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.

How are you all? How are the new homes? Will you be leaving us now? :(

I still have s box of Tupperware to sort out in the kitchen.

I have sorted out older two children clothes with them.

I have sorted out younger two children toys with them.

Tomorrow I am sorting out younger two children's clothes. Currently clean, dry and sorted into bags. One for dresses, one for tops, one for trouser etc.

House is so so. Practically caught up with laundry.

Still not finished hall decorating.

Currently heming school trousers. Joy. How much fun on Saturday night, lol :)

Our room...still a disaster. Determined to get it done by Christmas (not saying which year !)

Paperwork is piling. That is to be done Monday.

Ugh! Mine is just sitting there! Much like me :( I'm sick of it but, can't seem to get it sorted...but, if I don't, I'm going to have no heating again this winter.

I lost you all, due to not posting for a while, but searched for Solo and found you...

We've just sent the oldest child to University, cue a massive resort of possessions.
Due to my failure to clean and organise over last few months (I blame exams, but one always blames something ) there is now a crisis of moth in all the children's rooms. Not fluttering but about to, as the skirtings were pretty bad and old socks put back in drawers were attracting them.

But ds has gone off now, and I've swopped over the boys' bedrooms as a results, ds2 now has the larger room and I'm cleaning out the boxroom he lived in.

Dd has just put together a large Hemnes Wardrobe with sliding door so that things can be hung up instead of hung on the bannisters or thrown on the floors and the boxroom is looking a lot better.
We've hoovered under the beds in both rooms and washed pillows and thrown away various paper hoards.
I also hired some storage in a warehouse, I know that is frowned on but it has made the difference between a floor you can see and a floor you cannot. Mostly used for paperwork that we cannot throw away at present still waiting on exams, and also for spare curtains that we need in the winter. The truth is:

[storage warning] now that is in there, I honestly cannot remember what it is, and we probably don't need any of it!!!
[oh yes it is summer clothes, and a scalectrix set and some skiwear, but I can probably fit that in the loft now that everything is bit more sorted)
My aim is to move stuff out of storage by 12 months or throw further things away. Otherwise the cost is not justified. Still it has been a help pyschologically when we reached impasse over what should go and what might be needed, at slight cusp in plans due to children reaching that "age".
Solo sorry things have been tough for you, hope that something helps re: the heating over winter. I need to get a gas man in. Dreading it. I suppose I should just book the appointment for a month's time. Also need electrician for smoke alarm refit. Another thing I dread organising. we have temporary battery smoke alarms, unless anyone is concerned!

So key at the moment is getting things dry cleaned and bagging up some of ds' memorabilia and storing it away from his room, so that it can be properly kept clean and dusted.

Caglio it is a slow process, every thing is a slow process with three children. You are doing really well, I know it sounds trite, but YOU ARE.

I sound calm, but my house is filthy and overwhelming atm. Dh asked why I had added to the chaos by adding in large wardrobe in bits (ikea boxes) and a large chest of drawers (ikea boxes)cue a massive row about how dreadful his study is and how no-one is making any decisions about clutter. But it is getting slowly better now, and he has

thrown away an old sofa from his study (30 years old, cheapy foam thing)
booked a refuse collection for our old mattress in 2 weeks, agreed to order a new mattress and get rid of another single mattress (which he thought might "come in useful" those dreadful words)
started hoovering up his study (he runs a business from there) and admitting it was full of clutter he didn't actually need to make money with

so hope is thing with bin liners!

The other good news, is that I completely cleaned and sorted our bedroom and there is now NOTHING UNDER THE BED WHATSOEVER and it can be hoovered regularily. And washed duvet at laundrette and dry cleaned blankets.

Nothing under the bed ! What witchcraft is that, lol. Seriously well done. :)

I have two bags of toys which need to go on eBay this week or else charity.

I have kept on top of recent paperwork, so I just have a couple of older bags to deal with that should be throw everything as they are 6 months plus.

So tomorrow I am going to sort out kids art pictures, we are drowning in them :)
Then the old papers.

Then finish decorating hall upstairs.

That should take me into October, alongside all the standard, housework, laundry, child related work. :)

Hi everyone - can i join in please? Having lived in the same house for 20 years i have so much clutter. The dining room is just groaning with junk, Im scared to open the hallway cupboard, i have no clue what's on top of my wardrobe. I feel ashamed of myself and I'm sick of it. I'm tackling the dining room and have shredded and chucked 3 bags of paperwork today - bank statements from 2003 etc!

Hi everyone,

I have been thinking about you all, I wrote a little update a few weeks ago but it got lost. I think we've been in our new place for almost a month now and time has really flown.

I have deeply enjoyed shopping for new things, this place is quite a bit bigger than our little flat, so we'll need some more furniture as time goes along.

My mum and dad are visiting us in Australia, from the UK, and my mum has been scrubbing out kitchen cupboards, and the bathroom etc and my dad has been sorting out things in the garden and sunroom for me.

I'm happy, but I know everyone is feeling annoyed at how slowly I am unpacking boxes and whatnot. But I sort of need the time to figure out where I want things, and I want them all to have a place.

It's nice to read about nothing under the bed, I definitely had been trying not to put stuff under my bed, because once it's under there it's forgotten and then stays put for years!

Some cupboards still need to be wiped and then things can get put in there.

I've got a washing line outside, this is very new for me and I will gladly be using it. In fact I've used it twice already, I wiped it up and down to make sure it wouldn't leave any marks on the clean laundry.

Welcome, pass come on in! :)

Well done Nettle and Down :)

Me? Pfftt! Yeah, right. Except for the laundry, it's all clean but, lying on top of the previous pile in the dining room.

Hello! I cant believe how long it is since I posted 😳 I’m certainly not thinking about clutter as much anymore as the bigger house has made such a massive difference. That isn’t smuggery BTW it’s just being very very lucky to have been housed somewhere bigger! I still can’t believe it and we’ve been here 2 months now. We did get rid of a lot but still have some way to go, it’s just that it’s easier ATM because the boxes of random crap are all piled up in what will be the baby’s part of the second bedroom (as she’s in with us for now). So the aim is to completely pack up all random shit in there, so that we can fully organise the rest of the house (for example there are lots of random things piled on top of the bookcases) and then finally go through those last boxes of clutter. Finding the energy is hard though. And the time as we are now back in term time home ed mode and baby is climbing and walking and is frankly rather hard work. I will catch up later but phone about to run out of battery!

I put away the laundry today. [sounds obvious but I don't do that very often] I've sadly bought myself yet another cardigan [orange], despite all the struggles I've been having with dry cleaning items and moths, I don't know why I bring more stuff into the house to torment me!!! still it is has enabled me to be ore ruthless about binning something else that didn't look very nice, but kept me warm. downudder good to hear how decluttering can lead to being able to choose things properly. slow sounds a good way to unpack, often it means that you will end up needing less and appreciating the space and air. Under bed is still clear I am thankful to say. And I'm managing the routine of opening curtains every morning and airing the room now that I'm not seeing so much dust on the surfaces and feeling like Ms Havisham.

Cag so happy to hear you are enjoying new house and no that is not smuggery sometimes things do get better. Yes to climbing babies being very hard work. Although I do now look back at that little mental picture of dd climbing in the kitchen cupboard and taking out saucepans and "rearranging" them on floor with sentiment

Babies come first, as they are awesome and you turn around and they are teenagers !

Welcome new people, come in and settle in, this thread is pretty slow moving but we are all here at some point.

I managed to catch up with my laundry! And by doing 2 loads a day, keep on top of it for the last week.

Plus I found 3 square foot of our bedroom floor. I am determined to defeat the last pile of boxes to sort through. It is going to take me weeks but I will get there this time.

So tomorrow is three bags of small junk and my aim is to chuck it all, unless I find expensive valuable things or very emotional things.

Wish me luck :)

I think I have found my people!

I’ve never been good at the whole housework thing but over the last few years things have spiralled out of control.

I do have some mental heath issues, I am always tired from working, kids etc and to be honest I’m just a bit lazy at times too.

Me and OH went through a really bad time for a few months from May onwards and it really made us look at our relationship. One of the things that pissed him off was coming home to chaos everyday. He admitted he should do more to help etc. Once everything kind of settled down and I was in a better place mentally I decided I was going to declutter and tackle the whole house.
We talked about hiring a skip but in the end didn’t as it be cheaper to get a van man to come and take all the rubbish away. We did this when we moved last year.
So I did great, decluttered most rooms, even got both DS to sort their toys etc out.
Then life got in the way again and my mental health started to go downhill again, work got busy and I gave up.
I still have the dining room, which is also where the big toy unit is kept, a large cupboard in both the kitchen and dining room, a few random drawers etc and then I have the unit in the living room which is mostly fabric etc for my sewing (which I never get time to do anymore) but I also know there is a list/note on there from when we were having our bad patch and I want to make sure I’m feeling good mentally before coming across that.
I really need to pick myself back up and get on with it as all the bags of crap are just lying in the utility or outside waiting for the rest of the house to finish so we can get the man to come and take everything away.

I’ve totally fallen behind on the washing and general housework again now as well. I took two days off my work from home job yesterday and Monday in the hope I’d get caught back up on my general jobs and the washing. Monday I ended up having to do a small amount of work and then DD woke from her nap earlier and yesterday I just wasn’t feeling myself, I knew I should get up and do something but I just didn’t.

I really need to get sorted. OH has rookie Thursday Friday and Monday off work so he will help out hopefully. But we’re both as bad as each other at times and I can see nothing getting done. I also end up feeling guilty if he’s cleaning/ tidying etc on his days off because he works so hard and such long hours.

Sorry for the super long post. X

bexta hello and welcome; I've been where you were many times over last 20 years, but only recently found my tiredness/muddleheadedness was partly due to thyroid problems and then again also due to Vitamin D insufficiency. Things have been much better since I realised there was a reason I was getting very little done in the time I had free and took the right supplements and thyroxine (and I don't have a job either, unlike you! (but a child with SEN compounded things and a v busy dh)

Anyway, tomorrow there is a big excitement. We are getting the old sofa picked up, part of a desk, an old office chair and some bags of rubbish that have been the shed forever. And replacing three mattresses which are 20 years old and all manky/splitting/attracting moth. Part of the problem with the mattresses was getting rid of the old ones, but we have now found a way. The mattresses we want new don't take away old ones, although I know some companies do pick up old mattresses when delivering new. For some reason, this was an impasse! with decluttering it is so easy to find impasses isn't it, it is almost a pyschological issue rather than a physical issue.

Anyway, tomorrow things should be a step nearer "better"

AnyJunk are coming today to pick up mattresses, cardboard and an old sofa and lots of garden prunings. I'm staring at it all and thinking why has it taken me so long to get rid of this? the money was stopping me, but then having all that junk in the house (v old mattresses needed replacing) was making me miserable, and stopping me making other economies when I squandered money in other ways. I mustn't let things get so bad again, and keep on top of getting big items collected, or little and often with the garden rubbish. I probably need one of those council garden waste subs.

it's all gone. I'm sorry to say I retrieved 3 plastic plant pots as "useful for spring bulbs" and found myself composting some of the mattress filling which was in the street, but I did well, I got rid of lots of stuff.

Now the pleasure of sweeping the front garden properly.

Nettles, well done for getting some big items picked up and taken away!

I have lots of thoughts like 'If I buy a small set of drawers I can organise xyz' or 'I need three more laundry baskets', but the truth is, that I would just be buying clutter and cluttering the place up! I just need to do the laundry or put laundry away when it's clean and dry, I don't need to faff around buying things. It's all procrastination.

Today I felt good because I washed some bits straight away, when in the past I might have just put it off for another day, which would have made the job harder.

today I got bogged down with some of dh's red shirts, which he says he doesn't want to wear any more (red is apparently a young man's colour) they are good, new shirts and I have two dses, but one is too slim for them so far, and one is away at uni and has plenty of shirts..So hoarding mentality is that I keep them in the cupboard in ds's room, and no-one will ever ever need them...

Maybe I'll send one off to ds1 and then that removes the problem from the premises if not from my life!!! One can go into the summer clothes box.

So right about the drawers downudderer, but I've found if I get rid of drawers I will end up purchasing new ones by hook or by crook so I might as well just keep the drawers I havve and use them more wisely (wisely being operative word, not hoard things in them, like cds which I never listen to)

I saved up and went to Ikea today and bought 6 pillows, 6 pillow protectors, 3 single duvets and 1 kingsize duvet.

Tomorrow I will be bagging up all the children's old pillows and duvets to throw away and replacing them with the new ones and I can't wait to get the old ones out of here !

Next month will be sheets and duvet covers for big kids and the month after the same for the little kids.

Then we will all have new bedding, duvets and pillows and everything else can go.

I have decided to have two sets per bed and the spare set will be in a box under the relevant bed, to aid changing beds.

Hello all. How are we doing? This thread dropped off my TIO for some reason!
Nothing much happening here, I'm just going mad with it. Well done to everyone that has got things sorted though :)

hi, Solo nice to hear from you. I was actually feeling a bit disheartened this morning. We are at the stage where we have two bathrooms but one bathroom is makign a trumpeting noise when the loo is flushed (Valve in cistern) and the other bathroom has no light and no shower screen and my children are fighting over whose fault it is that the shampoo got used up, who woke the other up by flushing the loo in the middle of the night, and who didn't clean the bath/water on the floor (completely unnecessarily as there are TWO bathrooms, which is a luxury after all)

And I need a plumber. But cannot face it. But I must do it before it is too dark to even use the other bathroom in the winter mornings. I stuck one of those stick on cupboard battery lights to the cistern of the dark bathroom to ward off finding a ladder and new bathroom d light fitting.

And there are various issues like that all round the house.

But good news is: new mattresses, two old ones disposed of.
Landing floor is clear.
Dh's study has a bit less dust in it.
Ds2's room clear and I'm keeping it under control by going in every day and taking away wet towels, old socks, washing laundry. At the beginning before it starts to deterioate and get covered in school work as well.
stopped stressing about dd's room, and she is organising it herself sometimes.
Under our bed is completely clear too, very good feeling. Wardrobe stuffed with rubbish though, not so good, but at least it means I can hoover on regular basis.
And I'm opening the curtains in the morning now, trying to get into a tidying routine in my bedroom.

Nettle that's me too. I have so many problems in the house that I've been ignoring for years...And it's getting colder now and I have no boiler. And that's just one problem.

Well done with the triumphs though :)

today I have steeled myself and
phoned electrician, and sent a list of jobs (all of which we have been waiting years to arrange, like broken sockets and lights that don't work, as well as more recent smoke alarm issue)
bought a shower curtain rod, and cheap drill with attachments for £30 so I can bypass the shower screen issue for another year (too heavy to install myself, went to B & Q and gave up when I tried to buy it, realised it would never get installed, or would be wrong in some way, too thin, two flimsy as well)
phoned person to service gas cooker in two weeks
that has taken all day to face but hopefully tomorrow I can do more basic chores around house which are looming in on me
also limescaled the shower screen in second bathroom and cleaned a basin in dark bathroom.