Relationships
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Why do I hoard?
I mean, I know why, because its easier to just put stuff in the basement than stop to consider whether it should get pitched or donated. Ugh. I've spent the last two days going through, examining, trying on etc. so many clothes that were in the basement. It's so hard to get rid of stuff. I mean, I've got 5 hefty bags filled, but there's still so much I've kept. And the next two days, I'm going through STUFF. Stuff from highschool, college, old job, etc. etc. I really wanted to accomplish this whole task on my week off. I may have to be satisfied with getting some done and set a task of going through one box of *** a week for the next couple months or something. Anyways, I'm sure you're all just fascinated by this. I've finally stopped for the night, poured myself a cocktail, and popped in Funny Girl (thanks Exp!). I'm hoping to be tipsy and giggling in about an hour or so.
Re: Why do I hoard?
I usually ask myself have I used it or thought about it in the past 6 mos. or would you be devastated if you never saw it again. If the answer is no, you can get rid of it. Maybe you could take pictures of it, lol. Also, we have hurricanes here, so I think about what I would take if I evacuated again, it helps and gives some perspective.
I am doing a purge this week too. We're moving a week before my due date, and the new house has significantly less closet space. Yesterday we brought 9 garbage bags of clothes to Goodwill, and it was amazing.
Going through books with DH was not amazing. He is apparently a book hoarder, and he kept talking about not just wanting to throw away so many great books. I had to explain over and over that we aren't throwing them away, we're donating them to the library where they will have a much better chance of getting read than they do in our house. It was easier to convince him to sell all his CDs and DVDs.
Crap...I Mean Crafts
I used to hoard books, until my 48th move and I was all "NO MORE".
I have a hard time getting rid of birthday cards.
I bet her FUPA's name is Shane, like the gunslinger/drifter of literature.--HappyTummy
I'm bad at getting rid of things too. I always think I'm going to need it again at some point. I've been a lot better lately though, especially getting rid of clothes, old papers and makeup I never wear.
Mucho likes purple nails and purple cupcakes
It is impossible for me to purge stuff. I attach way too much sentimental value to things, so I keep crap like ticket stubs and play programs and every goddamn card everyone has ever sent and all the notes I swapped with friends starting in 7th grade all the way through high school. I have never once gone through the box with all the notes and such in it, but for some reason I'm convinced I will and the reminiscing will be fantastic. THIS IS LUNACY.
I tried to purge clothes from my closet a few weeks ago and only managed to get rid of maybe 8-10 items.
This is why people should not send me thank you cards. I will keep them. Don't ever send me a thank you card.
"That chick wins at Penises, for sure." -- Fenton
Mucho likes purple nails and purple cupcakes
I'm amazed that you can pull of a quick closet purge.
Mucho likes purple nails and purple cupcakes
I bought 2 packs of fun orange boxes from Ikea (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40185841/ and a larger one) and told myself that my sentimental stuff had to fit in those boxes, nothing else. It helped me be judicious without feeling like I had to throw everything away. Cards were a big one for me, too, so I went through all of them (which was kind of nice, actually) and only kept the ones that had actual messages in them, or one from each relative because I knew I'd be mad at myself if one of them died and I'd thrown out all of their cards. It worked out really well because I got to purge the ones that just had scribbled signatures that I didn't even recognize AND re-read ones like the birthday cards from my 17th birthday after we got back in touch with my mom's family, expressing how thrilled they were to get to give me birthday cards again. Awwww, tear.
Anyway, that's how I dealt with my hoard, and the boxes fit neatly behind the chair in my living room.
Husbands should be like Kleenex: Soft, strong, and disposable.
I used to have a really hard time getting rid of stuff until I realized that the awesome feeling that comes from less clutter trumps any sadness I had about getting rid of something.
I read "Orgainizing from the Inside Out" a while ago and it really opened my eyes about 'stuff' and 'organizing' it. I'm sure its still in print or has a new addition. It was so interesting and had so many strategies for organizing - I couldn't do it justice to paraphrase.
Anyway, it was interesting and helpful. I even quote it to DH sometimes (The author has a thing she calls "replacement costs")- "Yes, that old lamp works, but it's sitting here in the basement. How much would it cost to replace it .. if we ever *needed* a crappy lamp some day? Would it cost $10? Couldn't we toss this now and replace it if we ever needed to?"
And she totally covered the whole bit about things from the past that have value based on what they used to do, past importance, or who you were. I had no idea abut any of it. It was really interesting. I should probably re-read it.
Oh, and try to record and watch Hoarders. I usually get at least one closet cleaned-out after watching an episode. VERY motivating.
Christin- you would've loved my mom. She saved everything from Soap Opera Digests through the 80's, TV Guides, all our schoolwork from Kindergarten on, all the notes between my friends and I she could score- the raunchier/more misspelled (my friends were horrible spellers)/the longer and more drama filled, the better. She gave me those sometime in the last 10 years.
My in-laws are the opposite so that's how B is- if it hasn't been used in like an hour, it's garbage. For me, as long as it doesn't look like my parents house, I feel I'm at least "better". Huge issue in this house. Like even with email or phone messages, b reads/hears then deletes. I have emails dating back to when I first got email ever. But if I was like B, I wouldn't have my moms last birthday phone message to me which I paid a company to get off my phone on to cd. I wouldn't have some of the last birthday cards she sent me, emails, etc.
I definitely could do better but I just have a really hard time with it because I grew up not necessarily thinking its normal, but I don't think I know exactly what "normal" is supposed to look like. B's family's methods are much too extreme for me but he has a hard time with middle ground on this one and I guess so do I. I need my "stuff". I can always find a use later on for something.
Christin, couldn't you use some of that stuff with your old name anyway? I didn't change my name but I do hyphen and sometimes I only use one or the other. No one cares what name I use. I try to use his name as least as possible just because it's a stupid name.