Are you scared of becoming a hoarder? Also should I get rid of my clohtes?

[MamitaM]

I am sometimes. My mother was a terrible house keeper in the older part of my childhood and later became a hoarder when I'd moved out as a teenager. I've watched a few episodes of Hoarders and LOVE the show. I also love Clean Sweep and other shows like that. I really like and need to be organized. I can't function in chaos at all. I need things to be perfect. I've heard that hoarding can start with trying to be perfect.

Anyway right now I'm feeling overwhelmed with my stuff all over the place. I moved into this place on March 29th and it still isn't as organized as it needs to be and I am starting to feel stuck and crowded. A huge part of the problem is that my bed frame is still leaning against my living room wall and it needs to be taken apart and put in the bottom of my closet. I don't feel anything else can get done until that is done.

In reality I could clean and organize my closet and while I'm waiting for my friend to come take the frame apart for me.

I've downsized so much in the past year,a few times and still feel I have to much stuff. I can't think of anything else to get rid of,except for small baby clothes that I do get rid of every few months. Then my clothes! I have a lot of clothes that are now to big for me. I lost a lot of weight during my 1st trimester and then even more after I had my baby. So I don't know if I should get rid of all my clothes and start over or save some of the bigger stuff in case I gain the weight back again when I stop nursing.

[frugalmum]

I live with a bonafide compulsive hoarder who was living in conditions such as are shown in that show when we met.  He has managed to keep things under control, sort of, since our marriage, and since moving to a new house he is doing even better.  His big things that he likes to hoard are paper products-- cardboard is the biggest fixation, then paper (even junk mail), napkins and paper towels, even if they are used, receipts, basically anything on paper.  We had to spend nearly $15000 repairing water damage in our old house, it was so packed with his "collection" that we could not sell or rent it, so as it stood uninhabited, the furnace stopped working one night and we found a disaster when we next visited the home.  I think this was a wake up call for him and he has been a little more reasonable ever since.

I really think this is a genetic problem, so I can understand your fears.  Two of our children exhibit compulsive hoarding traits, and they hoard-- cardboard!  I couldn't believe it when I found my 7 year old had been hoarding cardboard for months (she hid it for a while until it was too much to hide).  She also hoarded pencils-- I found hundreds of pencils hidden when cleaning out her room, most unsharpened.  She now shares a room (by choice) with two of her sisters and this has helped cut down on the problem because there is nowhere for her to hide her stashes.

I do fear that our house will one day resemble the homes on that show.  At this point I find myself so nervous about it that I am being draconian about throwing things out and keeping things as clean as possible. 

As far as your clothes, given that you have weight fluctuations, I would hang on to some of them but not all of them, just in case.  Can someone help you with the bedframe?

[clutterwarrior]

When I have watched episodes of that show online, I feel very motivated to toss stuff, but overall my reaction to the show is horror and dismay especially where children are involved.

Sorry to hear you are still waiting on your friend's help.

Maybe having written it down now that you could in reality get on with your closet, may be the kickstart to doing it. Perhaps starting with the things that seem more obvious to you to get rid of will help...so definitely toss the clothes that are too big.  I understand your fear about "what if I put on weight?" but all the decluttering books I have been reading recently, say that it is best to get rid of anything that doesn't fit you right now, and to not hold on to a wardrobe in each size. Perhaps hold on to a more expensive item like a coat even if it is a bit big, but cheaper clothes are not worth the clutter.

[MamitaM]

Thanks for the nice post. My friend is supposed to come help with the bed frame. He forgot his wrench last time he was here. He's also coming to take away some... cardboard! Hahaha! I have left over moving boxes that he and his wife need for an upcoming move. They took the bulk of them on their last visit so that helped a lot.

I think I'll go through my clothes in the next few days and get rid of some that were to big even before I was pregnant and stuff I haven't worn in ages. We have 1 dresser for each of us and 1 closet for the whole apartment and it needs to be organized. I think I'm going to buy some sort of closet organizer and get things sorted within the next 2 weeks. That's my goal at least.