So in continuing with my de-hoarding project, after returning from the Salvation Army where I dropped off 3 bags of old clothes, I decided to get started on my bookshelves this afternoon. I have 8 rows of books, 95% which haven’t been removed from the shelves in years, if at all. I finally decided that the only way I can seriously decide what stays and what goes is to remove ALL of them (and give the shelves a good dusting too) and only re-shelve the ones that I know are worth keeping, so I piled them up on my bed. Unfortunately, around 4PM my job called and gave me a service call tonight. I got back to the house around midnight, totally forgetting that my bed was still covered in books, and too tired to move them. So now, I’ve been kicked to the couch to sleep tonight.
Should I take this as a wake up call (pardon the pun) that even in trying to organize my life around me, I’m a mess? Or…the fact that I’m not just pushing them to the floor, and that I am going to pick up where I left off tomorrow and actually FINISH this damn thing a sign that I can still beat this?
I’d say the fact that you have a plan, and were interrupted by something outside of your control bids well for you. Also, the fact that you didn’t do what I’d do, i.e. move the books hastily off the bed saying I’d clean it up in the morning, is also a good sign. You now have motivation to get it finished, so that you can sleep in your more comfortable bed again.
Most of the time with hoarding issues there are deeper issues besides just having all that stuff. Have you thought of talking to a therapist to get some assistance?
I know a lot of people hate Oprah around here, but she uses a guy named Peter Walsh for her shows about organization and he’s doing a project on her website with trying to help people with clutter.
I am an absolute organization freak so I’ve read his stuff and he deals with the “hows” of clutter and also tries to get to the “whys” as well. You might check him out on her site: Oprah.com
As someone else who is trying to deal with some of the disarray in her life – the fact that you left them on the bed is a good sign. I agree with BigT – by leaving them on the bed, you’re saying that you were interrupted while dealing with them. If you had dumped them on the floor, if you’re like me, you’d be at serious risk for then walking around them on the floor for a couple of weeks till you felt like dealing with them. By leaving them on the bed, you’re sending yourself a clear message that you intend to finish this phase of the project.
Well done on the progress you’ve made so far! Unfortunately work intervened and scuppered your plans for last night, but that’s okay, you can continue on it tonight.
Of course it will get messier before it gets cleaner. You can’t bake a cake without cracking a few eggs!
What the HELL is that on his chin, and why hasn’t he started his decluttering with that thing?
To get back to the OP, I’ve found it helpful to have one decluttering staging area. That is, I’ll put a load of stuff on the dining table, and then move everything that’s on there to either its new home in my house, or to the trash, or to the give/sell box. After the table is cleared, then I put another load of stuff on it. Obviously, we don’t use the dining table for eating on. I’ve tried, but my husband insists on eating in the den, in front of the TV, with his plate on a TV tray. So I repurposed the dining table.
I think it’s good news. I’m not much of a hoarder, but that’s in part because as I move very frequently, I need to declutter often.
I find that emptying a container, strewing its contents around, and not putting them into any other kind of storage until I’m done separating what stays and what goes works well. If I do put stuff away again “so the house doesn’t look like Attila and his horse came to visit,” then I never finish. If it’s outside, it bothers me, therefore I do attack it.
Congratulations for not shoving them all onto the floor - how many times have I done that? (Of course, once I moved into the guest room for a year because I’d just crapped up my own room too badly, which is, like, number one intervention sign, right?) I’ve been trying to work on my clutter too - I’ve got a tenant in my garage garret who’s offering to help me handle it in lieu of rent, and I might just take her up on it. Maybe somebody who doesn’t give a shit about my stuff is just what I need. This weekend I did get the living room cleaned up, and that’s WITHOUT mystery piles that need to “go somewhere”. There’s a box of my boyfriend’s shit, but otherwise everything actually went into a PLACE.
Well I think that my lack of real sleep, and my sore neck has given me the motivation I REALLY need to get this project done, with the reward being that I can sleep in my real bed tonight (and also severely cut down on the amount of unneeded crap in my room). I have worked with a therapist on this a couple years ago, but I was mainly seeing him for other issues so it was mostly brushed over.
I literally AM up to my shoulders in piles right now, but I’ve also emptied another 2 garbage bags worth of trash today (why on EARTH do I still have Maxim magazines from 2001? I kept saying “I bet there’s some stuff worth looking at in them” but NO, THERE ISN’T, and even if there was, I’m NEVER gonna have the free time to read a random old magazine anyway, so BYE!) so I know I’m heading in the right direction.