Self Treatment days 3 & 4: The Test

Proclamation: I did not hide
Confession: I did not go through one box in 2 days

WoW! These last 2 days have been something.
Day 3 happened to fall on Black Friday. Being that I had made a committment to myself and the fact that I had no disposable income to spend catching all the black Friday sales, I had no plans to join the after Thanksgivng crowds. Then, my stepmother asked if I wanted to go shopping with her. My reply, "No, I have no money to spend". I thought for a second not to share my disorder with the newest member of our family but I remembered that I promised not to hide so... when she said, "You won't have to worry about that", then I said, "Okay but it won't be a fun day since I have to seriously consider if I need an item before it can enter into my house" and then I explained further about my obsessive complusive disorder to hoard things I don't necessarily need. I then commissioned her to hold me accountable to the items I was considering. She agreed.

I think I did pretty well. At one store I found a great deal, $5.99, on a fun game to play but I put it back. Then I saw a butterfly to hang on the wall, I really wanted it and it would have been so easy to get since she didn't give us any boundaries as far as purchases but..... I resisted.

My 2 excuses, which to me seem valid are... IT WAS BLACK FRIDAY! who cleans out boxes on such a great day to be out on the town? And I wasn't driving my self so I was at the mercy of another and we didn't get home until 1 a.m. Add to that the fact that I became soooo sick, sicker than I've ever been in my life while we were at the movies and all the way home, which was an hour drive with a bag over my mouth. Needless to say, when I got home I was thinking only of sleep and not of cleaning out a box.

Day 4: Not so much of a valid excuse. I had a job to do in the morning/afternoon hours and then I took a nap for waaaay to long. But I guess tossing your cookies is a draining event soo... I slept. When I awoke, I did not clean out a box. Today, I was able to hold food down though.

Is tomorrow to late to actually commit to my committment to self treatment?
I think not when you consider I have 361 days left to get it right.
I will be victorious!!!!

Thank you for your continued thoughts of success toward my efforts.

Self Treatment day 2: The Plan

Hello all,

Confession: I am a hoarder and I am lazy...

So, today I didn't go through one box. But, and here comes one excuse out of many to come, I did take pictures as I promised and I did develop my plan further. Excuse number 2, it was Thanksgiving. However, here's where I realized yet again that I am lazy. I slept most of the day and didn't even leave the house until 5 p.m.! Surrrre, I did wake up a few times but I just didn't FEEL like eating breakfast, let alone going through any boxes. THANKFULLY, I am off work tomorrow so I will wake to try to do better... tomorrow.

As for today, I did read a short book titled Conquering the Paper Clutter, which I obtained over 5 years ago. Let's just say the copyright was 1999. Which proves my point as a hoarder, "Just because one hasn't looked at something in a year doesn't mean they won't". Either way, the purpose of this blog is for me to LOSE my hoarding ways, so I read through the book with a highlighter as it suggested so that the next time I choose to go through it I won't have to completely read it over again.

So as for "THE PLAN"...

1. I will perservere over the course of 1 year. Many on the A&E show had just a few days to tackle their obsession. I feel that adds to the stress and doesn't allow you to grow into better habits.

2. I will not open mail in my room which is one way to tame the paper clutter found in my room. Paper such as mail and magazines and bills will be taken care of immediately!! Either it will be tossed, action will be taken, or it will be filed.



3. I will actively spend at least 1 hour a day on the task of going through a box(es) and papers in those boxes will be handled the same way as the mail will be.






4. I will not shop for anything without someone there to hold me accountable to the necessity of the purchase. One thing hoarders tend to do is shop for deals that they intend to use or create with or give to someone else but never do. I even thought through a plan for online buying because it's even easier to buy online but I will share more about that after I have spoken with the third party person I will need for that plan to work successfully.

5. I will either make a confession, a proclamation or both in my blog. One thing hoarders tend to do is hide their environment from others in the form of never inviting others over or denying them access. Of course, I can't invite you all over but it would be easy for me to hide or even lie about what I have or haven't done. But I won't. I will make a confession if necessary i.e., I am lazy or I will make a proclamation of my success. Please give me feedback as support of proclamations or chastisement if necessary. I will hide no more.

As I mentioned before, there are a few more steps to the plan but I will share those later. It's not that I'm hiding any part of the plan, just that I imagine you are getting tired of reading right about now. Soooo.... please look at the pictures and send thoughts of success that I will conquer this obsessive complusive hoarding that has taken over my life so far.

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and thanks for reading.


Kitchen mess


The black item is a mattress that I put on the floor in the
living room when my sisters came for Labor Day 2009


The result of previous efforts which was started
and not touched again in about the past 6 months

BTW - in case I didn't mention it this is the first time I have truly ever blogged so you will see that I will get better at this too.

Self Treatment day 1: Confession/Challenge

Hello all, it's the eve of Thanksgiving 2009.

My life has been recently changed by two events:

1) I watched the movie Julie & Julia
2) I watched a show on A&E: Hoarders

In case you don't know Julie & Julia is a movie based on true events in the lives of Julie Powell and Julia Child's. You see, "Julia Child's story of her start in the cooking profession is intertwined with blogger Julie Powell's 2002 challenge to cook all the recipes in Child's first book",(www.imdb.com/title/tt1135503). At the time I thought what an awesome story and an awesome way to be inspired.

The very next day while babysitting, I was watching Hoarders on A&E. I was moved to tears at what I saw on the television. One lady had her children taken from her because of her obsessive compulsive, mental disorder to hoard EVERYTHING!!!!!

I AM A HOARDER as well and I come from a family of those who hoard on some level or another. While watching that show I realized that my condition is not that bad YET!! But I feel I have to do something before it gets out of control!! I came home and tried to empty 1 box, out of the many that are in my spare bedroom. They have been boxed that way since I moved in 2 years earlier and hardly noone has been over for social reasons or otherwise.

Overwhelmed with the task at hand, as many times before, I decided that I would make myself accountable to the task by keeping a blog of my efforts and frustrations just as Julie Powell did. She gave herself 1 year to complete the task as will I.

SO here goes.....

The challenge will be to host Thanksgiving dinner in MY apartment next year, 2010, without making excuses for mess.

In order to do that I must have it decluttered, with everything in it's place and nothing kept that's not needed.

Before I start I will post some pictures of what I'm dealing with. I hope to not only declutter my life but to also be an inspiration to others with the self treatment plan that I have made for myself, which I will tell you more of in later posts.

Please send successful thoughts my way and thanks for reading.