to want to cry that we are giving up storage space when my DH is a hoarder?

[MooncupandPizza]

I honestly could cry. Our playroom/office space is filling up with his crap and, though this is not its final resting place, it is depressing the hell out of me as it's never going to be able to be as out of sight as it was. (conversion of the store room to more living space)

We moved here about 8 months ago and I was just feeling like things were coming together and looking a bit organised - it's not anymore.

woe is me.

We have baby clothes that are of 'sentimental value' up in the attic. We are so sentimental about them that we haven't looked at them since the day we moved the bag up 11 years ago :) Maybe in another 20 years we'll feel the urge to bring them down to show to our grandchildren ... or not.

I will admit to being a bit of book hoarder so I bought myself a Kindle that way I can hoard loads of books (if I want) without taking up any space. I then cleared out two big bags of books to free up the lower bookshelves for the children. It's great to see DS2 (aged 4) sitting by their shelves choosing books to look at.

This thread has inspired me but unfortunately I'm a bit sleep deprived so can't do a lot!

There's now a support group Maybe some outside help is in order?

Sorry for not being back here beyond the first page!

It's quite funny reading some of the responses - very obvious some people who have never had to deal with a hoarder of this type.

DH is not at pathological levels, in my opinion, and it is something we have and do talk about and he is much "better" than he was in terms of bringing crap stuff home.

He WOULD notice if things got chucked and I also do not want to deal with his crap stuff so it's fine once we get it out of our living area where it is currently residing. He will be doing this.

There is, sadly, no convincing him that his lecture notes, old text books and journal articles are not things he needs to keep as in the case of books and articles - it's mostly available online. In the case of lecture notes - he will never look at them again. He is attached to them as he put a lot of work into them.

TBH, I started this thread more to ask if anyone else feels like crying when they see their DH/DC/own stuff begin to clutter up their house rather than anything else.

We probably will get a shed at some point, though!

and just a specific note to exaltedwombat - yes, indeed, he is allowed to hoard as long as it's not creeping into the space we need to live in!
I agree, houses are not just for looking at and I am very far from being OCD about everything being tidy.

We just need to keep the hoarding at acceptable levels given the storage space we have available!

I feel your pain mooncup. We are in a one bedroomed flat with a baby and I have (just for starters) 12 lifesize crows and a darlek behind the sofa I'm sitting on right now. Next to us under the table are 3 spring/summer 2011 argos catalogues, various springs, empty paint tins, a stuffed white tiger and about 5 carrier bags full of sponge.

I donate what I can to other people but it grows again. I think I just have to make him realise a nice family house cannot look like a junk yard (not that yours does). Just that I need to change his perception of what a house is for, vs a garage or shed.

I have a hoarder too - he collects classic cars and bits of cars!! I had one "Project" in my garden for 3 years, it moved house with us so I sold it on ebay one week, it was so funny. If he dumps clothes on the floor I open the window and throw then onto the lawn, he has 4 sheds now full, I'm slowly working my way through them, he sneaks stuff into the loft, I'm not allowed in the loft I dread to think what's up there. he works away lots and lives in fear of me selling or binning his stuff!! Piles of paper, notes, books, the classic kitchen draw we have about 7 of those all full of random stuff...

Hah! I'll see your autojumble and raise you an attic full of bits of old computers, complete with a towering stack of cobwebby old computer magazines, in german ( a language he doesn't speak ) for an out of date Atari ( which he hasn't got )

And before you all demand why I haven't binned the lot of them ... They have to stay as they are my uncontestable Your-junk-is-more-pointless-than-my-junk argument winner ...