Confessions of a quasi-hoarder
No, I will never be on that TV show, I have SOME capabilities. :)
I do have a tendency to hold onto things I think I might need/use later in life. I've been slowly trying to clear out the extra junk and it's been annoyingly hard.
For instance, last weekend I started on stuff on my bookshelves that were old magazines and spiral-bound notebooks. The notebooks were a mix of blanks and old college (and yes, high school) notes and the magazines were Writer's Digests from 1999.
When I got the magazines I had every intention of reading them and trying to learn to be a better writer. Did I ever do it? No. Why? Who knows. I tend not to read magazines, though.
The blank notebooks made sense at the time, I needed something to write in. Now I have computers (lovely, lovely computers) which I actually do use to write (when I'm not being lazy) and the notebooks no longer make sense. I'm going to try to freecycle them.
The class notes, no I couldn't let go of them. I put them on the shelf with my old textbooks.
The thing I didn't expect was how weirdly emotional I got. Some of it was just remembering that part of my life, some of it was feeling bad/guilty that I'd spent money on stuff I never used (don't get me started on money issues) and of course I was upset with myself for holding onto this stuff for so long.
Part of being able to get rid of stuff is having been able to deal with crap from the rest of my life that just made it difficult to make decisions. The other part is the internet allowing me to find places to donate things that are still useable. While I'm good at getting rid of trash, if a thing still has life in it, I hate just tossing it away. It also helps to know I can always find a replacement for something I got rid of should I truly need it later. I think that happened once.
It might (or might not) interest you to know this hoarding gene runs in my family. My uncle has huge collections of books and DVDs. He has them all organized. My Dad tends to hang onto things too. My mom has everything we ever left at their house, but she told me it was because her mother promptly got rid of everything after my mom moved away and some of those things she wanted. So yes, when I go back to visit my parents, I also get to go through my crap there. Last time I threw out a bunch of old school papers. Why did I keep them? Some of it was the thought that someone might be amused to look through it decades later. Well, if anybody wanted to, they are now out of luck. Some if it was just liking to see all the schoolwork I accomplished.
I kept a few things. I have a hilarious booklet we had to do in health class on STDs. I kept a couple of reports I was rather proud of, along with some artwork that wasn't terrible.
So it's getting better. I don't bring anything into the house I don't intend to use, and that's been a great help. I do have a passion for ephemera though.
I do have a tendency to hold onto things I think I might need/use later in life. I've been slowly trying to clear out the extra junk and it's been annoyingly hard.
For instance, last weekend I started on stuff on my bookshelves that were old magazines and spiral-bound notebooks. The notebooks were a mix of blanks and old college (and yes, high school) notes and the magazines were Writer's Digests from 1999.
When I got the magazines I had every intention of reading them and trying to learn to be a better writer. Did I ever do it? No. Why? Who knows. I tend not to read magazines, though.
The blank notebooks made sense at the time, I needed something to write in. Now I have computers (lovely, lovely computers) which I actually do use to write (when I'm not being lazy) and the notebooks no longer make sense. I'm going to try to freecycle them.
The class notes, no I couldn't let go of them. I put them on the shelf with my old textbooks.
The thing I didn't expect was how weirdly emotional I got. Some of it was just remembering that part of my life, some of it was feeling bad/guilty that I'd spent money on stuff I never used (don't get me started on money issues) and of course I was upset with myself for holding onto this stuff for so long.
Part of being able to get rid of stuff is having been able to deal with crap from the rest of my life that just made it difficult to make decisions. The other part is the internet allowing me to find places to donate things that are still useable. While I'm good at getting rid of trash, if a thing still has life in it, I hate just tossing it away. It also helps to know I can always find a replacement for something I got rid of should I truly need it later. I think that happened once.
It might (or might not) interest you to know this hoarding gene runs in my family. My uncle has huge collections of books and DVDs. He has them all organized. My Dad tends to hang onto things too. My mom has everything we ever left at their house, but she told me it was because her mother promptly got rid of everything after my mom moved away and some of those things she wanted. So yes, when I go back to visit my parents, I also get to go through my crap there. Last time I threw out a bunch of old school papers. Why did I keep them? Some of it was the thought that someone might be amused to look through it decades later. Well, if anybody wanted to, they are now out of luck. Some if it was just liking to see all the schoolwork I accomplished.
I kept a few things. I have a hilarious booklet we had to do in health class on STDs. I kept a couple of reports I was rather proud of, along with some artwork that wasn't terrible.
So it's getting better. I don't bring anything into the house I don't intend to use, and that's been a great help. I do have a passion for ephemera though.