Any diagnosed germophobes or hoarders on this forum?

What an incredible achievement for you @NatureLover . What a performance.

I've culled some papers (difficult, so only 1/2 hr on it so far) and exercised and baked (haven't for a VERY long time so that's an achievement in itself).

When I've taken the meatloaf and apple custard impossible pie from the oven I'll walk before dark. I intend to declutter again this evening, to complete my 3 hours. It's been a productive 3 days.

And the forums threads that had dropped off the system like autumn leaves since last Thursday seem to have been restored.

Things are looking up.

I got the third hour done @NatureLover . i completely cleared the sofa and made a dent in the kitchen/dining alcove clutter.

But I ended up consolidating some sorted piles into 3 boxes, which feels like admitting defeat.

I'm very tired.

I trust all goes well with the inspection visit tomorrow. It seems a bit ironic that after all your cleaning you'll probably be decontaminating the place after the agent leaves. But hopefully you'll enjoy the result of your efforts for a while.

Thank you, my dear friend ❤️ And thank you for your support during the last week, and especially the last 3 days. It's really helped, having you clean / declutter alongaide me. @Dimity

And thank you for remembering about me decontaminating after the real estate agent's visit. Luckily this agent doesn't touch much (or hasn't yet, anyway).

I am so impressed with you baking an entire meal!! I couldn't do that if I tried!

And congratulations on your 3 hours including your dreaded papers. 👏

Are your 3 boxes of sorted things to keep?

My goal is to keep the long kitchen bench clear from now on (if possible).

Today is a work day at home which is entirely suitable for an inspection day. If I had been due to go out, I would've had to cancel it, as I prefer to be here when anyone comes in the house.

Are you going to be tidying today for your home help tomorrow? Good luck, and congratulations again on your achievements 🙂

Hi @Dimity , inspection over. Took 3 minutes and consisted of the real estate agent walking through solidly taking photos. She took a few photos of the fan above the shower which I had forgotten to clean and which had a cobweb hanging from it despite me dusting the ceilings! Whoops.

Now I can enjoy the clean house (as long as she doesn't get back to me about the inspection in any way). I'm never really able to enjoy it till the inspection's over and I don't hear back.

I'm glad for you that's done and dusted (ha) @NatureLover  .

I'll lift some things as usual so vinyl floors can be mopped. I still have a lot of stuff on the floor in carpeted rooms.

The 3 boxes I packed are each pulled together from sorted stuff. 2 of repurposed partly used notebooks where I've shredded pages. One of stuff related to home improvement and personal development projects. I still have stacks of other stuff to trawl through but they're largely sorted by category.

Back to work for you I guess. Have a good day.

Hi @Dimity , I slept in till nearly 8 this morning after being awake in the night for 2.5 hours.

That's a lot of notebooks you've had to work through.

Well done on sorting the rest of your stuff into categories 👏

No work today, but a coffee catch-up and a chemist trip.

I hope it goes well today with whoever they send for your home help 🤞

The substitute home help seemed quite nice @NatureLover .

Very tired today. Psychologist yesterday and I reached out (unsuccessfully) to a another possible social support provider.

A new day tomorrow. No idea at the moment what/where to declutter next.

I'm glad to hear your substitute home help was nice. Did they do a good cleaning job too?

No wonder you are tired after your psychologist session. 🫂

I'm sorry you had no luck with that possible social support provider. I'm impressed how you're persevering.

i went out to coffee yesterday but couldn't face the chemist and errands, so I'll have to do them today.

Then on Friday I have a coffee catch-up at 8.30 in the morning! Arranged by someone else, but it does fit in neatly before my work day.

I'm very itchy this morning all over, so no therapy lamp for me this morning.

I hope you were able to get a good sleep last night 🤞

@Dimity

Hi again @Dimity , some news. A friend has helped me set up a cleaning schedule. She herself is very in control of her house and her life. So I asked her some questions, such as how often she scrubs her shower, what her weekly household tasks are, etc.

I've written up a schedule that I made myself using some of her ideas. I've got 3 daily, 3 weekly and 3 monthly tasks. One of the daily ones is to try and keep the long kitchen bench clear. One of the weekly ones is to scrub one wall of the shower.

I hope these tasks will make it less panicky and stressful and physically exhausting when inspection time rolls around. I haven't been able to keep to any sort of cleaning schedule for 20 years, so we will have to see! The Hoarding Disorder and the OCD (germophobia) get in the way, plus my anxiety and depression of course.

I've decided Wednesdays will be for my weekly tasks and Saturdays will be for my monthly tasks. However if something comes up on one of those days, I can go out for coffee or whatever and do them the next day, or at least, that's the idea. What do you think?

That sounds a good systematic approach @NatureLover . It seems well organised, and it should fit well with your weekly work schedule.

I'm light years ahead of where I was when I quit working, when I simply wasn't coping. I agree anxiety, depression, hoarding (which my psychiatrist recognises although he hasn't labelled it a disorder), pain and fatigue don't help, and I've wondered about executive dysfunction.

My fortnightly home help ensures some tasks are done regularly (even if perhaps not always done well) and I straighten some things before they come. I aim at doing some housework each day but don't always succeed. I know there are things I haven't been doing - I discussed them with the substitute home help yesterday when she offered to do a couple. I could add them to my draft weekly schedule if/when I get around to revising it. At present my drafts are halfway down my box of projects. Getting on top of my sleep hygiene would be a top priority that should flow on to better days.

Having a better workflow for decluttering would help me too, so I don't create mess by unpacking that takes weeks to work through. I've just reset things by repacking some boxes but now I'm confronted again by an array of boxes and other piles of stuff. Having a support worker at times has helped me a lot - I paced myself better and had transport to move things. I remember when I first joined your thread you had a friend who visited to help you declutter. Maybe it was for company and moral support - those help too.

Do you have any plans to look at the stuff in the shed? My stuff that's offsite is a worry but I haven't had access to it. The support workers had been helping me with it.

It's time I reassessed what I'm doing and where I want to be with it. I'm definitely unhappy with the status quo.