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! :)

Hi everyone. Not doing well here. Just feel like I'm failing at every aspect of life TBH!

Right I've been catching up with the thread in small stages, as a reward for sorting some clutter. I am not in a good way health wise or mentally/emotionally today so I'm really pleased I've got some done.

CheshireCat I see you waved at me a while back! When I had fallen off the thread (I'm terrible for sticking with it). Hello :o tomorrow we are going to a home educators' 'Japan Day' - I'm hosting a table with Japan themed board games. Yay!

Sorry everyone else for the derail

Hi to all newcomers :) it's nice to have company.

So today after spending much of the morning sobbing pathetically about various things, I have actually managed a small amount of decluttering. The Caglets and I chose some books to get rid of, so I have a carrier bag for charity and another bag that I've listed on FB. Bit sad nobody's bitten yet, I swear books normally go really fast among my friends (lots of home edders), but if I don't get any luck I'm looking into one of those sites where you scan barcodes and they collect the books and give you a little money. I have a load of adult non fiction that I'll be doing that with anyway.

I then scrabbled through the Caglets' dressing up mess, and salvaged a few nice-but-outgrown outfits for my friend who's a reception teacher (she's always happy to take things the Caglets have outgrown because she has so little budget to work with), and threw away lots of tatty stuff. It's not perfect yet but I felt that's all I can get away with at the moment!

I also got rid of a few random clothing items, and decimated the nail varnish - just crappy quality stuff as there's plenty of decent stuff there.

Caligostro sounds like you have done loads, really it does. I also am feeling so so jaded atm...I've decided that like ds1 (who has just been diagnosed with very low vit D) I am suffering from a Vit D deficiency, so sod the gp who won't give me a blood test (last had one in summer, it was nearly normal, but it has probably gone back to rock bottom now) and I am now popping Vit D pills. Did a fair amount of gardening today, although I find gardening frustrating in a way, the garden is never how I want it!!! and plants grow so incredibly slowly compared to my dream plants. And then I felt so exhausted and cold I had to go back to bed after a hot shower, and went to sleep about 5...having done no housework or sorting for tomorrow. Really cannot be bothered with it now, apart from basic laundry. Will try afresh on Monday.

However, it is not the end of the world, we'll live, and dh cooks supper on Sundays. Two kids have gone out and taken exercise/broadened horizons, dd saw 8 friends for an impromptu birthday in Nando's. Ds2 is doing revision on the Black Death, cheerful topic. I love his interpretation of the collapse of feudalism "there was no point in being peasants any more when they could get paid"

so enough woffle, good luck with the Japanese themed day tomorrow. It is fun looking at the all the patterns on Kimonos, if that is of interest to your dd/ds. Oh yes and my favourite book ever, Miss Happiness and Miss Flower by Rumer Godden (puffin from the 1960's)

gulp - there is an big pile of rubbish by the shed, how do I get it out past the lawnmower and the chairs and the non-used pressure cleaner, and into the car. Seems insurmountable. Will take me all day tomorrow. MUST DO IT nevertheless. And drain still blocked, more complicated than I thought, it seems to be draining away under the house instead of into the drain.

OMG knitting why is your GP refusing a blood test when OBVIOUSLY vitamin D levels fluctuate through the year! FFS! Glad that you are taking tablets anyway. I must take mine (prescribed but I'm dreadful at remembering). I also keep thinking I must take a B complex.

Ooh yes kimonos, that's a thought, DD loves fashion design. And I'll look up that book, thanks :)

Oh and I rather like your DS2's explanation of the peasants BTW :o :o

Yesterday was a good day. DH took kids out with his brothers who were visiting so had house to myself.

Blitzed through rest of washing and put away the stuff that had been drying in the garden, cleaned downstairs and boxed up rest of things for storage, cleaned and tidied kitchen and bedroims and had an hour to myself.

well done on the storage boxes Green

[trumpet sounds][from large ungainly mother elephant] I have unblocked the drain (researched drain companies no less) not personally but still, it was a test, and I tried out the drainage rods on the nearest gulley, and lifted the manhole cover [eeeurgh] before deciding it was definitely a work for a professional, £200 pounds later. IT IS CLEAR

also went to the dump with three horrible bits of carpet, several bags of assorted garden cr*p, old chicken bones, don't ask. car piled high.

And swept both front and back paths, and moved some big potted plants.

I am determined not to use the alley as a dumping ground again. And I need to give up using it for assorted shade loving plants in pots too; I need to keep it clear so I can actually hang out the washing and not walk in sludge all the time, earth and leaves keep building up, so dank and slimy out there.

Feel proud that I threw away/recycled lots of plastic plant pots instead of hanging onto them in hope they would come in useful.

more fabric samples for the new sofa cover in living room arrived. 16 years of turquoise, and now we are going for beige in our old age, a very light restful grey brown.

Wow knitting that sounds very good! You've done loads!

At work today but tomorrow will be with dd whilst my dh finishes floorboards in attic and skips the crap in there.

bought some cheap beige cushions so that I can see the effect of beige with the living room curtains, and not make an expensive mistake

Now, am going to try and whizz around house making it look better for the twins' birthday tmw and icnrease my motivation. Dh is away on business all day which gives me a bit more time to focus

Not making much progress here but trying to keep the faith that if I declutter for 15 minutes a day eventually I will see some progress. We had to buy a new bed as ours broke so all the things that were under the old one are now all over the other rooms. It's so difficult to not feel overwhelmed 😞

Grey I completely get where you are :( I am overwhelmed daily; my house is a complete tip. I have a washing machine coming next week and right now, I can't open the front door! If I had it sorted, I would've already had my new machine installed. I'm fed up with it but don't seem to get further than a shuffle forward.

I'm just the same. We need to have some work on our kitchen-cracked leaking sink, burnt worktop etc but I can't let anyone in to give us s quote because the clutter is so bad😞

Solo I would focus just on clearing the hall, even if means the other rooms get worse again, if necessary just put everything in bin bags boxes even if they are in some sort of order now in the hall, and just go for it! You don't need to declutter the hall, just move the stuff so you can get the washing machine in, that is your priority. When it is moved, then you might find it a bit easier to declutter it, if that is what you want to do, in due course.

I had much the same thing with the drain just two days ago. The whole alley was full of rubbish, and it took me two days to even get to the point of calling the drain unblocker because I had to move stuff if he was to get to the drain, get access through the shed. In the end I just moved the stuff and took it to the dump but it took me two days. Worst case scenario was that I had just moved it all into a heap and allowed him access but the thought of him arriving spurred me on to actually go to the dump (and not do various other things I might have done instead, which ALSO needed doing, like groceries, house cleaning, kids stuff, paperwork)

But now I am looking at a lovely tidy clear alley and an unblocked drain. It all feels worth it.

Today I did a bit more cleaning in the alley, and scrubbed the slimy paving.

I wiped worktops and hoovered downstairs, but mostly I had coffee with a friend and that cheered me up enough to do the other stuff. Dh and I have wrapped presents for our twins birthday today, always a source of stress for me, but he organised the presents this time and bought a M & S cheapy cake, which really helped. Ds2 is getting the original Risk, that's for CALIGOSTRO - the first time we have tried it in our house, the Star Wars Risk was impossible to understand when I bought it 4 years ago. Ds really is interested in learning the rules now that he is 15 but I still don't think I will ever get the hang of it despite being 50!

Grey my advice is to book kitchen man for a estimate, in three weeks and then it might be easier to tackle, otherwise will seem an impossible goal.

Grey I know what you mean about the bed. For now, I'm slowly getting rid of stuff under the bed, but it has taken several goes. We have lots of space under the bedstead atm and I wanted a much lower more compact bed, but suddenly realised what that would mean storage wise. Our mattress is on its last legs, 16 years old and ripped, and I wanted a smaller bed before I ordered a new mattress, but I think I am just going to live with it and the Victorian bedstead for another few years at this rate.

And all this clutter do you think I can find the birthday candles? Of course not...will have to go and buy some more emergency candles..On the other hand I do have a cake stand, my sis gave me, one of those unnecessary pieces of china which occasionally is extremely useful, and I know where it is!

No work today, fell behind even. DH ill with a cold and fridge freezer broke so spent this morning with DD whilst DH slept in then him going to get new fridge freezer.

Beautiful day today so did washing and had lovely afternoon/ evening in park. Chill out with DVD and curry tonight.

On a long day tomorrow at work (12.5 hours) so nothing then but DD in nursery on Friday for DH to tackle attic.

Well done on everyone else. IT is so stressful.

Thank you friends. I feel like I need time to do stuff, but when I have time, I don't do anything at all, I just rest. I need a month off to focus, sort and rest up, but it won't happen; I can't take that much time off work.

MissPoogy if you didn't mention your attic, I would think you were a new girl with each nc and new post! Please make 'attic' your identifying mark :).

I still have the bathroom & kitchen ok.
I finally finished the kids art stuff in the living room (took me two days once I got going !)

I am going to the tip tomorrow and I need to hoover the stairs. Not sure what to move onto next, ideas include the following.

1. Our room is the biggest problem but will take longest to do, so want to leave that room for now.

1. Kids rooms both need doing but they are a reoccurring mess. That said I can ask them to throw away some stuff if I organise it first.

1. Clean grout & replace silicon in bathroom. Don't fancy this one but bet bathroom would look miles better.

1. Carry on decorating bathroom/hall

Think I am leaning towards 2. Kids deserve tidy rooms...Shame they can not keep them like that.

Babies 2 does seem sensible :)

I did a bit today in the kitchen; still a long way to go but a start. I also did 2 wash loads.

Babies I get so frustrated over 2. But then I remind myself that I can't blame the Caglets for their messy room when they're being brought up in this mess. :(

Knitting yay for board games! I am rubbish at Risk though (although less rubbish at the lord of the rings version for some reason ). Hope your twins had a fabulous day.

Grey we had to do the same recently with the bed when it broke. Literally no floor is visible in our room now and because we can't afford a new bed we are on the mattress on the floor surrounded by towering piles of crap.

Solo please don't beat yourself up over needing to rest :( you have an illness that depletes energy (understatement) it's so frustrating but we do need rest.

Hi to everyone else! I've made no progress. Piano pupils coming this afternoon, but newish ones so I feel the living room has to be less crap. But we have a busy day in which I won't be home much and when I am I will need to rest from aforementioned busy day. Argh!

Quick post! Cag get onto freecycle for a bed frame!

We went to Dreamgirls last night. It was loooud (although excellent) - I feel completely exhausted, and my ears are still ringing

not really in the spirit to sort things out today, and I've just done a lot of driving too first thing. Spent most of yesterday out dogsitting in someone else's (tidyish) house.

Big Table do very good beds as do Warren Evans, and of course Ikea. They will put them up for you - the first two at any rate.

Caligostro I think if your kids are home ed, then messy rooms are just "workshops" rather than mess, whereas Babies I think you probably will feel better if you tackle their rooms first rather than grout and hall.

today I am going to concentrate on tidying my room, and this afternoon I am going to do some long overdue batch cooking; I think we have had various ready meals this week due to birthday/clashing appointments, and there is all this fresh food that is not being used'

But at this point, I just feel tired tired tired, and achey too, and so unmotivated. More sun required possibly..

Week off starting tomorrow (except for one overtime session I took). Need it though. At end of next week attic should be clear enough that it can be organised and new furniture required for it to be a bedroom.

Dd in nursery so dh clearing up clutter, skipping clutter and sorting out odd jobs in home.

Ha, workshops! I like that :o yes we have a workshop house!

I mean there IS mess especially in our bedroom but still. TBF a lot of it is the caglets' educational stuff

I can't get anywhere on freecycle solo as no way of collecting anything (we don't drive and even my dad had to surrender his licence last year). I'm not too bothered though TBH - we are desperately hoping to get rehoused in the next year or so anyway (depends on how the council assess my medical needs) at which point we will need a sofa (currently don't have one at all!) and new beds for the Caglets as theirs won't survive being taken apart and reassembled, and a few other bits. We are trying - slowly - to declutter in preparation for the move and just make do for now. There's a fab furniture charity scheme locally that means we will be able to kit the new place out cheaply :)

I've done nothing today in the house other than a tiny bit of clearing up in the living room (some of which was really just moving crap around rather than sorting it) in preparation for pupils, but I'm putting the bag of books by the door for DH to drop at the charity shop by DD's dance school, he forgot them last week. So they will at least leave the house.