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've cleaned round second bathroom taps with a toothbrush and some vinegar, also tried scrubbing mould with it. Cleaned round second loo with vinegar and coca cola. DD is out. Her room is much much better and I feel less overwhelmed by dealing with some of the smaller aspects of her "territorial grunge" and prepared to be helpful. Rage about other people is not a good emotion when cleaning, whereas "helping" is v productive.

More weeding, and planting rest of bedding plants. Dug up lots of wild Woodruff and replaced with bright red geraniums and salmon pink astilbes
More washing drying in heat outside. Dog happy to sleep all day ,it is too hot to walk!
A large item decluttered
DH has brought more books IN. at least they are secondhand

So the stuff I brought in the other day in a box, I decided to house it elsewhere in dribs and drabs because that felt like better places for it. The the box I filled with the last of the clothing which doesn't fit in the drawers. I now have ZERO piles of clothes hanging around! Never thought that would happen TBH. Very happy.

Nettleskeins did the vinegar work on the mould? I've got some hanging around from when I used to hand wash a silk dress (long since sold).

Interesting about rage for people and cleaning. We're all so different aren't we? Cleaning is my go-to if someone has given me rage, usually a job I've been putting off. I find a good scrub gets rid of the rage and the job, I end up feeling much better.

Nothing particularly specific but a few bits have been picked up, binned, washed or sort of put away in one of the heaps. Things have moved closer to where they need to go. Only a little bit of progress but progress non the less.

Also sorted appointment for DD. Now a video appointment. Really really stressed.

Amber, I think I needed bicarb too! But didn't have any. Tbh I think just scrubbing with something suitably gritty is good too. I need a harder toothbrush! How lovely to have done away with the piles...very restful on the eye.
Rage makes me go into a depression usually, only cake and hiding under duvet help then.

Susan appointments make me so anxious. I wait all day worrying or all night if they are early ones. But afterwards I wonder why I find it so difficult. Just come back from dogs rabies injection, a complete doddle (despite mislaid bank card, bus, hot journey, possible chance of dog lying down and refusing to budge or running off in green space), so now I have a 12 hour interlude of not worrying about anything. Till next appointment...(something related to relative)
I've unblocked the basin!!!! Incredible feat of engineering, located blockage 3 m along pipe with long 5m snake coil,vrealised couldn't unscrew actual pipe, reverted to 3 kettles of boiling water and a plunger method, and it WORKED...basin full of hot water for 15 minutes and it suddenly went whoosh and disappeared. The trick seems to be to get rid of all the backflow of cold water remaining in the horizontal pipe (lots of wet towels to wash) before sealing pipe again pouring in 3 kettles of hot water. No corrosive chemicals needed.

Finally catching up on the previous thread. I wouldn’t normally but I have been on since the beginning in various name changes and I feel truly at home here!

Been getting rid of loads - some games and crap science kits dismantled today

Congratulations on getting rid of the blockage finally Nettleskeins ! And to everyone else for all you ongoing efforts big and small , it all counts and is progress !!!
We have a downstairs loo that’s prone to blockages so we don’t put any paper down it now . We’ve had a man over to unblock it , normally DH sorts it out , the management company had people doing the drains in the courtyard but it’s still slow to empty sometimes .
We are trying to declutter a bit more . we have sent off the kids to grandmas and have a dump slot early sat morning . Already have a good load ready of things like the last dog crate , rags and clothes , some kitchen stuff some of which can go to reuse area we think , books , general crap I’ve been removing that can’t go to charity plus possibly a falling apart dining chair if it fits and now adding 2 old lamps that are being replaced . Will try to look into the under stairs cupboard before that as well . It’s always a mess and I need DH to help me pull all the stuff out there must be stuff that can go there always is . At least some too small /worn out shoes if nothing else . I’ve ordered more big plastic boxes to organise what we’ll keep better . There is a box of shoes that haven’t been used for a year at least I know that so maybe some of that can go !
Elsewhere I went back to the decluttered living room drawers and got out
3 more games , a dress up costume accessory, a dog Christmas collar. DS gave another puzzle that can go to charity and am considering also removing an old modelling dough kit , a sew a doll kit that doesn’t look so nice and paper plane and boats that no one has been using for years after the initial attempts . I’m definitely feeling more and more that less is more but I don’t know if the others here agree .
Last night got a bunch of admin done ; rsvpd to all DD new school induction events , filled up school forms , DH emailed various people at the old and new schools about things . Got registered for buying Wimbledon tickets , you never know we did win in the ballot one year and DH and DS went. Also dealing with the sale of our old house through lawyers ,and today the puppy finally went to the groomers and came back much smaller ,his hair was sooooo long . He looks and acts very happy I think he’s enjoying being cooler and being able to see properly ! We did the shortest yet trim on his body for the hot months . This is a breed that doesn’t deal with warm weather so well just like me so thank god there’s 3 rooms with aircon in our current rental house . It had been 7 w which is far too long because of how busy they are and now next one is scheduled for right after neutering so might have reschedule that. I have to find out from the vet how long I’ll have to leave in between I couldn’t get an answer last time I called . His new doggy daycare place does grooming though and he’s starting there next end of next week so maybe we can use them if need to . Current one is very good but increasingly busy and has raised their prices as a result we reckon. We’ve always been happy with the result and our puppy is happy to go with her so have stuck to the same so far. I’m mentally buzzing to clear more ( although maybe it’s the caffeine from my Frappuccino 😁) but my body can’t keep up unfortunately . When DH helps by carrying things around etc it is much easier although I like to sift through things in my own pace. He’s in charge of getting it out of here to dump, charity I’m grateful he does all that . In the last house when I couldn’t face the cluttered rooms upstairs we resorted into DH bringing me a few boxes at a time to look through in my bedroom and I’d feel much better doing that than being in the middle of the piles of it where I’d just feel anxiety and despair and like it was never ending !

What a relief to get the plumbing problem fixed Nettleskeins, it was definitely worth persevering!

Elleherd you have been through such an ordeal with these cowboy contractors. I really hope the worst is now behind you. I know just what you mean about the sun and rain combo causing an almost overnight jungle situation, same here.

Downudderer I love that you spent the 5 mins sorting your books after reading a post - this thread is great encouragement for me too.

Amber zero piles of clothes is exceptionally impressive. Enjoy the mental peace from the clearer space.

Susan sending calming thoughts your way and hope the appointment is ok.

SingtotheSky you seem to be making great progress, well done!

Babies Did you get another box for the scout stuff?

Solo hope things are going well with you.

Can’t easily scroll back so hope I haven’t missed any recent posters.

Things are plodding along here. I’d mislaid an important letter from my little one’s medical team, but luckily unearthed it this evening. We’ve had various medical appointments this week - good to get them done but as Susan and Nettles said they can take up a lot of mental energy. Two more tomorrow...

I’m also massively procrastinating about getting back to someone with a decision. It’s been weeks and the longer I leave it the harder it is. Really must JFDI.

I’ve made a bit of progress in the living room and the kitchen is not too dreadful (if you ignore the dumping ground in the corner). I used up a tub of frozen leftovers tonight and am defrosting some meat for tomorrow so there is a little space in the freezer for once. Some ice cream may also be decluttered later.

I’m about to load the dishwasher so it’s ready to go on once the washing machine is finished its cycle (they share plumbing so I’m wary about running them at the same time).

I’m also planning to do a bit more tidying this evening. We have the possibility of a visitor in the near future and that is a scary prospect...

Miaowse "decluttering some ice cream" I like it

Nordic loving the puppy news he sounds like such a happy little thing.

I've got the decluttering buzz too. The more I do this, the more I look at things and think I don't need this and probably wouldn't miss it if it went.

I'm finding the worst part to be making a decision to remove something from the home. Then I sit around looking at it and thinking aww but I like this thing. Then dealing with all the idiots on sales pages who haven't bothered to read the ad annoys me. Once the decision is made and the thing's gone though I'm finding I don't miss it at all, whatever it was.

Apart from where I've piled things up to sell I'm not creating any extra space but everywhere is looking less crammed and more natural.

Let go of a lot of games today. That’s definitely one of my hoarded/over-acquired items so it feels good to let go. Funnily enough it’s a lot easier now we are actually getting time to play more games (often play with DS and DH when little one is at nursery) - I’m enjoying the really decent ones that have a lot of replay value and it’s easier to let go of any that aren’t great.

I looked through 3 big boxes from the under stairs cupboard and we managed to add to the 3 pairs of shoes and a cycling helmet DH removed already :

• 2 pairs of walking shoes ( kids ones completely unworn ) + 1 kids trainers to shoe bank
• 1 pair of old Ugg boots to bin
• 1 new football to charity shop
• 1 mini football to bin
• 1 mini football to the puppy the loves it
• worn out wrist guards to bin ditto some helmet inserts we don’t know which one they belong to
• broken storage box lid

My storage boxes come next week so then putting things back in the meantime will look through the rest there might be something else to go but I think the cupboard wasn’t as bad as I thought it was just messy due to lack of better storage systems . If this was our house we could put hooks up for helmets etc . Not much to add to the dump pile but we are getting through areas !

Lots of progress being made. I agree with a couple of you who have said that once you get going with decluttering it feels easier to carry on. And you can manage a second 'sweep' and it feels mentally easier. I think for me, decluttering and getting rid of things made life easier, so it feels great to carry on with the hope that it makes things even easier. Tidying and putting away is so much easier for me now.

Today I swept up two days worth of Camelia flowers, so many come down you wouldn't believe. I put together a new wheelbarrow with the help of dh. I did two jobs in the garden I had been planning on getting done. We bought a house with a garden almost three years ago, I've never been in charge of my own big garden before. I guess I've ignored it for three years, and most of it is like a jungle now! But I am enjoying finding projects to tackle out there and bit by bit making it nicer. Garden jobs feel very enjoyable, I'm answerable to no one out there and if I leave a job half done no one knows or worries about it! It's nice to get out there at this time of year because of the cooler weather.

I've done laundry today. I had a couple of days last week of not doing any, so I will get on top of things bit by bit.

I repaired a towel today. Sewed it up, gave it some more life.

I had been thinking I needed to buy a bucket with a lid, but found one in the garage so that feels like a small win. I'm going to start collecting my veg peelings in there.

Totally agree down - life is surely easier with less stuff. I can see the difference in my youngest too - she plays more with what she’s got.

I’m barely making it out of the house at the moment mainly due to health stuff. But I don’t mind so much because I’m getting loads of decluttering done (which at least means I’m not sitting overwhelmed on the sofa so much) and that’s got to be worthwhile overall. Because when I was going out lots before I was still coming home to a messy, disorganised house. I was still having to look for stuff I’d lost every day, still knackered at the sheer amount of STUFF.

Just hope that I can continue getting things sorted and when I’m out of the house more (for example I’m looking for work now) things will have got much more streamlined and easier to maintain.

Yesterday I also swapped my youngest’s clothes over to the next size. Bagged up some for rags (need to arrange a tip run as we have others in the cupboard) and another for an icollectclothes order (ditto) and a bag of spares for nursery as they always appreciate them.

Also got a bag of board books for friend’s toddler today

Sing that's amazing progress.

Nordic well done losing some more stuff from out of the cupboard. Doesn't sound like any of it was of use to you at all.

Down that's good you found the bucket. I'm like this with clothes, cleaning products and the beauty haul. I've got so much I forget what I've got. Trying to run it all down.

My main aim at the moment is emptying the bin more often, as strange as that sounds. It's pointless leaving it until it's crammed full and difficult to take out without dropping anything. I've got a box full of bags-of-bags which I'm using as bin bags to prevent them going to landfill (well they still are but at least they've served a purpose first). The more I empty the bins the quicker the box of bags will be gone.

Argh noticed that some of my grout has been stained greenish blue - I think it’s from the viakal (?) cleaner, mustn’t have been properly cleaned off last time. I’ll have a scrub at it with pink paste tomorrow and see if that shifts it.

Very little achieved today. Yesterday I got my living room the tidiest it’s been in ages which lasted about three hours and now it’s looking like an explosion in a toy shop again.

In other news, I was so successful at running down my cupboard stash that I’ve run out of rice

Miaowse...ah the running out of staples is so counter intuitive to the minimalist mindset. I struggle with this ..I love using up things to last drop but DH finds it annoying when the cupboard has no rice or oil!
Today I have done v little except clear ds2s room of laundry,vwash it, put some rubbish from garden in a black sack, and go for a dog walk with DH. I scrubbed another bit of the bath too.
I washed up two smelly saucepans in utility too, and some cat bowls. Wiped worktops in kitchen.

well...

I got kids ready to go swimming,
organised a visit with my mum tomorrow. (serveral phone calls)
rested between yesterdays trip and tomorrows trip. (want to be able to carry on and not end up in bed for three days recovering)
managed to sort out half of the old laundry bin and throw some things away or get things ready to go to charity shop.
the bin will move to the bathroom to make roomto work on ds's decorating.
slow progress.

Yes, it definitely took me by surprise as I’m so used to having lots of extras in the cupboard! I’ll need to keep a close eye on the tinned toms.

There’s now a loose meal plan for the next week and if I stick to it we’ll be eating from the freezer three times.

I have run out of containers for leftovers and briefly considered buying more but then realised I don’t have space in the freezer for more containers so what I really need to do is eat up the stuff from the freezer thus freeing up my existing containers. Mindset shift…

I have cleaned the first floor now feel half dead but it’s done

I've got laundry on, lots of socks, we never seem to have enough socks for school! Maybe we will this week.

I've cleaned the toilet and bathroom sink. I'd procrastinated with those jobs a bit, but kicked myself up the bum this morning.

I've put in some work in the garden. I'm starting to see what I want to achieve out there. I have completely ignored the back garden for three years. I'm starting to enjoy working out there. I'm making plans and trying to work towards an end goal. It feels liberating to know how to make a goal! Daft isn't it! But now I'm more on top of the house, and with the knowledge I've gained from setting a goal and a time frame for decluttering, I can use those ideas for the garden.

My dd was unwell last week and I really got stressed. She's much much better and she'll be back to school on Monday. I'm still not completely sure how to cope with stress! But I got through the week and didn't drop too many balls!

Good work to everyone. Decluttering, cupboard organizing, using up food, cleaning taps, sorting plumbing, gardening, recycling, dealing with appointments, charity shopping. I always leave the kitchen bin until it's too full! Daft isn't it!

DownUdderer glad your DD is getting better and well done for still getting lots done when you were feeling stressed and anxious.

I’ve had a slow start to the day. I’ve folded and put away the dry washing then I hung out the wet load on the airer. I emptied the dishwasher, made a coffee and read my book while I drank it.

I ended up cleaning the flight of stairs leading down because they’d gotten just awful in the past w since DS cleaned them they’ve been vacuumed daily so I don’t know why . Also cleaned in the downstairs and did some laundry . Then looked at the cupboard pile quickly and got rid of too small tennis rackets , old balls , 2 more pairs of walking shoes will go and found a DD old little rucksack for charity . Now very tired and not wanting to continue anything at all to be honest . Maybe I will just fold laundry and wash more etc

She is in garden with friend now, very pleased her room garden and kitchen were"tidy", although her idea of tidy and clean is not mine (her room is "tidier" but still pretty manky and disorganised, and still stuffed with "projects")

Down and Nordic I hope you feel less stressed soon, I find the feelings of dread can just magically evaporate not really related to what I achieve or don't achieve , its more just feeling at peace with circs. I'm lying down now.

Cleaned more in the ground floor and did more laundry . Every bit not of me is in arthritis agony so we will have to see how much I can move tomorrow .I added the small football I’d given the puppy to the dump pile since I found his other one .
I will have to see when I can manage to fold the laundry pile , it’s not too bad atm . I generally do it once a week although some stuff gets done right away .