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[AuntG]

Do any of you know classic hoarders, and if so, what advice do you offer? A friend called last night complaining about the paths through their house. She owns the house, and her 39 year old daughter lives with her. They go to craft stores and buy all kinds of crafting supplies. Now they are shopping second hand stores for board games. By the way, they don't have time to play them so she reads the instructions and "pretends" playing them. I'm basically speechless because I don't understand their mindset. She complains constantly but can't seem to get out from under it.

[LonestarBabs]

Continuing my efforts to clear out stuff from the family home so I can then sort through my stuff and decide what to bring into the home/donate/discard --

1 comforter set

3 sets of towels

misc bathroom decor items

misc baskets

throwing away a garbage bag full of old cosmetics, too

Another charitable donation pickup scheduled for next week.

[queendiva]

Yesterday afternoon I dropped off a bag of miscellaneous household items to a local charity thrift store. That's out of the garage, but I noticed that the donation tent adjacent to the store was quite full of "new" items. May have to take a drive back there later today as thrifting is my weakness/ hobby/ whatever label you would like to call it, LOL!

[gidgetgh]

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@rnmom wrote:

@gidgetgh - Again, I'm so sorry to hear that you aren't able to move into the community that you had planned to. I hope that you can find somewhere else suitable soon.

I know where probably 90% of the items are in this house, which I think is pretty good considering I have a husband and 2 teenage boys. There are some of their items that I don't know where they are obviously, but for the main household items I can pretty much find everything.

Our house is a bit more filled that I would like it to be right now, but I'm still the one that does the vast  majority of the decluttering and organizing so I know where everything is.

Like you, I don't generally like to keep a lot of excess or items that aren't being used, but I will admit, I have been hanging onto more lately due to the shortages we've had over the last year. I'm just never sure when I will go to a store and something won't be available. That's never been an issue before in my life, but it is now, so I'm definitely keeping more than I used to "just in case". Hopefully it won't last too long. 

Someday, when the kids are out on their own (quite a few years from now) we will be able to downsize quite a bit but not for a while. So I'm doing what I can under my circumstances right now. I guess that's all any of us can do huh?

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@rnmom - I think you're doing great!  You've got a husband and 2 teenagers.

I think we all just go along, the best we can.  

[queendiva]

I was hoping to complete the job of changing over my wardrobe today, and I believe I have. 10 tops/ tees to the Donate bag. Two more large kitchen bags ready to go to Goodwill when my travels take me in that direction.

I am happy with the number of shoes and clothes I have purged during the past month.

[rnmom]

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@AuntG wrote:

@gidgetgh good for you for not jumping into a purchase that wasn't right for you. We'll be touring three model condos, all with two bedrooms. They are stand alone condos with basements. Not that we are ready to move, but we want to see what a person can get around here staying in the $300's. 

Staying busy with outside projects so my purging has been on hiatus. When we get the hot/humid weather in a few months, I'll spend some time inside going through my closet. 

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@AuntG - I've been on a purging hiatus too, trying to work on some outside projects. Not that I have been purging a lot lately anyway, but I really haven't been doing much the last few weeks.

We are finally starting to get some warmer weather so we are working on spring projects and I'm trying to get some winter items put away too. When we get some things finished I hope to get back inside to work on decluttering and cleaning some more again.

[rnmom]

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@AuntG wrote:

Do any of you know classic hoarders, and if so, what advice do you offer? A friend called last night complaining about the paths through their house. She owns the house, and her 39 year old daughter lives with her. They go to craft stores and buy all kinds of crafting supplies. Now they are shopping second hand stores for board games. By the way, they don't have time to play them so she reads the instructions and "pretends" playing them. I'm basically speechless because I don't understand their mindset. She complains constantly but can't seem to get out from under it.

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@AuntG - I wish that I had some advice to offer you but I really don't. My in laws both have hoarding tendencies for sure, but I haven't had to deal with it personally, even though my husband has. They're not quite to the point of just having paths, but they do have whole areas of the house that they can't use because they are filled with "stuff".

I definitely can't understand that mindset either and just from dealing with it on the sidelines over the years I definitely feel that it can be a true mental disorder and sometimes requires professional intervention. Like anything, I feel like it is on a spectrum from mild to very severe and you need to uncover the reason of why she can't get out from under it to start.

Is it that she just doesn't know how to declutter because she has never been taught how to do it? Or does she feel such extreme anxiety about letting go of things that she just can't bring herself to do it? Finding out what is keeping her from decluttering might be a good first step. Can you, just as a friend, help her, or does she need to speak to a psychologist. 

[rnmom]

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@queendiva wrote:

Yesterday afternoon I dropped off a bag of miscellaneous household items to a local charity thrift store. That's out of the garage, but I noticed that the donation tent adjacent to the store was quite full of "new" items. May have to take a drive back there later today as thrifting is my weakness/ hobby/ whatever label you would like to call it, LOL!

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@queendiva - Thifting isn't my hobby or weakness per se, but I do like to get a good deal. Hubby and I went out garage saling again yesterday and found a bunch more treasures that we didn't need of course. Several items still new in the boxes. I love that. Definitely more coming in than going out. One of these days I will need to start decluttering and purging again as more and more keeps coming in. 

[rnmom]

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@gidgetgh wrote:

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@rnmom wrote:

@gidgetgh - Again, I'm so sorry to hear that you aren't able to move into the community that you had planned to. I hope that you can find somewhere else suitable soon.

I know where probably 90% of the items are in this house, which I think is pretty good considering I have a husband and 2 teenage boys. There are some of their items that I don't know where they are obviously, but for the main household items I can pretty much find everything.

Our house is a bit more filled that I would like it to be right now, but I'm still the one that does the vast  majority of the decluttering and organizing so I know where everything is.

Like you, I don't generally like to keep a lot of excess or items that aren't being used, but I will admit, I have been hanging onto more lately due to the shortages we've had over the last year. I'm just never sure when I will go to a store and something won't be available. That's never been an issue before in my life, but it is now, so I'm definitely keeping more than I used to "just in case". Hopefully it won't last too long. 

Someday, when the kids are out on their own (quite a few years from now) we will be able to downsize quite a bit but not for a while. So I'm doing what I can under my circumstances right now. I guess that's all any of us can do huh?

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@rnmom - I think you're doing great!  You've got a husband and 2 teenagers.

I think we all just go along, the best we can.  

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@gidgetgh - Thank you that nice of you to say!

[Oznell]

@AuntG,  boy, that is a thorny issue, and you are a kind friend to be concerned.  I can only support the excellent points made by @rnmom .   If you can locate some kind of willingness on her part to look at the problem, you can tactfully offer to help her get a start, or, if you sense resistance to that, you can explore the possiblities of the kind of professional help that would sort things out.  These things are so deep-seated, but sometimes there's a point at which the person is exhausted enough by it, to accept help.  Good luck!

Insomnia from *double-espresso-shot McDonald's iced coffee*  (love), last night, had me up late, so decided to declutter socks and tights drawer.  (I wear skirts and tights all through the winter, so my drawer is usually bulging with mostly navy, but also black and brown tights).

Was surprised at how many socks and tights that I found to discard!   So went on to root through p.j. drawer as well. They are divided drawers, so, using that, plus a few plastic bags to separate colors, I now have things much less crowded now and even sort of nicely organized....