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.

A level textiles sounds interesting, what do they make?

It is a bit like Art A level, lots of process, and research, and drawing. But the end product is meant to be "fashion design". History/textiles industry/techniques but less actual dress making than you might think. A bit, but it is ideas based rather than how to construct a garment. Dd is learning a lot about drawing and theories of art, something she is less confident with than putting in a zip!

This morning I tackled the utility room and did the following:

scrubbed a bin I had left outside and brought it back into use
washed up several plates and saucepans from outside
swept floor
put more washing in, put more washing back in relevant rooms (although not away, they can do that!)
made ds2 put the recycling out which had piled up in there

also went to park and did a long walk, and bought some groceries so broken the cycle of getting "bogged down" and increasingly tired of sorting things.

Now I need to wash some more sheets/duvet covers. Never ending with 5 residents!!

We’ve got bags of Christmas trash hanging around, I’ll certainly be glad when we can get rid! The bin didn’t get fully emptied last week! I think they tipped it up and half of the bin bags didn’t fall out!

I love making things! It's something that I do less of these days than I used to but, I do love seeing things 'grow' and develop into things (ha! Not good for a hoarder, really!) I've done a wash load today. I'm really sick of the attitude that Dd has too. She's back to school tomorrow and all her uniform is ready to be ironed (all washed and dried before Christmas) but, I kept saying to her are there any more tights and shorts as I don't appear to have had them all...assurances that she'd given me everything made, however, today TODAY!!! I find a pair of tights bundled inside a pair of cycle shorts (she wears shorts over her tights under her school kilt). I'm so mad!

I need to get into the right frame of mind to get. this. house. sorted. out this year. I want to get shot of the storage unit as it's just throwing good money after bad.

I'm also really mad at myself as all the things I bought for both Ds and Dd's rooms (light fittings/boy things/girl things/rugs/curtains, single duvet sets and countless other things) will mostly now have to be sold/given away as Ds has moved out and Dd now doesn't want a girly room, she wants a more masculine room. Oh the stupidity of me.

I'm really hoping that the forecasters have it wrong and we aren't heading for -10 and snow as I have no heating and it's really cold now at an apparent 8 degrees.

I pinned up some thermal linings on my sitting room curtains and they have really really made a difference (quite light and unremarkable but I think they reflect heat back in)
I'm also wearing a ski ing base layer made of wool most of the time and thermal socks, these do seem to keep me warm once I am warm ifysim.

Those big oil filled electric radiators also help in dd's room which is freezing. We have had them twelve years now and they have been very useful investment, once curtains are drawn and doors closed. And electric blankets on the beds and a wool blanket under the sheet under the electric blanket too. Cotton layers and synthetics make me cold at night but maybe that is just me.

I've been for another run. Soo boring I do hate it, but I like the warm glow afterwards. Made pancakes. dd made half of them, and she went to the library this morning to work so she has worked hard today on various things, also she helped with some grocery shopping. I think the laundry haphazardness is to be expected ages 11-17 alas, very erratic engagement. We have a very useful express wash on the machine which is 30 mins and it is used constantly for alienated items by all three kids!

Solo buying stuff for a particular age group...well that is part of being a mum isn't it, they grow out of things, but it was fun buying them and for a short time it felt like the right stuff and was the right stuff. No need to feel stupid. And someone else will like them now. Dd's room is black and grey atm with flashes of mustard and peach. I'm not expecting that to last into the 2020's... the gunmetal factory bedside table is already ditched and residing in the bathroom as a loo roll cabinet and she has moved onto a white ikea bedside table...what next, perhaps a versailled marble topped item is next!

I have one of those radiators Nettle which I try not to use too often. We use hot water bottles when necessary and have a feather/down all seasons quilt on and a wool blanket and we've added a couple of throws, too. We wear fleece onesies and put the hoods up and I find if I have warm feet, I can sleep and have got to wearing bed socks.

It's funny, Dd said she wanted black walls and I said no, it's too depressing. So, she said she wanted grey, then which I've agreed on for 3 walls and using the pale pink Laura Ashley wallpaper on the 4th. Just got to get everything sorted and then done!!

I blame all those Pintrest rooms with dark dark panelling.

Have you read the bit in Adrian Mole's diary where his Noddy wallpaper keeps reappearing through the black paint?

dd had a feature wall in her room and I'm sorry to say she got rid of it quite quickly (it was purple, a tasteful paint) and plumped for the indian bedspread feature wall instead on a different wall. (her walls were pale grey/blue) At least the bedspread just needs drawing pins!

I did something like 5 loads of washing today but 2 loads were dirty undies from toilet accidents from the 3 year old! I’m glad to just catch up and try and stay on top of his accidents.

I’ll be honest, I needed to do heaps of tidying today because we had a solar panel guy come over at 7 pm, but it didn’t happen. I managed the laundry and managed lunch and dinner and tidying up some craft stuff and cleaned two sinks and wiped all over everything in the bathroom (windows included). But honestly most rooms were totally messy and chaos. But I couldn’t do it all!

that is my mantra Downudderer. A little a day, and we might get somewhere eventually
3 year olds are very time consuming, survival is really quite impressive.

what have I achieved today? a physio appt for dd, grocery shopping for supper laundry and an epic walk.
No dustbin liners, so bin is piled high and a lot of paperwork challenges tomorrow. The fridge needs cleaning out.

but tomorrow paperwork in the morning and fridge after lunch. Paperwork weighs heavy on my mind as it is tax return time.

I'm trying to sort out my "office" today. Terrible muddle ensuing. But I've made a bit of progress as there is a pile of paper to be chucked. And I've found a few useful things that I had "lost".

Trying to make categories now. Hope this doesn't classify as "churning". I need to find out if my car has a replacement cam belt in the last five years too. which leads me in search of the CAR FILE. which is not too difficult to locate but not in any date order.

I've also found a new desk diary I bought before Christmas. And reactivated my debit card. And paid for the MOT and collected the car. Bit of Progress then.

It's terrible; I wish I had 'time' to do stuff but, I take time off and still, nothing gets done!

Nettle you seem to be doing, which is brilliant! :)

not much really.

as long as something goes in the bin, I count it as a form of progress...

to be honest I'd rather stare at a bombsite when I've started something anything, than the panic I feel when looking at unopened piles or boxes and wonder just where to start. Starting seems to be key.

sorted out another three boxes of "paper" and threw away a lot of it.

decided that an expanding file for 2019 is the way to go. With lots and lots of categories and also keeping certificates at the front. Apart from the car which has its own enormous box file. still cannot find whether I repaired the cam belt though..

what is shocking is all the renewals that I'm not keeping on top of, or just doing in a random way - like oh yeah that's an emergency better pay it..it really gets worse the less you organise, and then it becomes ever more difficult to organise. But that is just me perhaps.

by 3pm this room (my study area) is going to be TIDY AND USUABLE again!!! sets timer..

And hows it going...

a slight hiatus whilst I sent ds1 off to buy groceries (he is a student and requires a lot of explanations, deciphering of shopping lists etc) still a bit of extra time to sort whilst he is doing some boring things for me!

a few loose ends later (need someone to carry all the boxes in the hall into the car which I had to turf out for the MOT) the room is not exactly sorted but much much better. I've even found three small sofa blankets in various places which I've folded up neatly and put ON THE SOFA.

but there are various loose ends:
tax return, nearly ready to send off
old batteries to recycle (collected them up)
stuff to take outside to shed
wash up old leftovers from fridge
floor needs to be hoovered or swept
laundry from clear up
reunite lost dustpan and brush which are in different parts of house
get ds1 to do some heavy lifting for me. Desk needs to be back in tv room now that christmas is over.

I’m doing a year of decluttering. Getting rid of one thing a day I don’t want or need. So far I’m on track. Gifting books I have read. Recycling old duvet covers. Giving away dds old shoes.
It’s actually really satisfying. I’m also trying not to buy anything much. Which is fairly easy other than food and treats for the pets.

that is such a good point Bunny, the not buying things.

I think often we comfort ourselves with purchases when the housework/clutter gets us down. It is a temporary hit to beat the low feelings, it makes you feel in control again when you purchase something and have a plan for it. I know because this morning I bought some envelopes. I know I have some somewhere but it made me feel better to buy new ones...I really don;t know why I fell for that one!

Anyway in a small way just trying not to buy things, even when they are associated with really positive instincts, like creativity and study or hospitality is the first bit of clearing the decks, and then after that, perhaps the creativity and study and hospitality/nurturing others can follow, in a decluttered existence.

Today goals: put christmas decs in the loft and hang the clean towels out to dry and clean my bathroom. (I've been for a run, so that reminds me I also need to try and find a proper home for running stuff, I spent ages looking for the right kit this morning, despite having purchased most of it really recently, it has scattered and been absorbed into the chaos) Perhaps I need a box saying RUNNING. I have a cardboard box in mind to keep under the sofa.

actually no, I lie. I am going to plant the last bulbs, yes I know it is Jan, before the light goes. I found the right plastic pot yest and the co,post under some rubbish in the garden and who knows if I will find them again if I leave it any longer. The bulbs of course are festering in the greenhouse poor creatures...

planted all the last tulip bulbs (which appear fine)
put the agryanthemums in the greenhouse from the windoow boxes
put the primrose seedlings in the window box
washed up some flotsam in the utility, put in the dishwasher
did some grocery shopping for next week to get ahead
swept the alley as dark fell. put dustpan and brush together (outside ones) which had become separated
took stock of greenhouse, nothing in there except saucers and seed trays, string, various pots. So I could get started planting/tidying quite quickly if I set my mind to an hour's work tomorrow. Lots of primrose seedlings I bought in nov which could be planted up in attractive pots for use in spring, and nurtured in greenhouse.
washed some used dishcloths too.

also started assembling a "running" container. took off my running kit before I gardened, and put on "gardening trousers" and "old gardening boots". Again, to find these things is unusual in this house, usually I hoard them and then cannot find them. So the wardrobe downstairs is helping a bit (although the door has fallen off..blooming ikea assemby gone rwrong)"

Oooh! Sounding good.

I actually gave in and bought a paper shredder to deal with the pile behind dp’s chair.
It’s now repurposed as bedding for my pet rats.
So that’s today’s win.
Next problem is I have a small hoard of soap and glory I got as a present and I really won’t use it. How to get rid of it?
I really need to start thinking about the garden soon!