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

Thank you both. (and so get the forgetting to reply later!)
Afraid it is DVT, alongside an infection elsewhere, but the good news is they're totally separate issues, and caught early and with medication I may get away with it all.

Aw fingers crossed @Elleherd .

Last few days I've noticed I've been climbing over things a fair bit and last night had stuff on bed which wasn't great when waking up at 4am and not getting back to sleep for a while.

Hopefully can do a bit of tidying the next few nights.

Chaos here and I have no energy for anything. We have the most ridiculously large collection of cardboard boxes piled precariously in the corner of the kitchen. I made a start on breaking them down but ran out of space in the recycling bin. I think if I finish that job it will make a visual improvement.

I hope the medication helps soon and you’re not feeling too poorly Elleherd.

my mum died in september so I have not been up to doing much sorting, I am bearly functioning past the basics.

I need somewhere to write down what I am achieving because it feels like nothing. (i am doing bits and bobs and starting to ge t the place back on track)

I have just put away the holiday suitcases from september.
put a lot of the stuff from mums room at the care home under the stairs to deal with later.
I am beginning to find the kitchen floor.

I still have holiday stuff out, and mum's stuff out.

i need a plumber. quite urgently. which means I need to celar out the bathroom cupboard and the bathroom. which is a big job.

Solo clearly the best thing is to get to the point were you can face having someone in, and I'm wishing you the time and energy, for what it's worth.
When we were without a hot water, our standard of living was propped up by a Burco. Very specific rules around it, inc. children and animals in another room while it heated up or moved room, and never trying to move it unless less than a 1/3rd full, (it was a full size commercial one) but it was an absolute quality of life saver, allowing hot washing, and baths etc

TalkToTheHand123 I thought I was the only one who woke up at 4am to discover I was sharing a bed with 'stuff!' Good luck with the tidying.

Miaowse breaking the rest down and taping or tying them up, will make things look and hopefully feel better. TBH I've used the state of me to stay in bed with legs elevated and tried to attempt to plan my way out of trouble.

BlackeyedSusan it's good to see you, though really sorry to hear about the loss of your mum. That's tough.
You will be doing more than you realise. We nearly always are.
Wishing you also, the time and energy to tackle the bathroom and get that plumber.

A bit of accountability: tommorow, I'm going to make myself do some at least, of what I should have done today.

Good luck with that...

I'm catching up with August ..

Which year is debatable...

@Elleherd I've just dumped it all on a couple of bags by the wardrobe for now. Have a few long shifts from now to Xmas so won't be making much progress in the next few days. Hopefully do a little, but would be out of character 😯.

@BlackeyedSusan My condolences!

Thank you MNHQ. Sorry realised it might have been a bit stupid of me to post all the details of what was going on here, so:

BlackeyedSusan 😂

Talktothehand 10 min blasts?

Have so far written the easier, less stressful, overdue emails at least. Just have to check them and send.

Tbh havoc's been wrought while I've been in hospital and I'm not best pleased but if I show it, all hell will let loose and even more time will be lost, everyone's being very defensive and I'm trying to say nothing as it wont help anything.

Total cowardice, but tomorrow is going to be the big drive, and I don't fancy being stuck in a van for a day and a half with angry Dc's!

@Elleherd 10 min blast sounds good. I'll give it a try.

Elle.

So...today:
Pots away(joint effort dd and I put them away)
Dealt with two smelly pots of off gravy.
Unblocked the plughole and cleaned out the sink and washed the underside of the washing up bowl.
One load of washing on.
Cooker top cleaned.
Old chicken thrown out and tin put to soak.

(I'm not keeping up with fridge food as I still cease to function)
Two muddy garments (rinsed, soaped)x457 times.

That's taken an hour and a half!

Must have done some other stuff?
Or perhaps it was particularly grim.

Put the spare change from mum's handbag in the cupboard.

Given Ds breakfast...

(Scraping round at bottom of barrel for more things)

Taken some dirty pots through to kitchen and some rubbish to the bin..(actually it's lots of these little not much effort things that start to make a difference daily)

Another option is to start with picking up 10 or even five things. Once you have started its easier to carry on.

Very sorry indeed to hear about your mum, BlackeyedSusan I’ve missed your posts. How did the children cope with the news?

Good luck with getting things plumber-ready.

Good to hear from you @BlackeyedSusan and sorry to hear your news and well done for the progress you’ve made.

@Elleherd I hope the long drive was okay and you continue to recover.

@TalkToTheHand123 I’m going to try the tip of 5 things because even 5 minutes feels like a mountain to climb sometimes and I need to just start. I also end up with stuff on the bed. But mostly I struggle to focus on 1 area and start pulling things out of 5 areas and make chaos everywhere which then doesn’t feel like progress at all.

@Miaowse also tackling a box mountain. Not even from deliveries, have just let them accumulate over months years and it’s all got too much but a good box is so useful for sorting things out.

Badly in one case. More stress getting kid to school. Or not. Lots of interaction with school. And the meltdowns are worse and more frequent plus I have less resilience to cope with them. Was up til 4am after kids meltdown yesterday.

But we are getting there.

Got to clear up the stuff that was chucked about yesterday. Going to take his money away as he chucked it down the stairs.

Yes, my box mountain has accumulated over some time too @FiniteSagacity . I’m pleased to report that I’ve flattened about half so far. And I put away a hill of dry laundry - long overdue.

I’ve dropped the habit of running the dishwasher at night and must put that in place again. If I have to run the dishwasher during the day then I end up skipping laundry.

That’s stress you don’t need on top of everything else @BlackeyedSusan - hope school are being supportive rather than wagging fingers.

Keeping fingers crossed your long car journey passed without any major arguments or other stress @Elleherd

Keep on keeping on everyone

Haven't really had the chance or energy to do any tidying last few days. Need to put a wash on though as no clean clothes for tomorrow.

Need a couple of bin bags as car needs emptying and cleaning as mot coming up. Had to have a couple of lights changed and was a bit embarrassing with the mess on display.

May have a few minutes to clean a bit of kitchen while I make food later.

Have Xmas eve to tidy up so hopefully will have a few mins of tidy-up motivation then.

Today has been a write off. Mostly. Was up to 4am after DC meltdown and stirring up lots of things regarding DV.

But:I have done some washing up and some washing and wiped down the 3/4of the windows in the living room. Emptied the pot of water under the leaky loo.

Dealt with some shouting, fed the boy lunch and breakfast.

Hunted out missing t shirts(the cause of the shouting)

Tracked down some stray washing up, picked up the dropped spoons etc. Through a couple of extra things in the bin.

Took some dry washing upstairs and the everyday move things around to get them dry faster with no heat/sunshine/dryers.

You wouldn't notice but spent about two hours tidying, mainly in the kitchen, keeping on top of dishes and little bits here and there.

Hopefully I'll get in the habit of doing little bits of tidying as I go.

Back pain insane though 😯😂

I felt so overwhelmed by the amount of stuff in our house I started last Sunday and watched minimalistmom on Youtube and it really helped me to get what keeping our stuff is costing us mentally so I got rid of 8 huge bin bags of clothes and since then 7 more car loads of books, linens, shoes, cushions, etc. Honestly I still feel like we need to get rid of more but it does feel better.

Wow @Literaturemakeslifebetter very impressed with how much you have clearer. I did a few bin bags a few months ago but feels like not much difference. Just need to continue as will start to show the difference.