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shortcake
Wow, it sounds as if you’ve been extremely busy and effective, Kim, that’s brilliant! Hearing about your hard work definitely makes me want to up my game plan.
As I’ve only just started my decluttering journey, there’s not that much to tell as yet. I have bundled together a stack of newspapers and magazines to take to recycling. Also had bags of junk mail sorted so will recycle them too. DVDs which were scattered around have been put in a box for now until I can organise them properly. For some reason, squillions of plastic bags have emerged from the rubble – do you think they’ve been breeding in there? Haha. I’ve collected them all up and will be able to recycle them at the local supermarket which has a place for unwanted carrier bags. *whew*
I can’t say I’ve got to aching-stage yet, which makes me think I’ve not done half as much as I should, but I think I’ll pace myself. I find having the telly on in the background while I tidy makes it feel less like work (well, almost!).
Not quite sure what to tackle next. I guess carrying on dealing with the main stuff like the magazines (I have collections going back years and years).
Anyway, watch this space!
Kim
Shortcake, thank you for joining in!
(was so scared I’d be on my own here)First of all the reason I’m posting this thread now, is while I’m on a roll and because I think many of us might benefit from talking about what we have done. I may well not be looking busy and effective further on. :oops: But, I intend to just keep posting about what I have done, instead of feeling bad about what I haven’t. Secondly, I started this journey a fair few weeks ago now, so some of what I’m doing has become easier than when I started (there’s even the odd bit of working space opening up) and it didn’t seem possible I’d ever find the floor even!
You say there’s not much to tell at the moment, but what you’ve done is that you’ve made an actual start on what you can just do, and that is much bigger than you realise. Well done.
Isn’t the plastic bag phenomena amazing? Both I and my friends have the same thing going on, but one of them has them totally disintegrated everywhere. My other friend is old enough to have one’s from long defunct shops as well as modern ones.
Aching stage isn’t actually good or desirable, because you end up doing less afterwards, so you’re definitely on the right track to pace yourself.
I don’t know what I’m tackling tomorrow, I find it harder to get much done at the weekend, but I will come back tomorow and post whatever it was, big or small. If you feel like doing the same It would be great.
No worries – I told you I would, Kim!
Actually, I was hoping somebody would make a thread where ongoing progress could be discussed so it’s terrific that you have.
Thank you so much for the encouragement. I suppose even making a first step towards de-hoarding can be seen as a massive achievement.
I don’t think I’ll be able to get much done until after the weekend now, but if the mood strikes me, I may grab a black bag and go for it!
It’s nice to hear that it gets easier as you go on. Although, as I mentioned in my first post in this forum, I’m anticipating some creepy surprises the further I get! :o
Oh boy, those bags…. the horror! The worst are the ones from a certain supermarket – the bags are made up of material which disintegrates after a time in order to be environmentally friendlier than regular plastic bags, but alas, not hoarder-friendly. I have some of those babies breaking up all over other items in my living room as I speak.
I agree, it’s best to go through this process in easy to handle chunks so the work is sustainable rather than we end up collapsing of nervous exhaustion! I hope you recover from your endeavours, Kim and continue the good work.
hellosunshine
Hi everyone!
Today I have been mostly sorting my Laundry Hoard…The cycle goes thusly:
1) Item of clothing is too small/big/old/holey/odd sock and must be disposed of
2) My hoarding brain thinks one of the following:
– That fabric’s too nice to chuck, that can go in my “rag bag” (There is a bag but the rags never quite make it in there, or I start a new bag and forget about the other one)
– I could chop that up and use it as a duster/cleaning cloth (Item of clothing gets put on pile ready to use, pile gets moved or forgotten about)
– I’m sure I have the other one [usually socks/pj’s] here somewhere… (goes in pile of odd socks)
-I’ve only worn it a couple of times- maybe I could give it to someone (hoarder isolated from friends has nobody to give said item to, item put on pile and churned)
3) Items forgotten about for so long that during sporadic purges they go in the laundry and get washed again
4) Laundry becomes exponentially huge and sorting it out becomes week long task
5) Clean clothes never go in wardrobes because laundry is too big a task to put away
6) Stuff gets forgotten about under piles
7) More stuff gets bought because we can’t find enough socks/underwear/ t shirts etc
And so the cycle continues….I have sorted one large ikea bag full of washing today. I can still get to one wardrobe, a hanging rail and some storage boxes under my bed so they have at least been put away somewhere.
I also listened to Rachel Papworth’s audio masterclass yesterday whilst sorting and I found that quite interesting. Didn’t put all the advice into practice but liked the tip about starting with a “quick win”.
Unfortunately, after I cleared 3 small areas, my husband decided to plonk some stuff down on them that had been somewhere else, so I’m now back to square one, but never mind!I did them once- I can do them again! I would recommend listening to it though- unfortunately I live in the frozen north and wouldn’t be able to partake of her services, but it is good to know that there are people who do recognise that this is not about cleaning- it’s a process that you have to go through and come out the other side.The spaces that I did yesterday were the window ledge in my bedroom, the area where the plug socket is where I dry my hair,and round my husband’s side of the bed. Interestingly,I found the side of the bed easiest, as it was mostly stuff that he had chucked there because I had taken up space on his dresser. Does anyone else find it relatively easy to sort other people’s things??
I’m still deciding what to do tomorrow. I might do under the bed, and then I would have a completely clear storage space there and a blank canvas to work with. (NB by storage I mean ONE BOX of pyjamas, ONE BOX of duvet sets and ONE BOX of bedsheets!). Also, the junk under there is not fun to play with,like my dressing table would be, so hopefully there is less opportunity to get distracted!
What are other people’s plans/goals this weekend?
Hello…… hellosunshine!
Congrats on making some positive steps towards a less hoard-ridden home – we can do it!
I think clothing/laundry is just so difficult for me to sort that I think I’m going to leave that to the end. I get ever so attached to clothes and still wear items I bought twenty years ago! :shock:
It’s funny you saying that it seems easier to sort other people’s stuff more than your own, but I’m sure that’s because we have less of an emotional attachment to them than the things that are ours. And oh yes, I completely understand the way we can be distracted when we’re dealing with the more fun items in our home, hehehe. I’ve had to ban myself from reading any of the papers and magazines I’m sorting or it would never get done!
As I said earlier, I might relax this weekend, but something might annoy me enough to want to tackle getting rid of it!
Good luck with your weekend decluttering parties, everyone! (It could be much more fun if we call it that, right?)
Brilliant there’s three of us already!
Shortcake, those bags are actually the hoarder’s friend. Honest, they are kindly disintegrating, to remind us that like many things, they are meant to be used temporarily in our lives, :idea: not permanently, :lol: and we should recycle them while still usable, not hoard them ‘till not.
Like the idea of de-cluttering parties!Hi Hellosunshine, great to see you here.
Oh yes other people’s stuff is often so much easier to sort! As Shortcake said, it’s the emotional connection, and a lot easier to be objective.What you’ve done sounds good, congratulations!
Keep going and share how you go?Don’t know if this is any use to you, but what I did about the ‘compulsion to not squander future resources’ (a massive issue for me
) versus ‘need to de-hoard’ (visibly massive! :lol: ) over the old must use it for a cleaning cloth thing, was changed how I thought:Yes I COULD chop it up for use as a cleaning cloth, but do I really NEED to? And, how many of them, do I really need?
I gave myself permission to buy cleaning cloths. I looked at the space the cleaning rags took up and asked myself would I happily pay £1 to use that space for something else and have a roll of ten cloths thrown in free? The answer was yes, of course.Am very up for ‘quick win’ theories. Will have to listen to the audio master class, do you have a link that you can put here?
Only thing I know in advance I will definitely manage over the weekend is taking loads of stuff, mainly from friends house, to recycling, but there will be more done in total than that, just don’t know what yet, as it’s grabbing time between family commitments and general maintenance ie Washing, shopping, cooking, cleaning, and most important: maintaining the gains.
Will be back later with whatever I manage, however small, it will still be progress.Today’s small de hoarding contribution; shredding a bit more paper, cleared out carrier bag of rubbish from car, cleared of a hard drive, collected storage boxes and managed to convince well-meaning friend not to make me take a load of tins that ‘you could eventually find a use for’.
But the weekend is rarely productive as it’s when lots of other things take priority. (Trying to keep a balance here)Anyone else with friends who tend to use them for getting rid of stuff on? (in the nicest possible way)
Hi Everyone! Thanks for all the friendly comments and support so far
Yesterday I did not clear under the bed.. HOWEVER… I did do my kitchen!! I’ve sorted all the drawers, got rid of empty jars, cleaned all the surfaces under the junk- I think I even have space to use my breadmaker now!
The only thing left is the cupboard under the sink,and its mainly cleaning stuff and carrier bags- that will be quite easy I think.I’ve also got in touch with a friend on facebook who is a primary school teacher and she is taking a box of “dressing up” stuff off my hands to use in her classroom. (Just to explain why a grown woman with no children has a dressing up box- my husband is in the army and they have a lot of fancy dress parties!) I’m probably going to add some other bits of junk to it that are asking to be got rid of, like sightly dodgy ties, scarves, costume jewellery etc. But that’s a success right? Most of my stuff is in good condition (I don’t have mice or anything thank god) and it’s all pretty clean (obviously any clothes will go through the wash first), so it seems like a good idea for them to go to a useful home with someone I know. I think it explains my reluctance to give stuff to the charity shop. So many charity shops these days filter off the good stuff and only sell the dross in the shops that I end up thinking “why should I give that to you?! It’s decent stuff!” and I have a pile of stuff waiting for a good home, but only one that meets my standards!
Kim, re. the cleaning cloths- I get that I am never going to use them now- I’ve taken to just getting those jay cloths on a roll for a quid and they seem to do the job. Like you said, it’s paying a quid to not have the clutter and I just chuck them in the bin when they’re done. Interestingly, my mum came round yesterday and she said much the same thing. She is a bit of a hoarder, but she has a bigger house than me so it’s less noticeable! She has got better since the council started doing weekly recycling collections. Her big thing was never being able to waste packaging, but now she is recycling she doesn’t feel like it’s wasted. I don’t know if anyone else feels like that.
Not sure what I will do today- I think maybe do in front of the wardrobe in the bedroom so we can finally put the doors on it!
Hellosunshine, that’s great progress!
So far today it’s been impossible to do anything here today involving de cluttering except shovelling food into people. I’m hoping that having ‘de-cluttered that much food’ into them counts if I can’t do anything later. :lol: Actually given my tendencies to food hoard it may well do.
Yes, the ‘dressing up box’ and other things you’re adding to it is a definite success, and releases things to give pleasure to others. Well done.
I think, for a number of reasons having useful/useable places to send away things are very helpful to many people. It also helps towards making the step to just throwing away if necessary. Am not a fan of the disposable society, but there is also a balance were sometimes we need to put ourselves first, especially if not doing so is part of what’s keeping us stuck.
Rainbowfish76
Kim I agree with giving away that seems purposeful. I have not seen it mentioned here but I have noticed on some programmes I have watched that there is a sticking point with ‘I will sell this someday’. I know I have felt this too the idea that things could be sold at carboot sales, or ebay or more recently gumtree. I have tried all three of these and found it does not work well for everything. I did come up with a new plan a while ago that if I felt something was good and I was willing to let it go, I would donate it to a charity I felt some affiliation to. I chose Cancer Research because my Mum is being treated for breast cancer. It felt good to give them though it is not so convenient as I have travel a bit to the nearest shop. One other nice thing is they gave me a gift aid card which somehow records how much the stuff raises, they send me a letter detailing this.
Another thing that I have been doing is opening a black binbag when I am sorting through old boxes. To my mind I always think the bag will be too big and I will have nothing to put in it. Still I am shocked that the bag can end up overflowing. Things that I would have kept before I can now see have very little value. I still recycle as much as I can, and give away what I think is usable. I think my discernment skills are getting better with time. I just have to keep using them.
Hi, Rainbowfish,
the selling thing (or must use it somehow) is a real sticking point for many. Sometimes you have to just accept that you will not get back any value, this has already gone, and holding on to it is just more wasting because it isn’t being valuable at all. ‘I’m keeping this because I’m going to sell this’ is often a churning tool.“ I think my discernment skills are getting better with time. I just have to keep using them.” Yes, use them constantly either in practise or at least in theory, and they do improve.
Well done with recycling things to charity, a friend of mine says getting a feeling of doing good, helps her let go, for me it’s more about overriding all sorts of feelings. I hope your mum makes good progress.
Yesterday’s total towards de-hoarding was two small but packed cupboards, sorted and cleaned, another two black sackfull’s out, two cd storage units cleaned up (someone tripped on clutter with a drink and didn’t mention it) new storage containers cleaned out.
Don’t know what I’ll manage today, I have a lot to do as well as de-hoarding, but there will be something getting done, will try to get back in later with it
Thanks Kim. Today I was productive I cleaned a room and some shelves that were heavy with dust. Washed some of my constant backlog of washing. I had a spot in mind to declutter but I will admit I found anything else to do to avoid it. It was a table at my front door which has a fair amount of post and junk mail gathered on it. I think the problem may have been that I know the drawer which I store the letters to keep in, is filled to bursting. Maybe I need to rethink how I sort my mail. Also I have a shredder which I have used in the past quite effectively. I will have a bit of free time in the morning, so I am going to try and do one small thing.
Tuesday’s de hoarding tally was sorting and cleaning kitchen surface, and three drawers in the end. Only one carrier bag out, because most of it actually is used, but its all space freed.
Bit of a problem here on Tuesday night and lots of Wednesday was spent sorting it out so didn’t manage anything more than a carrier bag of plastic recycling, but today I found more time, and have a large sack of clothes and another box of hangers to take to recycling.
Rainbow fish, I hope you managed your mail pile and thank you for reminding me that I’m going back to old habits with mine. Thanks to you I’ve at least now pulled out all the instant junk mail and shredded it!
Yesterday was spent doing my friends home, and was another mega blitz rather than sensible bit by bit, but I can’t help her often and she can’t help herself at the moment.
The tally is 10 boxes of assorted paperwork removed from all over one room, and boxed up minus all flyers and visible rubbish. I would love her to shred 90% of it but she’s not yet ready for that, so at least it’s now together to be gone through.
Windowsill cleared, yucky curtains removed and washed, window frames scraped free of thick mould, disinfected and drying out, windows washed, we have light! Ceiling now clear of cobwebs and all mould in that room gone and treated as far as I know.
Three more drawers and a clothes rail sorted and three black sacks of reusable stuff to charity, and one black sack to the bin. There’s a nice little house emerging, today I need to turn attention to my own, but the weekends are always difficult so if I do a carrier bag over the weekend on top of general maintenance, it will be better than nothing.How’s everyone else doing?
mrswelshgirl
hi, since making the decision to start yesterday i feel i have done really well and made progress, so far i have bagged
2 large black bags of shoes/boots/slippers, how many pairs do i need? many more to sort through tho
3 bags of general rubbish ie half eaten crisp bags chocs pop bottles etc that i had eaten a few of then put them away for ‘later’ hmm
gone through my letter rack/pile and shredded 1 bag full of letters/junk mail
my next ‘task’ as i am calling them is for at least 1 bag of clothes, for me thats the hardest part as my weight tends to fluctuate alot so i have maybe 2 full wardrobes and 2 rooms of floordrobes as we tend to call them in 3 different sizes, trying to decide what i need and dont need is where i am failing here.
i am finding if i go 30 minutes and stop for a treat, maybe a chocolate, cuppa and a biscuit, or a game i am coping so far, although how long that will last when i start hitting the part where i am finding the sentimental things i dont know, for now i am churning those but i know i have to deal with them at some point. luckily hubby is letting me go at my own pace and i can see he is happy that at least i have made a start
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