Hi all,

Tillie, sounds wonderful to be able to be done and relax 🙂 I hope you have a nice relaxing week!

Tatoulia, congrats on the progress with your mom, not only in getting some stuff out of there but also in seeing what she wants/needs. Good luck with your own stuff in storage!

I decided to try to make up for my inactivity over the weekend. I sorted through a lot of clothes and filled two bags completely to be donated. I also picked up a couple bags of garbage and took one bag of it out to the garage. I?m going to try to take the rest of it out before bed. I had a drawer full of nail polish and makeup, so I went through and threw out the old icky stuff and the stuff i don't use, completely emptied the drawer, wiped it down, and put the nail polish and other makeup that I will be keeping in there. I think I've sorted through 80% of the clothes in the second bedroom, so hopefully I can finish with that stuff and work on the rest of the stuff that's in there. I still have so much more to do but every little bit that I get done is a little bit less that I need to worry about later. That's becoming my mantra. 🙂

I hope this is a great week for all of us!

Hello Tat, Mel and Tillie. I worked lots of hours on yard this weekend. So this morning, got up and washed dishes, cleaned bathroom, picked up clutter before Tanner got here. I was so anxious I felt sick worrying about having a visitor. Once Tanner and his mom got here, I felt ok. We sat in my new part of the yard for an hour and half, she went on and on about how great it is, and Tanner loved his new digs. Today I feel physically exhausted so after she left, I just sat in my rocks and picked out rocks for art project. Guilt crept in, then I said take a break, just have fun. Really enjoyed today, although tired. Tomorrow the weather changes to rain and much cooler so I really took advantage of todays good weather. Have not been sleeping enough hours, so this morning made healthy soup for the week, since it helps me sleep when I eat better. How soon I forget. So grateful my yard is huge and most areas are great now. Really fun visiting with friend in yard today. Will be so nice when I can say the same about all living space. I plan to really make progress this winter. Nice chatting last night Tillie, thanks.

Good Morning Everyone 🙂

Yesterday I just sorta hung around here.
Doing nothing but being here hanging out with the cats.
Was nice. 🙂
Today I will be cleaning the house, the usual weekly stuff.
Sweep floors & porches.
Clean bathroom.
Wipe off door knobs, light switches, remotes, telephone, etc.
Wash floors & vacuum carpet.
Dust a bit.
Kitchen is still clean from yesterday's cleaning of it.
Laundry is all caught up since Saturday.
Today's housework will take two hours to complete then I will have the rest of this week to do as I please, with the usual daily tidying up that only takes a few minutes.
Wishing you all the same freedom someday soon. (((hugs)))

Good morning everyone! I have to read your posts in more detail. For now, let me say Congratulations Bitsy! I am relieved to hear that your son is home! You've made great progress! Keep it up! I hope you can find a way inside soon.

Diane, good luck on the job! And congratulations on your progress. I miss our back and forth and will make more time for myself so I can take inspiration from you and everyone else.

Dear Tillie--it is a beautiful autumn day here in the northeast. I have my cat asleep next to me. I just put a casserole in the oven, which I will deliver in a little while.

Mel. great work! I can hear you are getting a little overwhelmed by the time crunch. Do your best. Breathe. Eat. Do your best!

Hello to everyone else--I will read posts later today.

As for me, worked at mom's yesterday. Tough going. Took out two boxes of books, one bookshelf, a bag of clothes and a miscellaneous item. She refuses to get rid of approx 300 magazines. She sees her problem as not enough space, rather than too much stuff. That was an eye opener and now that I know that, I can gear our conversations toward making space rather than getting rid of stuff.

Going to storage today to work on my own problems.

Hi everyone, happy Sunday! Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Bitsy, so glad that your son has the space he needs, I hope you're able to make space to sleep inside before it get too cold out!

Dave, that sounds nice! I often wish I had something to warm my hands with, especially when I'm typing at my computer in the winter 🙂

Diane, I hope you got to go take a look at the leaves. And even if you didn't fill your garbage to the brim, you did get some stuff out there, right? I keep reminding myself, every little bit that I get out is one more thing i don't need to deal with again. Good luck on the potential new job!

Tillie, what did you end up deciding to do?

I'm feeling a little guilty because I have done no work on the house since Friday morning (but I was at my boyfriend's all weekend until this evening when i met up with my family for dinner) and I'm too tired to do anything tonight. I brought over two boxes of stuff to my mom on Friday morning but she didn't sort through anything until I sat with her. Both were boxes that I hadn't opened but had found in one of the storage areas, and they turned out to be glassware. Mom put all of it into her china cabinet. I brought one bag of clothing out for donation and dropped it off today.

I have asthma and the work that I did do the past week or so has me really wheezy. I bought a mask I can wear while I do my work around the house so hopefully I can use that tomorrow. I have a doctor's appointment on Tuesday for a checkup so I guess I need to fill her in on what's going on so she understands why I'm so wheezy (and so she doesn't decide to add on a medication!).

My meeting with the counselor was OK. She was unfazed about my hoarding (from what she told me it sounds like she has at least a few other clients who are hoarders) and she said that it sounds like I have a plan and that's good. I'm seeing her again on the 20th to check in and talk about my progress. She said I have a lot of good strengths, which was nice. I feel like... I don't really know what I want to get out of it/what I really expect to get out of it. I went to counseling when I was in college and I found it very helpful.

I just realized we're rapidly approaching the halfway point of the month and I'm feeling a little freaked out because I still have so much work to do. I came back after being gone for the weekend to find more evidence of mice but still-empty traps, which is extremely frustrating. I'm really busy at work this month too, and I'm covering for someone else nearly every day (I'm covering for 2 different people the last week of the month, in fact), so I can't even just take a week off and try to plow through it. I'm off work the 20th, 21st and 22nd, but the 21st I'm taking my dad to a doctor appointment about an hour away, which really turns into an all-day thing, so I really only have the 20th and 22nd. I need to schedule the cable install and the plumber on those days as well so I really need to call and schedule something and get the relevant areas as cleared out as possible. I probably need to give myself a deadline. It would be awful if I finally managed to call and they had no availability on those days.

Tomorrow is a new day. Hope it's a great one everyone!

Hello

TTYL 🙂

Good Morning 🙂

Everybody, make this a GREAT Saturday. 😀

hello, good to read your posts
Work was good this week
Finally got dishes caught up
Painted some boards a pretty blue
Started painting ceiling in walkway which has never been painted so really swallows up the paint. Once neck was sore from looking up, took a break then worked on a neglected part of yard. Vacuumed living room.
Still have a few raspberries, good to read about your flowers tillie. Dave our sox could warm a village. Tomorrow I plan to drive to Bend and look at the colored leaves, saw on the news how beautiful leaves are now.
Applied for a job that is 3 days a month year round. Had to go back this morning at 7:30 to meet the owner. Got home from work yesterday at 7:30pm so felt tired today, still got a lot done. Was not able to fill garbage to brim for pickup today, this week, so will work harder at finding junk around here this week.

Dave,
yet another great re-use job!

we are finally back from the extended stay motel. my son has a nice clean space to sleep and take care of his colostomy and surgical wound.some improvement in kitchen and front room.I have not made a space for me to sleep in the house so will be sleeping in the car again. I am not looking forward to winter!we did have about 15 garbage bags piled up in the yard but we got another large trash can (holds 5 or 6 garbage bags)and cost $7 a week more for it to be picked up. I have to concentrate on bills and paperwork this weekend and then work on the shed where most of my "current" clothes are. the end of this month we will have company from Illinois. rich relative that helps us out sometimes.he can be difficult. and requires a lot of attention.It will truly be winter by the time he leaves so don't know what if anything will happen with the NE metro house until spring.

Good morning everybody. 🙂

So, what plans do you all have for the weekend?

Oh-Boy! Socks!! I bought a pair of smartwool socks at a thrift store last year. They turned out to have holes in the toes but I couldn't bring myself to throw them away so they were in a box by the back door for months and months. I have now repurposed them for this winter. I cut thumb holes by the heels and cut the ends off. I can now use them as hand warmers in the house this winter. Another pair of socks-SAVED!

HI everyone, thanks for all the kind comments. I was having a rough night last night. I love coming here and reading about what everyone is doing/has done/has planned. Way to go everyone on all the stuff we've gotten done this week!

As it turned out, my boyfriend had to work very late today and was really tired so he ended up going home instead of coming here anyway. I was a little disappointed to miss out on time with him, but then I realized it gave me some extra cleaning time. I decided to tackle something that I thought would be doable - cleaning out one drawer - I plan on using this drawer to store the teeshirts that I will be keeping (right now I'm hanging up all the clothing that I'm keeping in the closet, and I'm running out of room because of all the teeshirts. This will also give me an extra step to really ask if i REALLY want to keep this stuff.

I was pretty sure this drawer was full of stuff that needed to be shredded and that it was completely full, so I got ready for a difficult job... but it turned out that under the pile of papers to be shredded were a few large objects taking up most of the space, so it was a much easier cleanup than I had anticipated.

Then I cleaned out three small drawers and sorted through my tights (threw out ones with runs or that were all stretched out) and put away the ones I'm keeping. I sorted through two armloads of clothes and I filled a donation bag to go. I got some of my laundry ready to go for tomorrow. I read through some of the suggested blog (thank you Dave!) and now I'm getting ready for bed.

In the morning I'm hoping to put a few things in my car to take to my parents house. My mom wants to go through my grandma's things to see if there's anything she wants to keep so I'm hopeful if I just bring over one or two boxes at a time, it won't be too overwhelming and mom can just sort through them. I'll have a shorter day at work and in the afternoon I have my first appointment with my new counselor. On the paperwork she asked me to bring, there was a place to fill out any issues that you are facing, and one of the ones I listed was hoarding so I couldn't chicken out and not talk about it.

You are all a great support system and you really help motivate me to keep working on this and get stuff done. Thank you! If I don't post again before Sunday, I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Re lumberjack skills:
You are far more generous than I deserve. There was the odd bush, fence vine or fully decayed 3" stump; but the lion's share of the work was using my sharpshooter (sharpened spade) and little hand axe on Kentucky Coffee Tree shoots. You will not see me in a picture with one of those big 2 handled saws standing next to an old growth redwood stump with a diameter large enough to dwarf a Model T. 🙂

Hey Dave,
Thanks for the laughs. 😀
WAY TO GO!!! for your lumberjack skills!
It will be very interesting to see how these vehicles here are salvaged from their jungle prisons.

Hi Tillie,
Thank you for the kind words. Just stopped by and looked a few posts. I was thinking about you Tues evening. I was helping a family member with some yard cleanup. One of the items was a bush growing on a fence which I cut back, maybe more severely than they would have liked. The bush was growing over the fence and onto a vehicle their neighbor had parked right next to the fence. One branch of the bush had gone through the wire fence, under the wheel well, into the engine compartment and was coming out betweeen the hood and fender. Since the vehicle was right next to the fence, I was able to avoid the guardian dog and cut the branch above and below, but there is still a portion in the engine compartment. It wasn't large enough yet to have done any serious damage.

Mel
Brooks Palmer's Oct 8 blog post might be a helpful encouragement to you.

Good morning, everyone. A few days ago I posted some goals for that day (something I hadn't done in a while). When I reread my posted goals the next morning, I saw that I'd done all of them except for one: I had not added more things to my gratitude list. I need to subtract paper clutter, to subtract office supplies, and to subtract a lot of other things from my life. If there is anything that is good to "hoard," however, it is gratitude. I hope to keep that idea in mind the next several days.

Way to go, Jar Lady! Thirty-three items out the door to donation! Yea for you!! Tillie, thanks as always for encouraging us. Tatoulia, thank you, too, for all the encouragement you are giving all of us; keep me posted on TDC (The Dreaded Closet).

Mel99, I relate to what you were saying about having a hard time seeing the dent. I can see it (the dent) in some of my rooms, but there are others where I'm not seeing the dent yet. But I was noting just yesterday that many things here that in the past would have been full of "stuff" aren't . . . I have gotten a lot of clutter out of "hidden" and out-of-the-way places. My pantry is very uncluttered. I have drawers and cabinets that are empty (which I now could be using again) or which have been cleared out to a great extent. My little patio storage shed, which had been full of stuff dating back to who-knows-when, now has relatively little "stuff" in it. Yea!! Whether your boyfriend makes a positive comment or not, try to keep in mind the reality that you have done a lot. You know the truth (and so do we)! Keep up the great work!

I just noticed that I am still really behind on reading posts. I will try to get caught up when I can on some of the posts from a few days ago that I haven't read yet. (I still have some from a few weeks ago that I haven't read yet!). Sandy, bitsy, Diane, Roxie, Dianne, and others: I am thinking about you and wishing you a great day! Hugs to everybody!

Mel99, a couple of days ago you wrote, "I feel like I'm hogging this thread." I don't view your posts in that manner. I love that you're sharing regularly. It helps me when I read posts like yours. It is very helpful for me to see another person's ups and downs and to see (on a fairly regular basis) what that person is doing to clear out, clean up, and make a better life for himself/herself. It helps give me ideas, encouragement, even courage to deal with my own situation. Hmmm . . . I just now paid attention to the fact that the word "encouragement" contains the word "courage." It takes courage when we are making changes in long-time patterns of behaving, thinking, and feeling. Sharing our stories can be a way of helping to give to other people the courage needed to make those changes. So keep on sharing!

Hi all, thanks for the updates and the support!

I'm feeling kind of sad and anxious tonight.

I feel like even though I've been working so hard on cleaning stuff up/recycling/donating/etc, it hasn't made a truly visible dent. To be fair, some of this is because I've cleaned out some boxes that were in closets, cleaned out some of the under the bed stuff, etc, so of course it's a lot harder to see those changes. My boyfriend is probably coming over after we go to the movies tomorrow night (tonight I guess since it's 1:30am, yikes) for the first time in several weeks and I'm afraid he's going to walk in and not see any difference at all. He has always been extremely kind and supportive and has never made a negative comment to me about my house. When I talk about worries i have about cleaning/rearranging/etc, he tells me that our home will be a reflection of both of us and we can work it out together. But the truth is, I really want to hear him say that he can see I've been working very hard and have made some major progress. He's not really attached to much of his stuff (I'm pretty sure that between our two small vehicles, we can probably transport everything he plans to bring in one trip other than the bed and one chair) so he can't really understand how difficult and stressful it is for me to throw away/recycle/donate bag after bag of stuff. It's not fair of me to expect him to just understand it either though. I have an appointment to see the counselor on Friday afternoon and I'm actually kind of looking forward to that.

It also makes me sad because I want to be looking forward to a fun evening with him (we're revisiting the site of our first date) without obsessing over what he's going to say about the house. And though he assures me we can work it out together, I am definitely afraid that my hoarding will ruin our relationship.

Thanks again to all of you who truly understand about this. Have a great day everyone!

Tillie your description is wonderful! One of those times where I sit in awe and say to myself, "I wish I'd written that."

Jar Lady--great work. Having our group here has helped me work through the anxiety, shame, frustration and self-loathing that comes from dealing with our hoards. Great work on behalf of everyone!

Good morning 🙂

TTYL 😀

Hello Everyone!

Last night while I was gathering these items to donate, I had a total melt-down (anxiety, shaking, tears, I was a mess)....and then I scooted into the Chatroom for some support.....BIG THANKS to BEV, LR, KARL, and RJ for helping me to calm down.....33 items out, and I survived!

Great work, Mel! You are not hogging the site! I felt that way too when I first found the site and got on a roll! Keep it up! I know you are feeling great and motivated! And you can let us know without the fear of being outed. So keep it up and keep us posted. It makes me very happy to come onto the site and see everyone's posts!

Yay you! And, Yay all of us!

Hi, sorry, I feel like I'm hogging this thread 🙂 It really helps me to check in regularly and report on what I've done and see what everyone else has been up to.

I worked and went to the gym, I sorted through a big bag of stuff from one of the closets and packed up a few things to bring to my friend's house tomorrow. I have a tote bag half full of books to donate. Before I go to bed tonight I'm going to try to sort through some clothes and put together a bag of clothes to donate. My garbage and recycling bins are out at the street now and I'm going to add a little more garbage and some more recycling. i think both bins will be full 🙂 I made my appointment with the counselor for Friday. I won't be around tomorrow or Thursday nights so I'm trying to do a little extra.

Hope that we all have great weeks!

Hello everyone! Just getting in-had my haircut after work and then had a nice walk home.

Mel, how nice to read all of your progress. You are doing great! I hope you are proud if yourself because you are really tackling your situation! Keep up the good work. I know when I started my clean out, I would take breaks here to read up on posts--old and new. Very comforting to have this support system. I'm thrilled you've contacted your EAP for a therapist referral! Good idea!

Dear Tillie, Diane, Dianne, LR, Bitsy, Roxie, and everyone else--I'm thinking of you all and hope you are well.

Good Morning 🙂

WAY TO GO!!! Everybody! 😀
For all you have gotten done.
Remember that the thinking and soul searching are also very important components on this journey to a clutter free life. 🙂

oh I almost forgot! We have an EAP through work that allows us to seek counseling, so I called them today and a counselor is going to call me tomorrow to set up an appointment.

Hi all,

Diane, sounds like you're getting a lot of work done! Hope you got to enjoy the fall festival and hopefully you dryer is an easy fix!

Tillie, it sounds like you've done the best you can do in this situation, and I'm glad you're taking a few days off 🙂

Tatoulia, what great news that your mom is moving forward on her own too!

LR, sometimes we just need to sleep in a little. Plus you have a very doable plan for the day so that's great!

Thanks all for the kind thoughts about my relative. Before I met my boyfriend, I expected my future to be like hers - she moved in with her parents to care for them when she was about my age. She never married and never had a serious boyfriend. She dedicated her life to caring for them. I'm the oldest in my family and I've always been the 'go-to' person to help my parents. I take time off work to take them to doctor appointments, I help them out with financial stuff (I don't help them financially, just help them with their financial records). My mom hinted a couple times that if my dad dies before her, she would just move in with me. I love my mom but this was not the future I wanted. My relative's sudden passing also serves as a reminder that I'm making changes for myself and for my future. If I'm honest I'm not sure I would have started down this road of cleaning out if it hadn't been for meeting my boyfriend. Of course I'm wishing now I had started this process a long, long time ago, but at least it's in process. It's still bothering me that my sister "outed" me to my family but there's nothing I can do about it now.

I made some progress today. After work I cleaned out underneath a table at the foot of my bed and a little bit under my bed too. I got rid of a couple stuffed animals that I had emotional attachments to so feeling proud about that. Unfortunately there's more stuff under the bed than I realized. I also took a couple things out of a closet and got rid of them. I shredded a bunch of stuff. I put my garbage into the new garbage bin and it's nearly completely full. I can fit maybe one more bag in there. The recycling bin is 75% full. My garbage day is Wednesday and I'm actually a little disappointed I can't put more garbage out there! But I can always put extra bags in the garage and put them in the bin for next week. I also have more clothes to sort through so I'll try to sort through some more stuff so I have a couple more bags to drop off.

I have a few things I'm bringing to a friend's house that she said she can use, so I just need to get that in the car and go see her Wednesday night. I'm putting together a box for her (one more box gone!) Every little bit helps. also caught one more mouse!

I have a jar where I've been putting all the cash/coins i come across while cleaning (including in old purses). When it's totally full I'll cash it in and do something special.

I hope we all have nice and productive weeks! Take care everyone!

Hello LR! Glad to hear from you. Always brings a smile to my face when you post. Today reading your post was double important because somehow I had missed Mel's post and there was so much in there ! My apologies, Mel. Not intentional.

Mel, that is heartbreaking about being exposed as a hoarder so casually like that. I'm sorry. I know that must've been tough on you and you must be feeling betrayed. We are here for you and know the road is a hard one to travel. Please accept my condolences for the loss of your family member. And last, please take a minute to congratulate yourself for getting the mammogram AND donating two bags.

Hearing from everyone reminds me 1) I need a mammogram and 2) LR, I need to get back into the dreaded closet.

Much love to all.

Good afternoon, everyone!

Diane, I'm glad you were able to get a friend to help you with some things. Sorry about your dryer. I hope the repair work on it goes well for you!

Mel99, I'm sorry to hear about your family member that passed away. Sending warm thoughts your way. Yea for being able to send those donation items on their way and for all the other great work you've been doing. Sorry about that uncomfortable conversation/situation with your family members. Hugs.

Tillie, the "song" about the cars sounds all too familiar. I heard something similar (and quite often) from my beloved hoarding parent while I was growing up. The good thing is that now, at least in theory, we have the freedom to sell them . . . if they can be dug up out of the ground. (I relate to the tree part of it, too.) Ugh!

Tatoulia, it's so great that not only have you made incredible strides forward, but now your mom is moving forward, too! Whoo-hoo! It's so nice that you can be of help to her!

Me: I was extra tired this morning and have had a very slow start to my day. (Had grand plans originally. Frown. But tomorrow is another new day, so I'll keep that in mind.) Here are some goals for the rest of the day: spend ten minutes cleaning countertops and floor in the kitchen, spend ten minutes looking for more things I can sell, and spend ten minutes looking for more papers to trash or shred. I'll also plan to add to my gratitude list.

Have a good day, everybody!