Calling all hoarders out there......why?

[muriel76]

My DH is a bit of a hoarder. Some of his family are the same but particularly his mum, she seems to keep everything. They both like to also display pointless things ie books that will never be/never have been read etc.

Don't get me wrong, it is not a big deal or anything but I do want to understand why. It's hard to understand as my mum is the complete opposite and I am the same. DH and I have agreed to give the house (another!) big clear out and it would help me to hear a hoarder's view!

(Obviously I have talked with him about it many times BTW, I am just looking for other people's more neutral insights)

Thanks for any replies.

Solo, Getting rid of all those clothes is an excellent start, be proud of that. I am avoiding the clothes until next week. No one on this thread should be ashamed as we are working on our houses.

TheHumanCatapult & tothemoonandback, Love to hear any tips to help the rest of us get and stay decluttered ?

Lexilicious, Great to hear of the furniture leaving your home, hope the wardrobes winner gets in touch soon.

ChippingIn, Yep, I like lists too. I even have a Flylady journal of jobs which I should tick off as I do...might dig it out and start using it again. :)

I haven't done anything new. Just re-tidying all rooms and trying to keep on top of the laundry. Still have a basket of ironing that I'll finish later when children are in bed. So nothing new done but I haven't slipped on what I have finished.

I am happy with progress so far, loads to go mind. Though yesterday my friend came over for tea and cake, our regular Friday meetup and she commented how tidy the place looked with no prompting, that made me smile :)

I knew it was getting better as my normal pre-guest jobsz involves me hiding large amounts of stuff and clearing the floor in a mad panic, this Friday I calmly wiped down the dining room chairs and windowsill !

I am planning a carboot tomorrow weather permitting :) The car is full - I have 4 crates and several boxes. I have also just listed a couple of things on ebay. Here's to de-cluttering and making a bit of cash.

Duelling i salute you! DD said 'cant we just spend the day getting ready for school?'
It took me about 1 minute to give in.
Was hoping to get some cash for the school bus and lunch money. Bugger. I think i will actually cry with relief that the hols are over.

I am list making at the minute. I am planning to control the next couple of weeks with military precision... School starts back Tuesday, with both kids full time instead of just one. That's at least five hours a day to do stuff!

I am going to beat this. I can't live in this combination of clutter and squalor for ever:(

Lex - Yes, very inconsiderate of him to leave it so late to call then to call so bloody early in the morning at the weekend - still at least they're gone now. A shame you didn't ask about the other bits though.

DF - I hope it's good weather for you tomorrow - I'm prepared to sacrifice nice weather here if it will help :) Good Luck with it! & with your eBay stuff!

Babies - so much easier isn't it

PG - will you be more productive if you know you are checking in with us each night? Or not?

Thanks ladies :) I am trying and I can see a minute amount of difference in the Chinese laundry dining room, but there is still so much to do.

Ds has a hospital appointment Monday morning, then back to school Tuesday; Dd at school on Thursday morning; ADT man due Friday and it's still not good enough to let him in :( got a second ADT man on the following Monday and he'll need a bigger run of the house to service the alarm...I'm cacking it here!!!

Chipping I'm not sure. More than anyting I just like to know that I'm not alone with my issues. It's nice to be able to just check in and find that I'm not alone in having too much stuff, finding it hard to let go of some of the stuff and sometimes impossible to get the stuff I need to keep sorted out into a sensible order... If that makes any sense?

Solo, we went without hot water for a couple of weeks once as I was so unhappy with the state of the bathroom and kitchen. It can be done, just have faith in yourself.

:(

PG I too was without hot water (and heating) but for a year. It's just not funny, is is. Atm, I have limited amounts of water trickling through into the water tanks (both hot and cold), so I have to have the quickest daily shower down from the mixer hose...wet body, turn off taps, soap up, turn on taps, rinse off, turn off taps...because my electric shower also needs replacing. I wont let anyone in to do these jobs though, because I'm so .

babieseverywhere

I tend to go on a 6 month rule when sorting with a have i needed it in 6 months or used it if not it goes .

And when doing a propert sort out instea do hoovering around the edges .I tackle just one room at atime so seem easier .Though liek others said it can be dishearting to look and think where do i start and end up tired before finshed

Other tip imagine thinking about moving and having to pack always works for me

before birthdays and xmas i do a toy box clear out for the younger two and do a bin pile , a ebay though to be honest i tend to take to charity shop so it has gone rather than sitting around waiting for me to ebay and a attic pile .for what i think they have finshed with but not sure and it stays there for few months if they ask then it cna be got back out if not it goes to charity shop

only toys will keep in attic longterm will be playmobil /lego and wooden train track when they have finshed with them

Thanks TheHumanCatapult :)

As I type I can hear DH banging upstairs I have got him ripping out the horrible built in sliding low cupboard out of the bathroom. This space will house the white ikea chest of drawers (currently full of kids clothes) to be filled with a limited supply of bathroom stuff.

The kids clothes currently in this chest of drawers will be moved/sorted into our new kids wardrobe, once this is built in the new kids room. The new kids wardrobe will also enable me to empty the old kids white wardrobe which I have moved into the dining room.

The old kids white wardrobe in the dining room is my new craft space, I have given myself this finite space to fill. If it fits in the wardrobe with the door shut it can stay. No new craft stuff unless I use/sell/throw something else to make space first. Hopefully that will enable me to chuck/sell/sort the 4 foot high pile of precious craft stuff on the upstairs landing. That is going to be hard. Very hard. As I have built up my craft section over main years. But hopefully I'll be able to use it properly if the crap is chucked and the good stuff sorted...that is the plan anyway....sigh.

My DF and DH are going to move heavy duty electronic running machine downstairs next week. So I can get it on Ebay and hopefully sold.

I also have one more book shelf to sort/clear in the kids room, which needs moving into our room.

This is my next few days/weeks/months aim.....after that it will be clothes clothes everywhere ! Assuming I have caught up on all the laundry (everything is clean, one load to dry/iron and one basket to just iron)

well... £60 from the car-boot. Not bad. I still had to bring home most of my stuff but recon I could make the same again next time.

DuelingFanjo Well done :) Sounds like you had a good time and £60 is not to be sniffed at !

I have been fairly lazy today. Done budget/balancing money online, conclusion we have no money but plenty of month left, LOL.

Ordered a weeks food to be delivered tomorrow (no working car atm, so worth the £3 delivery charge.)

The house looks messy, so I'm going to take the kids to bed, tidy clean living room and kitchen and do the ironing. Hence start the day tomorrow, straightish.

I am going to take my books to the bookshop tomorrow and see what I am offered for them. Hoping for somewhere between £20 to £40 but I might end up with £1 if she doesn't like them. Wish me luck :)

We have had a non-achieving weekend really. We have been thinking about bike storage so that I get greater utility out of the garden shed for potting and pottering and I decluttered a flowerbed by dividing a big thug of a geranium, but that's all.

I am about to go upstairs and make a vicious assault on the bedding drawer though. I am sure we have lots of sheets and pillowcases that are simply not necessary. Some may not even fit the beds we have!!!

I have also been meaning to put some more things on Ebay for the past week and not got around to it. However, for the next 48 hours my focus is on applying for a new job so I may be in a de-hoarding limbo for a few days.

I've done nothing either, but tomorrow I've got to throw loads of stuff into the dining room and close the door on it get the kitchen tidyish. And cleaner too.

Right I have finished the ironing pile and I am NEVER going to let it get so big again !

All clothes in the house are clean, dry and ironed....hurrah. It may never happen again but I did it !

Think DH is getting worried about me!
I sat there yesterday afternoon going "we need to do some clearing out, what else do we need to clear out?" (poor him, trying to have a nap ready for a long week at work! )
I ended up doing the understairs cupboard.
a couple of pairs of shoes, a lampshade, some old winter "work coats" of DH's gone, some stuff moved to the garage (including my overflow box of tools and screws that I have been looking for for ages )
And I got DH to throw my eiderdown in the bin while I turned away. He went "are you sure? can't you mend it?" bless him.

Nothing done here at home today as I've been busy trying to sort out Mum's paperwork so I'm home here on my own for a couple of hours to Mumsnet throw stuff into the dining room.

Can I just speak up in favour of a bit of hoarding if you have space (e.g. an attic).

DD is just about to go to uni, and I've been able to kit her out with some of the things she'll need like lamps, a mirror and kitchen stuff from items kept in the attic for a few years when we upgraded in the house.

Also found a load of stuff we won't need ever again which she's going to take to a car boot sale this weekend to earn herself some money for uni.

Also, stuff which I was too emotional to throw away immediately I'm now ready to send to a car boot sale - e.g. things kept after parents died.

Totally agree promomum. In your case it was stored tho, methinks, not hoarded? Its only a problem when you cant find it when you need it. Effective storage is yummy! Piles of stuff just absorbs energy.
And as you say, its ok if you have the space, so that your everyday enviroment and space isnt compromised.

And Good luck to DD!

promomum totally agree and is way my dad was the ultimate border. The space my parents have meant everything had a home/stored correctly. Whereas I am in a two bed/no stooge house. Everything just is everywhere. Of course before dd this was fins I has a junk spare room, now we have a ds joining us it's really putting a squeeze on any space.

LoveBeing same here...2 bedrooms, no storage space and two Dc's...recipe for disaster when you are a hoarder!!!

yes, it's only hoarding if you're keeping things you know you'll never need again.
like, eg, we've just replaced some lampshades with more modern, nice ones, and the ones we took down were old, hideous and just nasty (IMO), so instead of putting them in the loft, we have binned or charity shopped them (there was a nicer one that went to charity-not so frilly).

I've been sorting in the dining room today and have another smallish pile of clothes to go to a friends Dd, plus a carrier bag of rags/sttained clothing (no idea what to do with these).
I can see some floor, but I really need to move the piles of clothing that are folded up and ready to put away (not ironing anything atm) or we'll not be able to sit at the table to eat!
I was going to take the chair to the tip today, but decided against it due to weather. I am being quite good, but it seems to be taking such a long time!

I'm hoping that I've sold the car seat and a nearly new steam steriliser...which will make a bit more space!
I need to wash the covers of my Maclaren xlr then will try to sell that. It's in excellent condition and was mega expensive, but I doubt I'll get what it's worth...might look on ebay to see what they are going for. I still have the box (no surprise there!!!), so could offer postage...