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Housekeeping

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

990 replies

Solo · 26/03/2017 22:16

Are you are any of the following? Can you be described as a clutterbug? Are you 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 cannot just ask someone in for a cuppa at a moments notice or dread the meter reader asking for access.

Are you nodding whilst reading any of these words? 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. We cheer one another along and drag the drowners from the depths of despair.

Join us; we don't bite :) Welcome to thread number 3.

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Cagliostro · 13/09/2017 14:02

OK how much decluttering do you guys think I could get done in 7 weeks? Looks like I'm going to be induced at the end of October. Scared!!!

FlyingJellyfishintheAttic · 13/09/2017 16:07

Oh wow Cag that's flown by. Umm how much is there left to do before baby?

I have prepared attic ready for DH to complete conversion so will be pottering tidying the rest of the house and starting bathroom.

Cagliostro · 13/09/2017 16:39

Well most of the house is ok ish, messy but not huge amounts of clutter. Bedroom however, can barely see the floor! Attic is empty but we really don't want to put random crap up there because it'll get ruined by damp etc

Much sympathy clean it's hard balancing caring needs, health etc Thanks

Cagliostro · 13/09/2017 16:44

We also need to buy a bed and a washing machine ASAP so both the kitchen and bedroom need sorting.

House needs a damn good clean as well TBH it's hard to clean clutter

Solo · 18/09/2017 09:20

How are we doing?

Yes Cag it is hard to clean clutter!

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Cagliostro · 18/09/2017 09:36

Still really panicky here. Been diagnosed with gestational diabetes so loads more appointments, home ed back in full swing so out all the time for clubs and meet ups which is great but oh god I am beyond exhausted. Living room back to a pit again and I have pupils tomorrow.

Cagliostro · 18/09/2017 09:36

How are you doing?

Solo · 18/09/2017 10:59

Goodness! Take it easy woman! Difficult I know but, you must Thanks

Not doing anything here but, need to. Got to get ready for work now.

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FlyingJellyfishintheAttic · 19/09/2017 08:21

Waiting for DH to get on with attic. I have a to do list in this week's diary for tidying and cleaning all the rooms then hopefully at least each evening it's a quick top up tidy and clean.

Bought more in as DD outgrown her clothes and needs winter wear so re did her entire wardrobe for about £100 including a £30 pair of shoes (rest were clothes from charity shop).

Solo · 19/09/2017 10:40

Good job Attic :)
Dd here has got broader in the beam and her shoulders but, it would appear that she has stopped growing upwards for now and I've got rid of so many clothing items of hers but, she has been given loads more so as much as I am grateful, I don't seem to have made any room!
I did not need to replace her summer Birkies this year and I don't need to replace her boots (bought them big) so she will not be getting any more boots until next year. I already have new Birkies for her next summer's use. She does need new ballet shoes.

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FlyingJellyfishintheAttic · 22/09/2017 13:22

How is it going everyone?

Did I mention we now have guinea pigs? Lovely for children but big cage now. Being super organised means I have already got them a home in the completed house.

List fallen behind as dd has had bad teething and is inconsolable so lots of cuddles with her. I have done most of what I wanted though.

Things rough with dh and I so not sure what will happen there and whether it means relationship wise so may be that changes things.

FlyingJellyfishintheAttic · 22/09/2017 13:23

How is it going everyone?

Did I mention we now have guinea pigs? Lovely for children but big cage now. Being super organised means I have already got them a home in the completed house.

List fallen behind as dd has had bad teething and is inconsolable so lots of cuddles with her. I have done most of what I wanted though.

Things rough with dh and I so not sure what will happen there and whether it means relationship wise so may be that changes things.

Cagliostro · 25/09/2017 07:26

Oh dear sorry things aren't good with DH :( that puts a downer on things.

I have finally had a restful weekend after 2 incredibly full on weeks. Didn't feel very helpful though as I spent the last two days as a hormonal wreck.

Found out that even if I can control the GD without insulin etc (looking good so far) I will still be induced at 40 weeks. Which is good as it's a bit more predictable and induction is all I know anyway (both Caglets induced too). But scarily it means we have only SEVEN weeks Shock seven!!!

In other news we have been creeping up the housing list at a good rate and we've agreed that it will very soon be time to hire a skip. Really don't want to be doing that once Cagletini arrives, and when we do get offered a house the turnaround has to be super fast.

DH is off work today so despite feeling like absolute death we HAVE TO achieve stuff today. He is in agreement that this will be a better use of the day than him taking the Caglets out somewhere, much as I could use the peace and quiet!

I'm feeling a bit lost as to where to start - we've got to the point now, having made a lot of (very slow) progress already, that 'general' decluttering and sorting of Bags of Random Crap seems to be very slow and doesn't make much impact. So I have a vague plan, if DH agrees (I'm the only one awake so far as I couldn't sleep past 5... again Angry) - I think the main focus needs to be one (or possibly both) of these:

🎯Caglets' toys:

Virtually everything is stored in our pit of a bedroom, because there's no room anywhere else. Mostly in Ikea trays and big 'really useful boxes'. They're a mess though with unlidded boxes, gaps in the tray shelving etc so need to sort that with the Caglets helping somehow.

Also there are bags of toddler toys like duplo that we had bagged up to sell before I was pregnant. They are the only things we have that are worth keeping for Cagletini (never kept any baby clothes or anything as we weren't expecting DC3! Blush :o) and I think, much as I'd like to spend ages sterilising them etc before storage, the most important thing to do now is just to get them boxed up in the otherwise empty attic (along with the Christmas stuff which is taking up room in our cupboard). They are clean enough for now although I need to make sure all the water has drained from the Happyland people!

🎯Caglets' books:

Definitely one of the hoarding issues I haven't got on top of yet! I have had a huge charity shop/discount store weakness for years and although I am getting much more restrained these days it's left us with a huge amount of children's books, particularly since starting home ed gave me more excuses to buy loads of non fiction. But the fact is most of it isn't getting used. I've started to make my peace with the fact that HE isn't how I thought it'd be (lots of issues around the Caglets' SN particularly DD who needs assessing for learning difficulties), we are much less structured than I'd planned at the moment, and for example there are lots of older non-fiction books that neither of them are able to really use yet. There is no need to keep them at all - we use the library much more now too (as the house is less chaotic so I can risk borrowing books!) so I don't need to keep everything Just In Case anymore.

So the plan with that is (not that I've told DH yet) to gather up every single children's book in the house. They are all over the place in various shelving, boxes and random piles. It's impossible to declutter them without them all being together to compare, so for the first time ever I'm going Kondo Shock and will get them all out in the living room so we can assess exactly what there is and start making decisions as a family. Also it'll free up lots of storage buckets etc.

Will be keeping pretty much all the Usborne as they are DD's favourites, and there are some picture books that they want to keep for their baby sister, but I'd say pretty much everything else is up for possible exit. I just need to keep reminding myself that apart from a couple of out of print things, everything can easily be found for free in a library. We CAN do this.

Sorry for epic waffle!

Cagliostro · 27/09/2017 14:47

I just had to come back and share progress. I am tired but really really pleased with what we've managed over the last few days :)

Lots of clutter gone from our room - recycled/bin/charity. Two tall Ikea units filled with organised toys (still need a good sort out I think, but the Caglets did willingly get rid of some stuff as we went which I didn't expect). Some other toys including some for baby packed up (although still need to find the right box lids!).

And books. I have gone through ALL the Caglets' books over the last few days. They have been really good making decisions quickly. I have to admit it has brought up a lot of hoarder guilt (the wasted money, the fact we hadn't ever got round to reading stuff etc). But I'm really pleased.

Around 160 books to go to the charity shop!!!
Over 30 manky books went in recycle bin
60 put in storage for when baby is older (picture books plus some nice illustrated bedtime story type stuff)
And out of the 400+ books we sorted (Blush) the Caglets are only keeping about 150. I am absolutely thrilled (although slightly concerned about finding the energy to put the keeping books back on shelves in an organised manner)

The Caglets are upstairs sorting their dressing up stuff, there's nothing in there I'm bothered about keeping so leaving them to it and I'll only get involved if they aren't ruthless enough :o

Cagliostro · 27/09/2017 15:03

Update - they really were ruthless - two overstuffed Ikea buckets down to one with plenty of space. Some stuff chucked and a big shopping bag for charity or possibly my reception teacher friend

FlyingJellyfishInTheAttic · 29/09/2017 22:07

Oh my God Cag that's loads well done to you all! Smile

DD is ill at the moment and heavy work week so nothing this week. Both off tomorrow so fingers crossed the other set of eaves will be done. This means we can get DSS furniture etc up there.

Need to research relevant tradesman to do windows, electrics etc.

Cagliostro · 29/09/2017 22:45

Thank you flying :) am really pleased. DH is getting a cab to DD's dancing tomorrow - there's a charity shop next to it. We have no car and much as I'm sure a friend would happily help I just want it all gone NOW - it's 8 big bags (there was some other stuff as well as the books) and there is currently virtually no floorspace in the kitchen which is seriously stressing me out as a wobbly heavily pregnant hormonal mess woman!

It's amazing how messy our bedroom still is despite everything we've been getting rid of Blush

Hope you have a productive day tomorrow! I will most likely rest as the last couple of days have been busy and DH is working, but I might start vaguely sorting baby clothes. We have bought some and been given some (my lovely friends sneakily threw me a baby shower this week! I had no idea! I may have shed a tear or two). It's all in a storage tub and needs labels removing etc. Plus I have no idea what size everything is. This baby is coming up small and I may be induced a little early (a month away!!!) so we might actually need 'small baby' size this time! Shock

AdoraBell · 01/10/2017 23:30

Can I just sit in a corner and rock slowly please? I need to encourage teenaged DD to go through crates of crapula that we paid to ship because she wanted it all and it's sat in the loft for 18 months.

Also need to go through my wardrobe Hmm that's another story. I'll try to make a start on that tomorrow.

Cagliostro · 02/10/2017 00:01

Hi adora! :) that's so frustrating about the shipping.

Just ordered a new bed, 17 days until delivery so should have ample opportunity to get the bedroom fully sorted before it arrives. We made good progress last Monday but still a way to go and want to properly clean not just declutter. WIll also have to make sure hallway and stairs are clear.

CanadianJohn · 02/10/2017 04:57

We have far too much space, with so many opportunities to throw stuff in a cupboard and close the door.

I'm surprised to find myself saying so, but my wife has turned into a saver, if not a hoarder. We have 17 cupboards in the kitchen, and 5 drawers, and most of them - well, the stuff we actually use is at the front, and the rest is a big mystery to me.

My wife is on vacation for a month (visiting her sister in England) and I'm tempted to have a little clear-out. Do we really need 3 sets of crockery? There's only the 2 of us.

JaneJeffer · 02/10/2017 11:06

I'd leave it if I was you John! All the experts advise not to clear other people's stuff but to do your own and hopefully inspire them to do the same. If you have the space for it and it's stored away and not all over the floor, etc. then it's probably not too bad.

Babieseverywhere · 02/10/2017 22:11

We have settled into to the school routine. Getting use to DD1 going to high school and having to get up at 6am instead of 6.30am to get her on a bus every morning !

Currently downstairs is OK. Need to mop floors but hoovered everywhere and sort out set of shelves.

Caught up with laundry. Resorted older two kids clothes with more for charity. Tomorrow/Wednesday is going to be sorting little girls clothes.

Big kids room tidy. Little kids room 70% tidy. Our room no comment.

I must keep plugging away. :)

AdoraBell · 03/10/2017 12:34

I would also advise you to just do your own things John. By all means have a conversation when DW is home about how much cutlery is needed, if it can be done without turning into an argument.

I've sorted my wardrobe, just need to organise my summer clothes now, and get my sweaters out from the bed storage.

I'm trying to get this done while DH is away. He has hoarding tendencies, his parents are serious hoarders, and he gets twitchy if things get taken out. Even when it isn't his things.

I need to do the DC clothes thing too. We've ordered sweaters for one and I want her cast offs out before new stuff arrives.

FlyingJellyfishInTheAttic · 03/10/2017 14:55

Seem to be at that point of more coming in than going out but it is progress (ish) as buying storage for things we know we need to keep eg old lectures etc.

FlyingJellyfishInTheAttic · 04/10/2017 12:24

All the "office stuff" in three big bags now decluttered to 1. Done bits of tidying but between being poorly and DD being in nursery figured best to chill out. Also don't want to waste time organising storage in one area just for it to change when DH eventually does attic.

Plan over next couple of days is to just tidy up and be with DD so DH can finish second set of eaves then its organising tradesmen to do electrics, windows etc.