Compulsive hoarding is a mental disorder that is just beginning to be understood. As a hoarder, I have acquired things over the years with a specific purpose in mind at the time of the acquisition, used some of those items for their intended purposes, forgotten the goal for different objects, but now that I find that they have outlived their purpose in my life I am struggling to rid myself of those same things.

You can read the start of my journey here.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Fessing up

I've decided something. I've decided I'm wishy washy. I can't seem to make up my mind. Then again, I think it's pretty obvious to anyone who reads my blog. I step away for awhile. Then I come back with plans to post everyday, and life happens, and I don't. So I've made a decision. I'm not going to worry about whether I post daily or not. I'm still getting things done, and when I have time, I will post about my success and my failures. 

There. 

It's decided.

I've been working in the kitchen again today. We have some hooks on the wall under the telephone that we use to hang reusable shopping bags and purses, etc. While I was sitting at the table trying to sort that last little bit of stuff that seems to take all my concentration to get finished, a purse hanging on the hooks caught my eye. It had been hanging there unused for over a year. I had taken it out of our closet last year when I thoroughly cleaned our bedroom. 

I decided I was not going to let it escape my grip yet again and dumped the contents on the table.

It's not like there was a lot in it. A pocket Bible Hubster had gotten me, a small emergency kit that held bandages, hand wipes, samples of headache medicines, 2 lip balms and a small tin of mints with 2 mints left in it. There was also a book of cards I'd kept in my purse for several years. At one point it probably contained over 100 business, credit or store perk cards. I've gone through it a few times over the years and slowly but surely purged what I could handle getting rid of at the time. 

Today, I emptied it. Most of the contents went in the shredables bag. The rest have been set aside to go in my purse, because they're still relevant. There were perks cards for 2 stores that have gone out of business, old business cards of our realtor who recently retired, and business cards from the insurance guy we had when we bought our house. I did keep the old prescriptions for our glasses and 5 or 6 cards, 3 of which were library cards, that were in there, but overall, I felt pretty good about it. I even threw the book away. I've been putting off cleaning out that purse for close to a decade. The latest date I saw on anything was 2003.

I momentarily thought I'd wash the purse. It's made of blue denim and canvas, but there were a couple of quarter sized brown stains on the light part, and I didn't figure I could get them out. Well, I probably could, but it also had an insert in it made of cardboard, and I knew that it would be ruined, if it got wet, so I just pitched it. I didn't succumb to my old way of thought and undo the seam to remove the cardboard, so I could wash it. I just threw it away. 

I threw the makeup case that had held the emergency supplies, too. I saved one bandage out of it, the mint tin, the fingernail clipper and the Swiss Army knife that I'd had in there. But the little makeup case, which was in good shape overall, had a sticky zipper. And it was dirty inside. I didn't feel like rubbing a candle over the zipper or washing it, so I just pitched it, too. 

It's amazing how empty the wall looks without that purse hanging there. Since Bugster took her bag of stuff home that I'd had hanging there waiting for her, it looks downright bare. I like it. I really like that my purse won't be sticking out anymore, too. I hate when it hits me in the thigh when I come around the corner. 

Awhile back, I wrote about buying pants hangers in bulk, so I could get rid of the ones that didn't match. They were taking entirely too much of my attention. When the new hangers came in, I immediately went to each room and switched out the old hangers for the new ones. The problem was that I neglected to get rid of the old hangers. I'd put them aside, so I wouldn't have to make a decision about getting rid of them. Even though I knew I needed to do it, I couldn't seem to bring myself to list them on Craigslist. 

I had no problem knowing I needed to get rid of the clear plastic ones. They were made of cheap plastic and broke easily. But I really struggled with getting rid of the opaque ones. They were a much higher quality. They looked clean. Plus they all had the clothespin-type clamps on them. Only 2 of the black ones had them. I just kept thinking of how handy they would be to hang jeans. Jeans are so heavy, and they need a durable hanger, or the hanger tends to bend.

We've used the new hangers long enough for me to realize they're decent hangers, even though they aren't all that heavy duty. They still hold the jeans tight, and they don't bend or break from the weight of the jeans. So I sorted out the different types of hangers, listed them on Craigslist, and someone picked them all up within an hour of emailing. It was such a relief to know that I'd finally dealt with them.

I did find one opaque hanger after the others had gone out the door, but I didn't hang onto it. Well, not really. We took the ends that clamp off the hanger to use for chip clips and tossed the rest in the garbage. They're really handy, and they're a lot cheaper than buying clips that don't work or don't last and make you feel cheated for having made the purchase in the first place. 

So yeah. The hangers are gone. 

:::looks guilty:::

OK! OK! I kept the 2 black hangers that had the pinch clips! I didn't put them in the closet or in the laundry room. They're sitting in the study for me to deal with later. I'm don't know what I'm going to do with them just yet. I'll probably change my mind a few times.

I'm sorta wishy washy like that.

Don't judge me.

7 comments:

  1. Boy! Do I ever envy you. You have shown so much courage in righting you mind and home and I am still at the....where to begin stage. (((hugs)))Pat

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  2. I am so proud of you. And I have also done the same chip clip thing with hangers. Genius!

    I have posted everyday for the A-Z. I scheduled a lot of them out a week in advance and to be honest, I miss writing. So, I've started writing again for after A-Z but there's no way I'll be posting everyday. It's exhausting.

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  3. Wow, great job getting rid of the purse that hasn't been used since 2003! I have the hardest time with purses. I ended up tossing the ones I don't often use (or have never used) into the dress up box with the intention that perhaps the girls will use them (they do, on occasion - they're not big into dress up though).

    It was lovely to hear from you again.

    I'm sitting, watching Hoarding: Burried Alive right now as I fold laundry. I even got the main of our tv room floor vacuumed so I could make the appropriate person piles of their clean folded clothes.

    I'm still a work in progress. I'm pretty sure I always will be.

    Unfortunately the baby has already gotten used to having to crawl over things...

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  4. My purse problem? Sometimes I need to quickly change to another purse and that pattern continues. Add my laziness to that and what you get is......about 8 purses in various stages of being emptied out. Hate it!

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  5. I would never, ever, not even for one second, judge you. xx

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  6. i thought you were my missing half sister i didn't know i had. then i read a couple other comments. LOL middle child, yeah, i have 3 tote bags and two purses that circulate and when i am in a hurry, one gets dumped to find the stuff to put in the other i dumped to hurriedly to throw "meaningful/might need/must have stuff" to take on the run with me. then a week later i am still walking around it wondering where to stash it because the Tink coffee mug is overflowing and nothing else crucially important i might need will fit in it any longer and its contents are spilling out on the coffee table. (seriously, you don't want to know what else is on the coffee table, i had to throw it there to run the vacuum two weeks ago)

    Like the vacuum doesn't need run now? the vacuum won't fit in the living room because of the tote box i am slowly filling up with stuff. Stuff from the computer desk. End table. Baskets. and yes, even purse items and PURSES. (BIG TOTE, WHEELS and its Purple, my favorite color) Its only half full but I am getting there.

    I have been selectively BURNING things. Yeah, fire pile out back. It's hell on my back but I am finished with this junk. I can't take it. I keep saying that, then as I posted in my blog, you know, the car wreck, the water pipe busted, plumber tomorrow hopefully. Been working on paperwork and legal crap so I can throw out just PAPERS. LOL well, BURN them. Being in the country has its advantages. I finally got smart with the bathroom though and went through a bunch of stuff and moved a lot of it to the upstairs bathroom which contained no bathroom items. I am sloooowly getting there.

    and judy, yes, I am with you, I have been trying to blog but it so hard to do sometimes and then beat yourself up when you don't. do it when you have the time . . . that's what it is for. YOU.

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  7. We all need to 'fess' up every now and again, don't we? It's good for the soul.

    You were on my heart today and I just wanted to drop by and wish you a wonderfully blessed Mother's Day sweetie! :o)

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