downsolong, we have several freecycle groups in the area. I should look into it again.

jmo, my cluttering isn't OCD related. Please don't paint all clutterers with the same brush. For instance, people who survived the Depression are often clutterers. It had nothing to do with OCD. It was a frugality thing. You couldn't AFFORD to throw things away.

1. Cleaning is last on my priority list.
2. Money is tight and if I had to pay $20 to replace something, I'd be up a creek without a paddle.

I don't save useless things like envelopes and scraps of paper that I didn't pay for. I hang on to things that I had to work hard to earn the extra money to pay for. It's a security thing and a cleaning thing. Some of us are obsessive-compulsive about NOT cleaning? If I was going to take a guess and give it a medical reason, I'd say ADD for me. No, maybe depression because the mess is overwhelming and I don't know where to start, so I just don't move. By the time I'm done working and taking care of everyone else, I'm too burned out to want to clean. Maybe it's chronic fatigue syndrome. Do we have to put a diagnosis to everything? A pill from the doctor isn't going to cure me of my cluttering and dislike of cleaning (I'd be freaked out if there was - sounds Stepford-wifish), but there is some emotional reasoning behind hanging on to things for me, so I thought this was the place to ask about it.

I have a NordicTrack that we paid $600 for, 14 years ago. It doesn't get used, it takes up space, and I feel guilty for not exercising. Once every few months or so I'll get on it for 5-10 minutes, thereby justifying keeping an expensive piece of equipment. I have two knitting machines and a ribber. One is 20 years old. I've never made anything with either of them. The instruction manual has been lost for the expensive one, and the other one I've never been able to get to work proprely. I've tried to locate an online manual with no luck, so I won't sell it or give it away since I have no instructions. I need to get over the thinking that everything I get rid of today will need to be replaced tomorrow at a greater cost that what I paid for it originally, especially if it's something I haven't used in years. Then I need to organize the things that don't get pitched. I also need to assert myself and get the kids to pitch in and not think they're going to hate me for asking them to help clean.

It's frustrating.

I checked out flylady. The first testimonial sounds EXACTLY like me. Having a whole day to clean but ending up watching TV or going out shopping to bring in more clutter. I just joined the site.