Friday 2 January 2009

A Giveaway-way-way: Step One On The Road To Recovery - Declutter

Look at me - my resolutions are flying in the wind like a flag. Am I a trailblazer of sorts? I don't even do resolutions. But here I am decluttering. I've already taken four boxes to the op shop. Go me! Truth be, this giveaway has been a long time in the making. There are a lot of things around my house that I think, hmm, that's not quite me, but you know I think Miss X might dig it. So here it is. My little pre-PottyMouthMama One Year Birthday.

Pip at Meet Me At Mikes kicked me off. I'm sending her some things. She's sending me some things. Together we're kicking a declutter of sorts. Dig it?

But this one, this one is for you dear reader. If you tell me the silliest thing you've hoarded, I'll tell you mine.

Oh darn it, I can't wait that long, I'll tell you one thing right now.

I kept a whole heap of dresses that I wore when I was 15/16, 'just in case' they came back in again. Thankfully my flatmate at the time held an intervention and forced me to throw them in the charity bin when I was 23. They were NEVER coming in again. I find it hard to get rid of fashion. Particularly my vintage loves. But you know, some things have to fly.

So tell me, wherever you are in the world, one of the silliest things you've hoarded ever. Entries close in around a week's time when I remember. Deal?

PS - the above is a selection of things.. but not truly indicative of what the winner will take. But I promise you, I will make it good!

18 comments:

Cindy said...

OH I am a hoarder of everything, it drives Glen NUTS, he is the oppposite and chucks everything. I have outfits I am only going to fit in if I have ribs removed, gumnuts that Caleb has collected for me, tiny scraps of fabric from everything I have ever cut out, The list could go on, I dragged around 4 years worth of home mags to like 5 different houses, they would take up 3 moving boxes on there own until I finally threw them out on the realisation that I will be renting for the next 500 years. Oh dear, perhaps I could declutter a little, as long as it goes to a good cause, like an oppy I tend to hyperventilate a little less.

Michelle said...

I'm an excellent hoarder. Usually of silly things like financial statements still unopened in their envelopes!

When I was about 7 or 8, I saved the "Love is ..." comic strip from the Courier Mail every Sunday for a couple of years and posted them in a scrap book. They were so sappy and sickly sweet. Yuck. Actually, they'd probably appeal to me now in adulthood!

Liesl said...

Ah, it was only two evenings ago that Mr HB said - in a most uncomplementary way - that I was a hoarder (at least I think that's what he called me?). Let me see, where do I start? I suppose the oddest thing I have hoarded is an ostrich egg. I was given it when I did my work experience at the zoo ... (arrggh) 25 years ago! Its not useful, not on display and basically has no redeeming features. But I just can't part with it. What if I should urgently need an ostrich egg someday and I'd thrown it away??

Swirlyarts said...

Oh dear - here goes! We have just had a new bathroom put in and when sorting through things to go back in the cupboards I found not 1 but 8 small bottles of body lotion that Matt brought back from a hotel he stayed at nearly 10 years ago! About 3 were half used too :)

Debbie said...

Hello my name is Deb and I'm a hoarder. I hate to admit it, but it is true. I have a collection of matchboxes in the back of my cupboard. I have my children's baby clothes and my youngest is 17.I have better homes and gardens from and family circle from 1986. I could go on but I think you get the general idea.

Kate said...

Ack. Well, I have kept pretty much everything (old letters from boyfriends, flowers from my parents yard that I picked in high school, papers that I wrote in college) but am now consequently going through my home and purging. The worst thing I ever saved, though, could be the cast I wore when I broke my arm. I was 7.

I kept it until my mom threw it away when I left for college.

Bec said...

Hello, my name is Bec and I am a hoarder. Whew, there I said it. I even have a bunch of notes that my friends and I passed around in class when we were 13. They're not even interesting. But for some reason I've always kept them. Somehow I imagine they are going to get more interesting with age.... . although really, 26 years down the track they still read like tweeny dribble...*sigh* I really need to throw them out...

World Wide Alternative said...

Another Ozzy blog! Yay!
It's my first time here I think, I swear I can smell a give-away!
Is it rude to just drop in? I hope not...

Anyhoo, when we left Japan about 6 months ago I had to do a HUGE declutter/cull.
I found fast food rappers (EVERYTHING is so dang cute over there!), sculpted sugar cubes (totally forgot I had them), reciepts from stuff I couldn't even remember (again with the cute), & I shipped home a box of cut up fabric scraps that I had been hoarding "just in" case I made a softy.
Needless to say my husband thinks I'm nuts & smiled a painful looking grimace as we paid the nice shipping company our life savings to get all my "treasures" back home again. Bless 'im.

Love your blog, I'm off to explore & your very welcome over at mine anytime! XXxx

Rachael said...

Mmm, where do I start?

Shower caps and little shampoos from hotels all over the world - you never know when you need a spare (did cull this in our move)...
Swing tags from all the clothes I brought Minnie before she was born.
All the birthday cards I have ever received (35 years worth)
About a gazillion Gourmet Travellers, Delicious Mag and InsideOut magazines - they weigh a ton.
Maps, tourist info, gallery guides etc from all over the place. Plus programmes to all the operas and theatre that I have attended.

Gosh, reading this back I sound like one of those crazy cat ladies that live in a sea of rubbish...

Lilli boo said...

God this is the best post ever! I'm not alone!!! I hoard (Of course I do or I wouldn't be commenting!!) so less exclamation marks and on with it..The things I hoard..are Interior magazines- keep thinking.."These are great reference material!!"...cards from b'days to xmas, so many notes, trinkets, jewellery from my childhood but the silliest thing I have hoarded are my wisdom teeth..removed under anesthetic 19 years ago..in a container that looks like the one you pee in...my children like shaking them..like some modernist rattle..scary but true!

Bek said...

I am even more of a hoarder since I started sewing/crafting about a year ago now. It seems there is a use for everything. (But nowhere to put it sadly). I keep the left over thread from embroidery and sewing. It looks nice, and I think I just might have a use for it.

Joy said...

Well I've come to the conclusion that being a quilter is synonymous with being a hoarder!!! I guess that's why we have our stash ... and why we find it so hard to cut into it LOLOL!!! I'm no different believe me, I hoard everything. I'm 48 years old and I still have the dolly I got for Christmas when I was 8 (she's still beautiful by the way!). I also have an outfit I bought on a cruise in the 70s ... I have favourite clothes my kids wore when they were 3 (he-he and younger) ... they're 26, 23 and 16 now!!!! I even have my old Brownie badge!!!!
Does all of that qualify me for an entry in your fabulous giveaway ;o)???
Hugs,
Joy :o)

Taccolina said...

Wow, I'm loving all these comments. I can't top many of these hoarding stories, but I'm in on a few of them: wisdom teeth, classroom notes, 80s dresses - yes, yes, yes.

The best thing at the moment? A postcard my Daddy wrote me from Egypt for my 5th birthday. I haven't seen the careful signature 'Daddy for so long, he's been Dad and Gramps forever.

The best bit is that Mom hoarded it and recently sent it to me for my 35th birthday. Very, very cute.

Bec @ honi design said...

i am a TOTAL horder of simply everything. movie tickets, chrissie cards, material, free CD's from the newspaper, beads, things i find on walks...too much to tell. The silliest thing though was old televisions. I'd pick them up from council clean ups and I had this grnad plan to create a sculpture from them but it i never got around to it.

CurlyPops said...

What the? How on earth did I miss this one until now? I think my reader is playing tricks on me.
Just to warn you, there is a hoarding gene which is prevalent on both sides of my family, so we all keep heaps of useless stuff. I helped my sister unpack at her new house a couple of weeks ago and we found at least 25 plastic ice trays. They don't even drink alcohol or use ice!
The naffest thing that I still have is my big ugle white meringue debutante dress. It's now in the bottom of my wardrobe covered in cat hair (my cat likes to sleep on it).

CurlyPops said...

I forgot to mention that I've moved house nine times since my deb and dragged that naff dress along each time!

Anonymous said...

I do hoard lots of things, then I feel overwhelmed and have a big clean out!! Apart from hoarding fabric of course which isn't silly I think the biggest hoard I always fight with is glass jars!! I have always kept them because I can recycle them and if they have a lovely shape I keep them just because and just in case!! Then it gets so out of hand I have to have a HUGE clean out of the cupboard and put ALL the jars in the recycling bin as I have only used one or two for sprinkles, choc chips etc.... but only to start all over again, I just can't help myself!!!

LynAnne Smucker said...

I am a hoarder of things that might be potential art supplies or have possible crafty uses, such as the net bags off fruit from grocery stores, empty and cleaned out yogurt containers and lids (for paints), small balls of yarn, pretty wrapping paper off presents. Oh my god, I sound insane listing all this stuff. However, I have in the past done lots of collage, and so some of it has been useful. I am a sucker for saving paper labels off of canned food if the label is cute or quaint. I also quilt, and save scraps of things and old clothes to use to make dolls/softies from. All this stuff is organized, but now I'm thinking of seeing if some of it can be sent on to a good home somewhere else. I do however, get rid of clothes I can't wear regularly. However, I have a pair of Mary Jane style shoes that my husband bought me that I can't really wear anymore without foot pain, but I don't want to get rid of them as they were a perfect gift from him about twelve years ago. Sigh.