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Post by ramatama on Jul 9, 2008 14:57:12 GMT -5
Many of you know i have stuff stashed in boxes, waiting to be sorted, items therein to be donated, sold, or discarded. Right now they get shifted about when overnight company comes, otherwise they are "disguised" under throws and tapestries, under desks, on top of bookcases, in closets, behind doors, you get the idea. Most floor space in our apartment/flat is now visible. So are we at level 2 still because of the stuff is not readily accessible or at 1 because the stashes are contained? Then there is the other question facing me: as long as the stuff is contained, i have hardly any motivation to do anything about it. Should i spill the contents? Anybody else facing this at the moment?  |
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Post by dragonchilde on Jul 9, 2008 15:56:49 GMT -5
Just spill one box... don't dump the whole lot. Out of sight really is out of mind... I know, because I have two rooms that all I have to do is shut the door to ignore. Only problem is, they're the only two bedrooms we have.
So I opened the door.
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Post by Guest on Jul 9, 2008 18:27:47 GMT -5
I am a hoarder, but after much hard work - have gotten the house looking "normal". Nobody that comes in my house has any idea of the hoarding problems I have. (The garage is another story...  Like you, Ramatama - I have many items in boxes and tubs. But, am fortunate to have a garage so most of them are stored there. But, still have many in closets, etc. (Hidden, like yours.) What is working for me - and what has been working for me- I don't ever spill or dump any of the boxes all at once. I will usually pick two boxes, and poke and sort through them. Pull out anything that needs to be thrown away or donated. Then combine what is left into just one box. Then, right away - either toss the junk, or bag and drop things off at the thrift shop. That way it is gone forever. The boxes and tubs become less and less that way, and there is no mess with stuff everywhere - because I don't dump anything. And it does not become overwhelming. I think it takes a little longer that way, but it is hard for me to go through things and combining boxes really helps thin the amount of boxes that I have. I have gotten rid of dozens and dozens of boxes of things this way. |
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Post by threeg on Jul 9, 2008 19:17:50 GMT -5
Hi. My name is 3g and I have hidden squalor hoarded away.  My spare room and attic space contains plastic bins and boxes full of stuff. I just have not had time to sort and toss any of it. DSO is slowly clearing out the den, but he's been putting the stuff in the dining room!!!!!  Sometimes I just want to run away before I scream and flip out on him!   The attic is all sorted, but the spare room is not. I hope to do some of that on my vacation. Blecch! 3g is me |
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Post by Calico on Jul 9, 2008 22:33:06 GMT -5
I had boxes and boxes of stuff that I dragged around for years. When I bought my house, I decided nothing was coming into the house until I had sorted through it. So I set up wooden pallets in half the garage and stacked the boxes there. For a couple of years, I would go out there and root around in the boxes when I was looking for a specific item. Finally I decided to bring the boxes in, one at a time, and deal with the contents.
I would bring a box into the living room, take out the contents and put them on the floor, and then fold up the box for recycling. That really helped; I was committed to dealing with the stuff one way or another. I found that I kept (and found a home for) about a third, gave away a third, and threw away a third.
I didn't have a set schedule; I just did a box when I was in the mood and had time - maybe one a week or so. They're all gone now. I decided at some point I didn't want to store my belongings in cardboard boxes any more. They need to be usable and accessible, or they can go live somewhere else. I do still have a few: photo collections and picture frames, Christmas decorations, and high school and travel memorabilia. But most of the flotsam and jetsam is gone!
Calico
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Post by heylady1 on Jul 9, 2008 23:04:58 GMT -5
Yesssssss hidden squalor, the story of my life!! I *think* if it's contained and you can use all the areas of your home (kitchen table, desk, couch, etc), you're at a level 1. Good for you!!  But how to deal with the hidden squalor? Small baby steps still applies here! Not too long ago I had several sheets of plywood, a few pieces of plexiglass and some lighting diffuser sitting behind my bedroom closet door. After reading here I finally got motivated enough to deal with the stuff and now there isn't anything behind that door! Not too long ago my laundry room looked really bad but even though there is still work to be done in there, it isn't nearly as bad as before. And right now (well, no not right now as it's almost midnight here and everyone is asleep) I'm going to clear up a drawer in the kitchen that has been bothering me for well, forever.... Find your motivation here. See how others are working in their homes, and let that help you to do one thing. That's what helps me. I don't often post but the Working in Threes really inspires me to do something myself! Take one box, or one bookcase shelf, or go behind one door and start there. Good luck, we're all rooting for you here!  |
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Post by canna on Jul 10, 2008 6:00:10 GMT -5
Calico wrote:
I would bring a box into the living room, take out the contents and put them on the floor, and then fold up the box for recycling. That really helped; I was committed to dealing with the stuff one way or another. I found that I kept (and found a home for) about a third, gave away a third, and threw away a third.
I didn't have a set schedule; I just did a box when I was in the mood and had time - maybe one a week or so. They're all gone now.
Wow. That is my primary way of sorting boxes and drawers. That is: taking boxes or drawers of stuff - into another room, not where they are stored - and taking out or dumping contents on the floor!! To me taking it "somewhere else" to sort is the way to do it. If I sort those boxes in the closet, most of them will stay there. Somewhere else, spreading things out on the floor, I can see and deal with clutterstuff much much easier. Why? don't know...
There was a program from England a few years ago called "Life Laundry". And they routinely did that. But they took whole rooms/homes full of stuff and transported the stuff all somewhere. else..in storage rooms, fields, back yards. Families who saw their stuff spread out out somewhere else were just amazed. "It looks different...THAT'S all OUR stuff!!???" This was also done on that famous Oprah show, "Inside the Lives of Hoarders" where the same thing was done.
That really impressed me, and I do that but on a much smaller scale...and a few boxes at a time...
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Post by creativechaos on Jul 10, 2008 10:57:11 GMT -5
This is a great thread! Thank you all! I too am dealing with hidden and boxed squalor (and storage units). I'm at level 2, and have dragged a bunch of "to sort" boxes home from the storage unit.
Your sorting tactics have really helped me to finally know how to proceed; I've been in paralysis, and the perfection issues were clouding the picture. Looking at the overwhelming amount of stuff to sort, even boxed, was confounding. I love the idea of one box at a time, sorted in another room; makes it more neutral and clear that way! Thanks so much, ramatama, for starting this thread.
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Post by hypatia on Jul 10, 2008 12:36:24 GMT -5
I would bring a box into the living room, take out the contents and put them on the floor, and then fold up the box for recycling. That really helped; I was committed to dealing with the stuff one way or another. I found that I kept (and found a home for) about a third, gave away a third, and threw away a third. That's pretty much what DH and I did when we finally tackled the garage about a month ago. There were boxes in there that we had moved with 1.5 years ago, and some that we had never even unpacked from the move before that. And, of course, all the random stuff that just got tossed out there when we didn't want to deal with it in the house. We bought a big metal shelf and set it up on one side of the garage. Anything we were keeping was put away either in it's spot in the house or on a garage shelf. We backed the car up to the open garage door and anything that was trash was put in the trunk of the car (SUV with rear seats laid flat) so it was ready for a dump run. Anything that was donateable (hmm, is that a word?) was set to the side and I had my laptop out there to go ahead and list it on Freecycle right away. It was hard, but we were absolutely ruthless. We ended up with at least 6 full loads of stuff to the dump. We still need to do that to organize the office/spare bedroom and I'm not looking forward to it. |
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Post by stressedbythemess on Jul 10, 2008 12:41:34 GMT -5
I have to say, the advice about doing it a bit at a time is a good idea.
I went the other way and got a LOT of things together in the living room at once. I dealt with 70-80% of it easily. The last 20% is taking a LONG time because it's the tidbits from every bin or box that I didn't want to deal with. I'm still working of course, but it probably would have been better to spread it out over a longer period.
I did find putting it into the living room helped becuase none of it belonged in the living room.
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Post by slobovian on Jul 10, 2008 13:55:40 GMT -5
I had boxes and boxes of stuff that I dragged around for years. When I bought my house, I decided nothing was coming into the house until I had sorted through it. So I set up wooden pallets in half the garage and stacked the boxes there. For a couple of years, I would go out there and root around in the boxes when I was looking for a specific item. Finally I decided to bring the boxes in, one at a time, and deal with the contents. I would bring a box into the living room, take out the contents and put them on the floor, and then fold up the box for recycling. That really helped; I was committed to dealing with the stuff one way or another. I found that I kept (and found a home for) about a third, gave away a third, and threw away a third. I didn't have a set schedule; I just did a box when I was in the mood and had time - maybe one a week or so. They're all gone now. I decided at some point I didn't want to store my belongings in cardboard boxes any more. They need to be usable and accessible, or they can go live somewhere else. I do still have a few: photo collections and picture frames, Christmas decorations, and high school and travel memorabilia. But most of the flotsam and jetsam is gone! Calico I think moving is a huge motivator to declutter. It's one thing to keep it and step over it or store it, it's a whole 'nother thing to actually MOVE it. That's a breaking point that even the worst clutterer will rarely cross. My mother had a 4 bedroom house with walk-in closets full of organized clutter - things she hadn't worn or used in years, sometimes decades. But I couldn't get her to give any of it up in the months before she died. It made her feel like she was "getting ready to die". So my brother and I had to go through it and throw away or freecycle most of it. Did we throw away some family heirlooms? I don't think so, but we'll never know. So maybe that's our "cure" - Move or DIE! |
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luucy
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Post by luucy on Jul 11, 2008 14:51:08 GMT -5
This is me. My house has been a 0-1 for years now...just watch out for the closets and don't try to open the garage door or go in the basement storage. I'm working on those areas now. It's HARD! I still do weird squalorous things and that's why I love coming to this board. Right now I'm cleaning my room. Earlier I had a bologna sandwich but partway through I decided I only wanted one slice in it. I put the other slice in a bowl on my desk. There is a trash bag that I'm cleaning with 1-2 feet away. The bologna has been on my desk for 2 HOURS. It may sit there until tomorrow and I can't tell you why. Except now that I posted this, it seems even weirder, so it's getting tossed.
Luu
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Post by Chris on Jul 11, 2008 15:53:01 GMT -5
We are dealing with MANY boxes full of stuff as well. Stored mainly in the garage, attic and middle room/office, and closet/porch.
I have been getting an ideas of what types of things are in the boxes and then doing them one by one. It helps to know more or less what type of clutter I'm dealing with -- some are books, some papers (sigh), some toys, some mixed garbeldiegoop.... so I have to have categories before I start.
Papers are easy -- I set up my shredder, a recycling bin, and a trash bag. First I empty the box as I go by sorting the stuff by shred or recycle. Occasionally there will be trash in there plastic etc. It is rare for me to find any "keeper" stuff in a box of papers/letters/old bill stubs. But I do have lots of old checks to shred.
If it's mainly books thats becoming easier -- I set up ahead for keep, donate or sell, and trash (sadly sometimes books get ruined).
Almost always I can handle a box of junk if I have trash, donate, and keep boxes handy. The rule I have for myself is I have to love the item and I have to have a place for it if I'm to keep it. It helps that I now have more of my things organized so there is a place for almost everything and things are coming together better.
Some days I run into a lot of mental clutter and I can't sort a box to save my life -- I run into indecision, and clingyness to the items, and so that day I do straight cleaning instead and stay away from junk boxes.
Our garage has WAY too many boxes and our attic too. I have learned which places take old dishes, clothing, and toys, misc. and it is nice to be able to donate stuff.
I love this thread -- it makes me ever so relieved to hear I am not the only one dealing with boxes of stuff.
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Post by Calico on Jul 11, 2008 22:16:26 GMT -5
Anything that was donateable (hmm, is that a word?) was set to the side and I had my laptop out there to go ahead and list it on Freecycle right away. Wow, hypatia, I’m impressed by the laptop idea! What a great way to get it done. I decided at some point I didn't want to store my belongings in cardboard boxes any more. They need to be usable and accessible, or they can go live somewhere else. I do still have a few: photo collections and picture frames, Christmas decorations, and high school and travel memorabilia. Well, after I wrote that, I needed to get at my photos for a project (my family is putting together a photo album for my mom’s 90th birthday), so I hauled the boxes down from a high shelf in my closet. I decided not to put them back up there; they’re inaccessible, so I haven’t worked on organizing them. I put the boxes in my spare room, on the floor. I’m hoping to go through the boxes gradually, and sort the photos somehow – probably by decade first, then by year, and work toward getting them labeled and into albums of some kind. Some of the pictures are stuck together, probably because they were in the basement for a few years, so I’ll have to work on that. I guess I inspired myself to get at one more pocket of hidden clutter! Calico |
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Post by CourageouslyLion SeeksSerenity on Jul 12, 2008 1:05:33 GMT -5
I think moving is a huge motivator to declutter. It's one thing to keep it and step over it or store it, it's a whole 'nother thing to actually MOVE it. That's a breaking point that even the worst clutterer will rarely cross.   Ummm well ... I have moved dozes of times in the past 30 years. I keep moving the same boxes of stuff, plus more stuff. I have hundreds of unsorted boxes. For me... moving has NEVER been a motivator to declutter. I stack up my old boxes of crap by the door in preparation for moving to my new residence .... and if the ancient boxes are falling apart, I just dump the contents into newer empty boxes. But I never sort through it. And.. furthermore, for me moving has been a motivator to stash and dash even MORE stuff into boxes. I don't hoard in the sense of a compulsive shopper or someone who saves tons of stuff that came from a family member. My hoarding is all boxes of useless crap piled in the back room, the closets, at the foot of the bed, on top of the filing cabinet, etc. etc. I always found moving to be such an overwhelming process, that I would never want to sort stuff then. - |
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