General Chat

Thanks for all the good wishes for my holiday.
Lizxxx

Sue, it was last night, so look out for a repeat sometime.
Lizx

Jo, lol oh dear, seems like attracts like lol

xxx

what time is it on please?
Sue

Liz,
Have a lovely holiday and hope the weather is kind.
Hoarding? You think you are a hoarder? You should see my house!!
My lifetime collections of various things, my mother's stuff, my MIL's stuff, my antique fairs stuff - and we were running two households whilst we lived in Italy so I have two (or three) of almost every kitchen gadget and appliance!
And I adore books and magazines - and clothes and handbags!
Hoarding? Moi???
x

Thanks for all your comments and stories, I can see a common theme here lol
Will catch up with this later maybe, am busy getting ready for my holiday. Must start decluttering when I get back, means I mustn't buy many souveniers lol
Lizxx

Sharron, THANK YOU. a light has gone on!! re things being given away without my permission.
My (now-ex-)husband took several boxes of my antique books, china and glass one day while I was at work and had it auctioned off. Brought in some very helpful funds but broke my heart at the time, I felt violated. Perhaps I am afraid to feel that way again. Have no trouble throwing away clothing which no longer makes me feel good, but the remaining china just sits there, I can't tackle it. How beautiful is a display in a china cabinet, if things are higgledy piggledy all piled on top of each other?
Thank you, I'll try and work through it, . . . but right now I'm heading outside.
Mary

I'm well aware that I come from a long line of female hoarders, living life as if the War is still on.Its ingrained not to waste anything, !
Now with the change of thought to recycle everything, perhaps we can be persuaded to de-clutter for the greater cause ? I don't think the program showed the anxiety and distress of separation from these things.
I start sifting and sorting, then it all gets too much to deal with and becomes another abortive effort.its very frustrating.
Now can somebody come up with a cure !!!!!!

I watched the programme and I can honestly see my spare room becoming like some of those homes...............this morning I am making a start on de-junking.

Mind you if it will come in useful one day, or holds memories for me, it will probably stay where it is............."for now"

xx

There was another thread on here about Lost Content Museum.Stella,the owner,is happy to take old stuff for display.She has had a lot of my junk that I thought I was attached to.That way it wasn't thrown away and you knew where it was and you could use it as often as you ever did,like never,and.of course,it is preserved for posterity.

Gwyn, you could be right. A post war mentality.

Ann
glos

Tina, Mr. Trebus was a lovely old man.He scared us though when he climbed over the fence etc. to get into his house.The council man-if that's what he was, seemed a caring sort of man, tried hard to help him and showed great respect to him.Indeed, his mind was completely normal, love him.
There are probably an awful lot of us who tend to hoard things 'just in case' or because from sentimental reasons.

interesting about the sleep/hoarding bit as I sleep way too much.

Ann
I can identify with alot of your thoughts. Do you think ours is an age thing perhaps?
I was brought up with a 'waste not, want not' way of thinking, by parents who had known 2 World Wars and hate the idea of throwing away anything that can be useful, but quite happily pass things on to others to use.

Gwyn....also with an OH mentioning a skip.

Interesting to see that both Lindsey and Liz sleep a lot.I can remember sleeping as much as possible to avoid the constant verbal abuse.What about the bit in the narcissism article about your possesions being taken from you and given to somebody else without your permission?Now that couldn't possibly lead you to hoard things could it?

I do hope the programme helped Liz. I don't have OCD but I do tend to hoard, mainly books and magazines. the strange thing is I can get rid of things if I am giving them to somebody who needs them. Like FH magazines, i have loads of back copies but will part with them to another FH enthusiast. couldn't put them in the rubbish though for the life of me. Can send clothes to a charity shop but not put them in the bin. So i even send them if past their best so they can dispose of them (I do know they sell the rags in some cases).
Books I have so many that I have had to put them in the attic (I check them regularly for damp. My OH despairs of me and says if I go before him he first thing he'll do is order a skip!!!

as you know I did have a clear out recently, had to do everything in one go to make myself do it. Felt very virtuous afterwards.

Ann
Glos
Ann
Glos

It was interesting to hear the lady say that different clothes held different emotions. It was the inability to let go of those emotions, - good or bad, that held her back from getting rid of the clothes 'linked' to them.
I thought she did very well to be able to let go and start to clear out.

The 'designer labels' lady was buying clothes which didn't even fit...Her problem seemed rather different, but troublesome nevertheless, not least because of the enormous personal debts that resulted from it.

Gwyn

Ahh, yes Mr Trebus. What a lovely gentleman he was, God bless him. I felt very sorry for him, as in his mind everything was normal, he must have felt heartbroken when all of his possessions were being thrown away. I did have to laugh at his antics in the nursing home.

Did not get to watch the programme last night - OH had control of remote!

I hope it helped you in some way Liz?

Have just read some of the replies - Lindsay - I can relate to books - oh my gosh - went to an auction house and came home with over 200!!!! Some of them are still in boxes and will never get round to reading them, but they are MINE. If I want to move them from here to there and back again I shall lol.

Oh dear, I really must take a long hard look at myself, do you know I think we all have this in us to hoard it is just to what degree.

Tina xxx

Ahh, yes Mr Trebus. What a lovely gentleman he was, God bless him. I felt very sorry for him, as in his mind everything was normal, he must have felt heartbroken when all of his possessions were being thrown away. I did have to laugh at his antics in the nursing home.

Did not get to watch the programme last night - OH had control of remote!

I hope it helped you in some way Liz?

Tina xxx

Liz

C&A labels LOL.....I actually did something about my hoarding yesterday. I got rid of three black bags of childrens clothes. Nothing bigger than age 2. My youngest is almost 10. Tho a lot of the stuff is older than him as in my daughter dresses she'll be 16 soon. And C&A labels featured amoungst these things.

Shelli

P.s must add when I say got rid of I mean I got them out of the room. They're currently sitting at the top of the stairs, waiting for me to be brave and place in bin shed. And I still haveatleast three times more stuff to sort through.And thats just the kids clothes

Dear Liz, acknowledging the prob is the first step, we know that, I know I'm in a similar pickle with papers.
My ex m-i-l had a weird one, she collected plastic bags and had a dozen and half large boxes neatly lined up in her bedroom "plastic bags 3"x5", plastic bags 10"x12", plastic bags with poppers, etc etc. The crowning box was one marked "pieces of string too short to use". I am not making fun, to see that box gave me my chuckle for the day when she was driving me crazy, kitchen piled high, couldn't find the counter, basement knee-deep literally in magazines, and the storeroom so full of bottles you couldn't get in the door. She kept every candle, no matter how long or how burned. When the forsythia started to bud, she would cut dozens of branches and have them sitting in the sinks and bath, in addition to every vase in the house. She had an enormous jade plant, tied up with strips of her husbands striped PJ's, she left it in her will, to the children's hospital for their lobby!!!!!!! Needless to say the PJ pieces were replaced. What she thought they wanted with a tree-size jade plant was beyond me!! There's always hope-especially if we recognize there is a real problem.
Hugs
Mary