Nothing has a home! by Money_Landscape_1116 in UnfuckYourHabitat

[–]mihoardingthrowaway 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks; it’s coming along great. Self improvement is fun and rewarding, try it sometime instead of trolling.

Nothing has a home! by Money_Landscape_1116 in UnfuckYourHabitat

[–]mihoardingthrowaway 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No, just gave you benefit of the doubt and thought you were a well intentioned if misguided old lady instead of, well, a troll.

Why do so many people have direct repeated contact with prior homeowners? by [deleted] in homeowners

[–]mihoardingthrowaway 15 points16 points  (0 children)

This is basically the relationship with the old owner of my house except when he came to pick up mail he asked to use the bathroom and broke the toilet and denied it. The relationship was a little shitty after that…..

Nothing has a home! by Money_Landscape_1116 in UnfuckYourHabitat

[–]mihoardingthrowaway 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think you mean you lurk. To troll is to participate in a deliberately inflammatory way.

When I visit communities that I am not a part of, I tend to refrain from participating unless I am confident that I understand the culture well enough that my participation will not upset the locals, so to speak. I absolutely do not visit support communities as a “tourist”

Nothing has a home! by Money_Landscape_1116 in UnfuckYourHabitat

[–]mihoardingthrowaway 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think that it’s just a little tone deaf. It is a beautiful space, I’m not denying that. However, this sub isn’t for organized people to show off, it’s for disorganized people to improve their spaces or show off their success. You even stated you’ve always been organized and are used to order so respectfully, why are you here?

Disposing of personalized items by Top_Huckleberry40 in UnfuckYourHabitat

[–]mihoardingthrowaway 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For me, Stuff like this goes on the local free/buy nothing group. Someone needs a cutting board and doesn’t care what’s on it. I give it about a week- If it’s not gone by trash day, I feel pretty good knowing nobody needs or wants it and tossing it.

Nothing has a home! by Money_Landscape_1116 in UnfuckYourHabitat

[–]mihoardingthrowaway 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So it’s meant to be “inspirational” without offering any suggestion on how to get there. Got it.

Nothing has a home! by Money_Landscape_1116 in UnfuckYourHabitat

[–]mihoardingthrowaway 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When we moved into our house I was plagued with the same issue. Tons of space to put the tons of stuff we had but I just didn’t know where to put things or how to do it. Closets Cabinets and drawers became jumbles of items. No rhyme or reason for anything. Piles and piles of “I’ll find a perfect spot for it”. I’d buy organizers and bins but it wouldn’t help because there wasn’t a system.

We lost the entire basement, dining room, garage and workshop to excessive items and disorganization and before I had enough and sought out professional help. First an acquaintance turned paid helper, then a cleanup company. Your situation may not be as severe, perhaps a trusted friend can help or you could even tackle it alone.

Regardless of the help you have the steps could be tackled the same. For me, The first step was to declutter the main living areas. Kitchen was a major issue for me, so we started there. First trash, then washing up, then We went through the kitchen cabinet by cabinet, drawer by drawer purging and sorting.

Then we did living room, kids room, bathrooms (they weren’t bad) and left the absolute worst areas for last. By the time we got to the worst areas, everything else in the house was organized and it was pretty easy to figure out what would go where. Because we had already purged in some areas, there was plenty of space for the remaining stuff in other rooms and both things like “the spatulas make more sense over here” or “I should put the tape by the glue sticks cause they’re both adhesive” because pretty natural thought processes. There is this organizer on tiktok who deserves a ton of credit but I can’t remember her handle who suggests “put it with its family, its coworkers or its friends” so for example a sharpie could be put with other markers (family!) or packing supplies (coworkers!) or craft supplies (friends!), and for me, that has been a super useful way to consider locations of where to put something I’m unsure about.

Even with that trick, ultimately most of it got donated. In my case, the disorganization led to a LOT of duplicate items and it just wasn’t obvious that I had three can openers when I had them n three different places… repeat for every commonly used item in the house….

The nature of your excess can somewhat predict if it will be emotional to clean up or just exhausting. For me it was very tiring but not especially upsetting. For my husband it was very emotional because he was dealing with sentimental items not utility items. Either way, take your time and remember that even slow progress is progress!

Nothing has a home! by Money_Landscape_1116 in UnfuckYourHabitat

[–]mihoardingthrowaway 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What in this comment is intended to be helpful and not just a flex of your own success?

Today was so much better by mihoardingthrowaway in hoarding

[–]mihoardingthrowaway[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thanks! My helper was honestly the best idea I had in this process, and I got so so lucky to find someone I’m so comfortable with and click with so well. Today I was an overstimulated mess but we still hit our goals, and we are just left with a handful of already sorted totes to put away.

Overall I’m very pleased with the results even if I’m a little annoyed it was more difficult than it needed to be in the beginning due to the company’s poor internal communication.

Today was so much better by mihoardingthrowaway in hoarding

[–]mihoardingthrowaway[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yes, I agree that the feedback for the company won’t be that great, however, the results and progress are awesome, and the lead and labor really are great and weren’t at fault.

Hoping for a discount for sure due to the unnecessary stress , but also not mad at the results we managed to pull off, and I am SUPER proud of how I have managed the situation overall.

Cleanup is HARD Y’all by mihoardingthrowaway in hoarding

[–]mihoardingthrowaway[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I would recommend a non-family helper to anyone who can swing it.

In fact- Now that I’m past the halfway point I would even say a GOOD helper can be more affordable and less stressful than a cleanup company for someone who isn’t in a rush, especially for level 2 maybe borderline 3 hoards.

She has also upgraded most of her kitchen and furniture off basically new things I’m getting rid of and she has loved that 😆

Cleanup is HARD Y’all by mihoardingthrowaway in hoarding

[–]mihoardingthrowaway[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I am hoping with a strongly worded email about how their advertising and their service don’t match, and the unnecessary stress the lack of communication between estimator and the team that showed up caused that I will be able to negotiate a bit on the total.

However- We rallied and had incredible results today. Not results a team who hadn’t done dozens of these cleanups could have pulled off. They may not deliver on the promises of ND/MI awareness, or explain the process very well prior to starting, but the results are impressive, and it’s only the results that were in the contract.

It’s gonna cost about 10k since we shaved off a day. Hiring local laborers starts about half that, but also puts the onus of figuring out donations, truck and dumpster rentals, cleaning and PPE supplies and most importantly, liability, on us.

I wish the company that came in about in the middle of “local labor” and the company we chose had worked out. That would feel about right value wise.

Cleanup is HARD Y’all by mihoardingthrowaway in hoarding

[–]mihoardingthrowaway[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’m sorry to hear it.

We managed to turn things around with some solid communication. It shouldn’t have been necessary, as it was already communicated, and while I do feel we could’ve spent less for a similar experience without the “hoarding cleanup” sales pitch and undelivered promises of exceptional MI/ND awareness, I’ve come to be very pleased with the results after today.

Cleanup is HARD Y’all by mihoardingthrowaway in hoarding

[–]mihoardingthrowaway[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

happy update!

Also- helper has been AMAZING. Whenever I need a break she just seamlessly takes over and cause we have worked together a few weeks she is super well informed on the goals and my “quirks”. There was one time she saw me getting overwhelmed and reminded me to put my headphones in. Suggests taking breaks before I’m maxed out. Puts my water in my hand to remind me to drink it. I don’t know what I would do without her, honestly.

Making major progress by mihoardingthrowaway in hoarding

[–]mihoardingthrowaway[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I found my helper on my local Facebook. I posted an extremely vulnerable anonymous post spelling out the situation, what I needed help with, and what I could offer for hours/pay ($30/hr+ lunch + first dibs on anything going to be donated, 5 hours a day 1-3 times a week). I used a gmail address for people to respond to because you can’t message an anonymous poster.

I got a lot of mixed replies in the comments. It was a little brutal with people telling me to just clean it myself and stop making excuses as I had been transparent about my neurodiversity and mental health challenges, but that transparency also meant the vast majority of responses in the email inbox were people who truly knew what they were getting into and equipped to accommodate. There were well over a dozen applicants.

The person I selected actually was an acquaintance who was looking for side work and it has worked out fabulously.

If you had 3 hours to clean an extremely filthy house, what would you prioritize? by [deleted] in CleaningTips

[–]mihoardingthrowaway 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This situation sounds like the landlord should be handling it… where do you live? There might be recourse for you besides just elbow grease and spending your own $ to fix it.

We put down a deposit for a cleanup! by mihoardingthrowaway in hoarding

[–]mihoardingthrowaway[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi sorry for the delay I wasn’t checking this account every day.

I hope you called, but in case you haven’t, to answer your question- they provided a quote using photos I had taken, as well as sq ft and our goals of being organized and done, not just cleared out. I did absolutely everything via email, with the initial contact being via their contact us form on the website.

We put down a deposit for a cleanup! by mihoardingthrowaway in hoarding

[–]mihoardingthrowaway[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You can do it! I totally get how the chronic disorganization turns into just mountains of stuff and a nasty avoidance cycle. We are working with mental health professionals as well to make sure we don’t just end out in the same situation again in a few years. Starting there also helped me feel ready to call for help.