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.

Wot ya bin doin solo?

Sorted out some paperwork, much of which was binned.

Folded up some much of the mountain pile of clothes! My airing cupboard is now solely housing the bed linen :).

I found most of the house over the last couple of days and done 50% of the outstanding laundry. So we're nearly straight..

Today I caught up with a bag of random things whilst my mum did some ironing for me

I MUST start the clothes sorting tomorrow.

I managed to get some of the shelves up in the new warehouse and got new stock on shelves, which makes things a bit easier to find.
Stoopid bleedin landlord was supposed to have got it all ready before now, but still no staircase.
So.....weevil wont be sorted for a while! On top of most of house ish!

You are both doing brilliantly! I'm ous of you :)

Meh, living room is messy and I have a bad attitude and can't be bothered to do a proper job today.

Aiming to tidy up and load dishwasher, then go out and trawl charity shops for Christmas gifts.

DH's home this week (my birthday week) so I have his car to drive (yeah) and I'll leave baby with him too (double yeah)

So I doubt I will do anything much above basic housework this week, not even doing the school runs. As brilliant DH is giving me a break by doing it whilst he is off.

I want to fit in my C25K three x Week Seven runs (25 minutes each !) and maybe a couple of Kettle bell sessions on my DVD.

Oh and maybe find time for a couple of BEER !

mmmm, beeeeer!

How are you all doing then? we've gone very quiet on here!

Why oh why does it take me so long to do anything?

You'll get there Solo. We will all get there at some point, if we keep plugging away at things

:) thanks Babies...just so disheartening...

Theres a time for doing and a time for not doing. (sounds like a song!)
Dont beat yourself up, its a hibernating time where we gather things around us for comfort. Just give yourself small realistic targets. Like hoovering one room, putting the recycling out, making the bed.
I still have no stairs in new warehouse and am going nuts with the dust. Difficult enough to organise work stuff, let alone domestic hoard! Grrrr

I've been pondering.....like ya do.... About what happens when you get there. I mean when you ARE sorted. You've chucked and recycled and classified. What then? How does it feel to be reformed? Do we actually not want to be there? Is that why we keep coming up against these mental barriers? I mean if theres something you REALLY want you make a plan and bloody do it, get the thing you want. Dont you?
Do we really want to be neat freaks? Do we really want to burn that comfort blanket? Am i subconsciously sabotaging my own decluttering?

Hmmmmm...you could be onto something there. For me, I think it started out as a way of keeping everyone away from my life. I couldn't start an actual new relationship with anyone because my place is too awful to ask anyone in, so it was like a fortress with a moat around me, but it has really hindered me in friendships too. I have friends that I made in my post natal group that have never been to my house and I've known them for 4 1/2 years...it's been 3 years since I split with Dd's father and I've just let it snowball :(
However!! some progress has been made today . I've been sorting in my bedroom and I'm starting to see some wood now, not just tree's! I still have a way to go and it's only the one room (actually, it's two because I've done a lot in the Dc's room too. Woo hoo!!!

When i was a kid......(here we go!)......we moved around alot. I was seriously utterly gutted everytime i had to leave what i knew behind my friends, school etc. when i accidently got pregnant and had to move (150 miles away to where soon to be H lived) from my lovely little flat and garden at 23 i was devastated.
........wonders whether the sheer weight of my stuff secures me to the spot and prevents me from moving. Its my anchor. Dun dun derrrrr!
I love where i am now. I dont want to move. I like being rooted to somewhere, feeling connected to the people around me, feeling i belong somewhere.

The more I get rid of, the happier I feel, especially when it results in space I can do something more useful with.
Ebay, the charity shop and the recycling bin are all doing quite well atm, though decoration of the big bedroom is yet to start.

I'm very proud that when my parents delivered 3 large boxes of books this weekend (my dad is retired and finally sorting through his work papers from the late 1980s and found two boxes beneath that we hadn't seen since before moving abroad in 1985...), over 2/3 of them have gone straight into the charity box and I've already sold 4 of the others. The rest are mainly stuff I actually want to keep.

Dad is apparently binning well over 90% of his papers now at a rate of 10 recycling bags a week - apparently it's much easier to tell if something's necessary after 25-30 years. While this is true - MrNC is currently chucking out 3/4 of contents of boxes he simply had to keep all of when we moved together in 1999 - I don't want to get to that point!

See, we all know our reasoning behind our ailment weevils.

nc it's good that you feel that way. I haven't got to that stage yet, but I have got a bag of shoes and sandals in the boot of the car to give to the charity shop :) I have lots of shredding to do, lots of pruning of things.
Got the church bazaar soon and they want stuff to sell...hmmmmmm.

It helps that most of what we're getting rid of atm is parents' stuff and MrNC's stuff and any broken/totally useless stuff that's in the way.

My stuff is of course all either useful or known to be beautiful and not clutter in the slightest. :)

Well, mostly. I'm certainly way less of a hoarder than I was when younger or compared to the rest of my family - it's just keeping pace with stuff landing on us that's hard. Time to shove more toys in the loft/charity box while ds is at nursery and I have any energy at all...

Must say i DO love the space and clarity when sorting has been done! Oh yeah! Just gotta feel energetic and perky!

Would also help if F warehouse was ready. GEEEZZZ! If there was a woman project managing the bleedin job it would have been done with knobs on weeks ago. Stoopid men.

I haven't done very much today, but I've put all my new stuff for my new bedroom (swap with the Dc's) into a trunk and although there is still much to do, I just looked around and actually smiled like this ----> :)

Just got so much more to keep on with

Cleared about 4 cubic metres yesterday!
MrNC finally agreed that boxes for his ancient hifi and various computers were superfluous as in the unlikely event that we sell/get rid any of them, they'll be going to a charity shop or similar and no space for boxes, or friend/family who will just wrap in a blanket and chuck in the car. So 8 boxes, a binfull of polystyrene, and also 2 large computer cases have gone - the latter are on Freecycle but the scrapman will nick them if they don't go.

And two enterprising lads turned up last night to ask if they could take the old disk drives/power supplies/motherboards that were outside for me to take to the WEEE bin - think they sell them to gold scrap dealers for the precious metals. It might net them a fiver if they're lucky.

Back to work on Monday so want to get lots done this weekend while not overdoing it.

Well, I've just taken my Maclaren Techno xlr apart to wash before trying to sell it on and it's given me a massive lump in my throat :( I think it's because except for the main car seats (Ds's and then Dd's), it was the only baby item that was brand new for either baby.

Ds had a used stroller and then I had several used and dated/too low for me prams/pushchairs for Dd before I finally got the xlr when Dd was a year old...

Awww solo, someone will be made up to love your lovely pram, it will carry another precious baby and fulfil its potential in life at being a pram. Ahhhh

Notcitrus, mmmm lovely space!

I know, I know...

So! today I have not stopped! I took a smallish bag of bits to the charity shop after the school run and a small bag of hangers too.

Can't remember how to put the Maclaren back together, but it's lovely and clean and should fetch a good price if I can reassemble it .

More to do tomorrow.

Yesterday I got a bookcase really cheap so I can get all my books from the loft and put them into the shelves. The bookcase is in the car atm though as I need to put the toolboxes somewhere else in order that I can put the bookcase where they are right now (bottom of the stairs)

I need another shed to store my stash of fabrics in...