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.

teenage girl?
school raffle prize donation

I think I threw away toiletries I didn't use last declutter, which was not very ecological of me, but sometimes it reminds me to buy less in the long run which IS ecological. Shampoo and soap always get used eventually so I stockpile that and don't declutter it, unless I'm allergic to the ingredients..

teenagers do love toiletries though if you can find any lurking (teens I mean)

and there is always ebay. I never use ebay though. I'm not technological enough to download a photo

No teens lurking I’m afraid. Just little tots.
I’ll give eBay a go though and keep working through stuff!

A bad case of SAD today...steeling myself to do some washing up in a moment
did a load of laundry
emptied recycling and bin

my mistake was not to go for a run today. the house feels particular unappealing now.

tomorrow someone is coming to dinner so I'll have to pull myself into the "tidying" mode. And hopefully do something about the bin bags in the front garden (leaves and suchlike)

((Hugs)) Nettle I hope you are feeling a little brighter today.

thank you so much Solo I am very touched by your kindness

This morning I set myself the goal of doing something, anything. To which end I have put the bin bags in the hall in the car
tidied the shoe pile
did more recycling
emptied food compost
shook out the rug
another load of washing on, one load dried
sofa shaken out and rearranged
went into town to deal with bank [grrr - they have closed the local branch and amalgamated two, so always takes ages but feels like a quest which has been achieved, knights, dragons etc)
now about to make the dinner for 7 people (2 guests) vegetable moussaka with lentils so my worries have focussed on getting the lentils to be soft enough ( a delia recipe which is with dried lentils rather than tinned... I must follow to the letter from bitter experience, she works but only if you don't deviate from her advice in any little aspect)

oh yes, and I scrubbed a baking tin and the utility room sink, and emptied three bins.

after all that, things are really looking quite passable, if you don't go into the bedrooms!

:) Well done you! I hope dinner was a success and thanks for the Delia tip. ((Hugs)) are always given to those in need :)

Hello!! How are you all doing?

This morning, I got up early (don't work until the afternoon) and cleaned the condensation and black mould off the landing window/frame and marvelled at how much nicer it looks. Put a wash load in, took it out, hung it to dry (indoors). Then I did a bit of the washing up. Had lunch, went to work. Took Dd to an appointment, visited Mum on my way home.

My decision is that I will go to bed earlier, get up earlier and do something each morning before I go to work. Yes.

I love cleaning windows, and I love the sight of black grime on a window cloth, makes it all worth while!!

nothing much happening here, but my second dinner party went well, and I pulled everything out of the cupboard under the stairs in order for the smart meter, which I then decided to cancel, thank god. The gas was going to be disconnected and I had no idea if it would ever relight (the boiler I mean) feel much better not having the smart meter, and have the delight of putting everything back in orderly fashion tomorrow.

wiped worktops today and threw away a lot of old food from fridge, and bought groceries. walked a bit.

running in abeyance. as is ironing and deep cleaning.

:) Tuesday, I did more of the washing up (most of it) and another load of washing. Haven't done too much else although, I did go through some paper stuff.

Well done Nettle on your wins. I won't have a smart meter, either.

Almost time for a new thread :)

today I have been incredibly tired after no sleep last night and everything has slidden down hill..tried to have two short naps today and both times woken by doorbell/phone grrr..

however, managed to cook nice supper
clean out the cat litter tray x 2
and do a very very long 5km walk or more with a friend

dh is away so usually this is the time I do deep cleaning and big apocalpytic pulling out of possessions but have failed to do anything but feed kids..

dd has turned into Saffy from Ab Fab and was giving me instructions on how to clean out the milk frother and asking me why I hadn't put the dw on.. still she is helpful

today I have the whole day free, except dd wants me to go "spinning" with her at 6pm..
so my chance to clean the house from top to bottom (excessive hopefulness)

okay so in real life, what I plan to do is the basic clearing of decks, laundry washing up and rubbish, concentrating on utility room functioning and changing sheets, hoovering bedrooms. Not going to attempt any proper decluttering for now, as i think that is going to hold me up, but when everything is hoovered and tidied will earmark one room in the house for more thoughtful declutter. tbh I did lots of decluttering last year, I think it is just a mental block to keep things tidy.

I wonder whether in some subconscious way I am creating clutter where there is none, by just making everything terribly untidy all the time. Clutter is comforting after all in some perverse way. to some of us

Clutter is comforting after all in some perverse way. to some of us I agree Nettle but it's finding the balance between being excessively tidy and too much clutter driving you mad. Marie Kondo says you will know when it's enough for you.

quite a lot achieved, 3 beds stripped, lots of paper in the recyling, slow and steady progress.

I don't think, when you are dissatisfied, untidy person, that you do know what makes you happy, really happy. Because you seek comforting patterns that may be quite destructive, and achieve short term hits in terms of comfort/reassurance that are long term making you miserable. It takes a while, several years perhaps, before you can make the link between what is really making you very unhappy and your fixations on how x y z should be done, or how such and such is impossible if such and such has happened.

At the moment, my "impossible" is that the house will ever be clean and tidy, and that is actually holding me back from cleaning it in a reasonable step by step way, or accepting that middle range tidy might be a good thing.

So today I'm focusing on some small steps and thinking, that is going to help but I'm not going get upset when perfection is not reached at the end of the day. The great is the enemy of the good.

So, back to my bedroom. Big load of washing to bring down, and the hoovering and some clothes to hang up. And basin. whoa, don't want to give myself too much.. and get sidetracked.

still pressing on today.
dd remarked how messy house is when dh away. that will be the "tackling" big issues that happens when he is away. But NOT what I wanted to hear. As far as I am concerned he is only concerned by superficial tidying and never does any clearing or sorting at all. it actually makes me very cross, but it has spurred me on to work harder today at making a "visual" difference to the mess.

first step the paper clutter and the sports bags in the hall which were going into the car.

Not much going on in here, sadly.

done nothing today but slack around.
the landing is pretty clear though, still haven't done the christmas stuff in the loft though
a grocery order arrived, so I feel a bit more organised on that front, but then there isn't anywhere proper to put things away.
Although the freezer being defrosted a month ago has helped A LOT. So I can fill it up now with new stuff and be more meal plannery.

Hi everyone, I had a friend visit yesterday with her parents (who are my parents friends as well) and this was the perfect pressure for me to tidy tidy tidy! I also did quite a few tidying and cutting back garden jobs.

What was good for this big tidy up, was my Dh’s help. I can get stuck into certain jobs like sweeping and mopping and starting in one corner and working around the room. But I had such big mental blocks with starting to clear away Christmas decs. But thankfully Dh sorted lots of the jobs I’ve been blocked on.

The kitchen unit tops were still cluttered though!

I think the bit that felt great was filling bags of rubbish. I filled bags and bags! It was satisfying. The rubbish gets mixed up with all the mess and toys on the floors!

Me and Dh recovered a dining room chair. This is something I’ve wanted to do for years. The chairs are solid and nice enough but they had cream fabric padding and my kids have spilled so many things on them! I took off the old fabric and had to remove hundreds of staples and washed the foam pads. I had the new fabric ready to go, I got some leatherette from eBay. I definitely needed Dh to help though as you need to pull the new fabric really tight and staple it back on. So one is done and one is ready to be covered with the fabric and two more need staples removed.

Well, 2 chairs are covered and out back together with the screws holding the seat part in position. I’m happy with how they look, 2 more to go!

*put

Nothing happening here at the moment. Well done Nettle on the freezer!
Down good for you re the visitors and the chairs! Well done!!

Dd has a year 7 World Book Day thing which I'm currently researching and planning etc. Hard. Work!! Should be good though :)

World book day used to be very fun, Solo makes parenting feel worthwhile. I didn't realise your dd is Year 7, that is an exhausting year for her, so much to take in, new social life etc.

Downudderer I know so well what you mean about the Christmas decs... dh has come back now from business trip, and I'm hoping he will unblock them from the landing!!! But I don't think he will...not really top priority for him, invoices etc are (he runs a business from our house)

I've had a massive setback in that I've lost my debit card, yet again, afer doing the internet grocery order on Saturday...grrr..no sooner than I organise myself the result is some other big fail..that's three debit cards I've got through recently, by mislayign and then finding them when I've cancelled them...

the cracked mirror from Christmas is still outside, waiting to be wrapped up and taken to tip, and the front garden is still frightfully dilapidated. But we have food in the fridge, and clear kitchen table. And front room is tidyish.

I got rid of a big bag of stuff to charity yesterday!! 10 million more things to sort through.

that's brilliant Solo don't give up

I'mkeeping going with getting rid of paper when itcomest hrough the door, especially newspapers/cuttings of interest, and catalogues (all go in the recycling now)

ds2 is keeping up with recycling bin

I hoovered dd floor and my bedroom floor today, and wiped worktops in kitchen.

otherwise, not much cleared. porch stillterrible and front garden and xmas decs STILL on the landing!!