The Hoarders Anonymous Thread Part Two...Still Sorting It Out ~ Together!

[Solo]

Sorting out the home when you're a hoarder (big or small) is never going to be easy and we should know! but having someone else to support you, talk about it with you and make you feel much less of a freak of mother nature makes a huge difference!

If you are any of the following:
A hoarder. In a mess. Untidy. Disorganised. Lazy with housework that has lead to something that you now feel unable to deal with. If you are ill and not coping with the housework. If you are emotionally attached to items for whatever reason. If you have a combination of any or all of these things or something completely different, please join us. No one here will judge you. We have something in common and we have a common goal. We share our ideas and we share our disappointments no matter how big and our celebrations no matter how small.

Welcome to thread number 2! :)

I haven't signed up for fly lady, I just browse the website once a week or so for ideas.

I have 49,000 unread emails ( I even hoard junk mail!!)

Don't sign up to Flylady emals...you will a million unread email by the end of the week (only slightly joking ;) )

I have 23266 unread emails and 488 in junk mail , plus loads in various folders - mostly unread!

I read somewhere that having vast amounts of in read emails is a red flag for OCD.

That is always at odds with me as OCD means festidous cleaning. My cleaning is shambolic at best.

No 2boys there are so many different facets to OCD; I count and check and recheck a lot of things (locking and re locking the car or actually going back t the house to check the porch door locked even though I already checked it tice :( ).

On a worse note here, I've just seen a mouse! I don't know how it's got in, but it is in. I have 10 days off from Good Friday...guess what I'll be doing?!

Keyboard is playing up! Grrrrr!

I thought everyone double check their door and sends their kid back to triple check it, just in case.

I understand OCD is a very serious metal health problem, but it would be nice to be on the tidy end of a house instead of a messy one :(

Off to charity shop to look for a cheap wardrobe for DS today, wish me luck.

I'm really struggling. If I do my daily house work then I don't get round to declutterring. I have four kids, two under five preschoolers and two with Sen.

I can either do my daily things or clear out but not both. Not sure which to do

Could you do 80% housework and 20% decluttering ?

Or normal housework Monday to Friday and declutter at weekends with just essential housework ?

Or wait until your youngest two are in school ?

That's very tempting to stop until school - that three years away for my youngest. Four years maybe if defer her ( summer born) I don't think that what you meant but I like your thinking

I need to mix things up. Try he fly lady this week. Then just set declutterring days next week. Then maybe a week of just declutterring at the weekend.

If that doesn't work Dh needs to get a second wife to clean up after him and the kids and I'm living in the shed.

Or I do nothing, go on strike and see how long it takes before people notice. But that could take until every item of clothing is in the wash where Dh will wash the Reds with the whites and distribute the pink garments to the wrong aged kids

I too wish I was tidy instead of a hoarder/untidy/lazy etc, but it does all add up to mental health.

Today I cleared and cleaned about 1/5th of my kitchen work surface and the cooker top. I did two wash loads before work and hung them outside and did a third after work which is hung up indoors. I had a quick look behind my sofa and there is evidence of mouse :( ; I told Dd that she has to put her toys away because of the mouse or I will throw them away...did she bother? No she did not...now do I keep to my word and throw them out or throw them into the shed and not tell her?
Can't do more until Saturday PM.

How old is Dd solo? Sounds like amazing progress with working too!

Been a horrible day. I need to lift my mood. Dh came up trumps and we both did lots not that anyone could tell. I grabbed 20 things in the kitchen and just put them away befor bad. So it will look OK in the morning. I must leave the kitchen tidy (ish) before bed.

The state of the kitchen gives me the rage as soon as I wake up. Then once my mood is bad I can't get motivated.

Tomorrow is a new day - then it's Easter and the kids all home ( weep)

Hey all. I'm back from our little holiday, and sporting a name change as it was long overdue (please don't use my old name if possible ).

So DH has another week off before he starts his new job - not exactly sure what day as he hasn't got his shifts yet! But anyway today we're just resting and I'm doing laundry (or trying to - dodgy seal on the washing machine is making it a bit stressful...) to catch up from the holiday, and tomorrow we are cracking on. We have about 8 days in which to do what we can, although there are lots of home ed activities etc to fit in too.

Hiya 2boys I remember a thread of yours I think. Welcome to this very lovely thread. It gets quiet sometimes but I like to think we are all plodding on and thinking of each other even when we aren't posting.

Y'all have made me feel better with my main email just reaching 10k unread, although my other one probably has a few thousand too. Problem is though hotmail have changed their inbox layout and it's really hard to use now. :(

Re: OCD yes I have a tentative dx of this, I have often found myself thinking that I wish I had the 'clean' end of it. But actually when I think about it I really don't, being clean is one thing but being terrified of even the tiniest bit of dirt or clutter, and having to spend hours getting everything perfect, must be exhausting and affect the whole family in different ways, but just as bad as clutter ISYWIM. I guess what I mean is, swings and roundabouts etc.

Solo I'd give DD one more warning and be specific about what she needs to put away. Let her see you getting a bin bag out.

Also re: FlyLady there's a lovely thread on the good housekeeping board, something about March Fledglings - anyone interested in FL would be more than welcome. It's a long running thread but newbies are encouraged and we aren't cliquey. I find it a very useful way of understanding the FL system without getting lost in the website and emails etc. :)

2boys she is 9.

Hello Cal I know you . I do the FlyLady timer thing sometimes and with Dd, but Dd has been ill for a while now with this virusy thing that's doing the rounds. Tomorrow I'm buying some new snappy traps as I can't remember where mine are buried I put mine. I will be doing a bit more sorting tomorrow pm, but my sore throat is back, so hope I'm able...Off to bed now.

Have a great weekend everyone!

:) What are snappy traps? I couldn't figure it out from google or amazon.

Hope you both feel better soon.

I think the snappy traps are mouse catcher/traps.

I finally tackled the children's memory boxes and sorted and threw some stuff and sorted the rest by date ! I need a few more cardboard folders and then I have finished them ! But I still need to blitz the random paper piles around the house and make sure I have nothing else to add to them.

I also threw two boxes of college and university work ! I have our wedding box and my memory box to sort, but I am going to do that another day/year, lol.

Also thought a second hand copy of Marie Kondo book, can't wait for it to arrive.

Lastly I am going to clear DS's room but he won't sleep in there, so things end up being dumped in there and DS has to start using his own room at some point soon.

Yes, they are mouse traps; I tried humane ones years ago, but they didn't work at all; snappy traps all the way sadly.

Babies, you sound all in control there! Good on you!!

Solo It took me about a year of working myself up to sorting out the kids memory boxes, it is a big weight off my mind that it has been done !

Good luck catching the mice.

Ah I see thank you.

Great work there Babies! I've never managed to do any of that memory stuff!

Achieved a lot yesterday I think - 4 bin bags filled from our room. There's still a big box of we-don't-know-what-to-do-with-this stuff, but still it's a lot of progress. I also swept my inbox and deleted about a thousand marketing emails, until it crashed on me!

Today's first aim I think is to move the toy storage from the living room to our bedroom.

Phew, great progress made so far today. Toy storage, craft drawers and a book cupboard all moved into more sensible places. Not as much rubbish thrown out but lots of things put away to appropriate places. Long way to go but very pleased.

Fantastic...sounds like you got loads done.

I have done nothing except watch kids play and took them swimming ! Oh well.....I intent to get loads done tomorrow instead. :)

I stacked up the memory boxes in the corner of our room. I need to clear the rest of the house and these will eventually go in attic or under our bed.

Decide to change beds.....stripped all beds and got distracted in spare room and spent 5 hours clearing and decluttering in there which left our room in a tip.

So now I have a few hours to stack stuff in our room ( tomorrow sorting job), find clean bedding and make three single beds a double and a king size and two of the singles are top bunks !

I am running out of energy but downstairs kitchen, dining room and living room are all ok.

Upstairs bathroom and spare room aka DS and DD1's new room is ready to use. Original girls room is great...now just with DD2 and DD3 in there.

Just our room is in complete chaos.

Right had break. Find bedding. Pile stuff in our room. Make beds. Collapse.

Wish me luck.

Did everything I had planned. Plus my Kondo Book arrived today. So that is my bedtime reading sorted.

How is everyone else doing ?

Wow Babies that's a lot, well done!

I didn't do much today in the end apart from a little sorting while still in bed. Tomorrow hopefully I'll do a bit more.

Clutter bit me in the bum today though - DS had an epic nosebleed and it dripped on a pile of clothes. Ick. :( (He's ok now!)

Oh and I really enjoyed the Kondo book. I found it frustrating that I couldn't implement it all immediately - family life and health mean it's just not possible for me to do a quick, intense declutter - but I really like the message behind it and the idea of 'sparking joy' has stayed with me and helped.