Today I plan to vacuum, clean floors, kitchen bathroom counters will be cleaned. 1 load laundry. Find more donations. Helper comes tomorrow so down to the wire to clean up my act. Yesterday got all dishes washed/put away. So much easier since I got rid of excess dishes. Much easier to vacuum since no excess stuff on floor. I am starting to see advantages of no clutter. We are going to fine tune bedroom then start on the craft room tomorrow, ouch.
Thinking of your blooming flowers Tillie, and happy you have house to yourself now that he is back to work

Hi Karl 🙂
WOOHOO!!!
Way To Go! 😀

Hope you don't have too many items needing fixing.
But anyways, after today your sewing pile will be down.
Good Going! 🙂

I finally got around to getting out the sewing kit to take care of some mending. As I finished each one, I figured that I might as well continue to the next one as long as I had it out. I got five repairs done.

Hi Everybody 🙂

Wind has been blowing pretty good all day.
Lots of clouds, very little sun shining through.

Hi Diane 🙂
So sorry to hear you had to get up on the roof and that some old leaks are acting up again. 🙁
WAY TO GO!!! using all that nervous energy when you couldn't sleep to do so much! 😀
I promise you that the major decluttering will eventually be all done.
The faster you work at it, the sooner it will be over with.
I am grateful that you have a helper there working along side you.
But...
You need time between sorting sessions to take in all the positive aspects.
Time to get more comfortable with what has gone out.
Time to appreciate all the good positive changes in your life.
(((HUGS)))

Hi CriticalMass 🙂
Wishing you LOTS of luck! 😀
Prioritize.
You can't do everything at once but you can do the most important thing first.
When that's done do the next most important thing.
I know it's hard but you are only one person and can only do one thing well at a time.
(((HUGS)))

Hi Dave 🙂
I really do appreciate your wisdom and input here, as I am sure others do too.
I had no advice to offer on selling a vehicle but what you said really makes a lot of sense to me.
Thank you 🙂

Have not left the house at all, not even out in the yard today.
The cats and I have food enough for now.
Planning to see how long I can go before I must go to the grocery store or starve.
This is how I keep my fridge and pantry under control and food up to date.
Been over a week since my last grocery run and I think I can make it another ten days. 😀
This has been a really fun challenge so far.

He has been sitting at his computer in the garage all weekend and hasn't done squat. 😛

Tillie I assume you went shopping today and are not buried out in carport. please let us know how the weekend turned out, thanks

Dave you are so insightful, thank you. I was pollyana and just assumed the first person would buy it. I appreciate the thought it is ok not to expect to sell it immediately. I think I must affirm the positive, then when it doesn't happen, I think, right, I am negative and depressed, why pretend to be happy and have it together. Thanks Dave.
Today we had sustained winds with big gusts that decided to show me why I should have attached the metal roofing better that I put on last year. While it was twisting in the wind, I quick got hammer, longer roofing nails and got up on roof and repaired it before metal bent too much so was able to repair it and put more nails in. I always do the minimum just to see if I can get by, except when it came to shopping!!!!!! Or sorting. It was raining/snowing and windy so was a challenge, especially with only 2 hours sleep, it is done. Then got new leak in walkway between garage and house, once again because I did not secure the stuff well enough. I just put buckets there, too cold. When it is nice weather, I think no big deal, then it rains and I regret not finishing things. Out in garage I saw many containers, I have to convince myself to get rid of just too much. At least most are empty now. Tough day, at least I did not go shopping, although I did find some rocks in garage that I stashed years ago before I was a rock hound, so that was my reward for today. Sure hope your day is going well or good or great.

diane, don't be discouraged about the rv.

In selling things, it takes getting some no's to get the yes. The below is about telephone cold calling but it matches my experience in another area:

Positive thinkers tell us to approach each call with the firm belief that the call will result in a sale. BULL! The reality of the matter is that most people you call will mot buy from you. If you call believing they will and they don't, depression will certainly ensue.
If, on the other hand, you call with the clear certainty that most people will say "no", your expectations are in tune with reality and you can keep at it. Occasionally, someone will say "yes" and your elation will know no bounds. It's much better for our mental health to assume the worst and take what comes, than to expect the best an live with perpetual disillusionment.Hank Trisler in No Bull Selling.

If you believe your friend's husband's knowledge is legitimate when he talked with you about the saleability of the vehicle and its proper pricing, you should eventually find the right buyer. I think this would be somewhat like selling a house, you have to find the buyer that wishes to have the characteristics your house exhibits. And the ways in which that kind of thing happens are sometimes fascinating and surprising.

It's true, sick and tired of it seems to be where we have to get to. It has to become a game changer, a paradigm shifter. A spiritual awakening. Call it whatever speaks to your soul the strongest. That's where I got to last year with the horrendously stressful move in May. I could finally harness my anger and say "It's just STUFF!!!" I could hate it, if that was what was necessary, instead of getting all sloppy and sentimental. I could even be . . . DECISIVE!

Right now, a year later (because the run-up to the move was actually beginning in March & April last year), I'm frustrated that despite my resolutions I've got a situation here at my friends. Bug man coming this week and a bedroom that's got piles that I'm going to have to do a quick & dirty stash and dash (putting them in boxes in my van) on Monday.

With ADD I have such an irritatingly imprecise way of tracking time and connecting the dots as to when deadlines actually will be, and what other things are going to be occurring at the same time - such as spring break which changes things because roommate will be home. Now I'll have to work around her and be distracted, rather than being on my own, putting on some music, etc.

Even on my own it's difficult enough with pets underfoot and narrow hallways. I had been going to set up a staging area. Not to mention my own tendencies to get sidetracked. I resolve so many times not to let things get right down to the wire, yet here I am again. *facepalm* Even feeling memories of the frantic, shameful, helpless stress of last year being triggered by the similarity of this current situation.

The things that are a bit reassuring are that a) my roommate is not angry at me, she understands; b) hopefully I can do this if I take the whole day on Monday and just focus on it; and c) in the process of boxing the stuff up, I can label the boxes as to what can stay here and what was stuff I brought over prematurely, which has to go back to the storage unit (sigh, but what can you do sometimes) and only bring back in the basics. That was something I'd been meaning to do when I came to the realization I'd brought too much in, a little here and a little there, and it has been adding up.

Bleah. 😛 Wish me luck.

Thanks Tillie for the encouragement. Last night I went to bed at 11pm, read, woke up at 1am with book on my face. I was so anxious, I just got up. Last night I felt I could no longer go on with this having a helper, feel so overwhelmed at the speed we are getting rid of stuff. Anxious about quitting once again. I decided to use my sleepless anxiety to start on paperwork again, actually got through all the files and some old stuff of parents. Huge burn pile on floor. Saved some stuff to take a picture of and email to sister before I burn it. with only 2 hours of sleep with a book on my face, feel a little hopeless. Tillie when I read your post, gave me hope. At this moment you can see my progress and success, gave me a glimmer of the same. My car is full of donations, pickup is full of stuff to take to dump, just feel stuck, with no place to put excess, just have to go to thrift store and dump and start filling again. Seems endless at this moment. I have already worked 5 hours getting rid of stuff this morning, and now is the time I normally get up, so guess I should be grateful I got a head start on the day.

Hi Diane 🙂
Hope you are all warm and snuggly now.
Sorry the people were inconsiderately late and that neither customer wanted to buy the RV.
Crossing my fingers that it sells soon. X

Sick and tired of all the excess stuff...
THAT IS IT!!! 😀
You sound like you are really on the right track to finally being ready to release.
Within you is the key to breaking free of these chains.
I want so much for you to be free to do all the wonderful and fun things that make you happy.
I know it's difficult and that you have worked so very hard to make these changes.
Keep only the best and things that serve you well.
Release the rest with a glad heart.
(((HUGS)))

I got the RV advertised on Craigs list, finished cleaning it, washed the outside in the cold today. Showed it to two families, neither wanted it. I am cold tired and blue. I did get the wood and kindling chopped and hauled in while waiting for second family, they were 3 hours late. Cleaned chimney, and stove out. Now fire is started and hopefully my fingers and toes will have feeling again soon. Right now if someone came and took all my hoard away, I would not care---I am sick of dealing with it, especially since I emptied out RV, makes me so aware I am sick of extra stuff to deal with. Talk about containers, Time to get rid of them now that I see I am sick of storing stuff I will never use Spending time sorting things, storing them and not being able to find them when I need them, I am really sick and tired of being a hoarder.

Hi Roxie 🙂
So very sad to read that. 🙁
You rest and take good care now
and that's an order!
(((HUGS)))

Lost a long post, too tired to retype it all. Went to hospital Tuesday with COPD exacerbation, back on Thursday. New temp meds and lots of rest, see doc again on Monday.

Hugs and coffee clinks.

Good Morning Everybody 🙂

Hi CriticalMass 🙂
Wonderful to catch up with all you have going on in your life! 😀
Make sure to pace yourself going forward with all you have going on there.
Pushing yourself past your limits will only set you back. (((hugs)))

Hi Dave 🙂
I had to Google "hammered flowers". O.K. ;P lol
Living with another who really, really likes containers of all sorts & sizes I understand their lure for you.
Maybe, just maybe both you Guys should start thinking about the limited space around the home as containers.
A garage to contain a car.
One closet to contain all the clothes.
A dresser to contain the rest of the clothing.
A book shelf to contain all the books.
A shelf to contain whatever it needs to contain, etc...
Emptied space to contain happy people living in peace and harmony. 🙂
(((hugs)))

Was a walking zombie yesterday from lack of sleep.
Slept very well last night. 😀
It's the weekend again................
Wondering if anything will be accomplished.
Yesterday stated out warm with a brisk wind and late in the afternoon turned to rain, sleet & hail.
Today is predicted to be the same.
I have laundry out drying on the clothes line.
Should be all done before the weather changes today.

Logic problem...
The dump transfer station charges by weight to dump there.
The metal recycling place does not charge, they pay you by weight to unload there.
The price for scrap metal has gone down so he says that it's not worth recycling the heavy metal stuff.
He takes it to the dump transfer station where he pays to unload it rather than to the metal recycling place where it is at least free to be rid of it even though they would pay him for it.
:/
Heavy sigh

I'm baaa-ack! 🙂

Tillie, hope you had a Happy Birthday!

Dave, your humor is priceless. As is ogswife's LOL.

Diane, it's great to have a creative passion - and you have good focus on yours. I have too many of them and have a hard time settling. Remains to be seen how that'll play out. I think decluttering can't help but clarify things.

Joan, nice to meet you - I like your point about thinking outside the box. I can look back and see how I've created some of my own boxes (a storage unit full of them, in essence). It feels so rejuvenating to get out of the boxes such as the Fear of Scarcity Box, the This Might Come In Handy box, etc. And you make an excellent point that while we struggle with the temptations around hoarding, or its consequences, we are way more multidimensional human beings. We are getting unstuck - it shines out when I read these posts just how dynamic we are - and how together we are greater than the sum of our individual selves. 🙂 🙂 🙂

A lot has happened since my previous post.

I paid for my vehicle repairs - at least in part. My mechanic is a great guy in that he knows my situation and will accept payments. Not many do that. However, I'm going to be super tight on money the rest of this month, and probably for another couple at least until I get that wrapped up.

That puts the kibosh on moving to the closer storage unit this month, and to even getting out to my one I have to work on stuff because, gasoline. We'll see, maybe I can do some. This is the story of my life but I'm so exhausted from everything that's been going on that maybe it was meant to be that I slow down. Not stop, but slow down. Another thing that happened is that my roomie's car went kaputz. So I'm driving her to work and wherever so she bought me some gas, but I'm being conservative with it, of course, using it for what it was intended for.

There have been too many things happening, if you ask me! I'm brainstorming ways to make a little money. I'm on disability but I could do something; it has to be something with minimal stress though, due to my issues that I'm on disability for.

It's been a weird spring with all this stuff happening, trying to make plans, having to suddenly change plans because of some new unexpected thing, then when things start to calm down a bit, trying to remember what I was doing before the interruption, getting my bearings and starting to make a little progress till the next crisis, rinse and repeat. I look at the daffodils and crocuses and flowering trees and I'm like "What planet am I on?" Gradually I'm able to wrap my mind around it, but for awhile there it felt like time was speeding up way too fast. And I felt so unready for the spring tasks, gardening and things - total overwhelm trying to think of adding more routines when I can't even establish the routines I want to have now!

I did go out and do some of the stuff that I do as part of my "roommate agreement" in the gardening area, and it is a very beautiful day so it wasn't so bad. I moved like a turtle but I kind of enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I know what things of my own need to be done, and I'm glad to help out, though my energy is depleted from last year. I'm not going to get carried away trying to plant too many things in my own small garden space. I'll leave the hardcore gardening to my roommate, it seems to be more her thing. I like gardens and nature but as I've probably said before, I'm a wimp - when the heat and the mosquitoes arrive, I'm immediately thinking just how lovely it is to spend lots of time indoors with iced tea and air conditioning!

Back to decluttering before I wrap up - I just wish I had some sort of staging area I could take at least some of the stuff in storage to, go to and sort and toss, then put the (hopefully greatly minimized) remainder back NEATLY in the unit - dare I hope even in a smaller unit? As it has been, I've brought home little bundles of stuff over the past year thinking "Oh, this I could dispatch in a jiffy!" Only to have it become part of the pile of new clutter. Well, at least I'm recognizing that pattern, so I'm making myself stop. And I'm even going to have to take some of the bundles back (sigh) because of the termite man coming here at some point soon. (Sigh again.) When the weather is nice, perhaps I can do some mini-sorting like that in the front seat of my van parked by the storage unit, or on a card table. That's for the times when there's not enough time to make a big push.

So basically it's been a series of pauses, realizations of what's not going to work after all, and coming up with different strategies on the fly.

Sorry, everyone, the long post below from me must have been deleted from the "Why Hoarding" thread by mistake, and then reposted to the thread, "What Are You Doing Today". My original post was posted on "Why Hoarding". I have since reposted my original post on the "Why Hoarding" thread.

Re Diane and adventurous. Yeah, spring is coming. I'm waiting for the post about the neighbors had to call the fire department to get her out of a tree.

Container-is that what they call reframing something? It seems like there was a book about supersizing things. I can get the "Hoarder Warm and Fuzzy Feeling" as I let the small fry go by remembering that Mrs Dave's car is being stored in the large economy size peanut butter jar I saved!

Tillie, you are a wonderful person! You may have invented a new craft. You should be making notes of your experiences and approaches to provide details for your book. Tool lists are important too.
One of the books Mrs Dave discarded in the last batchcaused a double take as it went by and I set it aside to scan. (I did have permission to review the book piles before they left.) It was a book on Hammered Flowers.
You seem to have created a related craft called Hammered Glass. 🙂

Good Evening....

Hi Diane 🙂
It definitely is a two way street.
I get so much from all of you wonderful people here.
(((HUGS)))
There is no way you could be pigeon-holed and stuffed into a cubby hole labeled hoarder.
You are so very, very much more than a person who has too much stuff.
You are wonderfully creative and imaginative.
You are a skilled health care worker.
You are a very caring and conscientious friend.
You are young at heart and adventurous.
You are a joy to know. (((HUGS)))

Hi Dave 🙂
So you have a container conundrum.
Small containers for storing tiny stuff
or the large container for storing Mrs. Dave's car.

I would ask you
how wonderful, valuable and irreplaceable are those jars?

To make sure that any "good" glass jars are no longer removed from the household trash here
I have resorted to using a hammer to remove any usability from them. 😉

Hoping I can get some sleep tonight.
Been tossing & turning night after night.
That pain in my left side won't let me be comfortable.
The cats are grouchy from me disturbing their sleep too.
At 2:00am the television programs are real terrible and some are quite disturbing to watch.

Please excuse these ramblings of an insomniac.
😉

I have been having stressful moments with the recycle container lately. Mrs Dave has been DISCARDING perfectly usable glass and plastic jars that she no longer needs for crafts. Unfortunately I am at the point where the only place I have to put them is a large open place in the garage. The large open place in the garage where Mrs Dave parks her car. So, it's like, Is this container worth Mrs Dave moving out over?

When the boxes were going from BOX Canyon in the living room to BOX Mesa in the basement there was (and still is) one labelled Plastic Sacks. Its discovery was followed by a "loud voice" and "foot shuffling" communication session in a BOX Canyon. That box is in addition to Plastic Sack Plaza and the Buried Treasure discovered this morning.

AJ, wife and teecher - you have here a trivial but excellent example from Mr Tillie and Mr Dave of an apparently irrational thought process and the resulting storage issues with which you are coping.

Good morning all. Being in the box of hoarding and only identifying as a hoarder became my life. Getting involved in my hobby of rocks, polishing etc. has given me a reward and a new identity. I have had 3 visitors recently that are long term friends but never allowed in the house. I have doing a lot for their approval, recently I am seeing it is for my comfort and approval to have a clean organized area to relax in.
After my paper work mess yesterday, I am now committed to getting rid of no longer needed paperwork. This morning I have already worked 1&1/2 hours unloading papers, burn, garbage, and a few to file. The gift of missing taxes was, I tore out all the papers from their hiding places, now that I see the volume and the need to simplify, I will keep at it today. Appreciate the miserable weather to keep me inside. Also plan to go out to RV to clean and take pictures to post online to sell. At the last minute I found tax papers under the basket I thought they were in, after my mad search, I realized how painful it is to have excess.
Without a helper I would be still be churning and getting rid of only the minimum. as my dear friend Tillie says, "you can not organize a hoard". Makes sense, and when I am getting rid of stuff, I still make excuses to keep stuff. as my helper was throwing away plastic bags yesterday, I kept saying no I will use those, as she pulled out even more, it became clear, I do not need them all. Same with empty containers, I keep hiding them thinking she does not realize I need them when I do the craft room and garage. She then showed me all of the containers in craft room and no way can I keep all of the fabrics, beads etc; and use the room as I plan, sewing machine, serger, jewelry table. I want to be able to walk in and sew something when I want not, able to now. Goat trails do not provide flat surfaces to do anything fun on. Gardening is a wonderful way to identify who you are, and to appreciate new growth. When my whole world is being buried in a hoard, seems no way out. Allowing another person to guide me would have been impossible a year ago, especially some one I worked for, 10 years, and I respect her. Last week I had her bring a candle holder and candle she had in her bathroom that had ugly rocks around candle. I replaced them with beautiful polished rocks, we were both so happy with the results. I keep thinking of ways to repay her and she says she really gets joy out of being here and seeing all that I accomplish each week. I have gotten tremendous joy from helping others, so just need to learn to believe her
Tillie, I hope you realize how much you help each of us and know how much we appreciate you being here for all of us

Good Morning Everybody 🙂

Hi Diane 🙂
You have been doing FANTASTIC!!! 😀
Sorry about the missing paperwork.
But with everything else you have been doing, some things weren't done yet because you are only one person and can't do everything at once.
This all takes time.
Things didn't become all jumbled over night and you realistically can't untangle everything over night either.
(((HUGS)))

Hi Dave 🙂
I asked my plastic sack hoarder...
"Just how many plastic sacks do you really need?"
Looking around at the hundreds, if not thousands squirreled away he answered
"you never know when they all may come in handy".
But if anybody asks him for even just one he will refuse, stating that he just can't spare it.
LOL ;D
Sorry your pretzels went stale over the years.
Next time only store candy canes, they seem to keep better over time. 😉
My mother had candy canes to decorate the tree with.
We children were not allowed to eat them.
She used these same ones year after year until she decided to splurge on some new ones and only then allowed us kids to finally eat the ten year old ones.
They tasted alright but it was very hard to get the wrapping off them.
P.S. we were not by any means poor. ;P

The wind is raging today. Blowing in the next storm.
I have no plans for the day.
Maybe I will just get lost in daydreams.

TTYS 🙂

March 10, 2016 at 4:16AM, iPad on 4:15AM‼️‼️‼️ Thursday Hi Anony❗️ Great to "hear" from you, and to read that you are giving serious thought to new ways to correct your hoarding. I really feel for you. You have keen intuition, and your thinking is definitely on the right track. My goal in starting this discussion (thread) was to differentiate between treating hoarding as a chronic illness (similar to, say, an addiction problem), and actually CORRECTING the hoarding behavior. I am NOT suggesting that any of the medical models out there cure hoarding, although many of them boast about doing so. In fact, in my experience, most conventional medical approaches make hoarding worse. I AM personally convinced that hoarding is curable, but that to do so we have to look "outside of the box". Unfortunately I cannot give you much concrete advice about how to start on this path. Each person is faced with a unique situation in the hoarding paradigm, and each situation has different parameters and resources (financial and otherwise). It is very important to use your resources wisely. As your health improves, you will automatically become more efficient at utilizing resources. In the beginning of my journey, I had to cast about for effective methods of improving my health, and could not conserve resources. Currently I have a regular weekly routine, and rely on a handful of highly skilled people in various disciplines to support my recovery. You are correct that you cannot do this alone. I would encourage you to think about whether hiring someone to help you with hoarded items is the best use of your resources. It may be. Hoarding has consequences that we all have to live with. Be aware, however, that that would be an expenditure that would enable you to live more comfortably with your hoarding. It would not CORRECT the hoarding. No matter how bad the hoarding is, if you want to aim for a cure, you must set aside some time and some resources to address potential cures. Ironically, strategies for living with hoarding all entail understanding the behavior, whilst avenues of potential cures all entail getting "out of the box". As long as you are in the box of hoarding, you cannot see the role hoarding plays in the bigger picture of your life. So to pursue curative modalities, the FIRST thing you have to do is to stop defining yourself exclusively as a "hoarder". If you want to start a veggie garden, I would strongly encourage you to do so. You say you are afraid it will "distract [you] from fixing [your] mess". As long as you stay in the box of hoarding, since you are not correcting the hoarding BEHAVIOR by staying in the box, your entire existence will be devoted to "fixing" your "mess". Your system will continue to generate hoarding, no matter how much or how often you clean it up. So yes, spend some of your time "out of the box", plant a garden, and see where your intuition takes you from there. Exercise and diet are always important in developing a healthy lifestyle. You are correct, there has to be a shift, probably multiple shifts over many years, before you can cure your hoarding. I am certainly not at the the "cure" yet. I just keep pointing myself in the right direction every day and walking the path. It is not the path less traveled, it is the path untraveled‼️ Hopefully I will have more company as time goes on. I wish you well, and will write when I can. 5:00PM❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️ 5:00PM.

And my pretzels are stale.

Tillie, re BOX canyon, pretty clever. Just today I saw an old post about my 13' long wall of boxes in the living room, so I expect you had it about right. I have been trying to think about a post in wife's thread. I opened my eyes and was confronted with a wall of plastic sacks. I am living a nightmare. 🙂 I have escaped from BOX Canyon to Plastic Sack Plaza. (Shuffling feet) maybe you can have too many plastic sacks??? 🙂

Diane, such a nice post about things accomplished. I am so glad you are being able to move forward with cleaning and organizing and tidying and that you have help and support for the process. Sorry about the missing tax papers, I know that's frustrating. I'm hiding my head in the sand. I haven't started any tax return work, so I have no missing papers. 🙂

Hi
Helper came today, we or should I say, she, cleaned out the RV, Things I planned to keep were put in trash, I am amazed that when she puts things in trash, I agree with her, when originally I thought it was worth donating or keeping. Tomorrow I will clean and shampoo RV. so strange how fast it goes when she is here. had taxes done today. couldn't find some papers, wasted 1&1/2 hours looking for paper, more proof I need to finish paperwork

It's worth a try.
Wildflower seeds are hardier than domestic seeds and you just may get something. 🙂

I too have a box of wildflower seeds for this planting year.
Been trying to think of a good place to spread them.
Also have some packets of mixed butterfly attracting flower seeds.
I think the mice eat most of my seeds.