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

Back on my arse again. At home in the window. I have done the first batch of washing up and put it away not quite a full day's worth, yet. Sorted boots shoes and coats out for the kids respite care.

The Friday tidy sounds v promising!

Two areas that I need to tackle. Photos make me realise how bad it looks and how it could be the work of an hour to make a difference, so not that long really.

Babies...forget me nots are usually grown in autumn to flower in spring, like wallflowers and pansies, so if you sow them in garden soil (just scatter randomly) in summer you will have some for next year.
For this year I recommend nasturtiums, marigolds (calendula not tagetes) and anything that you can scatter (seed packet offer those mixed selections, not wildflowers but cornflower etc)
Just been arguing with someone about something house related so trying to calm my nerves talking about seeds!

Must do some tidying now ..will show after photos

Thank you all for good wishes, feel rather fraudulent now but glad to say it turned out to be a swift turnaround. Got there and very few available beds (and know how that goes with constant moving) so many hours of infusions including lots of steroids, and heart, pulse and oxygen sats all went back to normal and I was happy to be let get straight back out!

The weekend is nearly here and it’s the one time I can get help to empty stuff into the storage unit. Very little is ready to go, and the help gets tetchy and flounces easily if they have to wait while things are made ready. So that, combined with not overdoing it, is going to be today's target and hopefully finding a few things that can easily go in the process.

Nettleskeins and Babieseverywhere don’t know if this is relevant, but previously a blood test showed up that I wasn’t absorbing all sorts of things including Vit. D. Turned out even direct infusions were barely getting absorbed. Tests showed up a lack of bile salts was part of the issue.

SingToTheSky Vaccine did similar here. OU Degree sounds exiting, if challenging.

DownUdderer That’s a sensible system. Here each item has to be listed at the point of booking, you’re only allowed three to five items, depending on what they are, and they can’t be all large as well as being expensive. Unsurprisingly we now have a large dumping problem.

well, I have now washed up and dried and put away more than I made dirty yesterday. two carrier bags have been collected to be delivered elsewhere. going to sleep then collect children so they can pack for respite care.

This thread is so fast moving now! I’ve been on since the beginning (have name changed many times) but still cluttered. Although I must say it’s much much improved partly thanks to moving to a bigger house and partly as I have become more able to get rid of stuff. Long way to go and health being how it is (fibro/ME etc) I just don’t see how I’ll get the energy. I’m really worrying about how it’s bound to get worse again when I start work.

All DDS shoes fill the hall cupboard!!! Dses shoes on side, my shoes apart from one pair, have gone in my study cupboard.
Drawers still full of hats scarves and gloves.
DD had SEVEN coats which I've hung elsewhere out of photo, all charity shop purchases. She won't part with any.

Kitchen: by dint of decluttering a towel and two tablecloths (to DD fabric stash in shed)(towel to ds2 upstairs) a scaletrix extension set (to shed with rest of scal) I found room in the tablecloth chest for the popcorn maker...which I have to say is really annoying me

Tablecloth chest, doubling as extra seat. Clear of debris

Oh @Nettleskeins what progress! That looks fabulous. From the pictures you’ve posted your home looks beautiful. I love your hall tiles and the stained glass in the door. Reminds me a bit of my childhood home. My current house has no lovely features like that.

@Nettleskeins wow that looks amazing! I looked at your after photos before the before photos, I always imagine everyone else's houses to be perfect! I have so many little areas like that in my house and you've inspired me to tackle them at the weekend. I think one of my issues is that I think it's just me who is failing massively with the house at the moment so it helps reading that others feel the same! There was a pp who mentioned she wouldn't let someone in the kids bedrooms, that's me!! I had someone measuring for blinds and I was trying to convince them that the windows were the same each side of the house, didn't work and I was mortified by my dd's room!

It's a mess by the back door in my kitchen and I'm beginning to worry about garden meet ups being allowed and my kitchen back door looking the way it does, you need to climb over the wellies and shoes to even get it! Hey, at least it stops people coming in as I'm really not ready for that yet!

mine has a 1960s carpet.

Just got rid of a pile of recycling (a few inches high. Mostly random homeschool/school worksheets, toddler scribbles and the odd unneeded letter, plus some notebooks that have been used up. Maybe there were a few pages that could be used for the little one but it just creates more clutter to keep them so it’s not worth it.

Still no marriage certificate though.

Nettle those pics are amazing! Well done!

Nothing wrong with a 1960s carpet! Im sure they were much better quality than now.
Dd reminded me today that whenever she had a birthday party we used to just go round the house just bundling stuff into cupboards or piling it under bedspreads. Ah well.
I too am not ready to have anyone back in the house Daisy...teenagers or middleaged
The garden is alright, muddy but they can get in down the alley without going through house, and sit outside, and peer in through filthy windows
sing the OU is very flexible though, and it will be revitalising.

Ive managed to dust some hanging shades and tops of window frames.
The boxes are still on the landing though. One unhelpful child is now doing her own tidying and the other has gone on a hike...grr.
Their rooms are dreadful, but they like the independence so Ive given up.

Ive just been watching episodes of The Life Laundry from 2011. The one about the sound engineer/presenter. It is quite inspiring but goodness she is quite brutal...none of the counselling approach you would get nowadays if you had the good fortune to have help sorting things

There is s hell of a lot wrong with this one. The stairs part is at the tip having worn through. The hall part is grim. Landing not much better. We can't take it up as you are supposed to have carpet as part of the lease and the rest needs sorting first. Bloody nightmare.

My house could feature in how clean is your house, life laundry and DIY SOS.

I scrub the hall part with biological washing liquid and a scrubbing brush.

Haven’t got half as much done as I was hoping, but everythings taking far more time than I think it should and the newfound energy ran out a lot quicker than expected and I 'm worried about conserving enough for getting stuff moved over the weekend, so going to call it a day.

Only a couple of things out into recycling or bin, but one was something I’ve failed to throw away repeatedly, and this time I just binned it, so a little progress there at least.

Washed and treated an affected sweatshirt, but that's it for drying room for the moment.

Nettleskeins your house is lovely!

Well my list does not include much tidying.
Though I have cleaned the bathroom sink,
Medicated a boy,
Fed snacks to kids
Collected kids from school,
Packed for respite care
Wiped some shopping that has been on the landing and was dusty. Small kitchen so dd's soya milk and juice Brexit stash live in her room. Need to check her storage space is full but not overflowing, before the first of April just in case EU enforce the agreed deadline rather than the UK's delayed deadline or WTO enforce Britain keeping to the rules. I am working on no visible Brexit stash. So putting away dd's stuff is the next task. She can help herself instead of disrupting kitchen cupboards. She gets through a lot a week. They are annoyingly bulky.

Adding stripping DDS bed, pulling out two or three loads of washing from her room, putting her milk away, tidying her soft toy box remaking her bed hanging a load of washing and putting another load in. Handing over for respite. Taping up toes.

Nettleskeins Oh, I will look at the other flowers you mentioned. I love the hanging basket my parents bought me in October 2020 and the flowers are still going strong in it! Lovely yellow flowers. No idea what they are.

The before and after photos are a great idea. I did that a lot at the start. Many years ago. You are making great headway. Brilliant after photos.

Elleherd Quick turn around is good, glad you got home sooner than you expected. Good luck with your storage unit. Hope your help cooperates.

BlackeyedSusan Sounds like a hard and productive day. Hope the kids enjoy the respite care and you get a break.

SingToTheSky I share your concerns about health, energy and returning to work. I am trying to just concentrate on today and not look too far into the future. (((hugs)))

DaisyDyson That is one good thing about lockdown…no visitors!

What I did…

I have kept on top of the kitchen, but honestly, I had to tidy it four times today. Every time I passed by, it needed redoing!

I did two more load of laundry of bulky things like coats, as I am running out of space on the drying rack above the landing. I emptied the dehumidifier twice; it is doing a great job of drying the clothes.

Tidied in the hall and downstairs. Did some hoovering, but not much.

I must have looked quite pained this afternoon, as my DH told me to go and sit down and to watch my programme (a romantic Korean drama, which I can’t watch when the kids are around, as I need to concentrate on the subtitles)

So I had a lazy afternoon. Except the kitchen.

Tomorrow

The kids and I will change all the beds and I will wash them and throw them in the drier.
I hope to sort the last stuff out in the kids rooms, shoes and a few little things.
Then take the kids on a walk around the village, if the weather lets up.

Wey hey! I've finished the old thread! Mind you, I hadn't read it in its entirety. And, I haven't yet read this thread. I'll try to. Also, I'm not sure I can respond to anything up until this point, so I apologise for that.

Yesterday, I did a lot starting at 2pm and apart from a quick evening meal, I didn't stop until 12am. Shattered. I cleared enough space (just) in which to fit an airer so that I could actually get some wet washing dry. The airer in the dining room is rammed, and there's no space to put another anything. During this very long, but seemingly not very productive sort out, I discovered a few things...

Last year, my niece gave me about 4 massive bin liners full of clothes to go through for Dd, and we had a marathon trying on session, and bagged up 'charity' and 'keep' clothes. Last year (months after receiving and sorting the clothing), we took the bags to go to the charity warehouse...very pleased with myself...yesterday's sort out uncovered the fact that I'd kept one of the 'to go' bags, so obviously kept a bag of unsuitable clothing for Dd. Shame as there were some nice things in the to keep bag, some of which I was going to sell. I suppose the win really, is that I don't now have to find a place to keep this clothing as it will all be in the charity shops.

Discovered moths in my lounge carpet. I want rid of it anyway, but now, it can't really wait another year. Vacuumed some carpet that I could see.

Bag of rubbish from the lounge. More shredding to be done.

Got Dd to tidy part of the small tins and jars cupboard in the kitchen whilst I was making a quick meal.

Tonight - Friday - I've only done a smallish wash load, and evening meal...still need to wash up from that, so I'm going to say good night.

Keep up the brilliant work, ladies :)

Our kerbside pickup system really amazes me, it's great. And I'm sad that not everyone can have similar, because like you say it just causes illegal fly tipping if people can't have an easy way to get rid of bulky items.

In some suburbs it's on specific dates, twice a year and everyone is encouraged to take anything nice that they see put out, so scooters and bikes get re-used, and it really can be amazing what gets put out. If I had a van I'd be out there picking up all sorts of second hand things, but of course that'd be terrible for me really! I'd end up bringing home too many things!

I love seeing your photos nettleskeins!

I've just remembered, I threw away a pair of DD's trousers. They had holes in and I thought about sewing them up. In the past I've done that and then after they go through the washing machine often the thread comes out and it's a waist of time. I go round in circles thinking that I can see them up, or reuse the fabric from the trousers, but yesterday sense prevailed and I got rid of them.

*waste