#4 - Hoarding, Sorting, Organising, Friendship, Understanding. All On One Thread.

[Solo]

Are you a hoarder? Are you in a mess, untidy, disorganised? A bit lazy with housework? Are you are ill and not coping with the housework? Are you totally overwhelmed? Are you are emotionally attached to items for whatever reason and can't let them go? Are you unable to just ask someone in for a cuppa at a moments notice or do dread the meter reader asking for access?
Do you find yourself nodding whilst reading any of this? If you have a combination of any or all of these things or something completely different, please come and join us. There is no judging. We have something in common here 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 4.

Luna I also really wish I had the tidy as you go habit! One thing I've noticed though is that if I start from tidy, then I feel more motivated to tidy. Unfortunately if I let anything go then it's back on the super slippery slope to trash house I go.

Today I mowed the lawn, hooray, and broke the lawnmower, boo. Also made and ate ice cream so the diet also going badly.

Glumy, selfcare is part of my drive to declutter...and I am trying to channel that selfcare into diet.
I have been eating a lot to cheer myself up, and now I am trying to think a positive way about eating less, or at least only when I am hungry.
Unfortunately gardening makes me very hungry
Still I got away with snacking only on some walnuts and a piece of cheddar at."snacktime". I suppose that a win over the gingernuts.

So today I have bagged up nearly four bags of rubbish from garden, and I can see the floor of the greenhouse And found the missing bit of the pressure washer.
And rewarded myself sowing some lobelia and nicotiana seeds to start off in the kitchen warmth. Prepared rest of seed trays in greenhouse to warm up for a few days before sowing anything. My greenhouse is v small btw, 4ft by 4ft?

Sorry, I meant to say I had made the error of using food to cheer myself up, it wasnt meant to be a recommendation.

Glumy, but how clever to make icecream, what kind was it? Homemade is much more nutritious. I used to make lovely icecream when I was young and fit, ironically the fatter I get, the less I bother to cook nice things.

Just googled nicotiana

Night scented flowers? Tempted to try these on the balcony.

They are quite reliable and you can buy them from lots of garden centres as small bedding plants (they fill out considerably when planted, during summer)
Night scented stocks are small insignificant flowers but can be sprinkled as seed in amongst other pot plants, no need for greenhouse. And there is always rose or peppermint scented geraniums, incredibly easy once you have planted them as small plants ...one each is enough, they grow enormous and generally get through the frost (in London)

Congratulations to the gardeners!

Today's plan went south. Seeing the sunshine I thought I'd make a start clearing up in what used to be called our garden. (Its pretty much a derelict disaster zone) Tipped a couple of containers of water and picked up two bits of plastic before realizing we seemed to have developed a small grey moat.

So the would be gardening turned into mission to unblock the drain (thank you neighbours for putting food down it again!) and clearing up the subsequent floating food and fat. Yuk! The immediate blockage is cleared but I know from experience that if I don't follow up by getting some help to lift the manhole cover and rod the whole thing, it'll be back.

Tipped the contents out of and washed out twenty 2litre cartons and crushed them, plus four boxes, a box of empty cans and a plastic container (that's been resilient to leaving) and took them to the supermarket recycling bins as wrong point to be putting them out for collection.

Also chucked out one extra large frozen meal that I'd felt obliged to consider eating, as no one else is prepared to because they're not sure if they'd thawed and refrozen it or not. I hate and struggle over food waste, so chucking it when it might have been edible, is progress for me.

I'm still aching badly from Sunday and one of my knees is now almost the size of my thigh which put paid to any further excavating.

That sounds like my sort of "gardening" Elle [rueful] the drains, the recycling, the food that isnt quite edible but might be. I keep finding sprouting onions in dark places. And it being all quite dangerous...tetanus risk and lifting things which are too heavy and the despair over errant machines.grr.
Getting to the seed packet stage feels a big reward for all this. Although the rubbish leaving is a reward in itself.

@Nettleskeins

They are quite reliable and you can buy them from lots of garden centres as small bedding plants (they fill out considerably when planted, during summer) Night scented stocks are small insignificant flowers but can be sprinkled as seed in amongst other pot plants, no need for greenhouse. And there is always rose or peppermint scented geraniums, incredibly easy once you have planted them as small plants ...one each is enough, they grow enormous and generally get through the frost (in London)

I've got about three pots to fill on a balcony, not much space, so need to choose carefully.

Scented geraniums sound good.

Can't be too expensive as has to be replaced. Prefer to avoid climbing plants as I'll have to get sticks etc.

I'm going to have one more 30 minute session of clearing some paperwork. I am definitely a night owl!

Elle

Sounds like the water board or someone needs to have a word with your neighbours, that's awful.

www.thompson-morgan.com/p/nicotiana-eau-de-cologne-mixed/P4259TM?gclid=Cj0KCQiA1pyCBhCtARIsAHaY_5cJ588zMYfkCMjJeFYdHD7VH5BuXok_MZH2vDHIT4kVInoGO2zk2qwaAuJ-EALw_wcB

Plug plants rather than seeds.
Nicotiana sylvestris is very tall and rangy and a bit too tobacco-ey.

Elle, I posted something about my drain but my battery went before it loaded,
I had a terrible blocked drain outside which I rodded and poured boiling water and drain cleaner on (open gulley old.fashioned type) in the end I had to call Dynorod, they jetted it, due to a partial collapse of an old section.from the rain water gulley, bringing stones and mud, tree roots etc. They said I needed to dig up the alley to relay the rain water section.
I didnt, decided it was a money making scheme on part of Dynorod to "put a camera down". It has been fine for last three years, touchwood. But I am glad I paid for it to be jetted. Two manholes blocked, front and back. It must have built up over years.

They said it was "due to a partial collapse" but I think that wss just an aspect, grease, detergent.conditioner all build up the blockages over time.

Nettle thank you, that looks grand.

I've done about an hour paperwork and now I feel brighter about house work tomorrow as I will plan the balcony too!

@Elleherd so impressed with all your efforts - getting rid of the last bits and emptying out containers and recycling is on my list for the weekend. Plus letting go of the food. I relate to that agonising over waste.

I hope Spring is inspiring everyone. I dream of making a lovely garden but this year might set my sights realistically, see what survived and maybe growing sunflowers with DC.

@Nettleskeins

Glumy, but how clever to make icecream, what kind was it? Homemade is much more nutritious. I used to make lovely icecream when I was young and fit, ironically the fatter I get, the less I bother to cook nice things.

It was actually breakfast cereal ice cream, which sounds made but is lovely. You soak cereal flakes in cream, condensed milk and golden syrup, strain out the flakes, whip the cream to soft peaks, fold the cereal flakes back in and freeze. No churning involved. I used all my gu ramekins to freeze it in individual portions so I don't have to worry about it setting too hard to scoop, although the condensed milk keeps it soft anyway. The purpose of the exercise was to use up some slightly stale crunchy nut cornflakes, although I undoubtedly spent more on buying the cream and condensed milk than I saved by not just chucking the cornflakes. Elle oh no, blocked drains are a nightmare. Well done for sorting it, sounds very grim.

Unfortunately the old fashioned and overwhelmed drains and sewers of several properties (same landlord) sort of culminate here, (as in they all join up to go into larger pipes) and lots of unsuitable material is put down sinks and toilets from above and one side of us.
(cause of the sewage flooding mentioned in joining post – I have a gutted bathroom and hall to completely rebuild)) They've been jetted before but it doesn't solve the problem because those causing it don't care.
Large amounts of cooking oil, especially when the contents of a deep fat fryer get changed, is the biggest issue with yesterday’s drain.
Involving the landlord just results in us being counter accused of being the ones causing it, and damaging our property, then trying to blame it on the specific culprits. It seems to suit the landlord (not keen on maintenance!) and I'm in no position to argue, and there's always retaliation from the people doing it.

I get the irony of a hoarder saying we have different standards of behaviour, but we do.
As theirs isn't going to change and it's us affected, the only workable option is for me to accept regularly checking and maintaining the drains and sewers.
As I'm behind and struggling with everything else, unsurprisingly I tend to forget to do it regularly enough to prevent these things. (Seems to need doing every 12 to 16 weeks, but hopefully it’ll eventually be part of routine maintaining our home and garden. A kind of FlyLadies bigger cousin.

Envious of the bulb planting and Ice cream making! Well done!

(the 'all go into larger pipes' is actually go into culverts first)

Elle have I got this right, you are paying for all that? That's shocking.

Have you contacted the council for advice? It sounds like an enviromental health issue, considering all the background with the sewage etc. The landlord IS responsible for maintaining the property...for example if you had no electricity cables or no roof. Surely this falls into the same category? Oil could be collected in containers for example, and put into the bin rather than down the drain, has the landlord been proactive about suggesting this to the other tenants?
It sounds like he/she [landlord]is being appalling and at some point it is going to backfire on him.
Does CAB offer any impartial advice?

Little bursts of activity have brought about small amounts of progress today. Better than nothing!

It's a big landlord with some clout, able to appear above board while actually manipulating all sorts.
Most of what they do isn't actually technically illegal, though much is immoral.

Yes the councils been involved but they weren't keen once they knew who the landlord was. They place a lot of people for housing with them.
They did look at it but 'coincidentally' boxes were immediately ticked through jetting and letters to all, including me, though without solving anything longer term so they were happy to accept landlord stating it to be 'just' a neighbour dispute and felt there wasn't a need for their involvement.

I went to CAB because of that. They're a charity and I discovered ours solved their funding cuts by allowing landlords to fund an advisor. Mine has decided to do this. Tenants of those landlords can only use the funded advisor and have to have an open shared file with the landlord (regardless of if it's a housing issue btw .) I found that far more shocking than the original situation tbh. But once it came to light it didn't seem like a good idea to go any further.

By then things had got horrible.
To cut a long story short what happened trying to enforce any supposed rights, eventually lead to the suggestion my 'tenancy suitability' could be 'reviewed' from the landlord.
From the culprits: our normally quiet enough road temporally turned into an episode of Shameless! It was left to the police to sort it out. Their advice was to move.

I put my head down and landlord said no more about the 'dispute.'
Toughed out the situation with the neighbours until it quietened down, and decided accepting maintaining the drainage and sewage system might well be the sensible option going forward!

Tbf, we're not allowed to dispose of cooking oil in the rubbish or food waste here. It's supposed to be put in containers and taken to the waste depot. If recyclable containers are spotted in the waste they tag and refuse to take the whole bin.
We don't use much oil in cooking so it just gets eaten here!

Luna how did the no more nails vs laminate go?

Cherry Margo gardens are great as long as one's able to maintain them. You're not wrong about overwhelm.

Finite the sunflowers and survivors sounds like a sensible plan.

Today was just two very small boxes and contents decluttered, but mainly because I started on the first flaking window frame today. Sanded it down, filled in all the gaps, sanded down the filler and it's now even and paintable. Really pleased as wasn't that sure it wouldn't all fall apart when I sanded it.
Bought paint in celebratory anticipation.

It's blowing a hooley out there, so saying prayers for the fences tonight.

Elle I haven't done it, partly because I don't feel too good - .i have a range of chronic issues - but also, I want to leave the balcony door open when I do it. I imagine the glue smell is pretty strong?

It's been blowing a hoolie since this morning...I live on a high floor so there's nothing to block the wind before it hits here. It would be chaos if I opened the door. Looks like high winds in London till Sunday with much worse tomorrow!

Sorry about that landlord. I always think moving is difficult because the world is so full of legally permitted horribleness, you could end up with the same thing. The council refusing to collect oil though....how would someone without a car manage? I never fry anything though.

Would it be weird to dry some stalks from mint leaves and use them as pot pourri? I was chopping mint at dinner and it struck me that might be nice? Or is it weird?

Sorry your health's not where you want it. I've never used No more Nails so not sure about fumes. Sticks like sh*t does want ventilation!

Allegedly tipping the binmen to remove oil is what the well heeled do, and good customers at the chippy can give it to them to be disposed of with theirs.

Mint pot pourri is definitely a thing. Lemon mint works well.