Calling all hoarders out there......why?

[muriel76]

My DH is a bit of a hoarder. Some of his family are the same but particularly his mum, she seems to keep everything. They both like to also display pointless things ie books that will never be/never have been read etc.

Don't get me wrong, it is not a big deal or anything but I do want to understand why. It's hard to understand as my mum is the complete opposite and I am the same. DH and I have agreed to give the house (another!) big clear out and it would help me to hear a hoarder's view!

(Obviously I have talked with him about it many times BTW, I am just looking for other people's more neutral insights)

Thanks for any replies.

My DDs crap would be halved if we'd not got Christmas tat! I used to think people who car booted xmas pressies were heartless, now i'm like ahhhhhhhhh yeah! I get it now!

I am still lurking, trying to gather enough energy to finish my 'emotional pile' and move onto clothes mountain.

On the bright side I have just finished week 4 of C25K so clearing out the spare room and keeping the treadmill was well worth it.

I can now run for 5 minutes at a time and cover 1.85 miles in 30 minutes ! I couldn't manage a 60 second run without feeling I was going to die when I started.

Packing more stuff for the charity shop... includes 3 huge and hideous cushions I've wanted rid of for ages! We have nicer ones now.

I went to a car boot sale on the w/e for the first time in 20 years. It was huge, probably 300 'real' sellers and 200 professional stalls, 1000s of buyers, but god it made clear how much mere 'stuff' has no value nowadays - piles of clean baby clothes unsellable at 10p each, mountains of small toy cars etc ditto - I actually bought a few really nice things and let ds have £2 to buy toys (he ended up with a whole bag of junk, but might just have learnt something about running out of money...), and cake for each of us, and still had change from a tenner!

MIL meanwhile returned loaded up with stuff that she'd collected for free at the end of the sale! Some lovely crockery and pans, too. Not that she needs them, but at least she's not wasting money on them and it generally leads to local charity shops gaining new stock...

This morning, I gave away another carrier bag literally overflowing with girls clothes to a friend whose Dd is older but smaller than my Dd. Another couple of tops will go to next doors Ds in the next couple of days when I can catch her.
Lots more to do...

In all honesty, my Dc's don't get a lot for Christmas or birthdays as I don't have the funds...also Dd has her birthday on Boxing day which I find quite sad...As far as Sil is concerned, I'd much rather she gave us each a £5 book token than the absolute rubbish she does buy us and it was always a bit of a joke between my Mum, Dad and me about the awful presents she buys, but then when she did get something we actually could do with (Mum's slippers is a fine example) and they didn't fit, got given back in order to be exchanged, Mum never got the replacement! can't win!

I do feel as though I'm getting somewhere at last, but it's still a bloody nightmare.

Anniemac one of my biggest fears is that if my house caught fire with us in it that we'd die because of all the stuff :(
Good idea about the special box etc.

Anniemac, selling is still recycling, no shame in selling rather than giving away!

I have just started a box3 each for the children with their things in, christening gifts and birthday cards.

My oldest has an jewellery box she puts her treasures in and we keep it out of reach of the younger children. Thinking about it, I think DS is properly an age for his own little box, I'll have to tell santa.

Phew! Today was warehouse moving day. Soooo many boxes and shelving. So after half term i can start the edit! Apart from the millions of boxes of stock there were the approx 80 boxes of my stuff. Gonna have a scoreboard and targets, so the chucking and sorting can be systematic! Theres a whole space thats 10' x 15' thats my special cupboard!

Smurk...like the sound of your special cupboard :)

I have finally finished the emotional boxes, they are all boxed up and in the hall ready to go upstairs, yeah. I am very pleased to see the back of that lot.

Right I have to decide what to move onto...putting things on ebay OR clothes mountain.

Lets see what I feel like tomorrow, or I might walk down to the next village and check out the local charity shops. After all my healthy eating and running three times a week, I am down to two pairs of loose fitting trousers (size 20) and I want to see if I can find some smaller ones cheap (size 18, I tried a pair on at Asda and they fit ! But I am not paying £20 for jeans, if I can avoid it)

I might have to confess to procrastinating ever so slightly!
Managed a carload of cardboard to the tip though.
At least my hoard has had an airing and is now firmly on the agenda!

We're doing quite well in terms of 'stuff MrNC is now willing to get rid of rather than fondly hope his children will be interested'
However many of these things also fall into the category of 'stuff that would make a fortune on Ebay if we can find the accessories which are in the house somewhere and look like any other bits of wire/scrap metal/chips so it has to be MrNC who finds them'

Guess I'll just have to stick to reducing piles of papers and ds's toys instead.

Babies why don't you have a look in New Look? their jeans are £10 and have rave reviews on MN.

Gave yet another bag of girls clothes away today to another friend (she's my usual recipient) so things are definitely going :)

Anyone want to buy a cot?

I could be in the market for a cot if Mrww's little executive decision last week turns out to be a bullseye! Oops! No, wait a min, i have a cot, its currently hoarded living at my Mums due to other grandchildren.

The plasterer is still here so are still camping out in the living room of a night.

The contents of the bedroom is still in piles and I havent made a start yet! Its too difficult to get to it right now. Hoping I will pluck up courage to have a good sort before I hide it all away again.

Recently when we made a trip to the local dump we got rid of lot of random items cluttering up the attic. I honestly had 2 main strong feelings. One was relief, but the other was like fear! Yes, fear! Was it that I was giving away treasure? Or was it the feelings attached to those items? Or was it the fear I wouldnt be able to replace these things if I needed them one day?

I was reading something in a magazine recently about how this generation will only be leaving behind broken laptops and boken phones for the next generation to see, and how we should instead have nice possessions and value what real items we do own.

That is a dangerous thought for a borderline horder like me!

My main crimes are keeping clothes that dont fit, never will and even if they do one day they will be a decade out of date!
I buy prints and things I want to frame but never do.
I am also guilty of keeping my tape cassettes, I never play them, never will, and yet I look at them and think how could something that cost £9.99 15 years ago and meant everything to me then be now worthless and useless? The pace of change, the technology changes are so fast and rapid I dont feel like I can keep up!

Ooooh! . weeeeevils!!!

GoEasy I can totally relate to you. I was up in the loft and found a box (one of several if I remember rightly) of video tapes. My video hasn't been used in yonks and yet, I cannot get shot of those tapes and they are ones that I've previously recorded from the TV, not even pre recorded, though my Dc's have lots of those too!
I don't have what you'd call 'decent' furniture or even old furniture, but if I did, I'd really want to pass it on to my children when I have gone, but children ~ newer generations, they really don't want it do they? I really can't imagine an Ikea Billy bookcase being around 50 years from now and someone desperate to own one! could be wrong of course!

I have a sick Dd off today, she really isn't well...not sure how much I'll get done today...

I took 14 carrier bags of clothes/shoes to the clothes bank yestersday which felt good but hasn't made a difference to the amount of crap tbh

Have just found out son has servere dust mite allergy so it's the kick up the arse I need to get rid of all the crap around the house. I spent all day yestersday sorting (not that it made much difference) and ended up just making more mess.

My aim is to get my house crap free in time for christmas, at least there will be room for the new crap

Welcome mummakaz you've joined the right thread and you are amongst friends here!