Hoarders Anonymous!

nanamags

I am Mags and I am a hoarder!! Oh heck where do I start? Books 100s of them I find it difficult not to buy any when I go to Tescos even though I am the best customer at my local libray. I have enough fabric to stock my own shop even though I have not actually sewn anything for over a year.:o I have loads of magazines which I am going to sort through one day before recyling them!!!! I also have a hoard of duvet sets and towels. I'm gald I am not the only hoarder!! :rotfl: :rotfl:

aurorahelios

My underwear draw is unbelievable, I have 42 pairs of knickers and 39 pairs of socks. I'm trying to wear all the oldest ones out first and staying away from lingerie departments. The worst thing is I'm in desperate need for some new bras but do I buy them! No go in to buy a bra come out of the shop with new knickers

As for sanitary towels, I stocked up on them some years ago - fell pregnant and I shockingly had to buy some last month ....my daughter is now 4!

vivw_2

My answer to the underwear problem is to buy black. Knickers and bras then match when and where ever they are bought,

lil_me

I started decluttering today by offering a friend 60 spare coat hangers then bought £35 worth of cheese, another kitchen gadget (Actifry ) plus much more and put an online food order in, I'm not quite ready to cut back on the food stash just yet........found another 16 loo rolls, wonder where else I have them hiding......

Oh and the way I do it in the budget, I bulk buy, keep it all stashed then put the money each week into a pot when I open something then it's there for the next bulk buy.

jackieb

I got rid of loads of hangers and ended up having to buy more. It's things like that, that makes me want to keep hold of stuff. Then I can justify keeping things just incase I need them.

shelovestobuystuff

OMG!!!This thread is where I belong.I live in a big house with 3 attics and theres still not enough room for all my boxes of stuff.No room to put anything away so its always messy looking even when its as tidy as it gets.
I just cant bear to throw anything away.I have started selling some stuff on ebay and have done car boot sales too but the stuff just keeps growing.Its not growing so quickly now as I have tried to stop spending but I have yet to take the brave step of reducing the mountains of clothes,toys,furniture etc,etc,etc that every home eventually accrues.
I did have a massive pile of magazines which I just before christmas last year was brave enough to let hubby take to the tip.It was taller than I am when piled up together and I had ideal home mags from over 20 years ago.It was all housy and gardening mags with the odd cosmo and company mag sprinked through it.I have kept my old habitat and laura ashley catalogues though.I had already picked a few mags from the pile,about 12,that I really wanted to keep and the rest were sitting waiting for an opportunity to sell them at a car boot or something but I never got round to it.Eventually the sunday before xmas I said to hubby he could take them away(he has been nagging me for years to get rid of them).I had to shut myself in the front room and busy myself hoovering while he took them.It was a case of "take them now before I change my mind".Hubby then started to feel bad about nagging me to get rid of them saying "but you have been collecting these for more than 20 years,are you sure?.I didnt need them,I hadnt looked at them for years and wasnt likely to so they went.Why was it so difficult though?

shelovestobuystuff

I can understand stockpiling food and household essentials but as for the rest of it???
Why cant I get rid of all these clothes that are up to 5 sizes too small for me?
Why dont I throw away holed socks or knickers with the elastic burst instead of searching through the mountain of undies every morning for some that is still in one piece.I have plenty of new stuff in there with the old bits somewhere?
Why cant I pass on any of my kids baby clothes despite knowing that with the eldest being 16 I am hardly likely to need it again?
Why do I still have the prams,safety gates and playpen when the youngest grew out of them 4 years ago?
Why dont I throw away bits of games of broken toys because we may find the lost bits(I know they are here somewhere) or be able to fix them one day?
Why dont I give away books that I bought on a whim and have never looked at and have absolutely no interest in anymore?
Why do I have over 50 mugs in my kitchen including 3 without handles?
Why do I have 3 big jugs on my kitchen windowledge full of the different coloured plastic caps of milk cartons?
Why on earth do I pick up and keep the elastic bands that the postie drops on my front path?
Any psychiatrists on here?

vivw_2

I know exactly where you are coming from there.......I'd love to know some of the answers too

Contains_Mild_Peril

Shelovestobuystuff, most of your post sounds very familiar to me.
When I was a kid, I made one of those paper dressing up dolls with the
clothes you fit on with tabs (like the cut-out ones they used to print on the back of girls' comics). Her arm got torn off and lost, so I threw her out. I then found the missing arm and cried because I'd thrown out the rest of the doll! Since then, I've been a hoarder.

Taffyscot wrote: »

Sigh I had a fully finished basement in Canada and everything came in through the back door and quickly down the stairs to the basement where my ex never went. Maybe that is why he is my ex lol cos he couldnt stand my hoarding.

I wish I had a basement! I do that with the loft sometimes. My hubby, who hates my hoarding habits, would have a fit if he went up there and saw how much junk there is... and the house is full of stuff too. I love bric-a-brac, and have a bad habit of buying more ornaments when I know there's no room to display them. I keep telling myself I'm going to have a proper clearout, but since hubby works nightshifts and is hardly ever out any other time, it's not easy finding a suitable opportunity. I don't want to do it in his presence because he'd be horrified if he realised just how much stuff I've squirreled away.

paddy's_mum

Now ladies - seriously - google for the Collyer brothers to see what can happen if you don't get a grip on this hoarding compulsion!

In my case, I can truthfully say that I don't hoard much. Just a few little racks of food, toiletries, industrial size toilet rolls, second hand curtains, lengths of fabric that I'll make up one day, books, plastic milk bottles, bedding, jam jars, lumps of sound old carpet for dog beds, spare kettle and pans, half tins of paint to combine some day, any timber for the wood burning stove, scrap paper for shopping lists ...

As for why people do it, I think that it is a highly developed sense of wanting to provide for those we love. We don't want to fail them by not having in stock something they will want or need. Couple that with a desire not to waste possessions or money and you have a potent drive to squirrel things away.

I have one shelf unit in the loft which houses my 'kitchenalia' collection - all those things you use only six or seven times a year but which save so much effort eg marmalade mincer, preserving pan, sugar thermometer, jelly bag. Getting things out of the way helps me to feel comfortable in my home but still feeling that if disaster or great opportunity struck, I have the means to cope.

I think the two year rule is a sound way to go on. If you haven't needed/used/missed something in two years, donate it to a charity shop. I do think that wanting to be frugal can be taken too far. It's funny how something that you think you can't bear to be parted from is okay to give away if you truly believe it's going to a good home.

For those that hoard bric-a-brac or ornaments (as my hubby used to) try this method. Pick out a dozen or so little bits and box them in the garage or loft. Clean the shelf they were on and place one nice piece on it. Then take note of how quickly you are able to keep that one-item-shelf clean and shiny. If the one item stands out as attractive and an asset to your room, you will quickly realise just how much sheer drudgery you are inviting into your life by having ornaments by the dozen crowded onto every surface. Think what you could do that pleases you by gently pruning all the time consuming, dust collecting knick-knacks out of your home. Hold your nerve for one month .. still miss that box of gewgaws in the garage or find a strange peace in the orderliness of your room?

Anyone else care to say what they feel is the driving force behind their own hoarding (or am I the only one into psychobabble?!!)