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 continued to avoid decluttering but I did

Sweep floor
Wipe worktops
Cook a stew for later
Cook something for lunch (actually, that.decluttered veg and freezer stuff)
Keep going with recycling
Wash the jeye cloths
2 dog walks one long (exercise)

Yes paperwork and photos take up so much time and you have no obvious change in the cupboard space unless you are lined up with a shredder. Although it makes you feel good inside.... the invisible decluttering I mean...

A rainy afternoon...I love them. So cosy.

Did a bit more desk sorting.
Swept then anti-bac wiped the grubby bit of kitchen floor under the cooker and sink.
Cleaned some grubby kitchen cupboard doors.
Folded dry washing
Put away dry washing
Hung wet washing
Put on another wash (bit of a gamble with the current weather, but the pile was stressing me out)
Answered a few work emails
Painted my nails

Decluttered the tomato plant by picking and sharing the first ripe tomato.

Washed dd's uniform trousers. Hung up those and the rest of the load of washing
Sorted the dry from need airing washing and distributed the airing washing around the living room hanging off bits of furniture
Took dry washing up to dd's room.
Buggered about on one leg again physio (one of dd's exercises) as Dr Michael Mosely was repeated on pick of the week. I can stand on one leg for four minutes, before muscles ache too much. Was just standing on two legs marvelling at this saying it was longer than standing on two legs when I toppled over backwards onto the wall proving my point. Bloody stretchy veins.

Very tasty it was too. Grown from a squishy tomato.

I love the smell of tomato plants and the tomatoes look delicious.

I have rubbish balance. Is being able to stand on one leg one of these things that predicts good health/longevity, like being able to stand up from a cross legged position without touching the floor?

They look tasty!

I can balance ok on one leg for a while - I don’t dread the odd tree pose in my gentle yoga class either :o but the standing up from cross legged thing? LOL nope. I can barely manage it when allowed to touch the floor to be honest 😳🤣

No decluttering here today but I did get most of the cleaning done in a rush then went out had a lovely afternoon and came back to finish the cleaning. Back to decluttering tomorrow.

I’ve binned two bottles of brightly coloured nail polish; I like the idea of bright polish but it really doesn’t suit me.

Three trial packs of different children’s continence products to go.

Bunch of credit card statements gathered together, ready to shred tomorrow, plus popped some empty envelopes and non-sensitive papers in the recycling.

I've got laundry on, will hang it out when it's done. I am aiming to get lots of laundry done and get rid of as many items as I can bare. I can see we own too many clothes and it just creates chaos in my laundry room. I think I've got too many kids towels as well, the hooded type. The kids are too big for them now, and they're pretty warn out. I might cut a couple up as cleaning rags.

When we cut down a branch on the weekend it had a snakes skin in it! I'm sending it into school for show and tell! I saw three kangaroos today and a pod of dolphins! Australia feels like england right up until you see a kangaroo just hanging out!

Pet run done and a few hours left before second set of contractors come and I find out if they can get at everything they need. Keeping fingers crossed also for good ones who know what they're doing.

Dumb question but do kangaroos leave pungent poo around like foxes?

last day of confinement.

washing is on.
school has been emailed to let them know he has been inside for 9 days (rain stopped us going out anyway, even though we could have due to the autism)
ds has been fed breakfast, drink, snack
I am shattered and need to sleep but need to check up on some appointments first.

enjoying reading other peoples acchievements and thanks down for the encouragement about doing little bits and it getting better bit by bit.

I've taken 4 days off work to really focus on decluttering and spring cleaning. Morning 1 and I think it will take longer than that! I'm just halfway through the surface in the kitchen diner where everything accumulates. And the stuff I'm putting back where it belongs only highlights the jobs ahead (The arts and craft shelf. That drawer, and THAT drawer).

Chillies....it can take a year to really get going with decluttering...it isn't just cleaning and tidying..

I feel as if I have made enough progress after the last three years to even think about the "back loft". In fact it makes me realise how far I've come to realise I am looking forward to it. I have no idea what is in there which makes me realise that most of it must be pretty useless cos I haven't needed it so far.

On that note I've bought a spanner to repair blocked basin waste (three months later??). I know there is another spanner somewhere but neither I nor DH know where, which just about sums up the pointless of acquiring/hoarding equipment you cannot find when you need it!! Grrr.

I think kangaroo poo is like rabbit droppings but bigger!

You're right nettleskeins, and also I should remember this isn't 'day 1', I've been already underway in a slow journey of grappling with my relationship with stuff. The decluttering I've done to date has been in the margins of my life - weekend etc. Bit by bit, some slow progress and then no progress at all for ages.

I wish you luck on the journey to the back loft. and the DIY which is even more scary!

I've had a hideous morning tackling the blocked pipe in the loft basin. Six soaked towels, sulphurous stench...two different augurs. It would be satisfying in a weird way if my DH hadn't pronounced that we need to get a "professional"...not now when I've covered every surface with slime and our bedroom is so dusty and grotty. Typical man!!! I'm behaving slightly oddly I know but is it just me now determined to unblock it to the bitter end???!! having invested an entire morning in this plus an afternoon washing floors and towels it feels like giving up to find a plumber...

Nettle skeins sounds like a bit of a nightmare. Not sure what I'd do in those circumstances. Good luck with it.

Chilled you'll get there. You can get quite a lot done in 4 days if you set to. You might not see the difference but it will still have happened.

I've been selling things since mid December and have made £600aprox but you wouldn't know it to look at, because things are still there but it's one now instead of three piled on top of each other and the rammed cupboard when opened I can now see what's in there and get to something without taking a ton of stuff out first. It's just a cupboard now not a real life Tetris.

Susan yay last day!
Today I gave up on selling a thing. It's almost obsolete now and nobody wanted it. But I don't feel bad because it's plastic so I recycled it and used the storage pouch for storing hair dressing scissors and combs which were hanging around loose.

I've calmed down, dusted half the bedroom, thrown the smelly towels and augers out the window ( hopefully missing wildlife) and wiped floor round basin. Put rubber gloves over taps to stop people using them. And will think about a plumber tomorrow. Tomorrow is another day.
More recycling out.
£600!! Well done Amber, that is a tidy sum.
Enough to pay for a plumber certainly although it isn't the cost ..it's the bother

I was mid way through typing a long message and my phone rang and I’ve lost the message so here goes my second attempt.

I didn’t get my shredding done and can’t do it now as it is too noisy (child is very bothered by the noise). I also haven’t (yet) done any of the important things on today’s to do list. It’s mostly making phone calls so I’ll roll them over til tomorrow. I did another important admin task that wasn’t on my list. It’s been taking up head space for months so great to get it out of the way. Maybe I’ll write it on my list just so I can tick it off

Nettleskein - commiserations on the plumbing problem. I don’t blame you for wanting to finish it off yourself as you must have done the worst of it already, but I guess there’s only so much time and energy you want to spend, so perhaps delegating to a plumber might be worth it after all...

Chillied - all the cliches are true: it took more than 4 days to get into a mess so it will take more than 4 days to sort it out; every little helps; it’s a marathon not a sprint; progress not perfection; doing something is better than nothing etc etc. Well done for getting stuck in and I bet you’ll see real progress after 4 days!

BlackeyedSusan hooray for the end of isolation. How’s the one leg balancing going?

Amber that’s a very impressive total. Did you have any big wins? I gave up on the selling idea but did get a message to say the charity shop made a respectable amount from my donations (I signed up for gift aid so they write & tell you how much they raised).

Solo what’s the verdict on the new car? Did you decide to stick with the one you chose or swap to a different one?

DownUdderer - good idea to cull clothes. I watched a very persuasive minimal mom video where she talked about how everything in your wardrobe should be an option. So she recommended getting rid of (or at least removing from your wardrobe) anything that doesn’t fit right now, anything uncomfortable, anything that needs to be mended/altered etc.

Elleherd you are very overdue some good luck with the contractors so hopefully the people who turned up today have been efficient and competent.

SingtotheSky it sounds as though you are doing really well! Enjoy the family visit.

Shopping is coming soon. Last minute tidy up coming after this post.

Killed a spider which led to some bathroom tidying. I "should" have been doing the hall. Chucked an old bathmat that blocked the washing machine with fluff and some of the detritus that has gathered around the pile of stuff in the bathroom that DD has collected, put on the shelf and knocked off and bits that did not quite make the bin.

Wiped down the tiles next to /under the sink and scrubbed a bit of the wooden boards near the bathroom door. Had to stop when ds needed the loo. This is actual progress.

Spider buried at sea in a bog roll shroud.

Lost the kitchen floor under shopping.

Wow! You are all doing so much!

I did actually go for a different, better spec car. Hopefully, it is the right choice! :) The good thing is that they're taking my old girl in px. The bad thing about that was...where's the logbook?! I'd had a search around yesterday, no luck. But I have a large Kallax type unit which I'd emptied some years ago , and filled back up with random rubbish, and I went through each cubby and found it!! The unit looks a bit tidier, but I really need to empty it all and get rid of the crap. I did get a load of paper waste, and a small bag of rubbish.

Washed up earlier. Cooked a quick tea.
Going to make Dd's sandwich for school and go to bed. Tomorrow, I hope to get a minimum of 3 bags out to charity. Got to start emptying the crap from the old car ready for dropping it off next week!

Thanks Miaowse it definitely took more than 4 days to get cluttered yes...!

like your idea of writing something down just to tick it off.

I posted many pages and many days back to ask about how to sort out and deal with photos. This afternoon I've finally done it - stuck photos in albums, more or less in order. Psychologically or actually it got done because I took time off work to focus.

I think I was also nervous about the big reflection on my past that would happen when I tackled the photos. It was odd to see ex-boyfriends! One batch of photos of a holiday that was the death-knell to one relationship - I boldly threw away all of those photos except one nice one of (just) me.