Confessions of a Procrastinating Physically Challenged Hoarder

Confessions of a Procrastinating, Physically Challenged Hoarder and Her Plan to Get Control

“Changing one room, one day, one month, one project and one habit at a time.”

That is my new motto.

I spent the first part of this year sharing the “Great Purge” of 2014 and it did help our home immensely, but I STILL have too much stuff. This is what our orange room has returned to in just a few short months. It can’t continue. I need to make a change, so I am sharing my confessions here.

: Our “Spare Closet”

: Our “Spare Room”

: Our “Spare Room 2”

So today, I will begin my journey into what I hope will be a cleaner, more organized, easy to maintain (happier) home. It will not be a Better Homes & Garden Picture Perfect Series, nor will I promise to reach all my goals in 30 days or less. No, this will be a one to two year journey to better habits and a cleaner, more organized, comfortable home, including a real look at what my home needs.

As I am sure, most of you as homemakers have realized… Our lives and needs are constantly changing, along with our living and storage needs. I hope to share my current organizational methods (with their not so perfect pictures and honest confessions), as well as ideas from Pinterest and other, online sources.

We all have different homes, different needs, different budgets and different spaces to work with, but I hope this series will reach out and touch a variety of individuals from the single person living alone (like my sis), to the working mom of five who barely has to time to run to the bathroom for a 30 second break, let alone reorganize an entire room or project in one day.

THIS journey will be designed to spread life hacks and ideas out into realistic chunks with days in between, so I don’t feel overwhelmed or pressured to make an area look good for the blog but not prepared to serve my family. I have a large house with a LOT of hiding places and even more junk, so it is very likely my house will take longer than yours, but you are welcome to join the journey and laugh with/at me as we go along.

MY CONFESSIONS

Especially for those of you that insist on apologizing for the 10 things out of place in your house because your sure mine is “never like this”. UH! NO! It is 100x worse ALL the time, or at least some part of it always is, thank goodness for doors, garages and basements. Honest. Just ask my kids and hubby… I am a Procrastinating ADD/OCD Borderline Hoarder with physical challenges.

Not sure what that translates to? Well, it goes something like this.

I get excited about a project. REALLY excited; whether it be crafting, painting, remodeling, organizing, scrubbing or some other hair-brained idea. Then I can focus on little else, including sleeping well ,because my thoughts are consumed with my new idea. I plan, plan and plan some more. My wonderful family hates this part.

I begin a project, and then I can focus on nothing else…every day items fall apart. Thank Goodness for a wonderful hubby who helps with those things and understands that I am more than a little off my rocker.

When the project is almost completed, I have already moved onto a new one in my brain and have a hard time completing the details of the first project, or become so focused that I overwhelm all of us and totally wipe myself out.

AND

because my mind never stops turning; I am always collecting (hoarding) things to work on, improve or that I might “need” later. This leads to hoarding, and hoarding leads to the need for more organization, and moving to clean or reach the things I actually need.

This series is to help meet that problem head on and keep me accountable. Not allowing me to wait until the day before a special order is due, to create it. I do work very well under pressure, but my stress is so high that the rest of my world turns ugly.

Causes, Excuses, Reasons

I grew up in a family that survived on hope and prayer most days…not because of the lack of hard work, but because that was the way it was. If I recall, I was in first grade when my Mom first showed me the bills and the check book. It is a lesson I never forgot (as well as many others). I believe our necessary frugal lifestyle is a factor in why I still “hoard,” as I call it. And now I use the blog and crafty ideas for an excuse.

Besides holidays, I don’t remember buying a single thing new growing up, and I am not complaining at all, but I know it is a factor in why I still garage sale when I don’t even have a “needs” list. But Hey! I am working on that.

We saved and reused everything. Pie pans were reused to bake or feed the animals or chase the birds from the garden. Rain water was caught to wash your hair and water the plants later. Plastic containers were saved to start plants or store food in the freezer. All leftovers were used up, whether you liked them or not, and nothing was wasted…odds and ends went into compost or to the pets. I still practice “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle,” but I have found that financially we are more stable and I don’t have to work so hard to “DO” so much.

Saving and hoarding everything can actually consume more time and energy than it is worth. I am discovering this more and more as I am purging things and taking an honest look at the who, the what, the how and the why.

REALITY

I came to the realization that I spend hours moving the same “stuff” around.

Hours I could use for things I enjoy more, like family, friends, reading, etc…

Although, I do enjoy organizing and find it very satisfying, I would rather spend that time with my family or crafting, scrapbooking, etc… (I really wished I had reached this realization when my children were younger.)

I am always cleaning and purging (as my friend who hates doing either tells me repeatedly), but I still feel like I am not getting it right. Part of this is because I bounce from one project to another and don’t like to spend money. Yet another, is my physical limitations and all the appointments we have for my children’s health. The biggest stumbling blocks are my ADD/OCD and procrastination. How I managed to inherit a nasty case of all these I don’t know, but I am trying to change. I PROMISE.

A serious hard look at my disorganized life and house made me realize I needed a long-term intervention. Haphazard, fly-by the seat of my plans are not going to cut it. Therefore, I have come up with a two-year plan involving this blog, my home, my habits and my life. I hope to use this blog to keep me accountable, offer encouragement and maybe help others who struggle feeling overwhelmed with the little everyday activities like me.

Today, I begin my journey to Changing one room, one day, one month, one project and one habit at a time.

Thanks for listening to my confession!

Do you want to follow my journey? Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest or sign up for weekly emails.

Update July 2016: I have to say we did an amazing job of downsizing, eliminating and organizing a ton of our stuff during this journey in our life, and in January 2016 I began our series “Controlling the Chaos,” a year long journey to organizing and deeper decluttering my home, including my mind. Due to the fact this has been a year of ups and downs with my daughter’s health and several pressing family matters, I have given myself grace and will begin the “Controlling the Chaos” series anew beginning January 1st 2017. Each year, as I tackle each part of our home it becomes easier and easier, and I believe next year will be a breeze, but I will continue to share my journey as I know many of you enjoy the encouragement.

If you also are on the road to decluttering feel free to join our Facebook group “Clutter Overcomers,” where we share tips, tricks, ideas, and support one another in a private, safe, no judgement setting.

Tags: confessions, Decluttering, goals, Hoarding, journey, life changing, Organizing, plan, procrastinator

Organization | Tina Miller | October 28, 2014 10:40 am

Treasured Tidbits by Tina

Confessions of a Procrastinating Physically Challenged Hoarder

Confessions of a Procrastinating, Physically Challenged Hoarder and Her Plan to Get Control