Interesting point. Since starting my diet two weeks ago I have begun actually cleaning again. Not to say that i was a dirty person... but wouldn't keep up with the household daily duties like a normal person. Clutter and pack-rattisim is my forte. But also since i started my anxiety has been through the roof. My mood swings are all over the place. I just wish I knew how to beat it.

Xyourbellmortex I noticed the same thing since I started my diet and jogging. I used to neglect my room during the week and catch up on the weekend and now I've noticed that its been clean all week and I keep putting things into their place when I notice that they're out. I've felt really relaxed and grounded.

That's interesting, the weight/cleaning thing. Hmmm, I'm imagining a time when I've got a clean house and a trim body ...

I'm going to do a post with the book as the title to let people who might not be following this thread know that a discussion group is forming. I figure maybe start in a couple of weeks, which will give people time to go out and buy the book if they want.

I'm going to do a post with the book as the title to let people who might not be following this thread know that a discussion group is forming. I figure maybe start in a couple of weeks, which will give people time to go out and buy the book if they want.

That's great -- include me in! I did a discussion search for "It's All Too Much" but didn't find anything. Please let us know when you create it.

Thanks!

I love the idea of a discussion on "It's All Too Much" (Peter Walsh). Count me most definitely in. Did anyone see TLC's "Help, I'm a Hoarder" last night? It was so sad; that poor woman got evicted because her landlord was so fed up with her "storage" and violations of fire code. There wasn't access to her back-up fire exit in her apartment.

In one way, I can't imagine that much stuff around me; I'd go nuts. But, on the other hand, I can understand how stuff just accumulates and expands unless you physically get it out of your life.

I've been de-cluttering very nicely for about three weeks, but I'm feeling stuck. I don't know why. The spaces I've de-cluttered are good, and I'm keeping them up - but I have some more to do. I have actually gotten a friend to come over one day this week and help me with my giant guest room closet. I can't face it by myself. We'll see how that goes.

I appreciate your interest and support. There's a strong control connection, and I have a "I might need it" thing going on. It's really funny, but I found some stuff in my little storage building. I don't even know what they are (parts to a lawn mower or blower? mine? or left from previous owner?) but I kept them in case they prove "important." Go figure.

Throw something out today. Have a good one.

I put up the announcement, and it's over in the news and current events section. I've ordered a copy of the book from Amazon.com. I imagine it'll take a week to 10 days to get.

Today, I got rid of some empty cardboard boxes "I might need someday." I put out the recycling bin tonight and just grabbed them and included them. I can't believe I felt a twinge doing it. Funny, it's kind of like my fat is something I might need someday. I used to joke that it was my Y2K stockpile.

A $200 electric, self-cleaning litter box!

Good for you! I usually find cardboard boxes irresistible - go figure. I put a very expensive self-cleaning electric kitty litter box out today. I friend said she wanted it, but would never actually take it home with her. So today I put the whole thing out right in front of my house. She's coming over tomorrow. Either she takes it with her or we're immediately taking it back to the pet shop. The shop owner GAVE it to me after a purchaser's cat was afraid of it. My kitten played with the rake and loved to try to open the poopie hatch. Not good. Maybe he can give it someone else whose cat will appreciate technology more.

Maybe we should play the "Today I got rid of..." game and see who gets rid of the most interesting, most useless things!

Peter Walsh is very inspiring. I loved him on Cleansweep. I do think that the more clutter you have the more depressed you get and then it becomes very difficult to do anything about it. I worked out a personal routine that involved never looking down at the floor or I would see cat and dog hair and have to vacuum. I became a mistress of personal deception that everything was fine but that talent evaporated when I had someone coming over and I would do a spit clean. Everything went right back to the mess after they were gone and then it was too hard to face. Once I came to accept that things were too bad to leave as is I made myself start but it is hard work. It's not like a tv show where someone shows up with a crew of ten to do the heavy work. Just deciding what to do with all the stuff is stressful and many a time I found myself on the couch munching on something instead.

I've been Cleansweeping for months now and am about 2/3 done and every time I get a clean area I feel lighter. I don't lose weight but I feel lighter. It's sort of a feng shui thing. I can attest that since I did my bedroom I feel less stressed at bedtime.

Man, I can definately make a connection between these things. When my house is a mess, so is my head.

I'm just back from vacation, had his book waiting in the mail from Amazon.com, and I'm ready to dig in.

Intead of saving the Amazon.com box, which I'm prone to do, I've got it sitting next to the recycleables. Not only did I not buy a souvineer to gather dust, I didn't buy dessert or really anything too horrible while I was on my trip. Woo-hoo! Getting rid of physical and spacial clutter.

I think there is a connection. My mom was depressed when she was married to my dad, she was obese and our house was messy.

I've known I've had a mental problem for years, figured I was just depressed. But then I'd have periods when I felt great too. My doctor gave me lexapro for the depression in 2002. I was taking that up until last fall when I finally saw a psychiatrist and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, GAD and social phobias. My house has always been cluttered and of course I am overweight. I should also add that I filed for a divorce from my husband of 26 years in January. He's had numerous affairs and this last one is the last one I am going to deal with.

Now that I have a better handle on my mind and my cheating husband is almost out of my life, I have noticed a change in the appearance of my house. I started noticing little changes after I started taking meds but the really big change started after I tossed him out. I actually felt proud of how my house looked and even invited friends over. Unfortunately I went to Louisiana with my brother for two weeks in July, when I got home I found my house in total disarray. My son (22) did absolutely no house cleaning or dishes while I was gone and he got a new puppy that terrorized the house all day while he was working. I was furious! I got home on Wednesday then Thursday we left for a weekend trip. I was home for a week and tried to get the house back in order. I didn't try too hard because I was leaving for another week to set up my scrapbooking and stamping business at a fair. I told my son he'd better not trash my house again while I was gone. Well, it was not as bad as when I got back from Louisiana but it still was pretty messy. All this happened in July. I still haven't gotten it completely cleaned up because I figure if he doesn't respect the work I do, then why bother. Today I decided that I would get it cleaned up again within a week. I felt so much better when it was clean.

I started doing WW in February not only to lose weight but as a way to keep my mind off the things happening in my life. Eating is one of the few things I have control over right now. I've only lost 10 lbs. but I am a very slow loser. I did WW in 2001 and it took me 10 months to lose 15 lbs. And that was going to the gym 3-4 times a week. I can't do much exercise anymore - fibro. degenerative joint disease and arthritis put a stop to that.

My husband, cat and I live in the Worlds Smallest Apartment. We try not to accumulate stuff, but you know how it is...

At this moment I have a counterspace covered in stuff... there's a painting I keep intending to give my mother-in-law, four mugs (two of them collector cups from Six Flags) The cupboard organizers a friend gave me, the penny jar, some sample gift cool cloths my hubby brought home from a trade show, a tupperwear bowl that belongs to one of our friends, though it's a mystery which one - they all deny ownership, and a stack of Advocare materials (I'm a recently joined distributor. On the floor are several books, text and otherwise... there's an assortment of items on the sofa... *sigh*

I know part of my problem is that we simply don't have enough "place" to put everything in its place. Some of it is stuff we could be happily rid of, I'm sure. Some of it is being depressed and spraining my knee this summer. But now my knee is better, school has started and time has become a major factor. It's also really dark in here because we have barriers up in all our west-facing windows, trying to get our $330 electric bill down to something more manageable. (We have the thermostat set at 84 and walk around nekkid a lot.)

I think that a major contributor to improving my mood lately has simply been going to my mom's house so much this week. She has a lovely, airy place with relatively little clutter. (It's generally confined to the kitchen table on her REALLY messy days.)

I'd love to participate in the book discussion, but I'm afraid that isn't possible with the schedule I've got. I'll definitely follow the thread though. I'm very interested in all you learn from it.

tofuhead: Thanks for posting the link to flylady I'm going to check it out later today.

Happy reading, all!
Tera

You know, Want2, that clutter is a problem that is passed from generation to generation. My Mother told me her Mother never taught her housekeeping and then I wasn't taught. I have no kids but my Sister does and her son is a clutter/messy person. If you son has been living in the clutter he probably has no idea, or even thinks or, how to keep a place clean. That's what I'm like.


I'll put my hand up if anyone asks me whether I'd rather eat than clean. I developed a skill(?) of not looking down or up so I can't see the cat and dog hair on the floor or the cobwebs and spider webs on the ceiling. I have blinders to the pile of laundry to be done. The place is a mess. I have improved a lot in the last year but still have a way to go.

I admire people who can keep their house spotless.

Twilit, the mental picture of two people nekkid annd sweating is a bit too much for my imagination. I have a portable air conditioner but I never use it. I'm a devotee of fans because you can move them from room to room and point them right at you.

Have you changed your lightbulbs to the energy efficient twisty bulbs?

I was just thinking that I hadn't weighed myself in over a year and when I did to see where I was I had unexpectedly lost 20lb. I wonder if that is because I have gotten rid of 2/3 of the clutter in my apartment in the last year.

LOL, Spinky!

Yeah, we've go the most energy efficient lighting we can find... the problem is really the greenhouse effect from our windows. They're all on the west side, facing the parking lot and there are no trees to shade us.

Thanks for asking and Yippy! on the unexpected weightloss!

Working on the kitchen today. I got a new stove in my apartment last week. The one I had was original to the apartment and the building went up in 1966. I decided one of my weight issues was I'm always buying lunch. I didn't cook much because the stove set off the fire alarm.

My next phase is to clean out the kitchen of anything old. I went thru my vitamin drawer and got rid of almost everything in there as so many were past the best-buy date. My Mother died 3 years ago and I had been hoarding her old vitamins and asprins, etc. I even had cans that I had brought from the house and they were past the bb date. I also discovered I have about six sets of measuring spoons and measuring cups and scoops. For a person who didn't cook I could stock a restaurant kitchen.

Get rid of old medicines, vitamins, aspirin-like things asap if past your best-buy date.