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! :)

Half term over here and back to school today.

See, I don't see that as a biggie as it's an automatic machine Babies.

I don't think I'm in a good place atm. I also don't think this mess is helping my mental state.

hi, feeling a bit desperate to get started here, various things hanging over us atm to do with school, and house has been abandoned yet again.

I've put on my running leggings. Which has incentivised me to in fact stay in and do some sorting.

Ds1's room first. Total and utter pigsty, makes me panic about him when I go in there, how can he possibly like being in there, which he claims to do... I think if I cleared the floor and changed the sheets it would make me feel in a better mental place regarding HIM, even if it doesn't help the house overall.

Also those wretched Xmas decs (last bit) are still on the landing.

Is it not possible that by 4pm I could have tackled both issues???? will get back to you

Thanks babies I'm just completely overwhelmed at the moment and don't know whether it would be better to clear one area and try and keep it sorted and work outwards or whether to tackle paperwork etc as a whole. I just seem to get basic laundry etc done and then run out of motivation and energy to do anymore 😞 I just look at all the stuff and could cry with frustration at myself for letting it get like this

I had exactly that sort of day Grey. But I did the kitchen floor, and the worktops and two batches of laundry, including dishcloths. And put the rubbish out x 2, and the milkbottles.

So even if I achieved not much at least I did the minimum. It was depressing though, feeling like treading water.

Then dd screamed about sandwiches, so I ended up in Morrisons at 7pm buying groceries so that was something else achieved. And emails to teachers...

I could achieve so much if I just felt MORE POSITIVE. And stopped feeling like death warmed up when I thought about tidying or sorting.

Did not manage either ds room or the christmas decs, but I did cook ds some steak, which he wsa delighted with And dd appears to have tidied her room very nicely, the benefits of a mother that doesn't tidy your room.

At one point I went into the garden and felt slightly better. Although that was full of things to be sorted too I'm having to force myself to do every little thing atm, nothing seems to come easily, except typing on the computer which I whizz through...odd that

Not very practical as been at work today but managed to organise my portfolio folder and shape my eyebrows. DH giving me some "me" time (we each have a few hours a week baby free) so using mine to catch up on little things. Need to sort clothes out tomorrow but now off to bed.

Nvm put clothes for drying on clothes horse and will sort the already dried stuff after work.

Grey you sound a bit like me :(

Hi everyone! Nice to see you back on here

sorting out ds1's room. It is taking a long time but I am getting somewhere.
I think the problem with these things is imagining that it won't be hard work.

Decluttering IS hard work, and it is easy to panic whilst you do it. -stares at floor covered in odds and sods still to organise and I still haven't even changed the sheets or hoovered-

Ds1 room now looks beautiful with new sheets, hoovered floor and wiped surfaces. He was incredibly grateful when he came back from school, and it was lucky as he was already having some sort of school stress related mini collapse so horrid room might have been final straw. It has been hideous for at least a month; we keep hoping he will want to tidy it himself! But no, so I've done it, and it is a tonic to at least tidy one room in the house.

He does change the sheets himself every week and eventually put his clothes in the wash, but it just gets so scuzzy in other ways, dust and sweetpapers mostly

I sorted one kitchen food cupboard today the rest of the kitchen still looks like a bomb has hit it but I suppose it is a start. Or should I have spent the time doing the basics in the rest of the house instead? this is always my dilemma with limited time and energy

Accounts done and photos of baby uploaded onto memory stick.

So tired and need to put clothes away.

grey I think it is always worth doing one decluttering job, because slowly the tidying becomes easier, even if in shorterm there is time for less of it.

Ds is so happy in his tidy clean room, I am just glad I didn't do any of the ordinary things that needed to be done today...And tidying just one room means I was able to put the laundry away properly in that room, which meant other mess was removed from the landing. I made a decision not to do some things in his room though, which a perfectionist might have wanted to do, like wash his dressing gown, his cleanish bathtowels, the top of his wardrobe, behind his bed. I think you have to draw the line at complete cleanouts when time is short, but just remember it for next time. For me, getting to hoover under beds and tables and skirtings is just such a miracle, that the rest has to be put on hold.

However, I did do lots of laundry downstairs and I put the rubbish out, and got rid of some cardboard boxes, so that is something I suppose.

I have plenty of time whilst kids at school just v little motivation and rabbit in headlightitis, so I am lucky really, and should do far far more.

Excellent :) all of you!

Knitting I had years off work but the mess just got worse and worse! My house is hazardous! I have fallen several times . I think to myself 'if only I had some time I could get it done" but then I have a bit of time and waste it all. I'm a nightmare living in a nightmare!

Yeah, it is a balance isn't between being gainfully employed and being too busy to cope which is what I had for many years as I was genuinely overwhelmed by demands of small kids/home educating/sn dcs

It is a vicious circle though, depression is not helped by mess and vice versa.

Today I have tackled lots, ds1 going through big problems atm and it seems light relief to do some sorting and tidying, feels like a pleasure not a chore.

I've washed up several disgusting old pans, taken some clothes to recycling finally, which have been in the hall, put the christmas decs in the loft, cleared a surface, put some laundry away, or half away, and KEPT DS room tidy rather than leaving it to him at this stage, so I actually went in there and hung up dressing gown and towel and put his pjs on his pillow rather than let his room silt up again.

Ds has been brilliant today, did grocery shopping for me, did a run, and sang lots of beautiful songs in the front room as part of his Music A level, just so long as we don't mention school he is fine

today my method was hyperfocus. That box is bothering me, it went in the bin, that sock is on the floor, put it upstairs, that jey cloth was filthy put it in the laundry. These things were very unproductive compared to all the stuff I could have done which were really useful but once I had done those things, I felt much more motivated and able to press on. I think routines can be very counterproductive for some folks, as you never get beyond the first part and then get very upset when the day goes pearshaped, whereas a more scattergun approach works for me to cheer me up and get me achieving.

I am now going to put away the tablecloths and the clean sheets, and sort out the airing cupboard, and put the summer clothes in the loft it is nearly summer oops

And put those wretched jackets and smart clothes in the car (for godchild to take, but she hasn''t picked them up yet, 3 months I've been waiting)

Done clothes, did research for tidying up my portfolio.

Just receipts for accounts tonight and a few more clothes. And app form for work.

We've moved! And bloody hell, I am shattered. We really, really underestimated how much time and effort it will take to simply shift stuff, let alone tidy them. The fact my DP did tonnes of overtime and I had to watch our feral toddler hasn't helped and DS is even worse after being indulged by PIL.

I imagined that being in a new place will be like a blank slate and we could agree on places for everything, I haven't even managed to unpack the kitchen stuff .

I'm sick again as well, but will try and unpack a bag/ box a day at a minimum and hope it'll be done soon.

my DSIS has just moved, into a smaller house, and it is incredible how much stuff there is still to put away, weeks after move.

Also she realised that a lot of stuff she hadn't decluttered (she decluttered a lot before moving) still wasn't worth having in new house, but once she had moved it, she felt she had to find a place for it..I mean things like DIY sundries, tupperware boxes, too good to throw away but really she should have, in an ideal world she wouldn't have missed it if she hadnt opened the packing box ever again. And lamps that don't work, cushions that don't look right in new house, that sort of thing.

Anyway, it is a tough job, and very easy to transport clutter into new house so beware!!!

She took stuff that was too good to chuck to my mum's house as well, mattresses sofas that sort of thing, and that is the worst nightmare ever, I don't think the pile will ever shift, even if nominally this stuff is worth money, if you wanted to buy those items again or use them. The pile is just going to sit there for years in a dusty damp room (luckily a room that no-one uses) She said the shifting stuff was a killer too, just the labour involved, and she didn;t pay professionals, which was possibly a mistake.

sorry, that all sounds a bit negative, CONGRATULATIONS ON NEW HOUSE

(Dsis adores her new house btw ]

DD nursery app complete for DH to take tomorrow.
My app form for studies printed just need to fill in
Two portfolio questions tidied up.
Just clothes to finish now.