Are you a hoarder?
I've decided I am a massive hoarder  Spent hours and hours today and am only half way through the massive pile of papers etc. It's like a time warp and exploring family history. Everything from old passports, laughing at them and the different hair styles and looks of family members over the years. Talk about a blast from the past.
I've kept so many ridiculous things over the years, even hair locks from my kids when they were babies (no they were not thrown out today) and having there first hair cut. Sheepie baby teeth & hair from when they were babies, geez I think I have a problem there 
Time has come to do something about these years and years of accumulated stuff. It's hard but I am being really really good deciding what stays and what gets chucked out. Sheesh 
So my questions are - Are you a fanatical hoarder of things ? Do you keep some things and chuck out worthless non used stuff ? What is the most unusual thing you have hoarded that is totally unusefull ? Does sentiment rule as to what you hoard? I think I have a major problem with all this and what has accumulated over the years. At least I made a start, onwards and upwards they keep telling me
Next is the cupboards, Oh boy Oh boy  Might of been better If we moved instead of renovating, hubby keeps saying to do something about all the cupboards bursting at the seams with loads of hoarded stuff.
At least I have finally made a start with things.  |
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| Anyone who knows me knows that I in fact come from a long long line of horders. In the old Alaska this was considered a good thing. You never knew when you would need something you could not get for awhile. When I was suffering from depression I kept things that baffled the mind, and not in any order. The last few years I have tried to go by the new rule. If it has not been used lately and you can get another any time, throw it away. If you have not used it and it would be hard to replace, and does not take much room and you might need it one day; store it. If you have not used it, there is no way you will ever need it, you can not remember why you have it; give it to a friend and have them figure what to do with it. (Watch out Laurel I am getting quite a pile to find a new home.)
As to unusual, it would be a hard chose between the broken cement mixer, audi spider with no engine, or the pig shaped wine bottle opener. Good news to my friends and family is that I too am getting rid of things and have more room. |
We also suffer from a bit of the classic, old time Alaskan hording habit.  This can be differentiated from the usual hoarding in other areas by the fact that it mostly consists of large items that live out in the yard covered in blue tarps .
The weirdest and least usefull currently: the bench seats from a trailer we no longer own (upolstered in oh-so-attractive 1970s burnt orange), A gas range we cant use because our kitchen isnt plumbed for gas, and a stack of misc tires from the last 6 or 7 vehicles weve owned and since gotton rid of. |
Oh....and dont even THINK of dropping that cement mixer off here, Liz!  |
| I'm a shameless hoarder! I come from a long line of Hoarders.
The good thing about being a hoarder is if you ever get into being a organized hoarder then you have "evidence" to back you up. You guys know I'm forever doing reno's which meant moving boxes from room to room that had accumulated over the years in closets and empty bedrooms. Well I went through them and found papers and papers of STUFF. I wouldn't have been able to prove to the Dragon Lady at Motor Vehicle if I hadn't found that 2 year old reciept. Being a hoarder is a good thing cause you know if you get rid of it.....Murphy's Law..you'll need the item the following week or a good friend will claim to have searched for years for the very item you just threw away. Means don't throw nothing away! I also keep pieces of all the lino, carpets and laminate flooring I've done as well as the paint cans so as to remember the colors in case I need touch ups. As again Murphy's law dictates if I get rid of it...I'll have a scratch in my lino, a hole in the carpet or a damaged laminate board and I'll be forever kicking myself for getting rid of the "extras" accumulating in my garage. Keeping them means it won't happen. Mama didn't raise any stupid children yah know! 
I'm also a emotional hoarder. Anyone else have their grade one Valentines Day cards or letters ..yes letters not emails from boyfriends from the teen years? I also kept certain clothing when my kids were small...the sailor suit my son wore when he was 2, for example. My mom has clothing I wore in my teens and every once in a while I will rumage through the attic and find some nifty "vintage" piece that I can wear and brag that I've had "this ole thing" since I was 17. LOL. I try to ignore that I once heard if you remember the first time something was in style and it comes back..you're too old to wear it the second time around. Pfff! I also have "Robert" , my first doll and "Tessie" the life sized one that I convinced my dad to purchase for Mothers Day one year. Okay enough rambling....next person's turn! Marianne |
liz rodes wrote: If it has not been used lately and you can get another any time, throw it away. Please don't tell this one to Joan. I kind of like it around here. |
Ron wrote: liz rodes wrote: If it has not been used lately and you can get another any time, throw it away. Please don't tell this one to Joan. I kind of like it around here. Ron are you past your "used by date"?
Marianne, I am glad I am not the only one, I have cards from ex-boyfriends way way before I got married. I think that is kind of sweet too, Valentine cards from grade one. Yes I have my very first teddy bear still, he is kind of Hairless now. Baby clothes from the kids, and my sons "Teddy Ruxpin" could not part with him
Ooooh I feel a terrible fews weeks happening here with the clean out. Still say should of moved to a house with more cupboards to stash more stuff.
Liz you can keep your cement mixer don't send it downunder either.
Laurel love the sound of your 70's bench seat, what the heck are you keeping them for? A Revivial of Living in the 70's? |
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This is a good one!!! Laurel - use the bench seat for guests when you have a big bonfire party. Trust me, they will fighting over getting the best seat in the house!! We have old furniture (yes, even a van seat!) out on our property, thanks to hubby. They supposedly are hidden in the weeds for them to use as seats when out hunting! Nothing weirder than going out for a nature walk, and finding the middle seat from the van you had in the mid-80's! There's a recliner out there too somewhere......
Todd comes from a long line of hoarders, and has family in AK too (hmmm, do we see a pattern here??) He would FILL the yard with old cars, etc if I let him!! Periodically I have him clear out - we are getting to that point!! I just seem to collect stuff - old papers, clothes, decorations, etc. The same stuff like you have, Lisa and Marianne!. |
| I am to some degree. I'm VERY sentimental and try to keep things, but when I do spring cleaning... I go by the rule that if it hasn't been used in 6 months, TOSS IT. My husband has no idea how much of his crap is gone. When he looks for it, I just tell him he lost it, and since he can never find things... that's all he thinks.
Same with papers/bills. I toss out every year or only keep 1 bill of each company depending on where it came from. |
I'm a hoarder also and what a collection I had after 40 years of living here Because of house renovations we had to pack up everything and move it and ourselves out for 3 months .. I threw out 40 years of utility bills, bank statements , things that I was going to fix , things that were cute, things I was sure I couldn't live without, things I thought I might someday use,cupboards, drawers you name it I cleared them all. it took a long time because I would come across little notes and such from my own kids and g/kids and of course had to reread and smile over each and everything. (I DID saved those notes etc). And now I try hard to pitch on a daily basis LOL, But will admit to about 6 plastic bins of useless things I just couldn't toss and they sit in a room in the basement waiting for me . Oh and clothes I always have done a yearly purge ... put them in a garbage bag leave them for a year and don't dare to open the bag the next year before tossing  |
| How much were you paying for a month of electricity 40 years ago? |
| don't remember the hydro but when we bought the place the mortgage , interest and taxes where 92.00 a month LOL. don't forget though wages were on the same scale |
| I'm not a hoarder at all. My new rule is "one in, one out." So if I buy a pair of shoes, one pair has to leave the house (I can hear Darcy's and Jill's jaws hitting the floor!). But Lisa, saving your teddy bear from childhood is NOT hoarding. Hoarding is saving stuff like receipts from years ago, or newspapers, or saving anything that will cause you to be called a crazy old person! |
Paula O. wrote: I'm not a hoarder at all. My new rule is "one in, one out." So if I buy a pair of shoes, one pair has to leave the house (I can hear Darcy's and Jill's jaws hitting the floor!).
I'm not a hoarder at all but you just CAN'T throw away shoes just because you have a new pair!!! Thats crazy talk!! |
| I'm like Paulo. I only get a new pair when I'm ready to replace the other one, but I'm not a shoe collector like many women! Pair of tennis shoes, and a pair of brown shoes to wear with khakis and a black pair. Flip flops and one nice pair of sandals for the summer! |
| I hoard nothing...not even shoes....if they are broken or beyond shoe polish out they go...a new pair will replace them...I just happen to have a lot...BUT I do wear them all
The only thing that I keep are the cards that Brian has given me since we started dating... I guess you could say that I am a collector of supplies though, I go to costco and buy bulk cleaning supplies...6 cans of pledge, 4 boxes of swiffer wetjet pads, umteen shower cleaners, sponges, mops, etc.....does that count???? |
| LOL ...... YES DARCY you too are a hoarder!
with a touch of OCD thrown in |
| Nope, not me. I'm a "thrower outer" I can't stand to even have a newspaper in the house til the next morning. It gets read and put in the trash. All mail get sorted and thrown away. Bills immediately get opened and the only thing that gets kept is the statement which gets paid and then immediately thrown out. I don't subscribe to magazine because I can't stand to have them hanging around. If something is broken or unusable it gets put on the trash immediately.
Doug, on the other hand, is a hoarder. Causes many "differences of opinion" in my house. |
| I am a terrible hoarder....could start a yarn store.......and as for unfinished projects...I hold the record......can't wait til I retire to finish them......well I have been retired for three years...and haven't finished one...also empty boxes...."never know when you might need one"...not sure when that time is......I cleaned a few months ago...had thirty ...yes thirty empty boxes of different sizes....so I threw them...but not long and I have a few more........we are planning to down size to a smaller house
don't know what I will do then...but these boxes may come in handy to move...."never know"...... |
Tasker's Mom wrote: Doug, on the other hand, is a hoarder. Causes many "differences of opinion" in my house. But lots of "making up"  |
Ron wrote: Tasker's Mom wrote: Doug, on the other hand, is a hoarder. Causes many "differences of opinion" in my house. But lots of "making up"  yes indeed!!! |
Paula O. wrote: Hoarding is saving stuff like receipts from years ago, or newspapers, or saving anything that will cause you to be called a crazy old person!
Hi from the Crazy old person.
That's what I started on, on Sunday, amazing how 20+ years of papers mount up. |
| This is perfect timing for this thread, as just this past weekend we moved and I had to find out ALL the stuff we had in our house (and that was only 2 1/2 year's worth--I can't imagine what it would be like over 20 years!)...I go through phases. My family didn't have a ton of extra money while I was growing up so I didn't get new clothes all that often, so I really held on to what I had...and that sort of stuck with me. That I MIGHT wear it again one day or I MIGHT need this one day...but I'm slowly getting over that. This move, I donated or threw out a TON of old shoes and clothes... |
| I'm terrible, I'm a very very bad hoarder!! I collect things I never use! I can go to carboot and buy something without knowing for what shall I use this item!! It's really terrible, I've got things at home (loads of clothes, mainly 20/30 years old and I cant get rid off them, I do try and give some to charity, and if I got rid of them then I wonder that I COULD have used them on this or that occacion and I cant forgive myself to give them away on the first place!! )
I do try now that if I buy something new something old has to go! It doesnt always work but I keep on trying it! How more I move house, how more things I carry with me! Is it just me??? I do collect beermats, most of them are more than 35/40 yrs old and I still havent used them! 
Aswell I've got my son's first clothes in a bag (sentimental) and he's now nearly 19 years old and I've got some work-outfits from previous jobs! Also some clothes when I was a teenager, I still miss some I did gave away though!! 70's just came back in style!!
My dream is to have a clutterfree house, especially papers, clothes etc.!! |
| I seem to have become a sheepdog hoarder
Seriously tho...... I used to have 3/4 of my basement full of STUFF when we moved 8 years ago. Slowly I got rid of stuff...so much stuff that when we moved again a year and 1/2 ago the only stuff I had left fit into a 4ftx4ft storage room. Now after being here almost 1 1/2 years....the storage room is bursting again...... the kids are off for the summer and we are going to declutter our closets and the storage room......a 1/2 hour per day until its done. I find the older I get the less I can stand the clutter around. |
Quote: I find the older I get the less I can stand the clutter around.
How old does one have to be??? I hope I can live that long. My mother is a hoarder, she says it's inherited from her mother. I'm fighting to end this "genetic" condition, but failing. |
| Not me! I let some extra stuff accumulate while my living arrangements were in transition the past few years and it has been driving me nuts. One of the greatest things about settling into my new home is finally organizing what I need and getting rid of what I don't. I have been donating and freecycling like crazy. Every piece that goes away to a new home makes me feel so great! My goal is to not have anything random piled up in any closets, cabinets, boxes or bins. I want my house to be a completely clutter-free zone. I am about 85% there and I see the finish line approaching. . . |
| And you've always wanted to visit Minnesota, right Val??
You can get me going too! The stuff is driving me crazy, I am a clutter hating person in a house where no one else minds. Maggie would just LOVE to roll in some more sheep poop. |
got sheep wrote: And you've always wanted to visit Minnesota, right Val??
You can get me going too! The stuff is driving me crazy, I am a clutter hating person in a house where no one else minds. Maggie would just LOVE to roll in some more sheep poop. Ummm . . . well. . . Maggie definitely would but I think I will take a pass. . . . My job seemed pretty daunting so to help me get started, I hired a space organizer person to work with me. She gave me some great pointers. Basically, she told me to just focus on one manageable quantity at a time (like a box or a shelf or a closet) and only for a limited amount of time (not more than 3 hours in a single day). Each item either belongs there, needs to be moved somewhere else or should be donated or thrown away. I had 3 boxes ready to sort things into (relocate, donate, trash/recycle). I had to decide where certain types of things would go and then just work on consolidating like things in the same place. If there wasn't a place for something, I probably did not need it. Once a box was full, I had to go distribute items to their rightful places or take them to the garage for trash / recycling / donation. At first, her process seemed really inefficient but it really makes you see results fast. After working with her for three 3 hour days, I became completely motivated to keep going and now I am just zooming through the rest. I'm almost done!! |
| That sounds like a great approach, Val!
When I do stuff like that, I like to rip it all apart. Everything gets worse before it gets better! Then it all gets put back nicely packed stuff to be tossed it tossed. Of course it has probably been 40 years since I've done it!
What really happens is I start, find something interesting and spend an hour reading/looking/playing with it. Then I shove everything back in and wait for inspiration to return. |
| OOPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I thought this topic said, "Are you a hooker?" (No, I'm not, by the way...oh...either of the two!) |
Ron wrote: That sounds like a great approach, Val!
When I do stuff like that, I like to rip it all apart. Everything gets worse before it gets better! Then it all gets put back nicely packed stuff to be tossed it tossed. Of course it has probably been 40 years since I've done it! What really happens is I start, find something interesting and spend an hour reading/looking/playing with it. Then I shove everything back in and wait for inspiration to return. I know that feeling exactly! And it can really derail an organizing effort. That's why it helped to have someone with me at first to keep me on track. She was really clear that I could not pick something up and just put it back down postponing the decision on what to do with it. There were these boxes with collections of small items that seemed impossible to sort but I had to do it, one extra set of keys, chapstick, roll of tape, pen, at a time. Now that I know where everything is, it should be years before I ever have to buy more pens, post-it notes, or little notebooks. |
Quote: My mother is a hoarder, she says it's inherited from her mother. I'm fighting to end this "genetic" condition, but failing.
Both my parents were hoarders. Here it is almost a year after their passing and we still have boxes and boxes in my sisters garage to go through. I don't think they ever threw anything away. Going through most of it was a job. Other times we would come across something that held very special memories and we were very happy to find it. I am afraid I have inherited the genetic condition too. But, I am trying to fight it. After everything with my parents, I don't wish that on my sons. I have been trying to weed things out. After all I have to make room for my parents hoards!!!! |
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