Tough Love

Yeah, so after finally admitting I had a hoarding problem, I began my journey. I decided to attempt a cleanse of some of the most densly populated areas in my home and see if I had it in me to de-clutter. I called in reenforcements.

My friend Julie is super duper organized and throws out stuff without a second glance. I almost went dumpster diving after she moved because I knew there was a ton of great stuff out there. But I didn’t. She would have KILLED me.

She came over and we tackled a corner in my dining room. There were about five broken Christmas ornaments laying there. Some had been there for three years (when we moved in). Several were sentimental so I felt an immediate panic as Julie tried to get me to throw them away. I begged her to let me keep it. “I will fix it!” I claimed. She said “Then fix it now, or out it goes.” It was the tough love that I needed and I ran to find the super glue. I couldn’t find it anywhere. “I know P bought it recently. He knew I had a ton of stuff laying around waiting to be fixed." Then we found the glue, sitting there in the dining room next to the very pile we had been going through. Guess that was his way of a not so subtle hint to get things moving.

We fixed several of the ornaments and I let a couple go. We threw out more things and put other things away. Soon I had a clean corner in the room and we had a bag of garbage sitting in front of us. “Here,” I said. “I’ll take this to the trash.”
“Nope.” Julie answered as she tightened her grip on the first bag of my hoarding stash. “this one comes with me. I’ll throw it out at my place so you can’t dive back in after it.”

She knows me so well.

Julie moved south soon after that. :( Too far to come back for a visit or an intervention.

But maybe her little loving 'push' in the right direction and long distance support will be enough.