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

[Solo]

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.

Great stuff solo these things take time and we have to keep hold of the fact that any progress is progress

Doing great Solo :)

Thank you :) and Happy New Year!

Yesterday I helped Dd in the living room. Some progress has been made but, she has just piled loads of stuff up further away from the sofa! Going to try to do more today but, I have conjunctivitis; been treating it with natural home remedies and it's improved since yesterday but, still uncomfortable and the dust isn't helping.
My electric shower has stopped working. I think it's the pull cord part (again) which I have dealt with myself twice over the years but, I am afraid of electrics really so, it'll be hard for me to tackle again though I'll have to as I can neither afford an electrician or let one in if I could!

Happy new year folks!
Just trying to envisage how much progress has been made since the last new year. I am not going to dwell on how much more I should have done, but focus on what I have achieved.

Trying to relax more in the new year. Sounds counterproductive but I find if I stop brooding over how much there is to do and how hard it’ll be (I tend toward extremely black and white thinking) it’s much easier to get started and just do a little bit, which all adds up.

It’s ridiculous really, I wil see something that I can throw away but not do it because of how much else there is to throw away if I could just sort it... isn’t that crazy?! So anyway I am trying to remind myself to just do tiny things whenever I notice them, and it does add up. Today I was just putting a wash on and saw a few things on the windowsill that I’ve been looking at regularly for months, and I chucked them. Yay!

I am also trying to get better at grabbing the opportunity to do stuff while Cagletini is asleep or held by someone else. I get plenty of rest time while feeding (she is very slow!) and oddly the pregnancy seems to have reset me a bit health wise - I’m still getting pain (different from usual so going to ask for blood tests) but I am much fitter and have also lost 4st since last January! So I can walk more and am managing stuff like washing up much more.

I am ready, I think, to start teaching again, and am getting lots of requests for lessons. So the need to get more organised and to tackle the living room is pretty immediate. It’s still not as bad as a couple of years ago, but since I went on ‘maternity leave’ (i.e. felt too sick/tired to teach for most of the pregnancy) we lost the incentive to keep on top of it, and of course Christmas has only increased the clutter. Will attack it yet again tomorrow morning ahead of visitors on Wednesday and continue dealing with the clutter.

Cag you sound positive! :) Keep it up.

We worked again yesterday (Dd moving things around!) and I'm quite pleased but, if you looked at my house you'd think I hadn't touched it :(.

I returned to work today, worked extra which I could do without but, I need to catch up. I will do more at home soon too.

Can I join please, I am completely stuck, how do I make a start? I keep thinking ‘tomorrow I will have the motivation’ but of course that never happens and I have made absolutely no progress, any words of inspiration would be gratefully received just to make a start, however small

User Welcome to the thread. We all work at our own speed and on the things that matter to us. I do a 'two steps forward and one and a half steps back' approach, which is having a very slow but positive affect on my house :)

Ps. Would you be terrible offended if I suggest you go to your account and change your name to something memorable...there are thousands of 'user's as it is the default and I never recognise posters again !

Solo You can buy Golden Eye cream over the counter and that is brilliant for eye problems.

Sounds like you are making a good in way in your house. It doesn't matter if a stranger would see progress, only that you do ! I take private photos of my worst rooms and comparing today's with last year's I can see progress even though I still have a way to go !

Cag How much weight loss ! Well done :)

Did I remember correctly that you teach piano or have I totally made that bit up !

Glad you are chilling with your baby. The little ones really have a way of sorting out our priorities, don't they. :)

I have written myself a very basic to do list on the todoist app for all the basic housework.

So now I nagged every time I sit down and turn a screen on that I haven't emptied the recycling or similar. No idea if this is a brilliant idea or something I will end up deleting but I like ticking off completed tasks and it automatically resets itself daily/weekly and monthly (if I get that far)

House wise I still have Xmas stuff up until the weekend. The kitchen and bathroom are fine. Kids have been working on their rooms with my help this morning and I have found another square foot or two of floor in our room (baby steps in the right direction)

Going to tackle hall this afternoon...loads of things dumped from dining room when we decorated in December and I have been to busy to refit shelves in order to clear the shelves in hall which need restocking from the pile of tubs which use to be on the hall shelves. Plus once there is a tidy pile in the hall, the children and DH add to it ! Argh. Not expecting to get it all done today, just want to break the back if it....if I refit the dining shelves and bring back the kids boards games from the hall I will be happy.

Off to make lunch shortly and then let the battle of woman and hall commence !

Wish me luck :)

Good luck Babies! :) Welcome user I agree re the name; it's very difficult to distinguish posters I've been doing this for a long time and haven't ever done enough but, I'm trying harder. Just start with the shredding and clearing up of the paperwork. Small steps - bigger if you can :)

hi, everyone, was on this thread before under the name of knittingwithnettles (and long term on Flying thread too Cag although I have completely given up that...)

Congratulations to Cag on your new baby.

This morning my house is looking...well like it always looks...and I don't have any excuses, my house is quite large really. Okay my only excuse is that I have two teens doing GSCES and I doing A levels this year, and a husband that takes up a large part of the house with his business (think study and extended stock throughout house) Still it must be possible that ds2 should have a desk he can work on, and I should have somewhere to do my paperwork.

So I can only think I need to sort the other things in the house, and these spaces will magically reappear

Starting this morning with the playroom/workroom/laundry room. Since we went on holiday at Christmas I still haven't tackled the fallout from returning suitcases. Luckily a cat peed on one, so I am able to throw it away..

Todo
laundry
fold tablecloth I started shaking out last week
compost bin
sweep playroom floor (3 cats)
shake out sofa, remove laundry basket from it

this is before even bothering to declutter. I threw away a bit of paperwork yesterday from under the sofa.

There is a large pile of summery clothes I took on holiday, those have been washed and need to go back in the loft TODAY. First I need to buy a container to store them in though, if they go in a black bin bag, well, that is the beginning of the end, and they will disappear forever.

Dd is now looking for ski trip clothes, I have ski-clothes in loft so that is adding to confusion.

And ds2 just went on a residential trip this weekend so even more disarray from that, but at least he isnt here and I can gut his room (15 year old and unable to sort his things despite days of being told to tidy his room (boxroom)

tablecloth shaken and folded and put away
another suitcase unpacked and clothes put on laundry pile
found a comb for ds2
put first aid kit back in cupboard
put small suitcase on the landing to go back in the loft
threw away zipless squishy bag
put some clean clothes in dd's room
put some clean towels in airing cupboard
put the wellington boots near the door
put some fo dh's receipts in his drawer
put the bin outside until I can buy some binliners - it stinks!
threw away 4 pieces of cardboard
threw away some opened envelopes from the hall
put an address in the address drawer

admired flowering crocus on kitchen table, so little money for such a lot of pleasure!!

Solo when our shower stopped working we started taking what I call puddle baths ...small hot baths in the bath (I'm not sure if you have a bath, but we were so used to showers, we had forgotten the joys of a splash in a bath, however shallow) Now I can only get ds1 out of bed on school days, by running him a hot bath.

Our thermostadt cartridge has been broken for ages, and water was lukewarm, fine in summer but dismal in winter, the boiler man came to service boiler and magically turned it up, despite not being able to change the cartridge, water now is ambient temp, neither hot nor cold.

So in short, I sympathise, but if it is electrics, you really do need a proper electrician. Showers which don't work and it is to do with wiring, are dangerous.

I am drawing a deep breath, as upstairs seems so impossible to tackle, and so does downstairs with so much laundry everywhere to wash and put away when clean/throw away/resort. Dh has gone out. Can I dare to recycle away some of the ds2's button shirts? There are just too many clothes, and never enough of the right ones..

bought the dustbin liners
some more washing folded

making very slow progress, but have despatched ds2 to his residential weekend - hurrah. Was feeling a bit worried about it, but then met a mum from his old nursery whose daughter was going too, (year younger) and suddenly felt it was going to be fun for him. School based but a religious element too, and he wasn;t quite sure whether he wanted to go there was rock climbing as well

So now, with a feeling of calm, I will press on...one less child to wash up and launder for (I should make progress surely?)

Nettleskeins Welcome back and wow you have got a lot done ! Fantastic :)

I am also one child down having delivered her to her friends sleepover party.

Yesterday, I managed to break the back of the hall and am very proud of how much I got done.

Today was mainly running around doing outside of the house errands.

Tomorrow will be packing Christmas decorations away and laundry.

Tonight will be a lovely shared bottle of wine with my DH and no housework !

still knee deep in organising (interrupted by having to cook supper and eat it with family)

another big pile of laundry has made its way down to washing machine!! Aarrgh it is all these sheets and duvet covers that clog up the washing baskets.

Dh went into the playroom and said it was worse than before I think it must be the interim stage of organising that makes one give up!

admittedly the hall IS looking better here too Babies

Thank you for kind words ..... off to change user name

Welcome user! I think for me the key has been not to get hung up on whether it will get done. Just do tiny bits at a time.

Nettle! Hello! Great progress going on there.

I’ve done fuck all the last few days, even basic stuff seems beyond me.

DH is going to be dropping a shift a week at work for a while so I’m hoping that means we can get more done. I just feel like we are constantly playing catch up on his days off and never have time to do anything proper. He is beyond knackered and stressed with work and the combination of me being sleep deprived with hungry baby is not a happy one!

Indeed babies I mainly teach piano but also recorder and do a bit of maths as well, mostly just primary level stuff although I am helping one with his iGCSE soon. Eek! It’s all very informal as I only teach home ed kids and most parents are friends but I’m so embarrassed about how the living room looks ATM! Need to sort the bathroom as well as I hate the anxiety over whether a pupil or parent will need the loo! Obviously the toilet itself is clean BTW but the bathroom is a mess and if we kept on top of it I wouldn’t have to worry. They are the only two rooms that need to be visitor ready really.

DH is off tomorrow, DD has dancing and they need to do their Christmas decorations (living room is done but the Caglets were allowed their own mini tree this year - on condition of keeping their room decent, which they did surprisingly well). Then I really want to get more done downstairs but we have an autism group trip to the circus!

Shower electrics done but for the fact that I can't get the wires back up through the hole in the patress and ceiling! I spoke to the friend who will be rewiring my house and I have a way to use it without screwing it back up until he comes at Easter - which is what I'm aiming for in regards to sorting the house out! Eeeek!

Nettle welcome back and wow! You are doing well :)
Cag keep at it!

I'll be putting the laptop down in a mo and getting on with things here; I got going on Friday evening and over the weekend and still haven't found the thing I need desperately but, I've done a lot of shredding and sorting, Still a tip but, in fairness the shower took up a lot of time yesterday.
Right! I'm off :) Keep at it everyone, I need to find what I'm looking for ,

haven't made much progress. So much laundry still clogging up the works! went to friend's party last night and was heartened to see they had an entire room just full of carefully stacked and boxed "hoarding". So it is not just me then...From the outside looking in, there was this sense of ..why do they need all this stuff (it was mostly clothes, ties, warehousing of things like loo rolls and bottled water, enormous china dinner services) They had lots of lovely books, carefully put away in glass fronted bookcases, and that I can understand, but the rest was totally excess to their requirements..they are very outdoorsy people, extremely sociable and cheerful, just two of them in the house, and the house was in a very expensive area, newly renovated (4 years ago) so space was at an absolute premium, no downstairs space to speak of, and a whole room downstairs was "wasted".. Yet all clean and tidy underneath the piles, so it was a perception issue, my friends had reacched retirement age and this was their life's collection, and possibly with no kids, these possessions were like their friends/history.

Still it made dh think. He has the same issues with his collection of past and present memories. And even he was shocked by the fact they couldn't use a whole room in central london because they decided to store loo rolls and bikes in it!

but despite my judginess, I still need to to the laundry!!! aargh I hate those clothes, I wsh I could throw them all away. I threw away a halloween collection cd set, and a shirt yesterday, into the bin. Felt really guilty, but excited by my act of defiance... Dh fished out the halloween set and some coppers I had tossed in in a old biscuit tin..aargh.

I'm preparing to pack up and move back into my house at the end of January.

I had a look through and decided to get rid of all the clothes I tried to avoid wearing.

There's nothing wrong with them, but I leave them behind when there's an item I prefer to wear instead.

So everything I avoid or is too big now I'm a size 14 is in a bin bag.

High leg knickers - prefer Bridget Jones-style BIG knickers
Sze 20 control knickers
Size 16 control knickers
Size 16 control slip
Jumpers - pure wool and tendency to shrink, charity shop find that was already starting to pill or just bored with it
Blouses - too low cut, too fussy, didn't like the sleeves
T-shirts - too big, strange sleeves, didn't wash well
Trousers - don't like the styles or needed ironing (do not like ironing)
Gloves - too many pairs
3D cinema glasses - got a pair already
Recently bought H&M handbag - magnetic catch strap annoyed me and got in the way when I tried to find anything inside
9 slim DVD cases - couldn't find a 5 pack and didn't even need all those
A pair of tinted swimming goggles - got an untinted pair
CDs - charity shop finds which, after one play, I realised why I found them in charity shops...

Then I started to look a little wider.

Some food at the back of the kitchen cupboard went to a charity food bank box.

I went on yet another 'health kick', bought what I thought I would like and it turns out I was wrong. I didn't like it. At all.

Again, nothing wrong with soya mince, black bean spaghetti and packets and jars of sauces, but it didn't agree with me. All good dates running into late 2018 and early 2019 too.

I'm trying to work through a load of fancy, half used or travel sized toiletries so the bathroom stuff is easier to pack.

I need to find a box to pack up some stuff that belongs to my brother and send it all to him.

The more I look, the more I find to get rid of....😳😳😳😳😳