Hey Karl, yeah I'd like to donate things if I can. Some of it was the first computer stuff we got in the late 90's. I've kept everything because (besides hoarding) I didn't want someone with computer knowledge to get my info.

My main concern is to maintain privacy while getting rid of all the old computer stuff.

Dianne, why are you getting rid of the computer in the first place? Is it no longer working, or has it become obsolete from buying something better? I guess I'm wondering whether you might want to donate it instead of trashing it.

There are ways to wipe the information on the disk without physically destroying it. On my GNU/Linux system, I use the "shred" command if I think it's necessary, though for the most part I'm happy with just deleting the files. Reformatting the disk would wipe everything for sure.

Diane,
I offer this with some trepidation, but...

If you search out a blog by Brooks Palmer, you will see an offer of $40 / hour phone or skype clutter busting sessions.

If you scan his blog posts from June to December you will see what I think is a good spectrum of the way he approaches dealing with clutter. (And you will see that he has almost lost his own life over damage to his body caused by helping others to clear their clutter.

Reading his blog posts refreshes me, helps me remember about the general approach I've chosen for dealing with my messes, and encourages me with a gentle no blame approach to helping me and others.

I am right there with you, with the added difficulty of STILL not being able to throw things away.

I am really really frustrated over the garage situation because I still need to reduce its contents by over 50% and I am unable to look at things and make go choices. I managed to keep some impetus going by ditching the books, laserjet iii printer and refrigerator I talked about in another post; but I still can't clearly see next steps for the garage.

Because of that level of frustration and discouragement, I stayed home from an extended family Christmas gathering because I did not want anymore stuff coming in the house. I still wound up with three things coming in I don't have places for and am very stressed about.

I am considering dropping a bank because of new service charge levels. In doing that, I need to close a safe deposit box for which I am missing one key. It will cost $13 to replace the key. I was going to take 15 mins and empty a cabinet into a box to see if I could find it. Half hour later I had 1 1/2 boxes of stuff, cabinet still partly full. I found money (an expected content in this location), glasses, hand towels (that were there because I didn't want anybody else in the house to have them) tissues, paper towels, receipts(anywhere from 2006 to date), clothing tags (in case of exchange or for bookmarks), torn paper, medicine, flashlights, winter ear bands and gloves, knives, toothbrushes and I don't know what else. I don't know where to put the things I'd like to keep and don't have the mental strength to deal with the paper stuff.

That was immediately before an immediate family gathering for Christmas stockings. After we opened the stockings, I put a number of things, including some things (like a big bag of candy) that I would have liked to keep) in a pile and asked if anybody would like duplicates of things they'd already gotten. Some things disappeared but I still came home with more stuff I have no place to put. I've been spending today (re tillie's post in another thread) regretting the loss of my big candy bag and packet of velcro cable ties because I was trying to control wanting stuff. (I am SURE i will still remember that 20 years from now :).)

I think for the first time in my life, I have some kind of understanding at the visceral level as to why someone would take the route of madness as an avoidance escape from adverse reality events.

One of my three books is Playing Ball on Running Water. I am working hard to remember that feelings are ok and what I am to do is to find what reality is calling me to do next. (I'm pretty sure that is NOT going mad :). )I have to find the focus to get through these depressed feelings and enough clarity to think of some new step of organization or disposal I can hang onto as an example of what I am capable of doing.

I hope that you are able to get through that flaming anger without too much damage to yourself. Unfortunately, I sometimes find that with anger I have to be really focused on lack of reaction and patience to allow time to work for a day or two. I don't know how many times I have done or said things in anger that I have later regretted or had to clean up after.

IT manager at a former employer (Country Boy) used to say a 30-06 bullet was good for a hard drive.

Thanks Tillie, I'll do salt water. 🙂

Diane, been there. 🙁

God bless ~~

Ways to destroy a hard drive....
smash it with a big hammer
drive a nail into the center of it
incinerate it
leave it sit in a bucket of salty water
place it next to a big strong magnet
or a combination of the above choices.

😀

Thanks so much Tillie!

Now have to find a screwdriver. 🙂

Dianne 🙂
OK
you can remove the cover from the tower by unscrewing the screws you see on the outside of it. Some screws may even be located on the bottom.
Once you have removed enough screws to see inside the cover
look for a rectangular box that will also probably be held in with screws on the sides.
This box is the HARD DRIVE
about 6 inches long
4 inches wide
and one inch thick
It may look similiar to the disc drive but doesn't have an opening to put a disc into it.
The HARD DRIVE has ports on the back side with things like "ribbon connectors" attached to it.
Just unplug them.
Got It? 😀

Thanks Tillie, I will go for a walk and work outside, don't need to do anymore work inside right now, although I feel like a dictator is punishing me and I must keep working on that pile of crap in craft room. I am noticing my willingness to toss things is returning with the immense anger and disgust at the hoard. Thanks for not criticizing me for being so angry. I feel bad enough about myself today.

Diane
(((((HUGS)))))

Let out that pent up anger in constructive ways.
More walking outside.
Smash some things before they go in the trash.
Just let it all out without hurting yourself.
(((HUGS)))

I woke up still angry today, angry I still have so much to do. Used the anger to rip into the craft room, there was a bookshelf full of old books, including nursing books from the dark ages, loaded them up, can recycle paperbacks, hardbacks have to go in garbage. Almost just stacked up a bunch of boxes of stuff without looking, then said no, find out what is in them and either toss, donate, or keep and label. Two of the boxes had old jewelry I collected that actually have some value, one box was upholstry crap, one had papers, feels good to actually look and make decisions. I worked for 4 hours straight, anger is less now. Just so frustrating at how bad my hooarding got. About 2 hours ago I came so close to an actual nervous breakdown, feeling angry and overwhelmed and like I just couldn't cope with all this left to do. I know there are cleaning people that could help me and am just pissed off I don't know who would be willing to work helping me declutter at a reasonable price. This is the most frustrated and angry I have been in months, what is going on? I have to figure it out before chat so I don't waste my 15 minutes on anger issues.

Hey Tillie,

I know the term *hard drive* but what does it look like, how do I get into the tower and get it out? Thanks!

GOOD MORNING EVERYBODY!!! 😀
Day after day of fog has left my brain all foggy.
But the frost is really beautiful covering everything. 🙂

Hi Diane 🙂
Glad you went out walking again. 😀
WAY TO GO!!! getting stuff done.
Decluttering tends to go in rounds.
You tackle an area, toss everything you know can go.
Live with it for a while then go back around finding even more things to let go of.
The one and only thing that keeps me from having too much stuff is to periodically look through cupboards, drawers, etc and reevaluate the stuff and let some things go.
P.S. speaking your mind here is perfectly acceptable. 😉

Hi Karl 🙂
LOL good luck working your way through all her excuses. 😉

Hi Barb 🙂
Great! to see you back! 😀
WAY TO GO! getting things done!

Hi Dianne 🙂
If you remove the HARD DRIVE from the computer and destroy that you can then relax and get rid of the rest of the computer.
All your important information is stored on the hard drive. 🙂

Hi Roxie 🙂
WAY TO GO!!!! YEA!!!!
(((hugs)))

Doing his laundry today. Hanging it to dry in his stinky hoarded bedroom.
Did/doing a little to tidy up but mostly just working (playing) on the doll house.
Hope to see you all in chat tonight. 😀

Hey Roxie, you got a lot of good stuff done. 🙂

Will you get to see your son before he deploys? I'll keep him in prayer. {{{HUGS}}}

Hello, all. I won't be up to calling out names, but I want each one of you who has posted to know that I am reading and cheering you along.

Hey MayMay, great to hear from you!

Have a very Happy New Year sweetie!!

Hey Barb, glad that you are out of that stressful situation! Just being away from it is freeing and energizing.

The towers have the important info right? My brother said just take a sledgehammer to them and dump the parts. Do you have a better idea of how to get rid of everything so no one else can get info off it? There's nothing I want to save but I did all my online bills and banking on it. Thanks!

Hi Tillie, MayMay, Kari, Diane, Diana, and everyone else,
I haven't been on since August. In August, management cut staff in our department from six to four. My old supervisor was transferred to a new location, and a new supervisor brought in who knew and still knows little about the department. Instead of jumping in when things got hectic, her style is to stand back and yell. As the oldest and longest in the department, problem solving fell on me. The stress has been incredible. Often, I came home and went to bed without even eating dinner. On Dec. 20 I had the option of taking early retirement. I took it.
The last few months, I was so consumed by the pressures of work, that I completely lost control of the house at home. All the progress I made last summer disappeared.
I spent the holidays with friends and family. On Dec. 26 I had the renewed energy to again tackle the house. I started with the kitchen, as it is the room where I feel most at home. Four bags of garbage from the room in general and three bags of trash from the refrigerator and freezer went out for Saturday morning's garbage pick up. The power was off here for two and a half days and I had a lot of rotted and iffy food in the refrigerator and freezer that had to be dealt with.
I am making headway again and it feels great!
I'll check in from time to time and let you all know how it is going. Thanks for your support! Happy 2014!

Housemate's friend came over and suggested some organization, e.g., take some of the crap that's currently piled up in the kitchen and move it to the top cupboards, which are empty. "But I'd forget what's up there." "Tape a note to the cupboard to say what's in it." "The tape will damage the wood." "Use a Post-It note." "It won't stick long enough." I suggested that the inventory could be instead attached to the fridge with a magnet; I'm not sure if she has a rebuttal to that one yet.

Thanks Karl for computer info.

I just finished doing dishes for an hour, got them all caught up-------then-----------------I cleaned some stuff out of refrigerator, and spilled a bowl of old soup on the kitchen throw rug. I took
Tillies advice and cleaned it up immediately but it did tick me off. I am short tempered tonight, got annoyed with people not being responsible for their own life, blaming others for their situation, just ticks me off. I have played "victim" for years and now that I am taking responsibility and making my life better, it is not easy to listen to people whine about others behaviors, when in reality, they aren't taking care of their own life. I did that for years, so much easier to blame others for my miserable life, than figure out a way to make my life the best it can be. Sounds like I need a good nights sleep!!

Glad that was helpful -- I guess that feature is not as well-known as I'd thought. The triad is (Ctrl +) to enlarge, (Ctrl -) to reduce, and (Ctrl 0) to revert to default.

Hello everyone. I had a productive day, cleaned out a file cabinet, some papers were 10 years old, orientations to different jobs etc, why would I keep them 10 years? Went for a walk at 1pm with hoarder friend, I taped toes and was able to walk further today, nice in the sun.
Sorted more stuff this afternoon. I see some progress, continue to be amazed how much stuff I still have, I really did have blinders on, and just did not see the hoard growing.
So HAPPY days are getting longer. Supposed to be warm all week, although cloudy, so have lots of time to finish all insulation work
Cleaned chimney today. Good day today. So nice I have enough time to focus on getting rid of clutter. Hope all is going well with you too.

Good morning everybody! 😀
Woke up at the usual time, was still tired, rolled over and got to sleep in. 🙂

Hi Roxie 🙂
Getting even the basic stuff done is progress. WTG! 😀
Good luck with your decluttering & cleaning. 🙂

Hi Dianne 🙂
Thank you 😀

Hi MayMay 🙂
Thank you 😀

Hi Karl 🙂
Thank you for that tip! 😀
Now I don't need to lean in to read the screen.

Hi Diane 🙂
Nope, no cider left. 😀
Happy you had a nice visit & walk with your friend.
Could be the shoes you were wearing or even just the socks.
Sometimes socks rub my toes the wrong way, even socks that feel soft. Sometimes it's the seam that rubs us wrong.

Hi Cory 😀
Thank You! 😀
Karl's tip about Ctrl + has solved our font size problems.
Wishing you all the best this new year has to offer. (((hugs)))

Today I plan to clean the bathroom
sweep and vacuum
wash up a few dishes

The fog is still thick and the frost has grown longer.
It is beautiful to look at but deadly to be out in.
So I guess I won't be doing any garden cleaning today. 😀

Hi All,
I looked into the font size and unfortunately it won't let me change the default setting since each user can change their own font size in each individual message. I guess we just need to try to remember to make our font a little larger for those that have a hard time seeing it or have smaller screens.

Cory Chalmers
HoardingCleanup.com

Thanks Karl for the Ctr +, keys to make bigger, I am self taught on computer so appreciate knowing short cuts. Supposed to be sunny today. My hoarder friend walked up to see me yesterday, we had a fall out when she unfriended me on facebook months ago. She came to see if I was still alive. We went for a walk. She was saying how hard it is to avoid shopping with all the bargains out there, she lit up when talking about shopping, I could relate, just realized what a drug shopping is for me (and her). It was nice seeing her. I have not been walking and today my toes have blisters, from a short walk. Good indication that months of clutter busting must also include walking. Never have had tender toes before this year. I plan to tape toes and walk again today.
Good to hear from all of you.
Tillie, any cider hang over? A whole bottle, I am impressed.

I love you all for being willing to think of changing the text size. But now Karl has introduced Cntrl + to me, I don't need to ask that of you. Karl, big hugs, it makes reading so much easier. Thank you all for being willing to entertain a change for me, but it is fixed now.

I am looking over my kitchen and living room and see that I have some decluttering and cleaning to do...

Dianne, I think size 2 is the regular size!

(It also makes more efficient use of the page; there's a lot of wasted space on the left and right.)

XXX default size
XXX size 1
XXX size 2
XXX size 3
XXX default size