Inside the Mind of This Recovering Hoarder, Hoarder Rehab Inspiration or Desperation, Story #15

Inside the Mind of This Recovering Hoarder, Hoarder Rehab Inspiration or Desperation, Story #15

Someone asked me some interesting questions today and it took some time to reflect and be able to answer in a manner that was understandable, even to myself.

Here is the item in question:

It's a very good question, but I changed the wording a bit to keep it anonymous:

I'm confused.  Did you hoard this earlier and are reselling it? or did you buy it to resell it?  and that's a long endearing description for an $0.00 item!

Okay, I am confused too and I don't even know where to begin with these questions because in my head there are so many different answers to it and they are all trying to get out at once!

But I would like to say this before the answer.

I was making good progress on the dehoarded room which is evolving into a music art room.  When last month, another project was introduced to me that has a small window of opportunity and is close to my heart, but related to my past.

Well, I went full blown gung-ho about the "new" project due to the time constraints and now the dehoarded room is back to a level 9 or particularly all messed up with very little room to spare for any movement inside it again.  A month ago, before the "new" project, it was probably at a level 7 with paths to vacuum and areas reachable enough to dust and with small workable stations to organize boxes of items and with surface areas to set things down on

Anyways, I had to find so many pieces for the "new" project to work, it was like finding many needles in the haystack and after ripping into box after box with each new found piece came a conflicted past and with it returned a flood of memories embracing joy, sadness, uncertainty, anger, loss, success and failure and other feelings too long to list.  Also with the past came the hope of the future and with the hope of the future the possibilities were endless and quite frankly too overwhelming for me.  My mind has been spiraling even with sleep!

So now not only is the dehoarded room back to a level 9, but my living room is now messed up too with all the boxes, pieces and shipped over equipment I had needed for the "new" project.

And it seems my mind is back to being even more cluttered again, however I did decline on the "new" project two days ago and have since slept like a rock and broken my streak of 7 weeks of insomnia.  Hopefully that is a clue I need to consider into my plans of dehoarding.  "I can not take on any new major projects until the dehoarding is complete!"

This gif or gift explains the levels I use as a dehoarding tool.  It is from a test tool for Hoarding, at the International OCD Foundation here

Okay, back to the questions:

I'm confused.  Did you hoard this earlier and are reselling it? or did you buy it to resell it?

Here is my answer:

Thank you for the email and inquiries. I didn't hoard this item this year, well, not like I did back in the days I was teaching ( I had many for student use, center, home, etc) and used it for probably the next ten years until the the last year on the date stamper. I also used them for my art.

Unfortunately, when it got to the last year on the stampers from my teaching days, I could not find any more with new years. I think it's been over 10 years, but I'm not sure. I prefer the way this stamp is dated with the date, month and year in that order and now use them on my art.

Yes and about the long endearing description for this $0.00 item. I don't really know what to do about that, but go with the flow and keep with my own dehoarding process. I am now dehoarding stuff out of my drawers and trying to keep the stories really really short, since some of the items are even less than $0.00

Thank you for the email because it's really helped me to think and focus on my dehoarding ways and how to spend my time with it, but if the 2 buck story helps another teacher with efficiency or spark his/her own ideas with it, than I think it was worth it. I could have used a date stamper my first year of teaching to make my life easier, more efficient and more fun for my students to remember the date on their papers.

Hoarding is a very blurry line for me sometimes and I haven't figured out what's best for me yet and it's confusing to me when it comes to selling items on my shop when people seem to need them.

I was so happy to refind them and thought I'd see how it goes with sharing it with other teachers and artists.

I never thought it would be possible to turn my hoard into a good thing with other possibilities in mind.

Again, thank you for the inspiring and motivating email.

photos are via JunkDrawerLoveEtsy.  Date stamper is available, click here

In summary, I feel as though I've taken a couple of month's worth of steps backwards to move forward again, which for me, I know is part of my HoarderRehab journey, however I'm very pleased with myself that I didn't move forward with the "new" project that also came with a two year contract because I probably wouldn't have finished either this one or that one!

Hoarder Desperation:  It's not always easy trying to make my hoard into a good thing!  And if you would have asked me about it over a year ago, I would have said it was impossible and that nothing would sell, however today is a different story!  And I'm happy to say that over 400 items have found new lives and better homes thanks to Etsy!

But yes, those questions do pose a dilemma for me as a recovering hoarder.  When I first found the date stampers, I was so delighted I bought more than several.  Uh hum. There are many teachers in my family and I think they would make great stocking stuffers for them.  Also, I use it for my art and since I still lose stuff in my hoard, although I'm getting better at storage organization, I keep one one hand, in case I lose the other one in the hoard!

I know, I know DIY dehoarding, for me is a very slow tedious process, but I am making progress and although I've seen shows that dehoard in short amounts of time, I am going at a much much slower pace with less stress for me, which at times is still very stressful.  The pace the shows go are very stressful for me and just watching them either causes elated inspirations or huge amounts of stress, sometimes both.  I can't remember the last time I watched one.

So in conclusion maybe with that inexpensive date stamper with my long winded description, I can also say it might spark someone's next million dollar idea or for any teacher "out there" perhaps, save some time and help students to remember their name and date on each paper by making it more fun!

Hoarder Inspiration:  I no longer go thrifting and I can drive by yard sales with just a tiny itch to scratch, however half off sales, bargains in bulk, free stuff and saying "no" to people who give me things because they don't want to discard it themselves and because in the past I've taken them, like I do any stray animal are still challenges I'm working on!  However, I do consider where I am today a piece of art and a work in progress!

Post thoughts:  Remember the Anti drug campaigns of the 80s?  This is your brain on drugs?  Click on the link here to see it on Youtube.  Except mine feels more like scrambled eggs.

Well, take a look at levels 8 and 9 and imagine a brain with the same functioning level as 8 and/or 9.  That's how I feel all over again now, however at least this time I know it's not going to get worse by taking on the "new" project and I know it will get better once I settle in with my old routine again and reorganize the room.

I have found that my decision making is back to wishy washy now that the room is back to a level 9, even with two days of sleep out of the 7 weeks of insomnia, it seems my thoughts and ideas are cluttered and unorganized and that outside stress of new projects and family news is still reeking havoc and causing chaos which in turn leaves me exhausted from overwhelming stress from a sense of failure of not being able to do it all and cope with it all.

However, at least I'm no longer using retail therapy as a way to destress and returning to the viscious cycle that I take responsibility for now and even though I still feel rushed, I can now tell myself I have all the time in the world! and sometimes just saying it over and over helps me!  I have all the time in the world....I have...

What helps you cope through stressful times?

Thank you for emails that get me thinking and evaluating about how to go about my dehoarding and all the time it takes me and maybe I can find some solutions for better efficiency or maybe I'm just going to need to put in the time this time.

Thank you Etsy a thousand times for being the best outlet for my hoard that I've ever found so far!  I know it feels endless to me, but the light has been peeking through!

Thank you "outside" friends who still think of me and present opportunities that are not easily found or made possible in your industry to ordinary folk.

Thank you US, Germany, Canada, Netherlands, Slovenia, France, China, Ukraine, Romania, Turkey, Australia, China, Indonesia, Portugal and Bangladesh for joining me here in my HoarderRehab journey of The Destiny of Things!

Click on the shop names to visit my hoard listed daily: HoarderRehab,  The Destiny of Things and VintageToGoEtsy and now JunkDrawerLoveEtsy!  There are about 65 items listed on JunkDrawerLoveEtsy and will be listing 1-3 new things there daily and 1-2 items at the other shops!  Thanks for looking!

If you would like to read my "teacher ideas" about the date stamper or order a date stamper, click here.

Related Stories:

1.  A Sale, A Bargain, A Deal:  A hoarder's dream until it becomes a nightmare!:  My First Epiphany


2.  One Step Backward, Two Steps Forward:  My Second Epiphany

3.  My First Sign that I was A Hoarder!  My Ever Expanding list of Collections!:  Some Hoarder History


4.  Me and My Hoard:  Epiphany #8:  Be brave with me and take a look at my dehoarding in March.  Six months worth of progress to get to around to Level 5 or 6 and now I'm back to Levels 7-9.


5.  Hoarding as a Business?  Epiphany #4