Wherever there's clutter accumulating I plan to stop it in its tracks.

Sounds like an old Saturday Evening Post cartoon. Theres a cartoonist that used to draw funny shaped people, I think Osborne was his name, but not sure. I like him for this one!

There is a pile of purses peering through the sidelight at the front door. Inside there is a mountainous pile of books, clothes, pigs and dust clouds looking rather like one side of the parted Red Sea. In front of which is a lady with a determined facial expression, with a trash bag behind her, holding a chair in one hand and a whip in the other.

Hello everyone. Good to hear progress and your plan Tillie, for an upbeat day. I am snowed in, s00o have fire going and plan to clean up some clutter. Had a blind date that I cancelled, for two reasons, snowed in, anxiety meeting a man. Feel relieved to stay home and get back on track organizing. Got taxes done yesterday, very anxiety provoking. Went shopping after that, yep, compulsively.
I went to lowes and bought a dremel oscillating tool assortment attachments. I tried out the scraper blade on some old paint today, worked great. When snow melts, will take it up on trailer roof and try it out on old build up of patching and see how it works.
I followed up on stick built house I was thinking of. There is about $20,000 worth of things not on base price that are required things, I thought it was too good to be true. This is not upgrades on carpet etc., it is footings, permits, etc. Out of my price range. Happy I asked for details, and insisted on break down of all necessary charges. This answered my question to continue repairs of replace. Happy garage did not leak yesterday with rain, no leak in kitchen so patching is working for now. Hope all goes well for you today

Hi 🙂

WAY TO GO!!! 😀
getting stuff done.

Going to the grocery store today,
have my list all made out.
He wants to go to the thrift shops. 🙁
Today I will not mention anything about not buying or about decluttering/cleaning.
That is my B-Day gift to him.
Tomorrow will be a different story though. 😉

Have a GREAT! Saturday everybody. 🙂

Day TEN - I want to ship these cards and things to their final destinations today. Got everything ready for three of them and have two more to prepare. Have to find addresses.

Laundry. I have two loads to do, maybe three if I have enough whites.

General straightening up. Kitchen table, counters, living room, etc. Wherever there's clutter accumulating I plan to stop it in its tracks.

I'm going to break out the pie book and really consider baking one today. But that also reminds me to call maintenance about our oven. It isn't lighting by itself and I need to have them come fix it but I hate having the man in here when I'm alone. Not sure I'll be brave enough to go through with that one.

I hope everyone is doing well. Thinking of you all...

WTG to everyone for all your persistence and getting things done in small chunks!!

Enjoy your day!

The weather report said cloudy until 1pm or so, after which it would start raining; I figured I could take care of my other errands, picking up some bread and dropping off the lease application with landlady Anna, and make it to my 1pm appointment with landlady Susan, and then check to see if I could still bike home, or if the rain would make a bus the better choice.

Alas, the weather report wasn't sufficiently fine-tuned for my needs -- it was already pouring rain when I left at 11:25. Bus would have taken longer, so I set out anyway. Got the bread, left the first application, and continued onward. Evidently the rain slowed me down more than I'd accounted for -- it was 1:35 when I arrived, and nobody answered the door. I made a detour to the public library to check my mail and see if I could reschedule; I see I have a voice message from landlady Susan, but no actual info in it -- maybe she couldn't make it at 1:00 after all. I don't have a cell phone but I can text her from the computer -- let's see if she responds before I have to leave here.

Tillie - Glad you're starting to feel better!

I did the boxes in my clutter closet and THE PURSES. Whaaaaat? That's right. I scrubbed one up that was in okay condition and then I threw it away lol Almost kept it but, you know, it really wasn't necessary. With the space I've freed up getting rid of these old, increasingly shabby bags I can buy a nice new one that doesn't have ripped lining and a pen mark on the side. I only want as many as I'll actually use.

The only thing left to organize in my clutter closet is a box of cards from our wedding and my huge wedding binder. These are things I do not need but feel like I must keep. After I deal with that I will be calling this my walk in closet and not my clutter closet. After all, I'm typing this from the floor that actually exists now.

Good morning 🙂
Was sick the last few days.
House went all to heck.
Freaking out.
Need to clean the house because people told me they will be coming over tomorrow to give Mr. Hoarder his B-Day card.
Oh Well 🙁
I will do as much as I can get done without pushing myself too hard since I am still a little shaky & feeling small.
I know I can get the place good enough 🙂
T.G.I.F. and it is also the last day of February.
Lets all march into March together with renewed optimism and convictions. 😀

Good luck with the apartment search Karl! It sounds like you're being very proactive 🙂

Day Nine - I did go to the grocery store yesterday and I did drop off my donations! I started writing out the card I plan to send out with those things I want to mail, so that's something, but I didn't finish that project. So I'll work more on that today.

I need to get back to the clutter closet today too. The rest of my weekly task is to finish the remaining couple of boxes in there so I want to do at least one today. My guess is that I'll finish one and want to do it all so we will see.

I plan to run out quickly and get more firewood too, just in case. Might bake a pie if everything else goes smoothly. It's my favorite way to heat up the apartment!

Karl, WTG! I'm praying one of the apartments becomes yours ASAP.

As of last night, I've contacted two places with a room to rent at an affordable price. One responded by phone, the other online. I'd hoped to hear back from both of them today, and be able to visit them in a single trip, but I kept getting voicemail until 4:30pm, when I was able to reach one of them (Anna). I decided there was still time to get there and back before dark, (7.7 miles of bicycling each way), so I did so. Nice place, but the current tenant won't be moving out for another week or so.

I finished off the ice cream.

I had both my camera and the USB cable handy today, so I decided to take photos of the place (my housemate's hoard, not my own). I'm not sure what I'll do with them.

For Tillie -
A Tiny House on Wheels (with no Hoard of course)

https://sftimes.co/?id=93&src=share_fb_new_93

Karl,
Is there something specific that you would like me to pray about in your situation?

I am concerned about you and at a total loss as to the right things to say.
Dave

Jess,

"It can help to know too that when we hang on to a gift we don't like, part of us resents the person who gave it to us for putting us in this situation. Every time we see the gift, we feel irritated that the person gave us something we don't like and that we feel guilty about letting it go."

Pigs and purses lol My struggle. I feel like this book needs to be illustrated, or maybe one of the pop up variety.

Day Eight - I need to go to the grocery store because we have a store coming. I put it off yesterday and don't feel like dealing with public interaction today either. Still. I must.

I have some bags still in my car that need to be dropped off for donation. Perhaps if they are still open I can do this on my way to the grocery store.

I also plan to write a few cards to send to friends and family. I have to send that Rhinestone pig to my friend who asked for it. I have maple candies and syrup to send to my brother's family and my parents from our recent trip to Canada. I also have some items I am returning to friends that I'd like to be brave enough to send.

Wishing everyone strength today!

done

I'll set it up in a little bit.

I'm going to do some selected copy/paste because I want your own voice in the initial post too.

Dave, great idea for our thrift store recovery. I think looking at the feelings pre and post thrift store outings would be interesting. So happy we have our agreement for this week, hope I can make it through an outing with a craft friend tomorrow. I think she just has one errand then tea time. I think thrift store honest talk is the next step for me after going public with the hoard, being honest about thrift store shopping and discovering reasons behind it, would help in recovery. I read an article in newspaper tonight about brain chemistry changing when we addictivly do pleasurable things more dopamine is released. Genetically dopamine released when doing survival things. I could relate to that, I see myself as needing thrift stores to have stuff as good as other people. I actually feel like bargains have helped me survive. Sure do appreciate discussing this with you Dave.

Jess,

A title for your book

Pigs and Purses, My Journey Through Hoarding.

Karl,
Does your roommate actually have someone with money in hand ready to move in next week?

If not, would that give you any position for negotiating a one month extension for the current arrangement?

Or alternatively, what's the worst that would happen if you gave in and paid half for one month to give yourself a tiny bit more breathing room?

My thoughts:

A thread under how to help a hoarder?

Title: WE LOVE THRIFT STORES! HELP WANTED.

Sub title: Thrift stores in the life of a hoarder.

First post - by diane and Dave.

We are in the middle of a week of abstaining from thrift store shopping. We'd love to hear your thrift store stories. Not just about some spiffy "score", but: What's their importance in your life? How have they facilitated your hoarding? What attracts you to them? What happens to the stuff you buy there? What have you done to change your behavior in or about thrift stores?

Sorry you're not feeling well, Roxie! Hopefully you got some solid rest and it will do you good.

I canceled on today's games event so that I could do instead work on finding a new home. I haven't started on that yet. It's depressing.

I did not get the garbage bin to the street because when I got up to do it I felt too sick. Tried waiting a few minutes but... Well, it'll be quite full for next week.

diane - Great job today! Sounds like you are really tackling a lot 🙂 Also, I love that you noticed your tasks for today were a bunch of things you really dislike. I think it's important to figure out what catches us up so we can assign tasks differently or learn new ways to do the things we struggle with. I'm very impressed with you, lady!

Tillie - I felt so bad reading about your food situation with your hoarder. Thank you for sharing that. I cleaned my fridge out after reading what you wrote. Your struggles with your hoarder help remind me to be aware of the space I am taking from my husband. We both live here and are both affected by each other's actions and inaction.

Dianne - Thank you! I had my spin with the vacuum. Gotta make your own fun, right? lol Lately I've been really working on rephrasing things in general to sound more positive. Just now instead of lugging my heavy blankets all the way to the laundry facility across the street I "got to make some fresh clean snuggly bedding!" haha! The toe stubbing and stepping over and around things is so not something I am missing. I go in that room and instinctively start tip toeing even though it's clear now. So much better (and safer!).

Dave - I really dig your quotes today. I tend to keep things that other people might want or find a use for. Why?? When it becomes a burden and lessens our quality of life and the functionality of our homes... well the cost is too high. I am not a warehouse.

This is so long already, I'm sorry! I cleaned the kitchen, made dinner and then cleaned up after that. I washed some bedding, vacuumed, and organized the little kitchen closet! Lots of great stuff and some of that was a part of my weekly task. Feeling good!

Bills paid, why is it so difficult to do things I don't like, like this pile of papers? Well here goes-----papers away.

Got the papers done for taxes, made me very anxious dealing with them, not perfect but good enough. Took wringer out of washing machine and let me tell you, it was not an easy job with a toothbrush getting all the crap out. Decided to clean the metal moving parts that had never been clean and the inside of agitator, what a mess. I felt disgusted and tired after those two jobs so got on computer to pay bills and I "accidently"pushed this site anything to put off bills and pile of paper and floor. I noticed I listed jobs today of all things I dislike immensely. I think it is more reasonable to do only 2 things I dislike per day...Ok off to pay bills, my favorite on list, then pile of papers, then maybe floor.

Dennis the Menace cartoon from Karl.

"I know its good for nothing but I'm saving it until it's good for something."

I'm not getting back in the garage like I need to, using the cold as one excuse. But a question I was working on this morning:
When it's good for something to somebody but not necessarily good for something for me. Matt, and Cory, and Brooks Palmer will tell me that it is not my job to warehouse for others. That that item is clutter for me.

Brooks Palmer in his blog "You're able to let go of clutter because of the strength inside of you." And that's what I need to carry out to the garage to some of these items.

Long way to say good for you, I think you are using some self created CBT to force your mind into some new thought patterns and then paying attention to the emotional responses and not automatically responding to them with automatic behaviors.

Thanks for the reminder Dave, so important to find flashlight when electricity off even for temporary repairs. Need home for flashlights just like tools. Easier to throw away old plastic bags. Today thought it would be good to throw away something that still has a use, just to see I will live after throwing out a useful item (I will still have enough)