How much of a hoarder are you?

[Cakeandcardio]

Obviously hoarding is a real mental health issue but I was wondering how much the average person 'hoards'?

We recently viewed a house and they really seemed to have no stuff. It inspired us to really start clearing out our own house. Once we got started, I was quite shocked at how we had almost become accidental hoarders. There seemed to be useless stuff everywhere and I had almost become blind to it.

Are we the only people like this? Is everyone else constantly clearing out? How do you do it?

I'm a hoarder because I keep stuff that other people would have got rid of years ago - an old video player, letters from a penpal I had as a teenager, my granny's dinner set. I am really trying to clear out but I find it hard to get rid of some stuff. I always think I might want to look at it again or it might come in handy.

My house is tidy-ish but obviously all this stuff is taking up a lot of the storage space!

I move every few years and bin everything pretty much.
I want to be as light as possible, I know that probably doesn't make much sense but I just feel "stuff" weighs me down.
I have what I need and a few niceties, no more than that tho.

I'm not a hoarder but have a tendency to buy things in bulk. I have been decluttering and have 5 bottles of fabric conditioner, 6 bottles of rinse aid, at least 10 lip salves and a ridiculous amount of travel plugs.

I’m approx 0% hoarder. Hate having extra stuff, hate clutter and mess, and am not remotely sentimental about things.

Have to contend with my husband who comes from a tribe of hoarders but I’m gradually working it out of him/silently dispose of anything that is no longer functional. 😂

I dream of throwing away all the kids toys but I know that would be cruel. Have a very strict rotation system in place though to stop my head from melting.

I don’t like ‘clutter’ so do ruthlessly declutter regularly.

I have a lot of clothes, but they all fit neatly into their allocated storage. Same with movies and CDs.

Everything is stored nicely - there’s no screams of horror when I open a cupboard.

If it’s kept tidy and not interfering with cleaning and lifestyle then I don’t see a problem with people collecting things.

Not at all.
Just moved house and downsized...4 rooms less. I think of how my dd would feel when I die, having to clear loads of crap.
Everything has a place, if clothes don't get worn they go, I pass on all my books ( I read about 10 a month).

I am I’m ashamed to say.

I read a theory somewhere (maybe on here) that as you age you should reduce your belongings so that it would take your family no more than a weekend to clear your home.

My family are going to have to work very hard even though I am a hoarder.

I downsized to a really small home so i couldn't keep much clutter and so far i haven't done too badly, my husband on the other hand as increased his rubbish.

I live alone in a 3 bed house, and every room apart from the hallway and bathroom is full of clutter. It is mostly craft stuff, and is in DOOM piles/boxes (Didn't Organise, Only Moved). Also loads of clothing that no longer fits me, and lots of stuff to do with a film franchise I am a fan of.
I am drowning in it, and the place very hard to clean. I wont let anyone help me with it though, as I need to know what I still have and where it is.
According to my old MH team, I am not a hoarder as it was stuff I wanted/collected.

I’m sentimental to certain things but I’ve learnt to display them or get rid. I have a sort out every summer holiday( I work term time) and feel I do t keep useless stuff now. My DM died 10 years ago and sorting through her stuff gave me a clearer perspective for our own chn

We keep everything,I've payslips from 2005🤯

It depends what you mean by hoarding
I like having stuff around me and I don't like houses that look like sterile hotel rooms.
I have things that others may think are useless but to me they what makes a home.
To me it's only hoarding if it negatively impacts someone's life eg they can't clean, get into the rooms for rubbish etc

Have real hoarding problems. Husband is tidy so I make an effort.
I like to keep everything! So many memories.

I probably keep more than I should, sentimental things I keep which does take up space but does all have it’s space.

Right now though I’ve definitely got a lot of stuff that needs a home and is lying around in piles in the back room, but that’s more a consequence of the life stage we’re at currently. We had a baby last year and so I’ve got boxes of maternity clothes for all the various sizes I was during pregnancy, I’ve got boxes and piles of all the different age baby clothes that she’s outgrow, got the moses basket/newborn seat/pram bassinet/baby toys etc which is all taking up LOADS of space but it’s the awkward one in that we know we want another baby, so it feels pointless to get rid of it all and then have to buy it all again, however trying to find space for it all to live indefinitely while also finding space for all of her new things makes everything feel a bit cluttered!

I'm pretty good at getting rid of stuff...eventually. It's just finding the responsible way to do it which is the problem. My husband is really good at never acquiring new things. I need to work on that part a bit!

I went ydy to help my lovely hoarder friend make a bit of a dent on her place as she gets it ready to sell (she reminded me I helped her move in 20 yrs ago). She was far better than I expected about getting rid of stuff, pretty ruthless really, hope she didn’t feel too hollowed out afterwards.

when I came home my teen DD showed me an extreme cleaning vid on the internet and compared to that I just felt my friend and I had plumped a couple of cushions.

I am like this - every storage space is full!

Not a hoarder at all. Can’t stand clutter.
If I buy anything new then something old goes. Books go to Oxfam as soon as I’ve read them , I’ve kept a handful only.
I have a cull of clothes and shoes at the end of each season before they’re packed away.

Can I ask would it make a difference if you took a photo of something that is sentimental / holds memories and kept that or does it have to be the item that is kept?

I'm a sentimental twit to be honest. I have my childrens birthday cards, not all of them of course, but the special ones from us and grandparents etc for every year of their lives. My eldest is 17.
I keep those kinds of things. They are hidden away in boxes amongst all the other guff things i keep. And I'm not ashamed of it.
And I also keep books, hundreds. Avid reader, love physical books, can't bring myself to get rid of them.
But otherwise I don't have a lot of things everywhere. Knick knacks and whatnot. Clutter. Nope. Those kinds of things make my brain feel loud.

I don’t own much, declutter constantly and sfuff just keeps appearing:) it’s like magic!

I'm afraid I'm terrible.

I hang onto everything 'just in case'.

If I have things that can go I feel the need to sell if I felt I wasted money on it. It never gets sold because I don't have the time or energy.

If I'm donating it I need to make sure it goes to someone who wants it, I found out the two charity shops in my village send nearly everything to rags without even opening the bags, AFTER I'd sent them a lot of high end clothes still with tags. Again I don't have the time or energy so it stays.

Even stuff that isn't suitable for reuse needs to be recycled 'properly' which usually means storing it until I can get to the big recycling centre.

I'm a very tidy horder, you'd never know from the house (the garage is another issue). I realise it's a problem but because it doesn't impact us in the way that piles of clutter would there's little motivation to deal with it.

I don't understand how people manage to have completely tidy front rooms. Mine always has bits and bobs - paperwork, bathroom catalogues, diary, glasses, usually some stack of paper and notebooks. I have living room drawers full of more bits and bobs I don't know how people manage without.

I'm a failed non-hoarder. I'm pretty good at getting rid of stuff once I get round to it, but abominably awful at starting. I had a really successful stab a few years ago when I did 30 things on day 1, 29 on day 2 etc down to 1 thing on day 30 and got rid of over 1000 things. But not much since, and it needs doing again.

I'm a massive hoarder but you may not no as it's mostly packed away

I tend to over buy stuff as well so that accounts for a lot