sunnyday
New Member
Joined: March 2010
Posts: 23
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Post by sunnyday on May 28, 2010 15:12:17 GMT -5
Clutter blindness - today our kids came over for a quick minute and when they left I suddenly realized that the dining table was covered with diry plates and paper garbage from the last three nights. I had known they were stopping by but did not even think to clean the table. Sure they are family but why wouldn't I pick up when i knew they were coming especially when the granchildren were coming too? When they had all left, it was like a light dawned and I felt embarrassed. So right now I am going clean that table, wash it down and set it for tonight. So there!!! Thanks for a place to rant!
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Post by wtfhappened on May 29, 2010 1:50:55 GMT -5
Really fascinating answers Thanks for participating everyone! Mark up another who had no clue the top of the range lifted up. Had to run check, well I'll be damned Yet another thing I've discovered in my thoughts is seeing someone's house on TV or (my very rare) neat freak friends, and just thinking "how the heck do you live with absolutely nothing?!" I'll walk into a room that has a couple of chairs, a table, and a shelf with 4 or 5 Knick knacks on it and it just feels so cold and unnatural to me. I think maybe that's why Up In The Air is one of my favorite movies, just the idea that someone (who granted has the opposite problem from us ) can exist with essentially no possessions gives me the same feeling of horror that many people probably feel watching hoarding (especially some of the lighter houses that I can look at and think "you think *that's* bad?!" ). /wtf
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Post by _Linda_ on May 29, 2010 8:28:56 GMT -5
I guess that my strangest or most delusional thought is that someone else will do it. The problem with that is I live alone. Like there are little fairies that will clean my home while I am gone! Honestly, I have no idea of when or why I started to believe this.
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Post by sloppyjojo on May 29, 2010 10:18:56 GMT -5
Linnie ... I have housecleaning fairies that never show up too! Maybe your fairies and mine are off in the woods having a party?! I have come to realize that the fairy is me (for the rest of my family). I have to think about this thread and come back with my topic. Hmmm. Very intersting! JJ
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Post by def6 on May 29, 2010 19:10:08 GMT -5
Ummm.....strange thought patterns...Yeah! Like having to hold on to all of this worthless junk because it has to get let go of "the right way" We just make things so tough on ourselves. I have seen "cleanies" dispose of things very ruthlessly-with no thought really except for the extra work it might cause them-hmm troubling
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Post by downandout on May 30, 2010 7:32:03 GMT -5
i knew about the top of the stove lifting up but its not like i would actually clean under there or anything! i like dianes explanation that our thought are 'distorted'. im a collector of plastic containers too. everything from tupperware to microwave dinner containers to take out bowls etc. i had hundreds of them. oh they were all clean and stuffed into cabinets or put into bags and i did use some but no way was i going to be able to use them all. and more were coming into the house every week! when we were evicted i got rid of most of them but it was still a hard choice and i wonder did i think i was going to build myself a house with them? would i have carried them on my back if we were on the street?? so now i am keeping two stacks of them. only what fits on the one shelf in the one cabinet and a large bowl holds some lids. thats it. i tell myself that i can switch out any of the containers for any new one that comes in that i like but i cant add to what i already have. but when i got rid of them i just tossed them. i was in a panic and had no choice but honestly i dont think it would have helped one bit to recycle them or give them away (not that anyone would want hundreds of them anyway). just the letting go of them is hard. doesnt seem to matter that much how i do it.
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Blackswan
Banned
Joined: October 2008
Posts: 6,388
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Post by Blackswan on May 30, 2010 8:23:19 GMT -5
I magnify my mess in my head and I start to imagine monsters like bugs and mice are hiding in the mess and will jump out at me if I try to clean it. I then avoid areas in my houses, or even whole rooms until it is time to move and I am forced to clean the areas. I have moved about thirteen times in eight years, and nothing has ever jumped out at me as I am cleaning and packing.
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Post by howardsgirlfriend on May 31, 2010 0:54:13 GMT -5
When I'm sorting stuff that I acquired with a plan, but did not follow through with my plan, I feel as though I'm letting my stuff down. I want to keep it until I follow through with my plans. I feel this sense of responsibility towards my stuff, that since I acquired it, I must help it realize its potential.
Of course, keeping this stuff keeps me from realizing MY potential, but somehow that doesn't matter as much. How silly is THAT?
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Post by mrsmess on May 31, 2010 5:24:07 GMT -5
I have been reflecting on this a lot and it occurred to me today that I have a resistance to getting rid of things.....I know I have too many of lots of things....towels, old sheets, books, clothes, kids clothes, etc....but can't seem to get my act together to pare them down. I spend a lot of time thinking about it but not acting on it.
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lotus*blossom
New Member
...emerging from the muck
Joined: April 2010
Posts: 78
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Post by lotus*blossom on Jun 22, 2010 22:58:02 GMT -5
...Another thing I've just now become successful at is using the nice things I HAVE saved. I have some nice blank notebooks that I am actually using now, instead of putting them in a drawer because they were too good for every day use. I've had boxes of pretty stationery that I put away in drawers until they became yellowed and ugly, because no one was good enough to get a letter on the really nice paper. What mythical future event was I saving these things for? Meanwhile I was writing on scraps of paper that I saved. Distortion again. Diane omg, Diane, I do this exact same thing! I also do it with wrapping paper, ribbons, gift bags, etc... I guess I like them so much, I want to keep them, just to have them. Really dumb. And ya wanna hear from dumber? I also save my "good" toilet brushes. I have three brand new ones, all the same, but keep using the old smashed-bristled one, because I want to wait until the whole house is clean to be good enough to use a new one. Same goes for the shower squeegie. I can't believe I just admitted to that. How disturbingly odd I am. Oh my... ~*~
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Post by clutterific on Jun 23, 2010 10:51:39 GMT -5
I think the same way as Blackswan. I was/am terrified to clean certain parts of my room because I'm extremely afraid of spiders and bugs, and I worry that I will find them in certain areas or even certain items. If I see a bug or spider, I generally get someone else to kill it, and/or avoid that area for weeks or months. Even outside-there are doors I will not leave through because I have seen a bug or spider outside near the door.
Of course, I have yet to see a single bug or spider while cleaning my room, and I feel quite silly for putting it off for this long due to that fear.
I am very aware of messes in my home and others' homes because organization and the various systems people use fascinate me (I suppose that's because I want to be organized, too, and have not been able to be that way yet -at least not in my room). My dad, though, is one of those people who just doesn't notice some weird/messy things. It's like he thinks it's normal to have five lawn mowers (only two of which work), three boats, a Bobcat, a bunch of scrap wood & metal, more tools than an entire team of handymen and carpenters, and a huge home gym that's blocked off by random stuff. But if someone doesn't remove their cleaned & folded clothes from the kitchen island (where cleaned & folded clothes belonging to my mom & brothers go until they put them away) right away, he obsesses about getting whoever to put them away until it's done.
I have given myself one or two sunk cost speeches since I began cleaning, too!
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Post by slothzilla on Jun 23, 2010 14:18:56 GMT -5
I hate bugs!
For years I've just been using plastic forks, spoons and knives, because I've seen a number of bugs in my kitchen drawers over the years, and I couldn't bear the thought of bugs crawling on my silverware . This weekend though I found a tupperware container that would fit in a drawer, so I bought some real silverware to put in it ... bye-bye to eating with plastic utensils all the time!
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Post by lizzie on Jun 24, 2010 2:45:15 GMT -5
Hi Slothzilla, well done on finding the thing that means you can use 'real' cutlery, that's great!
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hopehope
Banned
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 3,815
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Post by hopehope on Jun 24, 2010 20:07:54 GMT -5
If the dirt is hidden under something -- you can't see it or get to it -- you're not responsible for it.
I didn't say I was right, just that the thought has a life of its own....
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Post by slothzilla on Jun 25, 2010 11:46:28 GMT -5
Hi Slothzilla, well done on finding the thing that means you can use 'real' cutlery, that's great! It does make a meal seem like a real meal, rather than just a tv dinner or something.... Mainly I did this because I got tired of my guests being flabbergasted that I didn't have any real silverware! It never bothered me all that much, but some people thought it was really strange.
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