Good morning everyone :D

Tina,
Good luck with your stealth mission and remember to take good care of yourself. Don't over do.
(((hugs)))

Have fun MayMay. :D

Mary,
I am very proud of what you have accomplished already.
Let that guilt and shame go. You are a worthy person who just had her life get out of control.
You are doing a fantastic job!
(((HUGS))), Tillie

Just had hoard cleaned out over the weekend. Today I'm trying to clean up residual dirt & grime & assess structural damage. Feeling very emotionally drained from the experience and feel very vulnerable with all my stuff gone. Also feeling guilt and shame to have someone come in and see how I let things go so long. No idea how much it will cost me to get things back to where they should be. Dealing with so much anxiety right now...long road ahead.

Hey Cory,
Is your son single? Because I love marines. ;)

Today I plan on doing some chores around the house. And then later on today I am going to go to the mall with one of my friends. She still doesn't have her halloween costume yet. So I am going to the mall to help her find a costume. :).

I spent an entire week gathering a very sizable collection of items to donate to a local homeless shelter, but I got sick before I could deliver them. Of course, I discovered that my husband dragged everything I had packed up to donate back into the house during my illness... (Even though none of the items were his!) So my mission for today is to go into Super Stealth mode and load as much of it as I possibly can into my pick-up truck & haul-ass out of the driveway with it before he can catch me. lol!

Tillie,
I have to know how the burn went? Sorry I missed you all last night. I actually got home in time for the last hour, but I arrived home to find two of my children at my house to surprise me. My son was on leave from the Marines for the weekend and one of my daughters was here also. It was great seeing them again to say the least. So fill me in on what you burned and what the response was!

Good morning :)

Since the weather is so much cooler now and we have some humidity I can burn things in my burn barrels again.

That's my plan for today.
Going to get out there and burn everything I can find to burn. :D

Still needing to impress upon him that I am very serious about him getting that septic tank taken care of ASAP.
He keeps burying his head in the sand in the hopes that all the maintenance issues around here will just dissapear.

Have a GREAT day everyone and hope to see you all in "chat" tonight. :)

Thank you MayMAy. :)

Hey Tillie,

I really hope your husband will do what he needs to do so the company will be able to drain the septic tank. Because I definitely don't want you and your husband having to live like Shanna. Her house was so scary! Plus after they cleaned out her house she still couldn't live in it anymore because of all the damage. So I definitely don't want that to happen to you guys. :)

Good morning everyone. :)

Today I will be going into town to get some groceries.
I have my list all made up and my coupons organized.

When I get back my plan is to let my hoarder know exactly what I expect him to do about clearing a path to the septic tank and making him call the company to have it drained.
And that he MUST be here when the company comes so he can get all the dirty looks and not me because it really is not my hoard & squalor.

Or very soon we will be living like Shanna here.


Have a great day everyone! :)

Hey Tillie,

OMG! Me too! It's ridiculous how many political phone calls we get at my house. And now people are actually starting to come to our door asking us to take political surveys. It's so annoying! And I hate how every time I watch the news the majority of what they talk about right now is politics. I can't wait until it's finally over!

Hey MayMay
Yes I hate how it gets earlier & earlier all the time.

What I am really hating right now is being bombarded with political BS.
Seems I live in a "swing" state.
Every day there is at least 3 pieces of political junk mail delivered here.
The TV has constant political commercials.
Worst of all is that EVERY DAY the phone rings off the hook with surveys and automated political messages.
AAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
Will be so very happy when this election is over with!

OMG! I just saw the first Christmas commercial of the season and it's not even Halloween yet. I swear, They start advertising for Christmas earlier and earlier every year.

My To-Do list for today...

Make a grocery shopping list.
Since I am trying to keep my hoarder out of stores I have been trying to buy 2 weeks worth of groceries at a time so we only have to go every other week.
He impulse buys food and he has the freezer on the fridge stuffed solid and he has a LOT of other food stashed all around in his hoarded areas.
Plus he goes to this other grocery store near where he works and brings home stuff every week.

Any way.....
Just have my usual type tasks to do today
feed & water cats
scoop litter boxes
sweep
tidy up


Have a GREAT day everybody! :D

Good morning everyone! :D

Tina (((HUGS)))
I know how depressing that is. :(
My hoarder does that exact same thing to me when I get sick.
So sorry.


NewLife,
Wonderful that you are getting down to the actual floor! Even if it does need a good mopping at least we can see it. :)

Hey Tina,
I'm so sorry to hear about what your hoarder has been doing while you've been sick. :(
I'm glad to hear that you are starting to feel better. :)

Hey NewLife,
Good luck clearing your floor. :)

Hi Tina, i'm glad you are feeling well enuf to be up and around, don't let what you see lay you back down, just rinse out the sink or something. My trick is to not really think about it, cause i go into a tizzy, just do what's on top, even if it's only 5 dishes. you did something. Wish me well clearing my floor. I need to stop trying to read and walk down memory lane with each piece of paper. Also, cleaning up mad makes me do a little more ... let's do something today, NewLife

good day All, it's Friday and i'm alive. Today I would like to clear out that kitchen floor, it's icky dirty underneath all that paper trash. I cleared off my couch 2 days ago, yea, and stuck the papers and mail in a plastic bag to go thru, only 1 of many ... anyway, Happy Today, one small step will do me good ~

Medical complications have had me laid up for the past few weeks, but I'm beginning to recover. As I wandered around the house this morning my heart caught in my throat as I surveyed the damage left in the wake of my illness. My worst fear realized, My hoarder has taken full advantage of my inability to actively defend the clean & clear spaces in our home...

Not a clean dish in the house.
Every horizontal surface covered.
My living room transformed into his project workshop.
Paths once again starting to form.
Weeks of laundry piled on the washroom floor...

I can't describe what I'm feeling right now, except that it hurts.

[Sigh...] :(

Today while I was cleaning my room I discovered something very interesting and kind of shocking.

In my room I have 2 tents; one is for Cory and the other one is for Matt. In their tents are their dog beds and their favorite blankets and they also have some dog toys in there too. All the rest of their dog toys are in toy boxes that they can get to anytime they want. Today while I was cleaning I looked inside both of their tents to get their blankets so I could wash them; and when I looked inside Matt's tent I noticed that it was practically overflowing with dog toys. When I went to get Matt's blanket out I also took out all the toys in his tent and counted them. Turns out he had over 50 dog toys hidden in his tent. I was really shocked! When I went to get Cory's blanket I also counted all the toys in his tent too. He only had 10 toys in his tent.

I think Matt might be a hoarder! Lol. :)

Thanks Tillie! :D

Where did my post go?

I wrote a post & it's not here.
Oh Well.....

Have fun at the park MayMay.

Today I will be moving my winter things to the front shelves & top drawers and summer things to the back.
Has gotten very cold here at night.

Have a great day everyone! :D

I don't have much planned for today. I just plan on cleaning the house. Then after I clean the house I'm going to take Cory and Matt up to Delco Park for a walk. It has been a while since I have taken them to Delco Park.

Good morning

I have the kind of insomnia where I can fall asleep but then wake up a few hours later and can't get back to sleep. :(

Been up for hours now.

My To-Do list for today...
water the lilac hedge amd lawn
cook pork chops and curried rice
clean the kitchen
try to take a nap

Have the best day today you possibly can! :)

Hey Tillie,

Sorry to hear about your neck and head ache. :(

I hope it gets better soon. :)

We are having the outside of our house and the garage door painted brown; and all the outside doors like the front door and our 2 back doors painted white. Today the painters are working on all the doors; so the house is freezing cold right now because all the outside doors are opened. Right now Cory and Matt are playing in my room, which is the warmest room in the house, but I can't stay in there with them because I have to keep an eye on the painters. The painters do have a really good taste in music though. ;)

Good morning! :)

Today I need to water my trees and bushes.
It is sort of cool & breezy right now so I will wait until a little later.

Woke up with a stiff neck and a head ache.
Slept wrong.

Oh Well.....

Have a great day everybody! :D

How nice MayMay! :)

The outside or the inside?
What colors?

I just came in from outside, where I was playing with Cory and Matt. Now I'm getting ready to give them a bath, and then when they get out of the bath they will probably want to take a nap. We were outside playing for over an hour this morning. While they are taking a nap I am going to wait for the painters to arrive at the house. We are getting ready to have our house painted. :)

Today is a cold and gloomy day. A perfect day for a movie marathon. Right now Cory and Matt are on my bed all warm and cosy under their favorite blankets. I am getting ready to pop some popcorn and then we are going to start the movie marathon by watching "The Sixth Sense." :)

Good morning everybody :)

My To-Do list for today...

clean the bathroom
wash the floors
vacuum the carpet
sweep the porches

When everything is back to how I like it I will then shampoo my hair and give myself a manicure. :)

Since I removed all his clutter out of the house (except his bedroom)
the house is very easy to clean.
There are no piles of stuff laying around in the way keeping me from being able to clean all areas quickly.
I don't have to spend hours to have my home clean and smelling good. I can do other things with my time.
I love having a clean home but I also hate doing housework.
It takes very little time to daily tidy up a clean house.
Never neglecting a mess is an important part of maintenance.


Have a great day everybody! :D

Cory Chalmers has a farm

E I E I Oh ;)

I know that animals really appreciate being well taken care of.
Wishing all of them were pampered.

Today we went to 9:00am church. Got home and cleaned out our chicken coop and added fresh bedding. Now going to the feed store to buy some hay and alpha pellets for the goats. When we get back it is working in the back yard all day. The wife is helping inside doing laundry, dishes and the weekly chores. Hope to be all completed in time for the Hoarding Support Group!

Happy Sunday to you all :)

Hey Tillie,

Actually Matt and Cory are both really well behaved dogs. But for some reason last thursday Cory decided to run off to go look at the fish in the fish tanks at petsmart. That was the very first time one of them has ever run off. Normally they are so well behaved that sometimes I won't even put them on a leash because they always like to stay by my side and they are both really friendly. :)

Good morning :D

Stayed up late last night watching some dumb movie but managed to sleep in this morning before the cats started acting up wanting their breakfast.

My hoarder is gone again today installing hand rails in the home of our elderly friend who fell down his stairs. He is home from the hospital and he is very happy to have the hand rails in his bathrooms and hallways.

Was planning on doing some burning today but there is a breeze. Even though I use covered burn barrels, I never burn when there is any kind of wind.

Going to vacuum and dust in my room. Rearrange some things just for fun.

Have a great day everyone and hope to see you in chat tonight.

MayMay,
Dogs are not like children and grounding doesn't work the same on them.

Have you checked into obedience training?
Once you are taught how to get your dogs to mind you they will be much better behaved out in public.

My hoarder used to socialize puppies so that they could be trained to be guide dogs for the blind.
He trained me in ways to train my dog better. :)

Right now I am getting ready to take Matt for a walk. I normally take both Matt and Cory for a walk together, but right now Cory is grounded. So that means that there will be, no walks and no car rides for him until Thursday. I had to ground Cory because a couple of days ago he ran off in petsmart while I was looking at dog costumes for him and Matt.

Good afternoon everybody :)

I've just been hanging out around the house so far today.

Have much greater plans for tomorrow when the hoarder in my life will be home.

My To-Do list for today is to clean up the kitchen.
Made myself french toast this morning. :D
Do a general tidying up around here
Then spend my free time doing pleasant little projects that make me happy while I watch spooky movies on Netflix.

Have a great day everybody! ;)

Hey Sheryl,
I'm sorry to hear that about your father. :(
Good luck at your 3rd job. :)

Hi Sheryl! :D

Nice to hear from you! :)

We miss you and hope you can keep in touch.

Last Sunday chat Cory and Karl weren't there either.

Big (((hugs))) and hoping that things get easier for you soon.

Tillie :)

..well, I now have three jobs -one FT & 2 PT. That in addition to the house (kids, cats) and my dad and... need sleep; a vacation would be nice. I haven't been on chat, message boards, and unless I can get you on my FB (via phone) you won't hear from me. The third job is because my dad is in debt and broke (then he was robbed last week) and I'm supporting (and cleaning) two households.

Hi is this Gaby? :)
I'm so sorry to hear about your condition. :(
But when you post you need to put your name in the name box, so people won't get confused. :)
The name box is the very first box under the reply settings. It is a skinny box and it says Name right next to it on the left. :)

yes i posted any times but not as cory i posted to cory he comfired i was in the right place for posting if you think you are confused you should see my head i am not even sure how this all works because i have a brace on one arm my typing is not the greatest and we are not even taking my spelling i do not type very well a it is to make all the harder i have never been able to type well and with my disabilities i am even worst after my storke my brain sometimes does not kick in just right creating a sentence is not my bag i speak many langues so i think in one langue and type in another at times. this makes life very hard

Hey Cory,

Yesterday while I was at petsmart I had Cory and Matt with me. I always take them to petsmart with me because they are allowed to go inside the store. Normally both of them are really patient dogs and they always stick by my side when they are in the store. But for some reason yesterday Cory decided to run off while I was looking at dog costumes. I didn't even realize that he was gone until Matt barked and ran off. When matt ran off I kept following him and yelling Cory's name. When I looked down at Matt I noticed that he was sniffing the floor as he was walking down all the isles, and I suddenly realized that he was looking for Cory. When Matt stopped in the isle where all the fish were that was when I noticed Cory sitting there looking at all fish in the fish tanks. So after I went to get Cory I decided to put Matt's pumpkin costume back and get the Superman costume for him instead. :)

Good morning :)

Another day where I have no pressing tasks to deal with so I am going to putter around here.

While I do my puttering I will be listening to Matt Paxton's podcasts.

http://5decisionsaway.com/

Have a great day everybody! :D

Good morning Gaby :D

Since we can't physically do everything in one day we can keep our sights on getting at least one thing accomplished every day.

Keeping up with the daily maintenance is a lot easier if we never neglect things like washing dishes or clothes.
Once a bathroom is decluttered and cleaned it takes only a few minutes a day to tidy it up.

The most important thing I have been trying to get my hoarder to understand is to QUIT bringing home more stuff.
He has finally quit dumpster diving and I am doing my best to keep him from impulse buying but he buys stuff when I am not standing beside him at the stores.

Gaby, you keep making your shopping lists and stick to them.

Wonderful to see you posting here and please stick around.

I have gone through and changed the names in the posts I could find :)

MayMay, I am a pumkin and Matt is Superman? Man, is that how I am seen vs. a super hero? I hope you can post some photos so I can at least so how cute the pumpkin costume is!

wow wht am i doing today is a big question well i first made a list of my stuff i just must keep then started in my kitchen taking my arm an clearing off the counters to the floor. i had a anger day and it did not help lol i now have to clean up the mess i am on a walker so it going to take a lot of my time today but first i went to the store an bought my dog food and my meds i made this day my day i have two service dogs and they looking at me like what did i do ? thinking i forgot to feed them. what a poor mom i made today. so from my list i shopped only for me and them dressing them up for holiday is not thier thing althou i sure it be cute. it looks lik you made it a priority for you an your pets that is a great thing. after i clean up my kitchen i guessing at thi point i need to make my babies some treats. for trick or treat night here. i found that if i mke list nd stick to it it helps in my shopping addiction i turned a cornner and behold a yard dale in pogress i ignored it again sticking to my list. of can do today reading your post is given me a great idea. choose one thing to do each day maybe not to the extreem i took at the begining but not bringing home any more unneeded items.gaby

understand the cooking thing for sure i raised nine boys and i still have no clue how to make a smaller batch of good food luckily i too have a large freezer one problem i did find out a while back was not making my product or dating it 6 mo is a freezer standard time. found i was hording in there as well i have a couple of friends that are fantastic cooks too and they bring me items some i eat that day and some i put in the freezer. i have moved to a different house so those friends i see very little of these days i go to the freezer thinking wow this is all i have left of this great food maybe tomorrow and then tomorrow does not hit. wow chillie sounds so great our weather is getting down there at night. i like my late dinner to be warm i can take out of the small packages i make left over warm ups.

wow tillie plese do not send him this way myhusband was a truck driver and i hace still his junk to get rid of i hate to see it show up there,i have a tv in every room in this house i am blessed with tem although a ig flat screen would be nice for me i too am in nee of eye ware my husband and nine boys felt if tv in every room i would not mis any thing well i can olnly watch one at a time lol. i do not have that cable set up any more nor do i have a husband or kids kids all grew up husband is past now i find it so hard to get rid of things my self so it is a chore just to get up in the mornig and start a new day it is near 12 mid now and i am just really getting started on my kitch mess i made. i may even do a load of clothes for the week. another chore or another day go through my clothes i have lost nearlly 200lb in the past two years and most of wht i have does not fit me anymore. i went to the docto he said it was all from stress. o lowering my stress is my upper most project getting this house in order is following that. i ver away from sales any more. only buying what is on my list of needs. now if it is on sale i am right there you can bet on it so your hubby found a good deal i supose but yes two tvs in one romm is a bit much i am not making any suggestion of getting rid of him but keeping him busy is a chore in it self. for sure if he has a hidding place. just this last week my son tore down one of them sheds in the back yard it took me a long time to empty it out i got this hair one day opened the doors and put that four letter word on a sign if you want it take it. of course after i scummed though a bitlow and behold another working tv and computer in there i donated it to the local church for a fundraiser project they have going.i informed them i had the shed also bless thier hearts they cleaned up a bit for me i am hoping they will come back and just maybe get another shed emptied or maybe mow the yard for me i am unable to do a lot of things. i would love to get my yard winter ready. then i will continue on my house inside i have been able to make a trail so far to get around with my walker.i i see your hubby any where i chase him away i am in CA so hardly think it would be him. but after battling this for so long i can almost pick out a person just wanting things just for the thrill of it. in this small town ther is not a lot to do but collect stuff i can not even count the people i been to their home that are worst than my self but i can understnd their plite and embassasment of hoarding. one neighbor has some thiry or more cats and ten or more dogs so stuff is not a big thought here i too have my own share of the pot.

Yes, Gaby please use your own name where it says "Name" when you post. I am very glad you joined the message boards and it seems like you have found your outlet we discussed :)