Hoarders' therapy group.

Forums: Accumulated Stuff, Getting Rid Of It
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I heard a (semi-serious) report on the radio yesterday about people having difficulty coping with too much stuff in their lives. Apparently some people had accumulated so many goodies of choice (everything from antique furniture to magazines, to ...) that the clutter had become a serious cause of stress! Which made me think of my seriously cluttered little house & how wonderful it would be to get rid of things I've held onto for ages ... & create room to actually move! Very Happy

OK, so starting tomorrow, the big clear out will begin!

Starting with:

- Books! Why do I hold onto books that I will probably never read again? (including a phenomenal number of cookbooks! Out!)

- CDs I haven't listened to for years & years. Some of which I never even liked!

- DVDS & old VHS copies of movies. Piles of them! (I'll save my favourites, of course!)

- Clothes & shoes! Create some room in my bedroom! Yes! Very Happy

(& I haven't even started on my kitchen. Too hard. Later, later ...)

So ... what have you been hoarding in the house, or in the shed that you really don't need any more?

Why do we hang onto all this stuff, anyway?

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I, at least, have the excellent excuse of having shifted from a good-sized house a few years ago, to a tiny little one ...

What's your excuse?

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Crikey! Looks like I'm the only hoarder here! Embarrassed

... or some of you aren't owning up!

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Broken stuff to fix when I get the right tools and have time. Stuff thats too good to throw out. Good bits of wire and wood and metal.

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dadpad wrote:

Broken stuff to fix when I get the right tools and have time. Stuff thats too good to throw out. Good bits of wire and wood and metal.

I know!

You never know when it/they might come in handy! (& then you can't remember where you put it when the time comes! Laughing

)

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I'm not a hoarder, but I do have several drawers and closet space devoted to clothes I have no use for.

Meaning things that have worn out, got stained, but I always think to myself "I can wear these as nightshirts, when I'm dying my hair, while cleaning the house.

How many of these things do I need? More than I've got.

oh yeah dadpad.....bits of some small thing, all thrown in a box.

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Msolga--

I'm with you.

January, 2008, is going to be the month when I finish winnowing the filing cabinet. I've also promised my self that every week I'm going to tackle a cupboard or a drawer--or perhaps just a long-sealed cardboard carton with ruthless determination.

Freedom!

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Noddy24 wrote:

...January, 2008, is going to be the month when I finish winnowing the filing cabinet. I've also promised my self that every week I'm going to tackle a cupboard or a drawer--or perhaps just a long-sealed cardboard carton with ruthless determination.

Freedom!

That is very courageous of you, Noddy!

Shocked

I forgot about all my accumulated paper! <sob>

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Soap.

Last week I took all the bits and pieces of bath soap I've been hoarding just in case I needed bits and pieces of bath soap.

I also grabbed all the sample bars--which might have been useful some day.

The softer, creamier bits I put through the blender. The stale stuff I grated. Some spring bulb flowering, I'll sprinkle the shreds of soap around the crocus blossoms to discourage hungry varmits.

Meanwhile, I can close that drawer in the bathroom.

Bliss! Power! Tidyness!

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Noddy24 wrote:

Bliss! Power! Tidyness!

YES! YES! YES!!!! Very Happy

The bathroom, Noddy ... You've reminded me of the bathroom! Sad

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Baby-kid clothes.

I have a big (more like humungous) box/ pile awaiting sorting, with many more boxes already put away that I want to take out and sort, too, and am looking forward to it, though it's a PROJECT.

I have everything sozlet's worn since she was born, and with at least three distinct seasons (hot, cold, in-between) and a whole lot of growing, that's a lot of clothes.

They'll be sorted into:

- Hand-me downs (clothes we received, that will go back into the family rotation)

- Sentimental keeps ("can you believe you were that tiny?!" dresses, clothes she was wearing in favorite pictures, clothes she especially loved -- hopefully not too many in this category)

- Re-sells, sorted by season.

- Separate hand-me-downs, to either add to the family rotation or give to friends

- Donations (decent clothes but not nice enough to re-sell)

(Those last three categories may merge in one way or another, will see how it goes).

- Toss (too stained or pilled or torn for anyone).

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Re: Hoarders' therapy group.

msolga wrote:

I heard a (semi-serious) report on the radio yesterday about people having difficulty coping with too much stuff in their lives. Apparently some people had accumulated so many goodies of choice (everything from antique furniture to magazines, to ...) that the clutter had become a serious cause of stress! Which made me think of my seriously cluttered little house & how wonderful it would be to get rid of things I've held onto for ages ... & create room to actually move!

OK, so starting tomorrow, the big clear out will begin!

Starting with:

- Books! Why do I hold onto books that I will probably never read again? (including a phenomenal number of cookbooks! Out!)

- CDs I haven't listened to for years & years. Some of which I never even liked!

- DVDS & old VHS copies of movies. Piles of them! (I'll save my favourites, of course!)

- Clothes & shoes! Create some room in my bedroom! Yes!

(& I haven't even started on my kitchen. Too hard. Later, later ...)

So ... what have you been hoarding in the house, or in the shed that you really don't need any more?

Why do we hang onto all this stuff, anyway?

Go Msolga!!!!

I am waiting to hear how you do.

I have culled heaps in the last couple of years, and still my place is laden to the gunwales, and we're taking on water....I was supposed to continue the cathart these holidays....and have painted instead!!!

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The trouble is, reading soz & Deb's posts, is you have to be so organized!

The "throw out" lot of what-ever ... the good enough to recycle what-evers ... the pass-on what-evers!

Three different piles already! Sigh.

I would love to have what we call in Oz a "garage sale". You do the hard yacka - clean out the house, the shed, etc. ... Advertise in the local paper & lo & behold, folk come to your home from near & far to buy your old whipper snipper, all those unwanted DVDS, the unwanted sewing machine, the unused cat cages, etc, etc, etc .... (at bargain prices)

I've been thinking of holding a garage sale for about a year now.

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BBB

http://www.youlookfab.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/08/pile.jpg

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Is that all you can manage, BBB? You're not trying! Laughing

:wink:

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A thought: dadpad is the only male so far to visit this thread & confess to hoarding tendencies. Can we deduce, then, that the rest of you blokes are very, very sensible about these things? Not a spare CD or sock in sight? :wink:

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msolga

msolga wrote:

Is that all you can manage, BBB? You're not trying! :wink:

It's not that I can't raise the cleaning out mood, my sore back won't cooperate. I cleaned out a magazine bookcase this week and spent three days recovering.

Getting old is a bitch!

BBB

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msolga wrote:

The trouble is, reading soz & Deb's posts, is you have to be so organized!

The "throw out" lot of what-ever ... the good enough to recycle what-evers ... the pass-on what-evers!

Three different piles already! Sigh.

I would love to have what we call in Oz a "garage sale". You do the hard yacka - clean out the house, the shed, etc. ... Advertise in the local paper & lo & behold, folk come to your home from near & far to buy your old whipper snipper, all those unwanted DVDS, the unwanted sewing machine, the unused cat cages, etc, etc, etc .... (at bargain prices)

I've been thinking of holding a garage sale for about a year now.

My "study" makes me cry.

There's the "new" computer desk in two boxes...prolly for 2 years now!!!

There's the new bookshelves, in three boxes......there's the stuff to go IN the new bookcases (which are planned also to hold papers, like my entire infant mental health degree) in fetching boxes, as well as act to display some of the objets d'art currently overloading the OTHER bookshelves...and other surfaces.....there's the bookcase that disintegrated when I tried to move it without unloading all the books, and has become a pile of rubbish....there's all the linen to sort through and cull....the "things I am not ready to throw away" boxes....

Thenm there's the plan to clear the study to become my bedroom, and my bedroom a more spacious study cum second living/party space/cum guest bedroom....

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My excuse is the same as yours, Msolga, large house and design office into small house. Plus I tend to like certain items in the first place. And have certain attachments re the past, having not the people from it.

Then, on top of it, I bought a number of items here to tide me over until I got entirely unpacked. Thus the wood cart thing from Home Depot that I can't put together... well, I tried, but it keeps falling apart: those screw thingies don't hold, and I'm going to have to drill real screws into it, preferably in such an order that it isn't impossible to fit piece C in between pieces D and E. Or get the whole thing together in its wobbly way and then trade their "screws" for real ones. Yes, Deb, that's been in my living room a year and a half now.

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I have two friends who are hoarder/savers. Several years ago one hired a professional organizer to help clear stuff out. It was wonderful. I told my second friend about my first friend. She too hired professionals to help clear out the stuff. Same positive result.

The downside: The first friend is hoarding again. Or make that still. The help they both got gets rid of what's there, but it doesn't stop them from hoarding. I don't know what the answer is to that.

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