I'm tempted to go John the Baptist on him and donate all of them except the one he's wearing.
The nuclear option for a pastor's wife!
How about hang the ones you haven't seen him wear much at the front and see if he digs through them for ones further back. Yes or no, it'll inform what to do next!
My decluttering is going the wrong way - I got a record player set up again, and am really enjoying going through lots of the old records. I even bought some more from a record shop who were getting shot for a pound each - ex library jazz albums with really knackered sleeves but the disks don't look too bad. Oh dear.
I've done something like that--and he wears them all indifferently, basically grabbing whatever comes into his field of vision. He doesn't seem to have a favorite at all. Which is really odd, when he wears certain shirts so often that we've begun referring to them as his "skin."
I'm tempted to go John the Baptist on him and donate all of them except the one he's wearing.
The nuclear option for a pastor's wife!
How about hang the ones you haven't seen him wear much at the front and see if he digs through them for ones further back. Yes or no, it'll inform what to do next!
My decluttering is going the wrong way - I got a record player set up again, and am really enjoying going through lots of the old records. I even bought some more from a record shop who were getting shot for a pound each - ex library jazz albums with really knackered sleeves but the disks don't look too bad. Oh dear.
I've done something like that--and he wears them all indifferently, basically grabbing whatever comes into his field of vision. He doesn't seem to have a favorite at all. Which is really odd, when he wears certain shirts so often that we've begun referring to them as his "skin."
I often read myself into other people's situations and as a result get it totally wrong - but I wonder if he feels obliged to give them all a wearing because they were presents - I would. If so, that would make finding 'good homes' for one or two quite a particular and demanding task! Would it work to put the back two in a box somewhere and see what happened?
@Nenya, I know what you mean about old friends. Going through the cassettes now, I found plenty of music I had forgotten about but which 'takes me back', but also rather alarmingly my first day at school (with Mum and Dad, when he got in from work some evening in Sep '75 and we must have got out the new kitchen radio-cassette and the only tape in the house), and also my wife's Dad practicing a speech about his school days. He's been dead for something like 25 years, and my wife's two sisters are staying with us at the moment, so that provided an unforeseen moment this evening.
I still have a few recordings of Mr Puzzler’s voice, but I am not brave enough to listen to them yet. I am starting to play some LPs and CDs again. I was given a high quality record player but it is in the back room which can be chilly, though is lovely on sunny days.
I had guests yesterday so my house is clean and tidy. ( well, some things are stuffed in drawers out of sight). I’m away next week so it should stay that way.
We seem to be in a state of perpetual untidiness here, despite being four weeks post-move . We are not just stuffing things away in an out-of-sight-out-of-mind fashion, which is good - not that there are many places to stuff them as I have vetoed anything going into the loft after seeing what came out of our previous one - but it means that pretty much everywhere I look there is still mess; also deep cleaning to be done, which is something I hadn't anticipated when we moved in.
I have unpacked a lot of my books, downsizing the collection as I go, and there is still a large number of boxes to be dealt with. Pieces of paperwork are everywhere as we haven't organised them properly into a New House File yet. Mr Nen has a new clothes storage system at the top of our built-in wardrobe which I can't reach and don't understand so I left some piles of his clothes on our bed this morning for him to put away and that's currently where they remain.
The weather has been very odd where I live 60F one day and 84F the next, or both in the same day. I have a small closet so I store off season clothing in two boxes under my bed. I wash and change out the clothing each change of season. So now I have my warmer clothing still in the closet and a few summer things sitting on chairs. Does not make for a tidy room. Next week it is calling for rain and cooler temperatures. I am not sure what to do with the summer clothing at this point.
Has the odd weather finished now @Graven Image ? The weather has been odd at mine too. I'm into winter clothes, but thought by now I'd have to wear an additional layer when going outside, but not really.
I've gotten my act together and given the bathroom a good clean today. I had been coasting along with spot cleaning depending on which bit was worst, but I dusted today and cleaned the vanities. I'll do the loo later on, should be nice for the weekend. I'll have to get Cheery son onto cleaning the bath, as I know he's been putting that off.
How are others going with their cleaning and decluttering?
Like yourself, in patches. Stovetop and bench tops need a clean most days as I have a rare talent for making a mess while cooking. Bathroom looking OK for now. Living room rug needs a vacuum ( cats). It’s been raining all week and have been putting off washing sheets as a result; did a load of clothes Monday and the place looked like a Chinese laundry for 3 days while everything slowly dried. If nothing else a good excuse for avoidant behaviour!
I am doing as little as possible during this hot weather, but the clutter and mess is beginning to grate.
General decluttering has halted with the warm, nay hot weather. It is good for drying outdoors though, so everything gets a fresh dry and sheets, shirts and everything else feel and smell wonderful!
I still have winter clothes out and some summer clothing on two chairs. I hope this does not keep up all season. I did get some swim time in, the same day I turned the heat on to shower in the morning. I do not like the untidy look of it all. In the meantime my Christmas cactus is getting ready to bloom again. It would seem the weather has it confused as well.
Like others here, I barely function in hot weather. So cleaning and decluttering have ground to a halt. We have, however, almost cleared the separate small downstairs study/snug which for quite a long time was a sorting and holding area and is now the repository for a pile of flattened cardboard boxes destined for recycling and a boxful of various bits destined for a charity shop. We're thinking about the way forward for furniture in there, which is enjoyable.
Mr Nen's study is looking pretty sorted but I've realised that's because he has shunted a lot of his stuff into the bedroom which is currently General Storage and piled high along the walls with boxes - seven high in some places. He seems ok with it remaining like that for the foreseeable future and says that if I keep on about it he will just put it all in the loft. As before we moved I made it clear that nothing was to go in the loft here, after what came out of the loft of the previous house, we have hit something of a deadlock.
In my study the books are unpacked but there are some boxes of files which need sorting and then I need a tall bookshelf to keep files on. In my study in our previous house these were kept under the desk and I'm determined not to do that here.
Dust seems to accumulate very quickly here, perhaps because not all houses on the estate have been completed, the road isn't properly made up and large work vehicles are up and down every day.
Mr Nen's study is looking pretty sorted but I've realised that's because he has shunted a lot of his stuff into the bedroom which is currently General Storage and piled high along the walls with boxes - seven high in some places. He seems ok with it remaining like that for the foreseeable future and says that if I keep on about it he will just put it all in the loft.
At least it is in boxes.
Many years ago, in our previous, big, house we were in a similar situation, but with increasing heaps of unsorted 'stuff' from unknown sources surrounding the bed, and an already full loft, garage etc.
Following a week or so in the spare room with a chest infection I refused to return to the matrimonial bed until the 'stuff' was removed. As Mr RoS did nothing I assumed he preferred its company at night to mine and never returned.
When we moved here, ten years ago now, I got the big bedroom, and he and his clutter have the box room & most of the garage.
I am not suggesting that anyone else attempts this as a solution as, clearly, it would not suit most couples.
Never make a threat you are not prepared to carry out if driven to it!
The under eaves space is now clear ready for when we have building work. We are going to make the second bedroom into a double bedroom for visitors by adding a dormer. We have planning permission and architects drawings - and we are now looking for a structural engineer to do their drawings for us. Our builder is booked for October.
I continue to sort the photographs.
There are three large boxes full and I have just done about a third of the first box. I think this is going to be 3 years of a job! 😲
I'm sorting photos too @Boogie. After my oldest brother died my 2 remaining brothers and I gathered together family photos we had and I volunteered to make copies for all of us because I'm retired while both of them are still working. I'm kind of regretting that now as I have to gather personal information together for a government department who seem to keep losing it and the combination of tasks is doing my head in,
Today is house cleaning day. I am tired of the mess. My reward will be a tidier house plus get to spend any loose change I find on something frivolous.
Mr Nen's study is looking pretty sorted but I've realised that's because he has shunted a lot of his stuff into the bedroom which is currently General Storage and piled high along the walls with boxes - seven high in some places. He seems ok with it remaining like that for the foreseeable future and says that if I keep on about it he will just put it all in the loft.
At least it is in boxes.
Many years ago, in our previous, big, house we were in a similar situation, but with increasing heaps of unsorted 'stuff' from unknown sources surrounding the bed, and an already full loft, garage etc.
Following a week or so in the spare room with a chest infection I refused to return to the matrimonial bed until the 'stuff' was removed. As Mr RoS did nothing I assumed he preferred its company at night to mine and never returned.
When we moved here, ten years ago now, I got the big bedroom, and he and his clutter have the box room & most of the garage.
I am not suggesting that anyone else attempts this as a solution as, clearly, it would not suit most couples.
Never make a threat you are not prepared to carry out if driven to it!
Well done for sticking to your threat; that's a hard situation, though. Fortunately, the Stuff here is not being added to... not at the moment, anyway. But there's still too much of it.
House cleaning here is harder than I anticipated; the paintwork on the door frames and skirting boards is not gloss (which I'm glad about) but a dry duster doesn't shift the dust effectively.
I sympathise with doing the skirting boards @Nenya. Every so often I scoot around the tiles on my bottom, or persuade Cheery son to wipe them for me. I know I need to find a better solution and will have to search online to see what type of long handled thingy I might be able to find.
I hope you found lots of loose change @Huia, a treat is definitely in order!!
Today I need to call on assistance to change the bed linen, with my short arms I find putting on the doona cover to be a 2 person job.
I just went through a box that I've had since my late brother first had his stroke, of stuff that came from his car. The box has been sitting in my living room since my cousins and I went through the things in his car about five years now. I am now sad and depressed, but the room looks better.
I had a bit of a sort out of a couple of boxes, one mainly car stuff in the garage, the other under the stairs, mainly cleaning stuff. It will probably never get used as I don’t do much cleaning and when I do I mostly use my own spray of Stardrops, white vinegar and water. So only two items were thrown away.
My oldest grandchild is buying their first house, so I plan to invite them round to see what I can offload if there is anything they can use. They may turn their noses up, but I have three cheese graters, too many mugs and glasses, several jugs and a filing cabinet which I know they want.
My oldest grandchild is buying their first house, so I plan to invite them round to see what I can offload if there is anything they can use. They may turn their noses up, but I have three cheese graters, too many mugs and glasses, several jugs and a filing cabinet which I know they want.
I'd have snapped your arm off - good luck! I think my Mum (born in early 30s) beat into me an almost religious duty to find a use for things, which included being a grateful recipient for things other people no longer wanted. Occasionally she used me as a place to buy off her conscience regarding things she no longer wanted. It worked out OK really - I like looking around the room and remembering Mrs King (carpet, trunk), Bernard (sideboard), church (cupboard, mirror frame), Uncle Fred (chest), Caroline (TV), Mr Brennan (sofa), MH's dad (stereo), old dept at work (shelves), fly tip (more shelves)...
(If I did this LP by LP (also in eyesight) this could get very boring indeed,,,but I like it).
There's a tension about liking stuff (being materialistic?) whilst 'not taking two shirts' or (always at the back of my mind) 'building big barns'...but nonetheless enjoying the gift of ones physical existence in a good creation...whilst not buying Bentleys (or, actually, much at all) in order to not be the 'rich young man'...which one could probably talk about on a Christian Website if one were so motivated.
I can see the appeal - but they are the wrong length for me. I prefer ankle-skimmers.
My downfall is yarn. And multiple projects on the go at once. In the basket at my feet is a 4-ply cardie with flared insets, monochrome colourway. Lurking in another room is a crochet gilet which needs extra work. What I'm knitting at the moment is the Chemo Cardie - intarsia squares, multicolour.
I know fine well it will hardly be off the needles* before I start something else.
We went back to the town we used to live yesterday for Mr Nen to collect some car parts from one of his lockup garages, for a car he no longer owns. This morning he headed out to some open day to offload said parts to someone who restores these cars. This means we are actually lighter on the car parts side of things, although because they have lived in his lockup garage and never taken up space here the current house and garage storage issues haven't changed. However, in the great scheme of things this is a good step forward.
Meanwhile we have acquired a really nice new unit for our downstairs cloakroom and I am hopeful we can make a bit more of that room, which is currently the repository for a large number of coats and shoes - most of them not belonging to me.
This morning I have been tackling a job which I've been putting off but has needed doing since we moved here - taking all the drainage plugs out of the sinks and showers and cleaning them. It's been a horrible job. I started one and decided that I'd better do them all at once as knowing how horrible it is I'd either put off doing the rest or have it preying on my mind until I did do it.
(Sigh...) Stranded cotton for cross stitching is my addiction. In the past I haven't checked carefully whether I already have all the cottons I need for a project, but have bought ones I already have. Now I put all my cottons in zip lock bags according to colour and check before I buy any new colours, and I am not allowed to buy 550(deep purple) ever again in my life. I photocopy and laminate the book marks I stitch and it copies as a purplish black
When my vision no longer allows me to stitch I'm giving my cottons to the main library in Christchurch for the children's holiday craft programmes. My secret evil plan is to addict children to colour.
Our "tidiness" (slightly hollow laugh) has been disrupted by me deciding that I am both sick of the sheet of plywood blocking the fireplace that used to contain the back boiler and have enough spoons to do something about it.
Wedging some studwork in and screwing a piece cut from said plywood wasn't too difficult. To my surprise even plastering over the top wasn't either, even though I only discovered that the out-laws had a plasterer's float after I finished. It has now been sanded down, the remaining gaps filled.
This is where the fun starts because whatever we do, because the wall is covered with lining paper which was then painted, there will be a patch at the bottom where either the lack of paper shows or the overlap with the old paper shows. This needs to be dealt with rapidly, or we will have a dining room full of dust sheets and a sitting room full of dining room furniture for weeks while spoons are collected.
Ah, plastering with sandpaper. You have my attention; this is the only way I have ever been able to do it, also.
Spoons = motivation? All mine are buried somewhere deep beneath my barren field of f*cks - and I don't have the treasure map. Hence spending more time here lately.
Spoons approx = motivation. There is also often an element of = ability to cope, but less so right now, as I have an income. Its doing minimal wage shite but it's better, and considerably less soul-destroying, than the alternative.
I was introduced to spoons by Cheery daughter @Sandemaniac, it was a new concept forme until a few years ago, but I do find it helpful to understand when her bandwidth is running out. I too worked a job at the lower end of the income spectrum and found it very useful to be able to switch off when leaving work and also having the option of passing stuff up the line because it was absolutely above my pay grade!! A lot of my own spoons were used up by Cheery son and a more demanding job would have been the end of me, I think.
@Huia, I love the sound of your thread addiction, so many colours and all so beautiful! I have noticed a lack of places to buy thread locally and it's probably a very good thing to restrict my own inability to just walk past.
Glad to read of progress at your place and associated garages @Nenya, nice going.
From my end the sheets are now changed and the used ones have been washed and dried. I'll get Cheery son to help me with the folding tomorrow!
I hate the folding too @Huia. Normally I make Mr Cheery help me, but today's wash of Cheery son's bedlinen is going to be putting them straight back on the bed. I'm thankful for a lovely sunny day after this morning's fog lifted and the washing has all dried very quickly for a winter's day.
As well as washing the sheets, a quick run around has been done with the vacuum cleaner and Cheery son even vacuumed his room as his girlfriend who is visiting tomorrow, often tells him off for a messy room. I'm glad she gives him a bit of stick as it saves me doing it!!
I'm cleaning out a bookcase that I should have done years ago. So far the room is even messier than it's ever been, which is a bit disheartening, but it's a start. Hoping for rainy weather over the weekend so I don't get distracted and give up.
Comments
I've done something like that--and he wears them all indifferently, basically grabbing whatever comes into his field of vision. He doesn't seem to have a favorite at all. Which is really odd, when he wears certain shirts so often that we've begun referring to them as his "skin."
I often read myself into other people's situations and as a result get it totally wrong - but I wonder if he feels obliged to give them all a wearing because they were presents - I would. If so, that would make finding 'good homes' for one or two quite a particular and demanding task! Would it work to put the back two in a box somewhere and see what happened?
@Nenya, I know what you mean about old friends. Going through the cassettes now, I found plenty of music I had forgotten about but which 'takes me back', but also rather alarmingly my first day at school (with Mum and Dad, when he got in from work some evening in Sep '75 and we must have got out the new kitchen radio-cassette and the only tape in the house), and also my wife's Dad practicing a speech about his school days. He's been dead for something like 25 years, and my wife's two sisters are staying with us at the moment, so that provided an unforeseen moment this evening.
I had guests yesterday so my house is clean and tidy. ( well, some things are stuffed in drawers out of sight). I’m away next week so it should stay that way.
I have unpacked a lot of my books, downsizing the collection as I go, and there is still a large number of boxes to be dealt with. Pieces of paperwork are everywhere as we haven't organised them properly into a New House File yet. Mr Nen has a new clothes storage system at the top of our built-in wardrobe which I can't reach and don't understand so I left some piles of his clothes on our bed this morning for him to put away and that's currently where they remain.
I've gotten my act together and given the bathroom a good clean today. I had been coasting along with spot cleaning depending on which bit was worst, but I dusted today and cleaned the vanities. I'll do the loo later on, should be nice for the weekend. I'll have to get Cheery son onto cleaning the bath, as I know he's been putting that off.
How are others going with their cleaning and decluttering?
General decluttering has halted with the warm, nay hot weather. It is good for drying outdoors though, so everything gets a fresh dry and sheets, shirts and everything else feel and smell wonderful!
Mr Nen's study is looking pretty sorted but I've realised that's because he has shunted a lot of his stuff into the bedroom which is currently General Storage and piled high along the walls with boxes - seven high in some places. He seems ok with it remaining like that for the foreseeable future and says that if I keep on about it he will just put it all in the loft. As before we moved I made it clear that nothing was to go in the loft here, after what came out of the loft of the previous house, we have hit something of a deadlock.
In my study the books are unpacked but there are some boxes of files which need sorting and then I need a tall bookshelf to keep files on. In my study in our previous house these were kept under the desk and I'm determined not to do that here.
Dust seems to accumulate very quickly here, perhaps because not all houses on the estate have been completed, the road isn't properly made up and large work vehicles are up and down every day.
Many years ago, in our previous, big, house we were in a similar situation, but with increasing heaps of unsorted 'stuff' from unknown sources surrounding the bed, and an already full loft, garage etc.
Following a week or so in the spare room with a chest infection I refused to return to the matrimonial bed until the 'stuff' was removed. As Mr RoS did nothing I assumed he preferred its company at night to mine and never returned.
When we moved here, ten years ago now, I got the big bedroom, and he and his clutter have the box room & most of the garage.
I am not suggesting that anyone else attempts this as a solution as, clearly, it would not suit most couples.
Never make a threat you are not prepared to carry out if driven to it!
I continue to sort the photographs.
There are three large boxes full and I have just done about a third of the first box. I think this is going to be 3 years of a job! 😲
House cleaning here is harder than I anticipated; the paintwork on the door frames and skirting boards is not gloss (which I'm glad about) but a dry duster doesn't shift the dust effectively.
I hope you found lots of loose change @Huia, a treat is definitely in order!!
Today I need to call on assistance to change the bed linen, with my short arms I find putting on the doona cover to be a 2 person job.
I'm having a bit of a lazy day today, but I have done some washing and vacuuming and yesterday was bin day, so the fridge is not too bad at present!!
I had a visit from an old friend today and was sharply conscious of all the sorting that still needs to be done here.
My oldest grandchild is buying their first house, so I plan to invite them round to see what I can offload if there is anything they can use. They may turn their noses up, but I have three cheese graters, too many mugs and glasses, several jugs and a filing cabinet which I know they want.
I'd have snapped your arm off - good luck! I think my Mum (born in early 30s) beat into me an almost religious duty to find a use for things, which included being a grateful recipient for things other people no longer wanted. Occasionally she used me as a place to buy off her conscience regarding things she no longer wanted. It worked out OK really - I like looking around the room and remembering Mrs King (carpet, trunk), Bernard (sideboard), church (cupboard, mirror frame), Uncle Fred (chest), Caroline (TV), Mr Brennan (sofa), MH's dad (stereo), old dept at work (shelves), fly tip (more shelves)...
(If I did this LP by LP (also in eyesight) this could get very boring indeed,,,but I like it).
There's a tension about liking stuff (being materialistic?) whilst 'not taking two shirts' or (always at the back of my mind) 'building big barns'...but nonetheless enjoying the gift of ones physical existence in a good creation...whilst not buying Bentleys (or, actually, much at all) in order to not be the 'rich young man'...which one could probably talk about on a Christian Website if one were so motivated.
I love Mountain Warehouse dresses, they're so easy to wear and no ironing is involved in the laundry. You just throw it on and you're dressed.
The shape of the dress suits me and stays the same, but they change the material regularly.
I get them on Vinted (new).
They are often up for £5 - I offer £3 and they usually accept. So I get a new Mountain Warehouse dress for £6 including the postage.
Problem is - I've now got seven! And I continue to look. Eeeeep! 😂
My downfall is yarn. And multiple projects on the go at once. In the basket at my feet is a 4-ply cardie with flared insets, monochrome colourway. Lurking in another room is a crochet gilet which needs extra work. What I'm knitting at the moment is the Chemo Cardie - intarsia squares, multicolour.
I know fine well it will hardly be off the needles* before I start something else.
*possibly not even.
I wear leggings under them. Long ones in the winter and capri ones in the summer. On very hot sunny days I am brave and let my legs out. 🙂
Meanwhile we have acquired a really nice new unit for our downstairs cloakroom and I am hopeful we can make a bit more of that room, which is currently the repository for a large number of coats and shoes - most of them not belonging to me.
This morning I have been tackling a job which I've been putting off but has needed doing since we moved here - taking all the drainage plugs out of the sinks and showers and cleaning them. It's been a horrible job. I started one and decided that I'd better do them all at once as knowing how horrible it is I'd either put off doing the rest or have it preying on my mind until I did do it.
When my vision no longer allows me to stitch I'm giving my cottons to the main library in Christchurch for the children's holiday craft programmes. My secret evil plan is to addict children to colour.
Wedging some studwork in and screwing a piece cut from said plywood wasn't too difficult. To my surprise even plastering over the top wasn't either, even though I only discovered that the out-laws had a plasterer's float after I finished. It has now been sanded down, the remaining gaps filled.
This is where the fun starts because whatever we do, because the wall is covered with lining paper which was then painted, there will be a patch at the bottom where either the lack of paper shows or the overlap with the old paper shows. This needs to be dealt with rapidly, or we will have a dining room full of dust sheets and a sitting room full of dining room furniture for weeks while spoons are collected.
Wish us luck...
Spoons = motivation? All mine are buried somewhere deep beneath my barren field of f*cks - and I don't have the treasure map. Hence spending more time here lately.
@Huia, I love the sound of your thread addiction, so many colours and all so beautiful! I have noticed a lack of places to buy thread locally and it's probably a very good thing to restrict my own inability to just walk past.
Glad to read of progress at your place and associated garages @Nenya, nice going.
From my end the sheets are now changed and the used ones have been washed and dried. I'll get Cheery son to help me with the folding tomorrow!
As well as washing the sheets, a quick run around has been done with the vacuum cleaner and Cheery son even vacuumed his room as his girlfriend who is visiting tomorrow, often tells him off for a messy room. I'm glad she gives him a bit of stick as it saves me doing it!!
I'm cleaning out a bookcase that I should have done years ago. So far the room is even messier than it's ever been, which is a bit disheartening, but it's a start. Hoping for rainy weather over the weekend so I don't get distracted and give up.