processor and flower-arranging wire) and it's really difficult for you, and for them, to dispose of it.  It's hard, it really is.