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.

ah Cag I'm so sorry you are feeling exhausted. It is really hard sometimes. I used to hide in the corner when my kids were younger sometimes, honestly all those demands and so many things that should have been done not done or done badly.

Nevertheless, I am here to tell the tale. And eating rice pudding. another very raucous family meal has made me feel very badtempered and in need of rice pudding

today I have dealt with very annoying eldest (who is also lovely, so I am processing my irritation with him judiciously and trying to see it for what it is, brain overload) and very loud second son, who is also lovely and impressed me with his knowledge about drama gsce, which he is taking on Friday. 1984 is the play, thank god I don't live in 1984, that is something. what a horrible play it is...

Ds2 is listening to beautiful piano music next door Classic Fm music for revision, so soothing. -why is he so loud the rest of the time?

So I am staring at mountains of washing up from supper, and possibly not going to do it, and book a film outing for Friday...and download book from my kindle for once. I do need to hang out the washing though or put it somewhere other washer...ie drape round the house. Bedroom tip, children's rooms tips, apart from ds1, landings hoovered but dreadful, paper and revision, everywhere. But garden v nice. and the world is nice too, very May fresh.

Cag :( I hear you.

My dw stopped working last night. Grrrrr!

Can I join?

Pulled out some old clothes today (3bin bags for clothes bin) and 2 bin bags of general rubbish and broken toys from cupboards. Still so much to do. Feels awful with no end in site and the tip is MILES from.me.

We had a mortgage broker around yesterday evening and that literally forced me to clean! And tidy! Periodically something will crop up that forces me to clean and tidy and the place will look fantastic but I never keep up with it all! I will try to this time but I won’t beat myself up if a few areas get messy again. But, the kitchen had a good going over. Things that had been lurking in corners got dusted down and scrubbed and put away, lots of little bits got chucked. If I can’t think what to do with a few small things they just gather in groups and piles and get stuffed in pots or dishes. Then after 6 months I find I can just chuck them away and I think ‘why did I hang onto this broken thing for six months?’. So on a great day I just think ‘will I keep this for 6 months and then chuck it away?’ If yes, then I just chuck it straight away. I found two out of date bottles of kids nurophen this week, they’re chucked away!

I scrubbed the job and it’s sparking! The bathroom is also sparkling and I was up and down with ten million bags of recycling!

I did do some stress-fabric buying last week. I went over the top. But I do love it all. It brings a smile to my face so that’s nice.

I’m feeling in control of a good few rooms and it’s just the bedrooms that need a good sort out.

Good luck everyone else :)

had a big row with dh about housework, he accused me of leaving piles of stuff in the second living area which had not been put away... it is difficult when two people are both untidy but tidy in non-complementary ways...still he has taken dd out for lunch now and does plenty around the house, just not what I want him to!!! like help me put stuff in the loft or declutter shelves. He likes loading dws and grocery shopping and sort of bustling around making meals. I suppose it has its uses

still, I can see I need lots of headspace when I work, and he doesn't give it to me, whether it is by interrupting or querying my plans...

Down I'm a bit like that except I would probably end up keeping the nurofen in case I ran out (and my kids are teenagers now!!) the panic over not having emergency medication never really goes does it..sore throats/fevers in the middle of the night etc. Going over the kitchen is such a tonic isn't it?

Anyway I have tidied the kitchen and wiped everything, arranged flowers on the table, cooked a marrow that had been sitting around for a month (vegetable stew) swept floor. watered plants

Freezing cold now indoors sthough sunny outdoors. Having a rest before I tackle ds2's bedroom, he is doing his Drama GSCE atm, yikes. Hope I can get a wash on too before everyone returns. Everything else will have to happen when it happens, which is possibly not until next week...i e bathroom our bedroom, front garden beautifying, buying compost for window boxes. I feel tired just from getting ds off to school this morning

Laundry done but, not all of it. Washing up all done; must keep on top of it now I'm without a dishwasher which, I discovered is full of water. No idea how I can drain it out either. I got Dd to wash a couple of bowls and spoons - a first in my household! I had to buy a washing up bowl yesterday. Also, the kitchen sink is draining slowly for some reason and I don't think it's blocked as I don't let anything go down that shouldn't.
I bought a couple more storage boxes yesterday and have put my crockery into one of them; I'm just keeping 4 dishes and 4 bowls out for use and putting the others away until I can secure the wall units to the walls again.

I'm mega tired right now but, I have much to do.

Pleased to say I'm keeping the washing up down :)

That’s great solo!

I’m not really managing much ATM, home ed is super full on which is great but extremely time and brain consuming!

My mum asked me today why I’m so tired.

Still haven’t ordered a cot! FFS she is nearly 7 months old.

I did sort through some baby clothes today but only got the old ones in a pile and the new size sorted, I still need to actually fully sort all the outgrown stuff - it’s in bags mostly according to size but I need to send it off to various people.

Thanks Cag :) Do you find that people just 'forget' about your illness? I do. Probably doesn't help that I rarely mention it though.

Yes definitely. I think people tend to only see us when we are managing relatively well (since when we are not, we are stuck at home) and it’s the whole “you don’t look sick” thing isn’t it.

In this instance I think with the extra baby related fatigue it’s that my mum doesn’t get how utterly exhausting it is - I am her only child and I slept through the night from like five weeks old!

It is unfair Cag but, I just plod on - I have to as it's just me. Dd woke at least several times a night until 19 months when I did the Wake To Sleep method. And yes, that invisible illness...

today I planted out my sunflower seedlings in an old recycling green bin (rectangular one) and unloaded the dishwasher, oh and did some grocery shopping and some driving for dd.

Otherwise it has been just GSCEs wall to wall, before and after!!! It's exciting but emotionally draining - I feel as if normal life has been suspended. But mainly quite fun, as kids surviving quite well through the challenge so far, and seem to enjoy working for them.

house very messy but I don't care.

Cagletini is crawling! It’s a mixed feeling. Yay, she’s reached a milestone. And oh crap, she’s mobile and the house is not sorted 😱😱😱

it's lovely she is crawling. Such a sweet stage, they are so determined to find out about the world, open cupboards, bang saucepans, and generally pull themselves upright. sturdy Dungaree/romper territory as I remember, suddenly little dresses are useless

Aw! Cag Mixed feelings eh? Growing up...

Washing up piling up!

house bad atm..resisting temptation to run away and hide and not do anything much

we went out for a looong walk.

top of the list to do, is wipe the worktops and sweep the floor
also possibly I could put the clean sheets away

Oh, a ray of sunshine, I did wipe the basins in both bathrooms and removed something smelly from the fridge. And clean the loo. I bought some more cleaning products too.

nothing seems very appealing it must be said, I feel surrounded by distractions and people!

Agh. Stress. Cagletini is into everything

Right. It’s half term. So virtually no clubs or home ed work to do. Must. Tidy.

Cotbed arriving on Wednesday. So need to sort living room (that’s the only room she’d be put down in anyway) and our bedroom.

Help.

😱

very good news about the Cotbed Cag. Could you push a lot of stuff under it, when you've assembled it? building furniture though exciting is quite stressful though isn't it. Still the kids love watching it done and will try to help, no doubt.

I've been trying to tidy our bedroom; I piled everything on the bed and dusted off the shelves and tried to hoover (the floor was very unsavoury by then, what with all the dust) then the hoover promptly broke half way through, and to my rage I had to put everything back without having properly hoovered. And it is too hot, the moth problem is escalating again.

however, dh has tidied the kitchen and wiped worktops and put the dw on.

Tomorrow i need to take the blankets to the drycleaners, or at least put them in the car so they are nearer the dry cleaner than the landing!

I did lots of washing today and dried it in the sun and then put it back unironed in the cupboards. Also cleaned the basin in our bathroom and the plug with an old toothbrush, and wiped the floor with a rag. (loft so full of dust from the veluxes) Hard to get started, and not much done but at least it is something.

I've cooked two delicious meals today and swept the kitchen floor.
I took the black bin bag out and the recyling.

Otherwise, very little.

I wiped some worktops and watched some telly!

Yesterday, however, drumroll, I managed to hoover our bedroom when the hoover broke, by fixing said hoover with a piece of hose pipe (obstructed) and take three items from our bedroom to be drycleaned.

Not very good, but the dw has been loaded and reloaded several times over last few days.

I put Ecover limescale on the taps and shower screen too. Need to rinse it off.

Well after a few days delay due to the bed having no screws Cagletini finally has somewhere decent to sleep.

And in other news... WE HAVE BEEN OFFERED A HOUSE!!! Seeing council on Monday to arrange viewing etc. I am feeling more emotions than I knew existed.

ffabulous!!! and you won't find it difficult to take the cotbed to bits for the move, having assembled it so recently the hell of assembling and disassembling..

She looks so happy in there, a new playpen as well as a bed..the others will want to join her in there

fingers crossed about the house and keep an open mind. Imagine how it will be when you are in there with all the family.

She's just gorgeous Cag :) And fingers crossed re the house. But, yes! Keep an open mind :)

Upthread a bit nettleskeins you mention that you need a lot of headspace to get stuff done but that you don’t always get it, I couldn’t agree more! I sometimes think I need more headspace than other people and am amazed that others don’t need as much as me.

The cotbed looks lovely and new and perfect.

I’m feeling headachey and lethargic today.

I’ve mostly kept the kitchen pretty nice. I’ve kept the fridge pretty good, throwing out old stuff pretty promptly. I’ve managed to empty the bin fairly promptly this week as well.

We think we’ve found a house we’d like to buy. I’ll arrange a viewing for it and I’ll have to drive up to see it probably on Wednesday. The drive is an hour and 20 mins, I find it completely exhausting, I’ve done it the last 2 Wednesday’s, actually thinking about it is worse than doing it.

Good vibes to everyone this week

two house moves (albeit exhausting) very exciting!!!

yesterday I managed despite the exam stress taking over, to clean the bath and get the grimy ring off it, wash some clothes ,put some clothes upstairs, buy a big batch of groceries, cook delicious supper of gammon and mashed potato homemade onion sauce, homemade fruit salad. Also, but this was only because the bin had not been collected by bin men and was stinking so badly, I went to the tip and disposed of that, AND the zinc planters which had been lurking in my car for weeks. AND I took the incredibly heavy curtain to the drycleaners at the same time as the supermarket run and the tip run.

I find it difficult to multi-task, usually just doing the curtain would take me a whole afternoon of concentrating.. but anythign to get away from the exam stress and 3 kids "revising".

Man alive I’m tired. Not slept since 4am.

Need to wait for the HA to phone about a viewing, however we did find the address and viewed new house from the outside (location is lovely and will save a huge amount of time in our daily lives) and thanks to some MN help and googling, found the floor plans. Compared to the floor plan of a house very similar to ours (except our kitchen/second bedroom is narrower than in the plan) I can see the space is, while not huge in itself - it was built in 2011 - 60% larger than here. So it should feel much better. And the layout with French windows from the living room should mean more air and light which is a vast improvement on here. We’ve been looking at the plans and wondering how best to use the space.

I have been completely and utterly useless though in practical terms. I am beyond overwhelmed. I’ve purposed a notebook for moving plans but I haven’t dared write in it yet, haven’t decluttered anything else... I just feel paralysed by it. DH agreed we need to start now as if we have already accepted the house, as that may not happen for a couple of weeks and we can’t afford to lose that time. But. I can’t seem to manage anything.

Back to term time today. Really CBA but must build on the progress they’ve made lately. And then trek to tap class. And catch up on laundry.

Gaaaaah. This is a very happy exciting time, I wish I was handling it better.