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Hollo
Jan 1, 2009 20:44:39 GMT -5
Post by priceoverride on Jan 1, 2009 20:44:39 GMT -5
Hi I think I'm going to like it here:) I'm a fellow sufferer in a cluttered world of my own making, and I'd like to reclaim my home as it was 18 years ago. *sigh* 18 years of collected treausres ... erm... junk... prevent the return at the moment, although I've made a start. Last year I reclaimed my garden, this year I intend to start on the house. I feel the house may take much longer to complete.
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Hollo
Jan 1, 2009 23:22:49 GMT -5
Post by messymimi on Jan 1, 2009 23:22:49 GMT -5
Welcome, Priceoverride !
Congratulations on reclaiming your garden! I admire anyone who can grow plants.
No matter how long the rest of the journey takes, we will be glad to have you along.
messymimi
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Blackswan
Banned
Joined: October 2008
Posts: 6,388
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Hollo
Jan 2, 2009 1:56:28 GMT -5
Post by Blackswan on Jan 2, 2009 1:56:28 GMT -5
Welcome! Now that you have started the journey, it can only get better from here on out!
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Hollo
Jan 2, 2009 6:15:09 GMT -5
Post by notsomessyshell on Jan 2, 2009 6:15:09 GMT -5
Welcome! I too envy the garden. I hope to have mine back this spring. I may hit you up for pointers.
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Hollo
Jan 2, 2009 10:34:08 GMT -5
Post by priceoverride on Jan 2, 2009 10:34:08 GMT -5
Thanks for the welcome.
I just needed motivating A LOT for the garden.
It needed a great deal of work, and still does. It's reclaimed back from nature, and although it's acceptable in the eyes of the local council, I feel there is much more improvement to be made.
However, it's my home that needs tackling at the present time, to enable me to claim back my LIFE!
Let me expand on my story a little :
I've just been diagnosed with Severe Depression, but I think I've been suffering for sometime with this problem. At first, I put it down to pressure at work, but to be frank and truthful with myself, I don't think I've been "right" for a very long time.
As a child, although there's no doubting I was loved, I was brought up by my mother mostly alone, due to my father being diagnosed with Paranoid schizophrenia when I was about 4 years old and being sectioned for "his own safety". My mother never really recovered from that, or from my brother dying within 6 months of his birth. I was the eldest child, my brother arriving just before my first birthday, and dying at 5 and a half months from pnuemonia. From information gathered (my mother never really talked much about Alan, my brother), he would have been a victim of Cerebral Palsy, and my childhood would have been so very much different to that which I had.
Consequently, due to the lack of a wage and having to live on State Support, I had a childhood lacking in material possessions, and learned to appreciate and care for what little I had. I developed a love of books and magazines, jigsaws and solo activities. I had a basic dollhouse which I learned to furnish by making things from scraps, matchboxes and general junk. Magazines were only thrown away when they had very little use left in them, for I cut them up to make scrapbooks, items for the dollhouse, even home-made jigsaws. Clothes were recycled, cut up to make clothing for dolls or the dollhouse. I learned patchwork, and made items from that also. I loved jumble sales to rummage for good items to use for dressing up, ultimately they added to my "toys".
Home was never immaculate, for I'm certain my mother lived mostly in a depressive state. It was clean, but cluttered and untidy - generally what most people kindly called "lived in". I eventually married, and my home was never immaculate either, as I had nothing to compare it to, other than my own childhood environment. I also began to keep things until they had no further life left in them, or keeping all manner of junk "in case it might be useful one day".
I had children, who introduced their own "mess" into everyday living. I became depressed and the home just got worse.
Finally, we moved into a cottage, a much smaller house than before, and some items had to be left behind. With a pruned (voluntary and involuntary) amount of possessions, we moved into a freshly decorated house, and I vowed to keep it tidy. I became houseproud, the house was clean, tidy and fresh for years, even after another child was born. People could visit and they paid compliments on the decor, something I'd never experienced before.
Then my father died, followed by the sudden death of my partner in a car crash, and I became withdrawn and depressed again. I started to co-habit with an old friend, and he moved in with his possessions, and the house began to fill up. Then my mother died and his mother had to go into a care home, and the contents of 2 more houses were squeezed into my little house. Oh for elastic walls! I began working full time, and work around the house reduced, there was simply no time to do it all, and very little room to move anyway.
Then my new partner died, and I just sank further in to deeper depression. Now, 2 years on, I've finally realised this mess can't continue and I've started to de-clutter. Last year complaints were made by the local community regarding the state of my garden and pressure was put on me to clear it. That done, I've now started on the house, so it's slightly tidier than it was, but photos will follow in the state it is in at this point in time. Only 2 areas have been partially cleared, but when I send photos of the rest of the place, you will appreciate the effort already taken to get those two rooms reasonably clear.
I will send updates in a few days, any advice is welcome
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Hollo
Jan 2, 2009 11:26:41 GMT -5
Post by AnnieOkie on Jan 2, 2009 11:26:41 GMT -5
Hello and welcome to this wonderful place! I hope you will find help here and I know you will find encouragement.
I think your plan to post pictures is an excellent start. I did the same thing and it helped me immensely to see my house in living color on the inernet. It made it real to me. I have also posted successes as they have come and WOW! what a sense of accomplishment I get when I post those "afters". Good luck to you as you reclaim your home.
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Hollo
Jan 2, 2009 11:39:28 GMT -5
Post by crazycatlady on Jan 2, 2009 11:39:28 GMT -5
Oh, my goodness! Deepest condolences on your many losses! Its a wonder that you are able to put one foot in front of the other. Here, sit a spell with a warm cuppa , and put your feet up.
It seems to me that you are doing a lovely job. Wonderful on reclaiming your garden. Is it winter for you now? If so, won't spring be lovely this year, with all the work that you have put into your garden? I plan to dig up some of my hosta plants in the spring, to spread them around the property. I find nothing so forgiving as a hosta....I can ignore them for years, but when I take a few minutes to dig up the weeds around them, they look absolutely lovely.
And you have already started on the decluttering. Wonderful. After you relax a bit with some coffee, or may I suggest a warm chai tea, go check your newly cleared areas, to be sure that nasty squalor doesn't grow back. Then you can move forward and reclaim other areas. Keep up the good work. You can do it!
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Hollo
Jan 2, 2009 16:22:08 GMT -5
Post by eatingbonbons on Jan 2, 2009 16:22:08 GMT -5
Welcome, Priceoveride!
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Hollo
Jan 3, 2009 23:01:44 GMT -5
Post by dayeanu on Jan 3, 2009 23:01:44 GMT -5
Welcome, glad you're here!
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Hollo
Jan 4, 2009 9:46:43 GMT -5
Post by Ican on Jan 4, 2009 9:46:43 GMT -5
Hello and Welcome! Thanks for sharing your history. I can sure see how a person could accumulate a lot of stuff from some of the events that happened in your life. Sounds like you have made some progress already. Good for you! Glad you're here!
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