The Hoarders Anonymous Thread #7. Keep On Keeping On!

[Solo]

We are a mixed group of likeminded householders that are leading somewhat challenging lives; be that living with too much 'stuff' that we find difficult to deal with, houses that are falling apart (mine included), health issues within the family unit, wider family, or ourselves (myself included) that means sorting out our households is challenging, to say the least. So...

You are all welcome to join us for support, adding your own ideas to help others out, storage ideas, and even tips on actually getting those items out of the house which sounds so simple when you say it, but this part can be so very difficult; we are often attached emotionally to our 'things', afraid of letting things go just in case we need them.
Encouragement and support abound here, and we do not criticise. EVER! We even try not to criticise ourselves as it's not helpful to anyone, but this can be very difficult not to do.

If you are feeling overwhelmed by clutter, mess, disorganisation and generally don't know where to start. If you can't be bothered, but really do want to be bothered. If you think you are a bit lazy, or if you just need to see your highs and lows and everything in between on the screen here, join us, and we will help you. We'll virtually high-five your achievements - small or large, and virtually hug you when the need arises, and if you want a hug, just ask because we are here for you, here for one another because we get it. The art of washing up is sometimes our great achievement of the day, but it's still an achievement.

Welcome to thread #7 of Hoarders Anonymous - Keep On Keeping On!

Thread #6 HERE

House getting messy again. Hopefully get some time tomorrow to sort.

I have bagged up some clothes that were earmarked for the charity shop ages ago, but which have been languishing in a pile in my office space. God knows when I’ll take the next step of actually taking them to charity.

A small amount of paper shredded and I’m still trying to run down my food stocks a bit.

I doubt I’ll get much done over the long weekend. Maybe a bit of gardening if the weather is fine.

Wondering how some of the regulars are getting on, hope everyone is in good health and spirits.

I've got two cupboards and one room sorted (not clear but tidy) miaowse so I'm very happy. I also let go of something relating to a hobby I no longer take part in and which I never thought I'd ever want to part with. But the thing was never that comfortable, was starting to show age related damage and when I checked I realised I could replace for less than £100 if I wanted to get back into the hobby in the future. Finding that amount is doable for me and if I really wanted to I could get back into it by hiring equipment instead. So out it went! No more needing a place to store it (it was bulky, weirdly, because it was small).

@Miaowse you’ve inspired me to find my ancient shredder… but I can’t get to it yet. This weekend’s project because it will definitely make things worse before they can get better but it should help my weirdness (and paper mountain) about saving receipts and personal documents 🤞

I’m also wondering if everyone is okay @JFDIYOLO was waiting for test results and the legends who got this thread started all have so much on. I hope everyone is keeping on, keeping on.

FinateSagicity I keep receipts and docs too. If it helps, docs are kept for a year mostly. I've never wanted something later that I've got rid of.

Pension forecast or P60 kept forever.

If I close an account with money in it I also keep the account closed statement so I can see clearly where the money in the new account came from, don't know if I'll ever need that.

Anything related to benefits is kept whilst the claim is active and for a year after.

Receipts I keep until the bank statement comes through at the end of the month so I can check everything off and ensure nothing is wrong, then shredded.

Unless it forms part of a guarantee for an item, in which case it's put with the manual. Whenever I get rid of something electronic I find the manual and get rid of that too.

@BlueSummerBaby that sounds so organised and intentional, a great system and maybe I should have a think about some guidelines to help me make decisions - thank you.
My paperwork is currently filed in chaotic piles and every now and then I attempt to file some in a more organised way… I’m working on finding my clutter threshold. I have lots of half organised piles and at least 2 ‘household manuals’ folders. I would still have anything I could possibly need… but could never find it… need to get busy decluttering paper which is definitely my Achilles heel.

@Miaowse the shredder has been excavated today and it still works (but my workspace is now worse than it was).
I have also bagged up some clothes and got a few items together for a charity collection next week, so still better than before.

I can really empathise FiniteSagacity I’m hoping to spend a few hours on paperwork/messy office over the long weekend.

The EU settlement scheme debacle made me very worried for anyone who had Kondo-ed their paperwork. But I know keeping everything just in case is not the answer. I just find judging the middle ground very tricky.

BlueSummerBaby you sound very organised and minimalist!

I've got minimalist mentality and I am organised but I'm currently a hoarder. It's organised hoarding so it doesn't look like chaos. I know a lot of people would throw out even the paperwork I keep or only have an electronic version of it, but I just can't do it. So I keep a year for most ongoing things as a compromise. I use ring binders. One plastic sleeve for each thing, generally one is enough to hold a year's worth. So I've got:

• a health file (passport, info from specialists, any doctors letters I think I should keep eg stating diagnosis not appointment letters, glasses prescription, NHS card, dentist info),
• a car file (tax receipt, insurance docs, all the old MOTs, receipts for parts),
• a financial file (bank statements, water, gas, electric, council tax, P60's, pension information, debt information, work contract),
• a pet file (insurance, vet bills (because it builds up a health history, maybe useful in the future), breed paperwork, registration docs for societies).
• a house file (insurance, stopcocks location, mortgage information, boiler information etc)
• electronics file (manuals, guarantees etc)

Makes it so easy to find anything I need. And if I finds a bit of paperwork it goes into the relevant file. When I move, I get rid of things related to old address eg utility bills etc once the last one is paid.

So nowhere is clear, but I've got little areas of my home that I'm happy with like this filing setup, my ornaments shelves, my wardrobe contents, my blankets box etc. I'm trying to get rid of some surplus, like I had a blanket box and not all the blankets fitted in so I gave some to my sister, which was difficult because I wanted to keep them all! That's the hoarder in me. I've got a lot of surplus and a lot of things I just don't need any more. Everywhere is useable but I want it to look more homely and less like a storage unit 😆 . My DP gets frustrated by the amount of stuff too. One day I will get there. This thread has been so helpful for understanding myself.

@BlueSummerBaby we’re all on a journey and you’re definitely further ahead than me but I know it’s all about finding our own level. Thanks for sharing your system and how it has worked for you, I’ve genuinely never given ‘rules’ much thought and your guidelines would make the decisions for me which could really help.

@Miaowse I’m in my office today determined to make it better than before.

@TalkToTheHand123 I hope you’re doing okay with your progress.

Mulling over whether to do the Take Your House Back course.

@FiniteSagacity I was typing out a reply when a call came in and by the time I stopped chatting the post had disappeared. Well done!! I haven’t done anything in the office despite my good intentions. Better than before is a great goal so I may adopt that!

Ooh, is that the course from the Minimal Mom, Clutterbug & A Slob Comes Clean? I’ve been very tempted by that too, so please do report back if you sign up!

if you are looking for a new YouTube declutterer I’ve recently found Tracy Akamine:

https://m.youtube.com/c/TracyAkamine?cbrd=1

She commented about the process not being sped up in real life and that stuck with me.

Hi all. I managed to make a path in the kitchen to the back door, woo hoo 😂😯

I feel like I am making inroads just need to step it up a lot now.

I went to an hmo property today to check what belongings a client had to take from her previous property to her new one and wow you could only open the door to her room. Over 6 foot high of clutter. 😯

That's really good going TalkToTheHand

@TalkToTheHand123 well done, better than before and progress is progress. My bedroom has a path among loads of stuff from the door to my bed, so I relate!

The collection I’d booked this week arrived early and so I didn’t make the most of it as I hadn’t got things out ready. But I did get rid of 2 bags and a clock (we were gifted it years ago that I’ve never put on the wall but felt guilty getting rid of it). So I made progress and feel lighter having done it.

I decided against the Take Your House Back course because I just can’t fit in an all day decluttering and I think it will just make me feel bad about the pace of my progress. But I will do some decluttering, make my home better than before and make some progress towards finding my threshold.

@Miaowse thanks for the recommendation. I just love podcasts most as they mean I can listen while I walk or clean - and sometimes even declutter. I’m so glad you mentioned the shredder, this was a tipping point of progress for me.

@BlueSummerBaby also really appreciate the paperwork principles… ridiculously, I have given myself permission now to shred the appointment letters and just keep the diagnosis ones!

I’ve got so much washing to sort out and I forgot to run the dishwasher last night

What a shame the collection didn’t go to plan, but well done for getting a few things out @FiniteSagacity

Time to get off the sofa and go put away some dry laundry.

Glad to be of help FinateSagicity ☺️

I've been organising to make the place a little tidier. Made good progress with that. Slowly decluttering here and there too

Popping in to say hello! How are you all doing?

Welcome new people.

Lovely to see you @Solo 👋

Been making slow progress here, I cleaned rather than decluttered today but with the aim I have no excuses not to get rid of things the next 2 days before a few crazy weeks where I’ll just try to do routine to keep ahead.

I hope all is well with you. Some of our regulars have been quiet but lovely to have new people.

Hi all. Hoping to make progress over the next few days as have a less busy schedule than usual.

Hello Solo! How’s life?

I have tons of laundry to turnover but the weather is slowing me down. And I just never seem to get started on the mountains of miscellaneous stuff.

Hi Finite & Miaowse :)

Nothing doing here at home. It's getting worse and I'm literally climbing over stuff everywhere. I think my ME is bad right now and I'm just falling asleep whenever I sit down - and it's for hours at a time and this has been going on for months now. I'm pretty stressed as I made a mistake at work and I'm now constantly second-guessing myself and worrying I'll get the sack. So everything's a bit on top of me.

Today and tomorrow, I need to 'do' stuff, but I expect on Tuesday morning, I'll berate myself (again) for wasting another opportunity to actually get something done. I did nothing indoors yesterday.

Sorry for the outpour

Finite you sound positive! Well done.

Maybe I'll DM some of our regulars to see if they are okay.

Just doing a general shout-out to (hopefully) everyone that i can see hasn't posted in a while:

@CherryMargo
@Defender90
@TalkToTheHand123
@Nordicmom
@BlackeyedSusan
@blackheartsgirl
@GonnaGetGoingReturns

@JFDIYOLO
@stayathomegardener
@Nanalisa60
@PeonyRose80
@GonnaGetGoingReturns

Hi, how are you all doing? We'd love to hear your progress, and how you are in general

Thanks for the check in @Solo.

I sat and tackled the sock box and every sock without a partner went straight into a bag for a friend to collect (she uses old clothing to make dog / cat toys) it felt really good to get it all done and out the way, staying on top of the kitchen clutter quite well too. Off to catch up on the thread now.

Nordic mum is around, she's on a decluttering thread where I lurk

I'm feeling frustrated with the bedroom hoard. It's spoiling the visuals and I have absolutely nowhere else to put it