Recovering hoarders?

[Teacher Terry]

I tried unsuccessfully to find a place to recycle the Styrofoam too. It feels bad to throw it away but in the end we did. For me selling or donating also depends on my mood. Sometimes I sell and sometimes I just put it in the front yard with a free sign on it. I usually give it away if I want it gone fast. When we remodeled our home we gave away all the fixtures in the bathrooms, 3 rooms of pergo, doors, etc. It went within hours. The previous owners put pergo over hardwood floors so we removed it carefully so someone else could use it. The floors were in beautiful shape and we just had to sand and seal. No clue why they put pergo over them.

[Geila]

This is one reason I dislike Amazon and online shopping in general. So much packaging! The other is the fact that if I shop locally I support local businesses who provide local jobs. The trade-off is that I usually end up paying slightly more than if I bought on Amazon. But we need local jobs, so I do my part. As a teen, part-time jobs were easy to come by and I want to support businesses who provide them now. This is also why I like supporting Costco. I don't mind paying a membership fee if I think of it in terms of providing good benefits and working conditions for the employees who work there and live in my community. Costco closes their stores and gas stations on most holidays so their employees can have the day off. That's pretty cool.

Sorry for the tangent!

[iris lilies]

?.. The previous owners put pergo over hardwood floors so we removed it carefully so someone else could use it. The floors were in beautiful shape and we just had to sand and seal. No clue why they put pergo over them.

Because people are basically stupid?

In my neighborhood it was common to cover the pine floors with linoleum about 1930-- and carpet after that, about 1960--

So that meant that these soft pine floors really only were used bare for about 50 years. All of the junk on top of them helped to preserve them. Then in the 1980's, 100 years after the floors went in, people pulled up the junk and had nice wood floors although many people have covered the old pine with hard oak.

Our houses had custom shutters and many homeowners here tell about prying the old shutters out of their custom made cubbies inside the wall where they had been folded up , hiding for 60-80 years. In the 1920's pull down blinds were popular, so people put away their shutters. same with pocket doors, many houses had the pocket doors pushed into the wall cavity and painted over, so decades later restorationists found them.

[Teacher Terry]

I have restored 4 old houses through the years. I love all the original stuff. Our floors are oak. The hallway had a big hole where the old grates must have went. Now the house is heated by electricity. So DH stole wood from the bedroom closets to patch it and even though we know where the hole was you can't tell he did such a good job. This house had new cupboards when we bought it so no clue what was here although if they were metal we would have replaced them. When our friends saw this house they all thought it was a dump and horrible (which it was). We did not move in it for 4 months. I hired DH a full time helper and they restored the whole house. People who saw the before were shocked at the after. They thought we had made a big mistake. This house had an addition in the back end which is a dining room and master bedroom. That was built in 1970 so no hardwood so we did pergo that. However the DR was huge-more like a dining hall so used that extra room to make a master bath. The houses in our neighborhood have been selling like hotcakes and it is so nice to see people fixing them up. I think people are tired of being in the burbs and like being in town.

[19Sandy]

What is ymmv?

[Chicken lady]

Your mileage may vary - I understand that our experiences of things can be completely different and equally valid.

teacher terry and I for example, have many ironic parallels in our lives - when we bought this house it was pretty much a tear down. Since we couldn't afford to tear it down, we lived in the barn from February until August while making it habitable. - but we often don't respond to our experiences the same way.

[19Sandy]

That is true - two people see a crime scene in a different way or two siblings react differently to trauma.

For instance, Marie Kondo says to go through clothes first - but for me it will be last!

Actually, I bought a few new clothing items because my fall stuff that fits was tattered - okay for lounging at home but not for dressier reasons. That will make it easier to purge stuff.

And I still have plenty of time to find a consignment shop.

I heard that a new one might be opening in Oct., so I will wait to find out.

I have tossed hundreds of videos, books and other stuff but clothes are harder for me to part with.

I am about 8 pounds from fitting in some of those things too.

[Teacher Terry]

CL: you and I are very different. I think we both had our 3 kids young. similar professions, huge love for animals, etc. I never was a hoarder but I did have lots of nick-naks and collections. We got our house very cheap -60K because it needed so much work but it was not a tear down. We have now put 70 into it and it is worth 270k. Since my DH is both a civil engineer and very handy we knew what we were getting into. Actually this house had 6 offers on it. The bank wanted it gone so gave everyone 24 hours to make their best cash offer with no conditions, inspections, etc. They lowered the price to 52k after a year of trying to sell it. WE bid 60 because I was sure that others would not go over the psychological barrier of the 50's and was right. The older I get the less I want to have a bunch of crap to clean and the more I am liking having less. I will never be a minimalist because I find that sterile and not homey. I also desire more free time so try to eliminate having too many chores. It was one of the reasons we down sized to a smaller house. I love to vacation and I love to have people over. But I have also down sized the size of my parties. I used to host 30 people for a sit down dinner. Now it is never more then 8. I don't know if everyone changes as they get older but at 62 I am looking for less of everything in my life except vacations)

[catherine]

Because people are basically stupid?

In my neighborhood it was common to cover the pine floors with linoleum about 1930-- and carpet after that, about 1960--

So that meant that these soft pine floors really only were used bare for about 50 years. All of the junk on top of them helped to preserve them. Then in the 1980's, 100 years after the floors went in, people pulled up the junk and had nice wood floors although many people have covered the old pine with hard oak.

Our houses had custom shutters and many homeowners here tell about prying the old shutters out of their custom made cubbies inside the wall where they had been folded up , hiding for 60-80 years. In the 1920's pull down blinds were popular, so people put away their shutters. same with pocket doors, many houses had the pocket doors pushed into the wall cavity and painted over, so decades later restorationists found them.

my MIL bought her house in the early 50s. It had a built-in china cabinet that she walled over. (??) She had french doors and a Dutch door that she had removed (??). Judging by the front porch (which she had enclosed) and the moulding throughout (which she whitewashed) t looks like it could have originally been Craftsman but you could never tell now.

I think it's normal for the next generation to want to put their stamp on their homes. Then another generation goes by and "everything old is new again." I thought for sure that when I got rid of our 70s kitchen a couple of years ago it was going to all of a sudden be showing up in Architectural Digest as the latest trend. Thank God it hasn't.

As for the flooring--we took up our avocado shag carpeting in the living room and up the stairs and in the bedrooms and there was oak hardwood underneath. Can you imagine? In the 70s, hardwood was standard, and then people would opt to put wall-to-wall carpeting OVER it. I admit that we recently used a Pergo floating floor to cover up our 70s vinyl tiles in the foyer and family room and it's a huge improvement. Some people will say tacky, but I say better than those old worn tiles. I do like the fact that the floating floors are so easy to remove, so the next people that own the house will no doubt do what you did, Teacher Terry.

[Chicken lady]

OH, I agree that we are very different, that was also the point, and yet, one could very easily write a short life summary that could apply to either of us.

and we also knew what we were getting into, and also had the skills to do the work - although my handy engineer is mechanical, not civil.