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?

H&M will take anything, they don't check!

I'm a maximalist and you can't be maximalist without stuff! I have zero issue with getting rid of old/broken items or clothes I won't wear anymore. But I do have a lot on display. It makes me happy. I would hate to live in a home designed to feel like a hotel. Hotels are depressing! No matter how luxurious, they are not a "home" and I am somewhat surprised so many aspire to that look.

But I reckon people seeing my house might think I'm a hoarder as I have a fair bit more than the average person. It doesn't mean I am one though!

Id like to see Sort Your Life out but with an average family homes contents all laid out!
In fact I'd love to do it. We actually did it with just our bookshelf and it took up a 10 x 6m room.

Completely agree. Collecting (or hoarding) isn’t an issue if people have storage space for it to be neatly tucked away somewhere. It becomes an issue if the collecting/hoarding of stuff starts to encroach upon daily life (e.g. not being able to sit on sofa because it’s covered in stuff, or not being able to use the oven as there’s a mountain of stuff in front of it, and so on). I think that’s where it really becomes a mental illness, as people value the hoard more than they value their (or their family’s) quality of life.

I’m the same.
The thought of chucking a load of pens just because we have too many feels so wasteful. I’m focusing on using up and limiting what comes in instead. Same with toiletries and cleaning products. Sometimes I keep the nicer ones as a reward for finishing the less good ones.

I do pass on what I can eg sent a box to pens4kids last year and put some unopened toiletries I’d been given that I knew I wouldn’t use into the refuge collection box.

Old holey clothes, I cut some up to use for cleaning but actually they weren’t that effective and I then had too many cloths so now those do go into the rag bin at the tip.

I’ve decluttered my own stuff quite successfully (although I do need to do my clothes again) and streamlined the kids wardrobes but we still have a huge amount of stuff in the house. Lots of toys, board games etc. But it all fits and has a place and is used so not too bad. But then our basement is rammed full. Roof box, spare wheels, camping stuff, beach stuff, wetsuits, sports gear, suitcases, Christmas decorations, tools, building materials, clothes for the kids to grow into, old speakers, old dvd’s and cd’s, dp’s old trophies and other memorabilia. I hate going in there because it’s so overwhelming but I got rid of most of my stuff last year and any excess camping or beach stuff etc so there’s not a huge amount I can do, I can’t clear out someone else’s stuff!

I am not a hoarder, and if you visited my house, you might think we are a bit untidy, but nothing extreme - however, there is SO MUCH STUFF just stuffed in drawers and cupboards. Attached photo is the inside of one of 11 drawers in the chest next to me in the living room. Everywhere in the house is similar. We also have a large garage that is FULL OF STUFF. Just thinking about it makes me feel anxious and overwhelmed 😕 Every now and then I tackle part of it, but it's a losing battle. I'm an untidy person and DH and DS are even worse than me. OP - I think you've triggered me with this post!

I also do Project 333 for my clothes (wear 33 items only for 3 months) - it sounds quite extreme, but even when I started it didn't feel like a huge change as I tend to wear a relatively small number of things until they wear out.

My dm is a horder, each room is full of crap. For that reason I regularly get rid of stuff to the tip or bulky waste collection or charity shop.

I definitely fall into a lot of the common traps - I might need that some time, it's a waste to throw it out, it's a shame to get rid of it, so and so gave it to me etc.

I did get a lot better after reading Marie Kondo, and the podcast A Slob Comes Clean. Both of them helped me in different ways to re-evaluate the value of things that I keep. I did find that you do basically need to constantly be decluttering though. It's not enough to have a clear out every few years. It should be an ongoing process.

I'm not a hoarder at all. I regularly declutter, it's ongoing, forever. I have nothing in my garage or loft. I do have houseplants, pictures on the walls, framed photos on the side, my house isn't completely empty!

I can't relax if there's stuff everywhere!

I'm not a hoarder at all. I'm a busy working mum though so things do collect as they are mindlessly chucked into drawers/cupboards.

Every couple of months, I tackle one of them and get rid of everything except necessary items

I love an organised half empty cupboard!

I could never live with loads of "stuff" everywhere, I think it would give me anxiety

The people who's house you viewed probably have a while storage capsule of Shame closeby

Clothes- unless you're expecting a weight change try on everything this weekend and then put in donate, fabric recycle, sell (if realistically you'll get organized to do it!) and keep bags

Are they all filed and organized

I'm slowly decluttering. I'm not too bad but hang on to stuff past its functionality.

I've thought of selling stuff but it sounds a ball ache, anything good goes to charity and at the moment I'm trying to bin a bag of crap a week. All stuff is contained in the spare room so not in every room.

Zero percent a hoarder. Maybe I'm too much the other way in that nothing I own is of any material importance to me.
If there was a fire there's only 1 thing I'd get (obvs rescue humans and pets) which is hard drive where photos and important stuff is kept. However even that's now almost all on an cloud storage. Honestly nothing means that much so I'm pretty good at getting rid of stuff. I'm not minimalist as I do like things but there's no attachment.

Hahaha no , they're in various carrier bags along with a host of other stuff.

I’m not a hoarder, but I’m not minimalist either. I love personal touches (gallery walls, vase that belonged to my grandma etc) but can’t stand clutter. So everything has a place and nothing feels overly “full”. If I get something new and can’t find a place for it, I get rid of something. At the end of each season I go through my clothes and get rid of anything I haven’t really worn or don’t think I’ll wear again. Before xmas and birthdays I do the same with my DCs toys/books. I keep a few things just because, but they’re confined to one box in the loft and if it gets too full, I go through it. If there are things I’m not sure about getting rid of, they go in a box in the loft. In 6-12 months time, I haven’t needed it, it goes. The peace and calm I feel from not having too much stuff far outweighs any anguish about getting rid of something I might need in the future. Occasionally I think “oh damn, I used to have that”, but it isn’t a feeling that lingers. Looking back I can’t think of anything I regret getting rid of.

I don’t understand the anxiety about not contributing to landfill. Like a pp said, an item has potential to be landfill as soon as it’s bought. So the key is only buying things you really need. Or buying second hand. I rarely buy anything brand new, so then I feel less bad about getting rid of it. For people hanging on to things because they feel about putting it in the bin - either you bin it now, or it goes in a skip when your house is cleared later. Either way, it’s probably going to landfill.

I’m not a hoarder and love nothing more than getting rid of things. I’m a big believer in Swedish death cleaning.

I have, still am but getting to the end, of knowing what we have and where it is when we need it. Otherwise what's the point?

I have little sentiment, H is much worse, but we have to work with the house we have and the people we have in iit.

i get rid of books I will never read again, as there's always new stuff to read, clothes, additional tools, paperwork, rags, old electronics, toys outgrown, coats no one wears, kitchenware. It takes time to keep stuff, to store, mend, clean around and that's my motivation to have as much time to live not look for things or move things around.

I needed some turquoise and burgundy cotton for a bit of hand sewing yesterday, found them in 2 minutes, sewing took 20 minutes. In the past it might have taken 20 minutes just to find the sewing box so would have kept putting it off. I fixed two drawers in our chest of drawers this week in an hour because I know where stuff is. Put up an extra hook on back of shower room door in the time it took for the kettle to boil. Things get done if it takes minimum time to find stuff.

So we have stuff in our house because we like reading, board games, some toys, art, technology, exercise equipment, making different food. It's not minimalist. But it's not hoarding.

I've managed to rid myself of emotional 'keeping' over the years, to a large extent. Many things have contributed to this over time. On the whole I feel 'lighter' when I get rid of things. I realised that it ends up being my responsibility to manage all of the stuff. I've taught my kids to go through what they have too. Less is better.
It doesn't mean we don't have things and we keep the useful and beautiful....and lots of books. We are fortunate to have a lot of space. I am convinced that if we need to move at any point I'll be able to get rid of more than half our things. That wouldn't have been possible to say without lots of 'internal' work

Not much at all. I'm not naturally a tidy person, but I also am not very attached to things and quite happily get rid of stuff, so although I leave things around, the house doesn't feel cluttered or full of stuff.

I declutter a lot. Clutter takes up a lot of my head space. When I'm overstimulated I end up throwing stuff 🤣 Thankfully I never need it afterwards

I started a thread on this just recently. I'm like you and for the last few days I've started tackling drawers and kitchen cupboards. This is what has really helped me to overcome the sense of overwhelm:
1/ Search for the rubbish. This is easy and goes straight to the black bin. Even if you stop now, you'll feel better
2/ sort piles of items that don't belong in the drawer and ones that do and ones you don't want (straight to bin) and ones to recycle/donate
3/ clean drawer (I like this bit)
4/ replace items that belong in the drawer. If it gets busy, you'll have to say I don't have room for this, where else can it go? Ultimately, it's about coming to terms with storage space. If there is no space it has to go
5/ find homes for pile 'doesn't belong in drawer'
6/ do a drawer a day

I've found it very therapeutic. I now have a system, a golden rule if you will, the surfaces and drawers are not temporary storage space. Everything must have a home. If it doesn't have a home, it has to go. I've been channeling my ruthless side and it feels cathartic 😄

Massive hoarder.
op, please elaborate on the mental health thing? I’m intrigued @Cakeandcardio

im trying to hoard less since we moved but honestly, I think it got worse because I made space and filled it up again lol

really wanted to have a minimalist approach to life but only managed to do that with 1 room lol. Plus I have 2 under 2 so everything’s a mess and I’m constantly overwhelmed 🤣