The Joyful Housewife

We are back from helping my mom, resuming our normal workaday lives. I have lots to say about the hoard-busting process - much of it not yet processed in my own brain yet though.

As I’ve said before, my mom has a bit of a hoarding problem. She has several storage units and garages filled with piles of intermixed stuff that we are trying to get rid of so that she can live a functional life. We set up a triage to sort through as much as we could in one week and managed to get rid of 80-90% of what we went through. The problem is that for various reasons, (e.g., her having to move quickly without help over a decade ago, chronic disorganization, etc….) the stuff is all mixed up. There are books, clothing, magazines, knick-knacks, baby clothes, childhood toys, dishes, and anything else you can imagine, all mixed together in each box.

Our goal was to toss, send to Goodwill, or auction most of the stuff, while getting out any childhood treasures or pictures that each of us daughters (or mom) wanted to keep - saying goodbye to the rest.

The above picture is of my Holly Hobby doll that mom gave me when I was five and home from kindergarten with the chicken pox. I have strong memories of it because it was almost as tall as me and I loved it! It was something that I was hoping to find. After doing so, I walked around our sorting area, hugging it for about five minutes, got pics of me holding it, then took pics of it in the Goodwill pile and said goodbye.

So, goodbye, Holly Hobby! You are fondly remembered, but we don’t need to keep you anymore.

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