[lawnchair]

Visiting my parents for the holidays. Good to see them, but frightening. My parents, particularly my father, have the hoarding gene. Lots of books and magazines are the first order of the problem. But it goes deeper. Thousands of 20 year old floppies for a defunct computer system, holding records of a job he has retired from and clubs he hasn't been in for a decade. Sears billing statements from the mid-80s. Programs from random events from 25 years ago. Possibly 10,000 road maps. And when he gets a notion to "do something", that something is filing a few auto repair receipts for a long-junked car, not throwing them away.

Going home serves me a purpose. Every time, I go home and pitch another chunk from my life. Some stuff I scan down to a JPEG or snap a digital pic of it. Most just goes.

I just dread the day my father goes. I'm the only child. Rollaway dumpsters, one after another, I can just imagine.

So, are you a hoarder? Family that is? It's an interesting phase we've gotten to in human development. Rich people, mostly, have very little. Certainly, it's 'classier' to have very little... not the collections and libraries that the rich used to have. The West's poor, though, cling to mountains of garbage. Or is it the other way around? Is it people who have these tendencies tend to not get ahead in the world? Since I'm looking through my parent's history, I see just how much they spent on crap in the first place. I'm not surprised we felt poor.

Come the peak, will we appreciate their hoards? My opinion is, if the libraries of the world don't have what's in the Smithsonian Magazine of April 1991, we have bigger problems than the lost information.

[Revi]

Almost all of the stuff your father hoards will burn. A rolled up bunch of bills from 1970 will be btus for the stove, anyway. I like to recycle a lot of papers. Every once in a while I'll get a bunch of papers and take them to the transfer station for recycling. Maybe you can get him into that.

I hoard useful stuff.

[Narz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Revi', ' ') I hoard useful stuff.

[mercurygirl]

My MIL and her SO have problems. Once three of us cleaned part of her house and it gave me a severe allergy attack. She hoards animals too, 2 dogs and 7-10 cats in a small house.

I feel for you.

[Mechler]

My parents hoard - it's so bad that my wife doesn't like to stay at their house. I think it's some kind of disease and it gets progressively worse. To us, most of their house seems non-functional because of the clutter. And it's impossible to clean thoroughly with clutter everywhere.

I can relate with the vision of dumpsters. Maybe even bulldozers. Very frustrating.

Surely, some of it will be useful post-peak, but there are many better ways to prepare...

[blukatzen]

I can relate. I have cleaned the houses of several Aunts, and Uncle, (siblings of my deceased mother), and had to sell the properties, since I was the executrix of the estates. It was combined 60 years worth of stuff, some very nice things, and a lot more junk.
When I had to do "elder care" we worked with the nurses, occupational therapists that had to come to the house to get them to throw out and part with things.

They had to relent due to healths' sake, or else I said that the doctor "may want" to have them go to a home..that got them moving quicker. (lol) One cannot just "do" things when they are Aunts/Uncles like one can with a parent/child relationship. They (all)had no children, so I wasn't stepping on anyone's toes.

Most of the stuff was not in their apartment (we had a 3 apt. complex, what we refer to here in Chicago as a "3-Flat". We also owned a "2-flat" next door, all from my grandparents era (1918).
They kept mementos from my grandparents, but mostly it was things in the attic of the 2 flat like 9 irons, blankets still fresh from the store, etc. Price tags still on the packages, from 30-40 years ago.

The banks used to give away these kinds of things when you opened a new account. I will have irons for the rest of my life! lol. (and they're made fairly well, from back in the 60's, not the cheap plastic stuff made nowadays.)

I myself am not a packrat, (well, maybe with garden tools, I'll admit it, but part of my job is going to a lot of buying shows where I get a lot of "samples" of things. I sometimes sell them, or give them to good customers that will appreciate it.

However, the husband is a packrat. He is getting a little bit better, and in fact, is cleaning out the basement as we speak. His dad died when he was young, and he had to go live at an orphanage. It was bunkstyle living where he was at; he only had a locker for his things. He never forgot having to leave his home, and losing all his childhood toys that meant a great deal to him, so I do understand his "collecting". It is to replace what he has lost. (which can really, never be filled.)

I sometimes see the glow in his eyes when he looks at something on ebay, and tells me he had this when he was a child. I don't mind one thing, however, he may get into a situation where he will then buy 4 to 6 of the "thing".
We live in a rather smallish bungalow (which I love), it is a cute little ivy and rose covered cottage.

However, with his sometime-obsessions, he is, a packrat that is limited by my temper and boxes of things that line the stairs going to his study.
It's winter now, so it's me and his boxes of chess books, fish tanks, (he's setting up 2 more tanks this week), His micro and miniature Star-trek/fleet pewter ships, I just asked him, he has at least 1000, he has been collecting for a long time. He just told me he has over 100 antique chess sets (some go back to Napoleanic era.)
We do collect antiquarian books on various subjects, going back to 1650's, many from the early 1800's onwards.
When it gets to me I just go to the garage or garden, now I go downstairs. Sigh..

Blu

[mercurygirl]

Oh dear, bluie. That sounds tough. I just scanned something about the relationship between materialism and self-esteem. I'm working on it.

Me and my DH have a little of the hoarding gene. My dad was a boy in the depression and calls himself a junk dealer. In reality, he had made a lot of money (his side job) over the years dealing antiques and collectibles, before the internet. He truly has some extensive knowledge and discernment. He taught me some, as well.
Funnily enough, my MIL used to have an antique shop and has collected stuff for years. She's been selling off her stuff slowly, but still fills the house with junk.

I, OTOH, appreciate old things and practical things, like tools. I recognize the value of practical things, mostly. Older is better, in a lot of ways. I appreciate art too.
However, I have a mad dislike of clutter and too much stuff. I regularly purge stuff and am ashamed we have so much to get rid of. This day has been particularly a bummer. We received a lot of packages and I said, "look, one household with one child, do the math". Ugh. I vow next year will be different.

[Loki]

My uncle is definitely a packrat, though not as bad as keeping receipts for junked cars. But I always marvel at their massive garage full of stuff. Just tons and tons and tons of stuff that neither he nor my aunt have used in years. Most of it is gear collected from his various hobbies. But lots of his stuff is actually pretty useful from a preparedness perspective (fishing stuff, gun stuff, tools, dirt bikes, etc.). Today he dusted off one of his rifle reloading presses to show me how it works. I'll probably borrow it once my stash runs out. He hasn't used it in years.

For my aunt and girl cousins, it's clothes. They are constantly talking about clothes. Always with the freaking clothes. Clothes, clothes, clothes. Did I mention they like clothes? I don't think they packrat them, though. I'm sure they get rid of clothes just to make room for new clothes. Probably a positive thing for Good Will shoppers, I guess.

Living in a small urban apartment helps keep my clutter down, though I do have entirely too many books. I'd actually like to get rid of a bunch of them, but the big used bookstore I bought most of them from won't take them back.

[Narz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('blukatzen', 'I')t's winter now, so it's me and his boxes of chess books, fish tanks, (he's setting up 2 more tanks this week), His micro and miniature Star-trek/fleet pewter ships, I just asked him, he has at least 1000, he has been collecting for a long time. He just told me he has over 100 antique chess sets (some go back to Napoleanic era.)
We do collect antiquarian books on various subjects, going back to 1650's, many from the early 1800's onwards.
When it gets to me I just go to the garage or garden, now I go downstairs. Sigh..

Blu

[blukatzen]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'I bet me & your husband'd get along well. I have about 50 chess books (I plan to enter a tournament in Las Vegas this June & want to study up but so far I haven't done much). I've always wanted to build a self-sustaining aquaculture (pond) and would have played around w/ fish, sea plants & tanks but couldn't really afford those things (plus moving so much I haven't been able to accumulate much heavy stuff).')

Hi Narz,
If you ever pass through Chicago, PM me and you can meet him and have a chess game or two! He's been a player since he was a young lad. He's also interested in the art of the chess, as in different designs of the boards, pieces in different cultures throughout the ages. I think he collects these, he may sell them in the future. He better move quick though, and he knows it.
He tells me that many of the chess books (good ones) really aren't being written much anymore. He gets a lot of them on the bane of mine and our postman's existence, ebay. (our poor postman is more like a pack mule for Mr. Blu's ebay expenditures).
Alot of the people selling those books there usually throw in 2 or maybe even 3 extra books! So, right now, he has a lot of duplicates. PM me if you may be after one particular book, TRUST me, I'd be happy to lighten the load! lol!
As for fishes, he loves cave fishes, and is setting up a tank downstairs for himself, and another upstairs (freshwater community tank) so I can learn about fishtanks, and a small one for a Siamese fighting fish, probably. Down the line, aquaculture!
My mini orchard will love the fish waste!

As for the other stuff, Narz, when you reach your midlife, you tend to accumulate stuff that has lasted through what you yourself have gathered, and what your children didn't want, (not our case however, we have none) and what the rest of your relatives left! And then, it's ebay, flea markets, and the alley, lol! Sheesh!

You'll get there, Narz,

Be well!

Blu

[WildRose]

I'm afraid my husband has this so-called hoarding gene. I have tried to understand it. When he was growing up, he lived in a small house with six other people and could not have much in the way of personal belongings because there was simply no room. I'm guessing that this led to him wanting to hold onto everything he got once he had the space. When we bought our first home, the garage became his "place" to collect stuff. We have the kind of garage you can't walk through. After we sold our first home and bought the one we're in now (which is not large, just an 1100 sq ft bungalow with a basement), his space for all his stuff encompasses the garage and two full rooms in the basement, plus a few other corners here and there. There's useful stuff, but a lot of it is not worth holding onto. It drives me crazy; it's hard for me to relax with clutter.

I recently went through a couple of areas in the house to do some relatively minor de-cluttering, and what a huge relief that was for me. We seriously need to move a load of stuff to the dump. I'm trying to address this with my husband by getting him to imagine how functional certain areas could be if the junk was gone and the remaining stuff well organized. I definitely would like our home to be more streamlined and have more open spaces.

[AWPrime]

This thread reminds me of my father, he even hoards newspapers from the 50s and 60s.

His hoarding seems to be based upon nostalgia and a strong emotional attachment to old objects. But then again he also hoards old food....

[topcat]

Sounds like you folks have been looking around our place.

I like to call it 'accumulating.' Used to call it 'collecting' but that word connotates some method to my madness.

I have gotten much better with regard to getting rid of old receipts/bills and such.

The food stuffs are called 'preparation/insurance.'

The pieces/parts etc are called 'seed junk.' (This term came from some else here, wish I could remember who to give proper credit.)

Admittedly, we could and will pare down some of the nonessential stuff.

[kadoomsoon]

Moving to a smaller place works well. This is more efficient all the way around. One of my friends just moved to a rental 1 room flat from a 10,000 square foot shop/business. even ejected the car and payments and insurance for it. must have trashed hundreds of old computers and the same amount monitors mostly non working, and shelves and boards and screws and wires and cables and it took a lot of money to dump all of it.all that. She is much happier. Her fun is catching a correct bus (it keeps her from shoppping too much) and walking more. food is simple, no time for anything else even with nothing! She is one of the few that understands we will be on foot for many weeks, and having a lot of things won't help anything.

I am getting up the nerve to go that far also. She seems to be doing well and is much much happier. Her son's biggest smile is saying he doesn't have to deal with windows anymore. I always laugh, I know what he means.

Homeless without debt is much better than without a job and 8000 dollars in credit card debt.

[Pablo2079]

My mother hoardes stuff.... My brother and I were trying to get her to part with some of her books. She was very emotional and referred to them as her "friends". She has a garage full of "stuff", a spare bedroom is also completely full and her hallway is lined with boxes. I would love to see her simplify by getting rid of a lot of it, but she is VERY attached to it.

[I_Like_Plants]

I'd say it's not as bad as some of you describe....

I've had the "minimalist gene" since childhood.

But my housemate, old friend, and frankly benefactor here is a bigtime packrat. I think it's disgusting, I like to run a tight ship bit....

I've realized if you're a packrat you only have to buy everything ONCE. Actually, twice, so you can find the first one! But, I have bought and sold and bought again and sold and bought yet again, everything from clarinets to oscilloscopes, and it just does not make sense. Out here it's not $1000 a month to live in a closet-sized place, so packratting is highly possible.

I'm trying to adopt packrat ways ..... I have a trumpet I'd like to sell and tools, all kinds of stuff, not much but a few hundred dollars' worth, but I'm resisting it, because when it comes down to it, I'll regret it, even the trumpet sometime. And I can make the money busking or something around here.

About all those road maps .... as on example of a crazy thing.... well, it's not. New road maps, the regular folding kind, are $5-$7 and going up. Those were probably freebies or close to it. Those are worth something, at least close to the price of a new one now. Lots of little bullshit stuff is very expensive new, now.

Old silverware, gas cans, etc you name it, if you can save it since USbucks are becoming worth very little. Just call your hoard good trading stock.

[Revi]

The secret is to hoard the right things, and know where they are. I only hoard a few things, but I think they will come in handy. My wife, on the other hand comes from old Maine Island stock, so she hoards everything and is really good at keeping it all organized. She has tool drawers and jars that are full of everything we might possibly need. Life on an island means that the nearest hardware store is a long way away. It makes sense to hoard a bunch of different sizes of copper pipe and elbows so that if you have to you can fix a frozen water line for example.

[I_Like_Plants]

I've told the housemate that if it were up to me, I'd be like Hank Hill, everything alphabetized ... I've threatened to "Dewey Decimal" the library lol!

But he's hopeless.... what can ya do...

I've seen people hoard utter shit, and most of the stuff hoarded around here isn't. I'm gradually getting away with some culling, and it even seems appreciated, like a bag of can lids (opened with can opener) or some really fuggin' ugly cactus plants that the guy didn't even like, just was never going to get rid of.

But all those issues of Farm Show magazine? Never ever throw those out! They're gold! That's the best reading I've seen in a magazine in a long time. And parts and fasteners and stuff .... well ... ya never know when ya might need something like that....

[Pretorian]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('kadoomsoon', '
')Homeless without debt is much better than without a job and 8000 dollars in credit card debt.

[Ferretlover]

I wonder how many of the elderly hoarders do it because they remember '29 (and the years after), or their parents hoarded-so, they do (did), too....