I don't even know where to begin with this story! I feel like I hit the jackpot with an abundant well of help!
These sets of chocolate milk caps sold like hot cakes and by accident. Key words: chocolate ephemera or chocolate paper goods. I just happened to choose these by color and they just happened to be mostly chocolate.
I have a large milk cap collection and I picked through and kept the ones I love, even though I have no idea what I was or am going to to with them. I usually include one with the various other ephemera inside my "thank you" packages for etsy buyers, but there's a whole lot to either use or give away. To make room, I decided it's best for me to let go of items I love but have no idea how to use.
I know it' sounds odd, that I have things I can't remember how I was going to use, but at the time I bought them I might have and now as a recovering hoarder these remind me of my grandmother and mother and the old days when their was a milk man who delivered milk to our door step every morning.
Which I can't actually remember, but vaguely remember through photos with the empty bottles by the door steps. I have the photos some where in my hoard!
Imagine that happening now... boxed up with ice packs and who knows how many warning labels.
I listed these by color choice and my favorite is the Lime Punch Drink with the ingredient list, but they sold because they were chocolate! Anyways...
The best part of this story is that another recovering HOARDER bought them for a chocolate collage project inspired by her brother for his blog! So these chocolate milk caps will eventually have not one but two new lives and homes! and I more importantly I have a met a kindred spirit who is helping me by answering a litany of questions I've had brewing inside me! Thank you Lin!
You can see her collage work at her shop, Rhody Art here , which she uses as therapy and you can read how she does that partly in her profile here or mostly on her blog here, On the Rhode to Art.
Here are parts of her email:
I myself am a recovering hoarder. The only way I could start my recovery was real cold turkey almost two years ago. And in the process ruthlessly abandoned at least 80% of what I had.
I wasn't as bad as what you see on the hoarding shows. But it was close in that I really did have only paths thru the clutter. And things were piled high. And I had to keep buying stuff because I couldn't find what I already had. And I couldn't clean adequately.
Anyway, it is still a battle but at least I am winning it.
Kudos to Lin! for overcoming the struggles and keeping an upper hand on hoard and for talking to me about it, answering all my questions and sharing so much with me these past several days!
Saying Good-bye: I had no attachments to these milk caps, since I had put aside my favorites and had even debated about asking for a story, but I'm so fortunate I did because I've found another recovering hoarder to talk to and I think it's like being in a support group!
What I Learned:
1. I was going to sell my milk cap collection in mega amounts, but since Ashley from "Toothy Tooth Locket Necklace" showed me that some people are out to just buy what they need, I decided on six. Also, milk caps seem to sell by topic, not by color scheme, but I'm still unsure about that.
More sets of 6 milk tops by color scheme here at The Destiny of Things. Let me know, if you'd rather have some by topic, orange or grape juice, milk, buttermilk, etc. and I'll make a different listing.
2. I felt a little weird asking for a story over six bottle tops, but no story or thing is too small to have meaning because I never know what might come out of it. For instance, I got so much out of six small bottle tops, like another recovering hoarder to talk with, perhaps a better way to group and sell my bottle top collection, another story collected for my own recovery and who knows what else!
3. I need to stop buying things because they are nostalgic and subconsciously remind me of an experience or someone.
4. Her story and my story sound familiar, however I've tried the cold turkey many times and it just keeps boomeranging back, sometimes in greater amounts, like a bad diet gone wrong! The last time I purged 90% of my things. I had decided to start fresh and new and only took 10 things with me... but that's another story in back draft.
Currently my boxes are stacked with tiny paths to barely maneuver around in the music art room. I don't have to re-buy stuff I already have because I can still find it, but I can spend hours searching for something, which ends up taking more time because I organize along the way, sometimes expanding the clutter! It can get like Pandora's box in there!
All in all, I feel like I'm winning the battle too!
Thank you Lin from Rhody Art for sending me more than a story! Visit her shop here, she makes something for everyone, collage art for under $10, funny cards, fridge magnets and more! If anything you'll find a smile on your face as I did!
Thank you for the book recommendation I will definitely check it out, "Overcoming Compulsive Hoarding: Why You Save and How You Can Stop!"
Thank you Etsy for yet another connection and insider help towards my Hoarder Rehab from another recovering hoarder, as well as dispersing my hoard to new lives and better homes and bringing me closer to my dream of a Minimalist Organic home with a music art room!
Thank you US, UK, Germany, Austria, India, Poland, Australia, China, Mexico, United Arab Emirates, Russia, Canada, Ukraine, Philippines, Italy and Slovakia for your visits the past several days and supporting my Hoarder Rehab: The Destiny of Things!
Other Stories from Self-Proclaimed Hoarders and Not:
1. Day of the Dead Calavera Skull Beads
2. As a Hoarder I am Not Alone, Today's Hoarder Rehab Epiphany #3
3. There are plenty more I've read in Etsyians profiles, but I didn't keep track of them!
4. The Peterson Museum: Garages for American Clutter
5. Hoarding as the New American Epidemic! at least in my neighborhood
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