The Hoarders Anonymous #5

[CherryMargo]

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Is your house/flat in a complete mess? Do you often feel overwhelmed and helpless when it comes to sorting it out? Do you procrastinate a lot? Do you struggle to declutter due to emotional attachment or decision-making fatigue? Are you embarrassed to invite people in?

Then you and us have a lot in common!

Join in for advice, encouragement and support. Here we share our struggles no matter how big, and celebrate our progress no matter how small. Welcome to thread number five! 🤗

P. S. Here are the links to various methods mentioned in previous threads:

The FlyLady Cleaning Method by Marla Cilley
The Organised Mum Method by Gemma Bray
The KonMari Method by Marie Kondo
The Getting Things Done Method by David Allen

I fully cleared out my fridge crisper drawer - fairly hideous. Also dumped some out of date stuff from the rest of the fridge.

What an amazing list @CherryMargo. You must love walking into your sparkling kitchen now!

I don’t seem to be able to stick to any routines long term but the brief periods when I have been following a plan of some kind (even loosely) have been great and when you’re doing it regularly then it doesn’t matter if you don’t get it all spotless, over the days and weeks it does get better and better. Laundry, dishwashing and meals are so embedded in my daily routines that they are fine, it’s just all the other stuff. I do love reading other people’s lists.

You are all going great guns! Well done :)

Thanks for the food thread link; I think I'm just going to do it myself. Need to go and put the slow cooker on before bed, so no long post from me tonight.

I can't seem to find the energy or motivation to do anything much here at home - when I'm actually here. So today, all I've done is a wash load, and folded some clothes, and put them into a couple of drawers! Yes, really! Cooked a meal.

I feel like you Miaowse...some routines are easier...others like putting out clothes for tomorrow or even folding them (or weekly meal plan I cannot seem to get my head around. There is plenty of food and clean clothes though!

Today I was energetic because a friend helped me so I rushed around before she arrived.
Shook out a runner and beat the dust out, outside
Two loads of laundry on the line and radiators to air after
Swept floors downstairs
Washed up stray pots and pans and cups
Cleared worktops
Shook out cat blanket
Dusted the piano with pledge
Dusted a window frame in front room
More picture frame tops dusted.
Another door frame dusted
Took out rubbish, recycled batteries in a separate named bag on top of recycling bin (I'd forgotten you CAN do this in our borough)
Cleaned cat bowls and dog bowls
Wiped worktop in utility
Hoovered under sofa cushions. (Popcorn)
Folded up some blankets for watching TV
Put two books away in bookcase instead of leaving strewn around after reading

Still haven't reached my bedroom though. Too far away to think about. Hmm. I did bring down some laundry from the bathroom up there though.

We battle on against the tide!

There IS other stuff going on in my house too..my day does sound v dull...I've only put in the sorting hoarding stuff on this thread, apologies..

That should've said that I'm going to prepare a meal and put it into the slow cooker so that I can take some to mum's tomorrow.

Solo you are doing more than enough already, you don't need to feel that is too little. Last time I (tried) to look after my mum when she came out of hospital I ended up in tears..it was absolutely draining trying to deal with TWO households and the demands.

Slow cooker sounds a brilliant compromise though.

((Hugs)) Nettle I hope everything else is okay.

@Nettleskeins

Solo you are doing more than enough already, you don't need to feel that is too little. Last time I (tried) to look after my mum when she came out of hospital I ended up in tears..it was absolutely draining trying to deal with TWO households and the demands.

I know, and I dread wearing myself out completely, as I need to go to work next week. Dd will stay with mum for the week, and I will go there each day (probably) after work to get her food sorted.

It's all fine here.Solo..good other stuff..dog cuddling chatting talking about Mayoral election, phone call "other stuff" I mean a nice day.

Not surprising you did not get as much done today. You were so busy the day before.

Last night I ate a large meal really late and my tummy complained, I was still awake at gone 4. Hence I have not done much today as half was spent asleep.

Have done:
washing up and put it away
Fed one child three meals and pudding
Found the crocheted blanket squares and put in a pile
Tidied some yarn
Folded blankets and tidied the sofa cushions/duvet.
Identified two things to go in the charity bag.
Wiped cooker top
Started collecting the dry washing into the basket.
Put two items of shopping away.
Not spectacular but stopping things getting worse.
Edited shopping delivery.

I got a lot done yesterday so expected a lull today.

Morning down. Well done on getting the mattresses out.

Hope your new day brings more progress.

Finally got a boy settled. Oops spoke too soon...Need to stop faffing and go to sleep.

Oh my gosh. My kerbside pickup up got taken this morning, I thought it was going to go yesterday,vso when it didn't go I was stressed! But now it feels amazing that it's gone. I put three extra things on the pile yesterday! So lots has gone.

Today I've put three bags of clothing in a charity bin. I hadn't realized there was a charity bin in the car park of the shopping center. So it was so great to find that bin! I was going to try and give the clothes to h and m.

I took my library book back.

I've got paperwork to face today.

I've faced the paperwork, it's emailed off, lets hope it works!

I haven't got anything hanging over my head at the moment, and I'm trying to feel good about that.

I'm not really all over my housework, but I'm trying to be balanced between 'perfectionism' and 'good enough' and some chill out/relax/unwind time.

I haven't popped in for ages, hi everyone, lots of new names and some familiar people too.
Nothing much to report, I had a good tidy round prior to my OP last October, so it was nice to recuperate in a semi clean and tidy house.
Went through it all again in December, gave a few bits away on the local Facebook page, ebayed some bits and pieces, haven't bought anything new, but the house is back to looking like a dirty cluttered hovel.
I upped my game from washing clothes, to rack to wear, never putting anything away to my fabulous new system. Which is, take fresh clothes from wardrobe/drawers, wear them, decide if I want to keep them (do they still fit, are they fugly or holey), then when they've been washed, pop what I don't want into a charity bag or the bin.
Except I haven't kept up with it. At all. So other than some very baggy knickers that I binned, the spare bed is covered in clothes, and I can't remember which ones were to be kept.
In other news, 4 months after my hernia repair I have another popped up. And I've now seen a new hand specialist, two years after my fall, having been told it's broken/not broken/ arthritis/ not arthritis/ tendonitis, seen several physios etc etc, to be told that actually when I fell, I snapped a tendon in my hand.
So I'm now on a waiting list for surgery, and then I might be able to vacuum my stairs at last!
I'm in awe of you all, managing to get anything done at all with so much other stuff going on, and sometimes I'm so cross with myself, I just have to manage my chronic illnesses and myself, (and a partner lol), but hat off to all of you with families and your hard work looking after everyone.
I've skim read some posts, and seen bubble bath mentioned, I don't use it but seem to be gifted it all the time. U can't bear to chuck it, so I've decanted it into hand wash bottles and use it that way.

I have too many t shirts and I should get rid of some of them. I don't know what system I should use to decide which to keep and which to get rid of! Silly I know. I'll try and mull it over.

I bought a shelving unit for my son's wardrobe. His wardrobe can get more organized now! I'll put it together tomorrow. I'll rip up the box it came in and recycle it.

I've put the shelving unit together. It didn't take very long. I'm pushing against my natural state of procrastinating.

Cherrytree that second hernia in 4 months happened to my DH two years ago...he now avoids heavy lifting. It was all triggered by a very very large plant pot!! That sounds a great system for clothes, sometimes just wearing them in the light of day can make one focus on whether they do suit or not. That's how I managed to get rid of my favourite , but now sagging, skirt.. even work wear can be worn for a day and if it feels uncomfortable you can make a decision that day! Which stops all this churning
Today I'm focussing on keeping up with my seedlings...they need watering and potting up, esp sunflowers. I'm ashamed to say my nicotianas and lobelia which I was so proud of germinating, got whipped away in a gust of wind when I was sunning them outside, so tiny I didn't notice seed tray had gone over till it was too late. However I am phlegmatic about gardening and other things still need my attention like dill and coriander.

My other goal today is to pair up all the 1000s of socks. It is beyond a joke we are all wearing odd socks daily...as long as it is warm it will do has got us through winter, but perhaps going forward I need to up our game.

Had to give back the computer temporarily and couldn’t post, so some of this is responding to posts a few days ago.

Nettleskeins Wow! Thank you so much for the comprehensive plant knowledge! I wasn’t expecting you to go to those lengths, though it’s very much appreciated, and I’ll be combing through and returning frequently. They have honeysuckle and both light purple and white buddleia and I’m sprouting them a very deep purple one from a cutting. Have also got a pretty tough winter jasmine that looks hopeful.
Ds at 5. was discovering quite brutally that being seen as ‘different’ wasn’t acceptable at school. I’d been having increasing concerns, but no one else did.
Afraid as soon as he went to school things went very wrong and any hope of friends, educational normality (or any normality) went out of the window. But at the time school and LEA insisted assessment wasn’t needed and ASD was “incredibly rare” but Fil and damage from it, wasn’t!

Clara Ds here is adult and the spikey development is ongoing. It’s still an uphill battle. The better news is that’s because all his energy goes into masking well at work. He tolerates change all day, or hides his responses well, then comes home and doesn’t!
I know things have changed, though not enough, but I’m still in awe of all of you who manage to successfully navigate your DC’s with SN’s through the school system.

Cherry Margo that’s impressive!
Solo Please don’t feel you don’t do enough. I’ve been propping up another household as well as this one (badly) for years and trying to stay in work. There’s often no choice in it, but it’s a hiding to nothing mentally and physically. You can only do so much, everyone starts to see absolutely everything as your job, there’s a permanent exhaustion level, and splitting your mind across the needs of two households sounds simple enough, but also takes its toll. I’m supposed to be studying to keep myself up to date, but now desperately behind and something’s had to give. Now that I need help, I look around and there’s so many reasons (some are fair enough but…) why almost no one can and a lot is expected in exchange for doing anything.

cherrytree63 Hello from a newbie. I don’t think there’s any ‘just’ in managing chronic illnesses.

Stuff’s still getting moved into temporary storage here, but it’s going so slowly and so much meltdown avoidance, feeding, listening etc, to get basic assistance, so I’m trying a different method.

As of today, I’m making a two hour slot a day, more if it can be scraped together; to sorting, getting things into the right rooms and like with like, then bagging and boxing/reboxing, and hopefully some chucking, ready for the weekend.
It’s the only time I can really get help moving the stuff that I can’t manage alone, and I so don’t want it all just shifted as is, as I fear something else happening and getting even further stuck. (how it’s always gone before, building up and up)
There’s three weeks and three weekends left before the first contractor’s in. It should be enough, but at current pace it doesn’t feel like it is.
Yesterday managed to re-home two of three carrier bags of stuff, and bin the other. Half a carrier bag of paper to recycling.
Also managed to almost finish mending a chest of drawers that has just come apart. Hoping to be able to finish that today.

On a lighter note, I was just remembering that this time last year Ds2 18 (ASC) and I watched the online release of Saga of Ice and Fire with will Ferrell and Rachel Adams, as ds2 was/is obsessed with Eurovision. We had such a laugh together...and now that I think of it, a lot of my time nowadays is spent ticking him off about X y z , and for not being helpful.
But we do have such a great time sometimes... I think that is what it all really boils down to, I want to enjoy sharing this house not feel resentful or overburdened.

Lots of great things happening.

Hi cherry tree. So sorry to hear that you are having health issues.

I got my flat reasonably tidy and it went backwards as I got a regression in health. Also starting the big resort of mucky messyness.

I remembered to get up for morning prayer...

I have just sat down for breakfast and to finish reading others' posts. I was determined to get on with something before reading though so:
Dry washing collected from around the living room and two basketsful delivered to dd's room.

One load of washing in the machine and set going.

One census pack opened still only person one and two so will use it for person three and they can lump it. It appears what I am asking for does not exist. (Already filled in a large print form amending all the twos to threes so will finish that and post)

Wiped cooker top

Scrubbed some of the washing that was soaking, resoaped it to draw out the stains further. This turned my hands bright red. They have returned to pale greyish now.

Put the cardboard box that the herbs came in at a bottom of a carrier bag to support the plastic pots of compost ingredients to be sent to ex.

Wiped the Easter eggs...(autism quirk)

Everywhere is a complete utter mess. I need to stop looking at the whole as it is overwhelming and try to get one or two things done. When I feel like this I think anything done is ok as even if it is not the most important thing, it is better than nothing.

Right I am not coming back to this thread until I have done five more steps to tidiness, however small.

cherrytree63 Hope they get your hand sorted soon.

Nettleskeins My system for spare socks is once a year just before the kids go back to school. I dump all single socks and any older looking pairs of socks in the bin and only keep paired good condition socks and the new socks I just bought. Over the year it builds up again but the first few weeks in September are socktastic

Today I cleaned the medicine cabinet, then got carried away and cleared the top of the medicine cabinet and the top of the boiler and then cleaned behind and around toilet and sink including all the pipes and lower tiles that you don’t always see. It took ages, as my mobility is bad and I can only clean from a chair. But I did it! So I will class the bathroom as complete. As in no further sorting is needed, just need to keep on top of the cleaning.

Off to hang more laundry.