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Post by sidestep on Mar 13, 2011 22:35:15 GMT -5
Is it a good book? Only if you want to free yourself of hoarding & begin enjoying life again. This is a book you don't read-- you WORK IT. The authors are the pioneers in the field of compulsive hoarding & have developed their methods from their years spent conducting clinical research with compulsive hoarders. The formula they have found is that "people start to work on their hoarding problem when the reasons for change outweigh the reasons for not changing." This book makes you take a good, hard, honest look at your hoarding & increases your understanding of WHY you hoard. It gauges your readiness to change, & guides you methodically to challenge & change your beliefs to help you thru the process of sorting, discarding & organizing your belongings. By working thru the quizzes, it personalizes & helps one understand their problem areas & guides one thru visualization exercises to help one maintain motivation while encouraging one to ask oneself a series of hard questions as one makes a determination to discard or keep each item. Some of these questions include: "Do I really need it? Do I have enough space for it? Will not having this help my hoarding problem? How much of my life is restricted by my clutter & hoarding? Can honestly say that acquiring & saving things has improved [my] life?" It also helps with organizational strategies & helps one learn skills to improve their decision making skills. It helps you create & enjoy your living space by decreasing clutter. By reading this book, completing the quizzes, & attending the Buried in Treasures book discussion in the chat room I can honestly say I feel very hopeful that I can overcome this as I have now found the crucial missing link. Some of my thoughts while working with this book were: Wow, what an eye opener those quizzes are, they really rip the blinders off. Yikes on seeing my Clutter Score & my Difficulty Discarding scale. It's going to be so amazing to get this place turned back around! I am re-energized, enthusiastic, & excited to 'unbury' myself with the methods of this book! [quote author=okwithit board=general thread=13863 post=198928 time=1299371899]
Buried in Treasures[/u][/url][/size] by Tolin, Frost & Steketee takeonestepatatime.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=other&action=display&thread=13569 &takeonestepatatime.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=6316&page=1(Note that all book titles are hyperlinked & clicking on them will take you to the Amazon page.)[/quote] |
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Post by echo on Mar 13, 2011 22:54:46 GMT -5
I agree.
Thanks for taking the time to share how helpful
this book can be for hoarders
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Post by dayeanu on Mar 13, 2011 23:14:51 GMT -5
I really did not think I was a hoarder at all. I thought I just had organizing issues, and was a clutterer. Then I read the book.
I read/worked through it twice, so far. I got a notebook and worked each exercise in the book, wrote down key points, reminders. I studied it like a textbook, and made notes like I was going to have to write a paper, take an exam on it. It's that kind of book.
The book gave me greater understanding of myself and my problems. It showed me where my skewed thinking is. I now understand what my specific weaknesses are, and the thoughts/actions that derail me. I have gained really helpful and valuable, and very specific insights.
Unfortunately, this has not manifested in any significant life changes for me yet. I guess I'm saying that the book did not give me any motivation. But it has shown me where my specific problems are, my speed bumps and the things that derail me. I think the things I have come to understand about myself through this book will be invaluable as I work toward my goals.
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Post by sparkle on Mar 13, 2011 23:25:56 GMT -5
The book is especially helpful If you do the Work, as you said, though you Can simply read it for the ideas, too. It's well written and an easy book to follow.
I find that I am changing my approach as to how I'm tackling things now. I also find the support in the Monday chats very helpful but for people who haven't been able to do that I'm sure a thread posted here when they're ready would find support.
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Post by dayeanu on Mar 13, 2011 23:34:41 GMT -5
This book is especially helpful If you do the Work, as you said, though you Can simply read it for the ideas, too. It's well written and an easy book to follow. I find that I am changing my approach as to how I'm tackling things now. I also find the support in the Monday chats very helpful but for people who haven't been able to do that I'm sure a thread posted here when they're ready would find support. Yes, I agree. The book has definitely changed the way I view and approach things now. As I'm working, sometimes, I remember some insight I learned and think, "Ah-ha, there's my problem." I strongly recommend it, too. |
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Post by shosha on Mar 14, 2011 3:21:19 GMT -5
I am just re-reading/working through this book (sort of sad to see some of the things I wrote down last time and never followed through on as my fibro got much worse - including stuff to do with my ex, who I broke up with a year and a half ago) and it's really good.
Some of the Amazon reviews say that the book doesn't offer much practical advice (in terms of what to actually DO) but that's not really the point of it - there are dozens of books and websites that will tell you exactly how to go about sorting things, but this book will hopefully (if you (I, we) really absorb and accept what you learn about yourself working through it) help you (me, us) to vastly decrease the size of the 'keep' piles by helping you to understand that the world won't end if you don't keep all the potentially useful/craft-able/should-be-disposed-of-in-exactly-the-right-way-able things, and help you work through the feelings that come up around these issues.
I have nearly all of the 'major works' on this subject - Sink Reflections, Cut the Clutter (by the organizedhome lady, think it has a different US title), a couple of Susan Felton's books (Messies), a Don Aslett, and probably several more (just ordered the SHE book) - evidently none of them has been a 'magic bullet', as the flat is still squalorous (partly because my ADD and demand resistance tend to lead to me not putting things away properly etc, partly because my fibro has made it much harder in recent years to do the 'blitz cleans' I used to be able to manage to sort things out when they got unbearable) but each one has given me some useful tools in this struggle.
The Messies Manual (which I got as a 21-year-old new mum) undoubtedly saved me from becoming a 'severe' hoarder (not that I wish to give value judgements against people in that situation) by helping me to understand that it was not necessary to keep every single piece of printed material that I obtained, that it was probably best not to hang on to crappy freebie pens that don't even write, etc. I don't know that it would be enough for someone who was already at the severe stage, but I don't doubt that it nipped my tendencies in the bud. Cut the Clutter and Sink Reflections give motivation and specific instructions (TMM also had those, but they were a bit less methodical, IIRC - unfortunately I gave away my copy and replaced it with a prettier but less helpful newer edition of one of SF's books) and Don Aslett is a (somewhat harsh but humorous) shot in the arm to remind me that just because I could conceivably use a thing doesn't mean I will, and certainly doesn't mean it's worth hanging onto all the things I could conceivably use just in case.
Er, this got a bit long, sorry!
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Post by sidestep on Mar 14, 2011 4:23:41 GMT -5
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Post by dayeanu on Mar 14, 2011 9:39:42 GMT -5
Well, I still can't find my copy of the book right now  But I do remember that Flylady (her book is Sink Reflections) was one of the few resources the book recommends. To me Buried in Treasures tells why, Flylady tells how, and SoS holds my hand and works with me through it. Each resource supplies a needed element. IMHO, Buried in Treasures should be required reading for all of us. I think Flylady's essays and musings on perfectionism, Finally Loving Yourself, ammesty, blessing others, and how we can do anything for 15 minutes (or two minutes), should be required reading. Flylady also gives practical, step-by-step advice on what to actually do, how to start, where to start, etc. and cheers us on. I think I needed a 3-pronged approach. Buried in Treasures revealed MY behavior and thinking problems to look out for. Flylady made me feel better about myself and gave me a plan, slogans to remember, and babysteps to follow. SoS gives me some of all of that, plus personal support, information, advice, feedback, encouragement, friendship and a listening ear, without which I really couldn't do any of it. P.S. - (Thank you to EVERYONE for being here. I really need you.) |
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Post by echo on Mar 14, 2011 11:49:33 GMT -5
In My Opinion,
Flylady might be great for people with a messy house,
not so much for hoarder, squalors.
Squalor and hoarding are more difficult to overcome than
merely putting on shoes every day and keeping the
sink clean... Forgive the exaggeration 
It is almost impossible to dust when furniture is covered
with clutter and to hang clothing in the closet when there
are 50 boxes piled 6' feet high in front of the doors.
I have understood for over a year that I am a hoarder.
Hard as I tried, there was little improvement.
Taking time to study the BIT book is what finally
gave me a way to change my thinking and a
step by step process to start 'letting go' of all
the things I overvalue and cling to.
No other book I've ever read gave me what I needed
to change, move forward and make real changes.
This book doesn't help if just read and laid down.
It is a study book, with worksheets and exercises
to do. It must be worked.
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Post by eagle on Mar 14, 2011 12:27:42 GMT -5
Thanks for posting this thread about the book, Buried in Treasures, step.
Yes, I think it's a pretty good book. If it weren't for the Buried In Treasures Book Discussion going on in chat weekly (4 PM Central Time for me), I wouldn't have even bothered to read this book. Why? Because I've never really thought of myself as a hoarder! I's much rather be a Squaloree than a Hoarder. Isn't that funny? Oh well, it is what it is. I can live with that.
So I borrowed the book from my library so I can read along with the book discussion group. And yes, I even procrastinated about that. It took me a couple of weeks to get around to getting it from the library.
But I have found that the methods and ideas in this book are reiterating for me that I do have a problem with too much stuff, even if I don't like calling myself a 'hoarder.'
Right now I'm working through chapter 8 along with the other BIT Book Group chatters and, yes, the issue of being ready to do this work really does hit me right in the face. It did last week with chapter 7 and again this week with chapter 8.
Just because the majority of my house is clean, neat and well organized, doesn't mean I don't have 'pockets' of hidden squalor (horrors, do I admit it? hoards?) still yet with which I must deal.
I find the exercises in the book to very beneficial to me. Actually doing the exercises has been very useful for me, even the difficult one where I asked another person to answer the same quiz I did about myself to get another's perspective. And don't think that wasn't hard for me to do!
As I said, I am currently on chapter 8. There are 12 chapters in the book. Normally, I would think that's easy, only 12 chapters, I can get through that lickety split, no problemo. Well, they are really meaty chapters, not in the numbers of pages, but in the content. There's a lot of material, food for thought, ideas to put into practice, assignments to follow through on and experiments to try, then analyze the results. This book really is quite useful.
I may choose to re-read it more than once, in fact. Hubby has already offered to borrow it from the library for me when I run out of renewal time on the book. (Of course he stipulated that he's not going to read it himself.)
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