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Post by messyme on Sept 21, 2008 17:29:27 GMT -5
Hi everyone, I was part of the "Squalor Survivors" community for a while. When it went down, I never made it to this site until now. I was doing very well for a couple of months, squalor-wise. I had no choice -- my landlord had come in and seen my entire, extreme squalor/clutter mess and I was mortified and also terrified because I was only given about a week to make a bit dent in it. And I did it! Not only do I have extreme squalor, but also TONS of stuff. I'm not the kind of hoarder who can't throw anything away -- I usually have a few bags of garbage every week (I don't recycle yet!) and stuff for charity once in a while. But nevertheless I buy and keep WAY too much stuff. I can't really see the carpet, my basement is piled high with stuff, etc. I rented a 10' by 10' storage space, and a van, and brought lots of boxed-up stuff there, just so that i could at least move around and clean a bit. I was shocked at how little that seemed to do. I though I'd have the stuff there for a couple of months, and slowly bring stuff back once I got my house under control. My house was CLEAN by anyone's standards (well almost anyone at least!), and I even had people over -- except for my basement (finished basement). I was THRILLED!! I don't even know what happened, but here I am again and my house is as bad as ever! I read the thread about doing dishes in the bathtub, and I did that just a couple of weeks ago. Within a few days my sink was overflowing with dirty dishes and yesterday I actually saw a maggot crawling around in there and have been too disgusted to go near it since! AND, I've been paying for the storage (just over $100/month!!) for about 7 months I think, probably more. I'm a single mom of 2 young children who live with me full-time, and I'm also a full-time student, so it's not like I can afford it either!! I don't sit around and do nothing. I do clean up an area at a time every once in a while, but within a day or two it's bad again. I'm very busy with school and kids and everything, so it's very difficult to get the time. One of my biggest problems is having SO much stuff. That's why I though the storage area would work. I cleaned up my son's room today (my children's rooms are the cleanest in the house), it only took about 30 minutes. There are no clothes in the room though, because they never make it there from the laundry room! I took out many things from the room -- ex: toys and books that belong elsewhere, souveniers, clothes that are too small, etc. But every time I do that (clean an area of the house), I end up with a clean area but tons of things that belong in other places that I can't get to, that are too dirty to put them away into, etc. I'm feeling miserable now because it's so true how clutter/squalor affects so many things (ex: social life, school (being disorganized), kids' lives, general hapiness, etc.)! I feel like I'm never going to get out of this mess (literally!) Anyway sorry for going on and on, but I just wanted to say "hi" once again and introduce myself to everyone who didn't know me or remember me from before.
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Post by moggyfan on Sept 21, 2008 20:06:16 GMT -5
Hi messyme!
I had a thought as I read your post. If you can somehow move what's in storage back (maybe to your basement), then you could take that $100 and have a cleaning person come in once a month and do a big cleaning (it's amazing what someone who knows what they're doing can get done in 4 or 5 hours).
As for the sink. . .yeah, gross. Could you just dump some soap in there and turn on the hot water for awhile (with no plug in the drain)? I would think that might kill anything lurking--or at least stun it, so you could just rinse the little buggers away.
With two young kids and school, I am SURE you're not sitting around doing nothing! But when there's so much stuff, it's almost impossible to really *keep* things in order since there's nowhere to put it all. Can you bring yourself to have a massive "de-acquisition"...just toss stuff? That was the key for me--I had tried and tried to have "orderly clutter" with no success. I didn't really de-squalor till I just ruthlessly tossed stuff and more stuff and more stuff. Now, the house is neat (though admittedly I have no little ones to mess it up) and I do not miss any of the stuff.
We'll be cheering you on :-)
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Post by houseworkhater on Sept 22, 2008 1:46:55 GMT -5
welcome back! keep posting and i bet it will help!
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Post by ghettofabulous on Sept 22, 2008 8:37:52 GMT -5
Hi Messyme,
I think Moggy had a great suggestion. Regarding the stuff in the storage unit (I'm a hoarder too, so I know all about having too much stuff,) you haven't used any of it in over 7 months, perhaps you could let a bunch of it go, or have a huge yard sale?
Anyway, glad you're here and hope you find some help here on the boards!
GhettoFabulous
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Post by greenfuzz on Sept 22, 2008 8:45:54 GMT -5
oh storage units--- well I pay $99 a month for mine. Guess whats in there mostly. My dead mom and grandmas stuff. I've only been able to deal with a tenth of it. It's so emotional. So I just pay the fee every month. My grandma died ten months before my mom, so my mom was still sorting out her stuff when she died suddenly so I inherited both of their stuff. It's just really hard to throw any of it away.
Anyway I have gotten rid of some of it, with stoop sales last year and made a lot of money. I suggest you try it. I made over $700 in two stoop sales, I had some jewelery that's part of it, but still I got together with three friends and we made a killing. I suggest you do that. It's fun and it is a relief.
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