Hoarding

I mentioned this week on Facebook and Twitter that I’d caught a few episodes of the A&E show, HOARDERS, which is about men and women who, more than being pack rats, suffer from a psychological inability to let go of items, even if the sheer amount of stuff is threatening the quality of their lives, they face legal action, or their health is at risk. It’s one of those shows that’s on the verge of being terrifying, actually, because with certain things, I can see how easily this can happen.

Luckily, my tendency runs to clothes and books — which probably aren’t life-threatening (although there is a stack of books by my window that has tipped over a few times) and aren’t going to get me into trouble with the sanitation department anytime soon.

Anyway, one of the things that all of the hoarders had in common — and that made me a bit uncomfortable — was the belief that everything they owned would have a use one day. It wasn’t just stuff; it all had a purpose (or it would.) And I could absolutely relate to that.  I have the Rubbermaid boxes of clothes that I’ll use again as soon as I lose a few pounds. I have the books on those dusty shelves that I bought because they kind of sounded interesting, but I know I’ll probably never read. But getting rid of them is HARD, even if I know that they are going to a charity or something.

I’ve managed to get rid of clothes from time to time (usually when I move to a new house), but not so much the books. I guess I’m not really sorry for that, because I love having books and it doesn’t hurt anything — and I’m just glad my hoarding tendencies don’t include EVERYTHING.

(Like, the second a Tupperware container in my husband’s lunch comes back late with the food half-eaten and starting to puff up the lid, I don’t even open that baby up to see how bad it is. I trash it.)

So…what do you have a tendency to hoard? Or are you one of those lucky people who can get rid of stuff you aren’t using without a second thought?