Am I a hoarder?

[ttcycle]

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I have a lot of stuff but I'm not a hoarder - I have no problem with giving stuff away or getting rid if it has no function or use in my life any more.

To the OP, if you're finding it difficult to find stuff - you need to sort a place for where batches of the same things live and if it really has no use skip it if it's in a bad way or give it to charity if in decent condition.

 

[musa]

Can you be a minimalist hoarder? I'm minimal in style but hoarder in thinking. Old envelopes or packaging I keep. There is always a use I reckon.

 

[Archie_tect]

My wicked step-mother ['recent' family addition...] works for a charity shop and takes things home that won't sell because she can't bear to throw donated stuff away... Now that's tat!

 

[Speicher]

Bowls made of warmed up and shaped vinyl are all the rage these days, as are tiered cake stands....

I don't know if they take small donations from individual, but if anyone has a load of material that might be crafty, Scrapstores take suitable waste from businesses and sell it on to schools, playgroups, and individuals. There's info on where the scrapstores are on the website.

http://www.scrapstoresuk.org/

Speicher of this parish has connections with one, I know. I think I'd love to volunteer at one, but it might be dangerous, I'd bring more stock home!

Yes, I bought a lot of fabric from the scrapstore. It is neatly folded by colour, and size though.

You do not want to see the recycling depot that forms part of the Utility Room. Full to the brim of things to be recycled one day.

 

[Arch]

My wicked step-mother ['recent' family addition...] works for a charity shop and takes things home that won't sell because she can't bear to throw donated stuff away... Now that's tat!

My Gran volunteered at the heart foundation shop, and the ladies got 'first pickings'. Sadly, her idea of great stuff was mostly crimpolene and nylon, and she'd offer it to us (teenage girls) and we turn it down politely. The trouble was, she never took it back! So when we came to clear the big house out, there was mountains of the stuff.

She had an idea about charity shops having a hierarchy of class, and made my Mum sort the lot, on her say so, into different bags, with Heart Foundation at the top of the scale and (for some reason) Scope at the bottom, with others in between. Mum gritted her teeth and did this, and then took the lot to Scope, with orders to us not to say anything....

And then, there was the infamous Cupboard of Soap....

 

[Arch]

Yes, I bought a lot of fabric from the scrapstore. It is neatly folded by colour, and size though.

You do not want to see the recycling depot that forms part of the Utility Room. Full to the brim of things to be recycled one day.

<drool!>

 

[Speicher]

<drool!>

Is that over the fabric or the recycling?

 

[Archie_tect]

My granny-in-law [keep up] used to 'collect' black dustbin liners. When she died there were over 1000 in her scullery [old house 'in need of some updating']

 

[Arch]

Is that over the fabric or the recycling?

The recycling.... Coz, I bet it's fun stuff, not half filled tins of baked beans.

 

[Speicher]

It is clean stuff, but not "fun" stuff as such.

 

[Arch]

It is clean stuff, but not "fun" stuff as such.

Oh you tease, what sort of stuff is it?

(You'd be surprised how much fun it can be. Paper-skip downhill skiing is fab!)

 

[Saluki]

I have a couple of people in my family that have a tendency to hoard and I have found myself saying "I'll hang on to that, it'll come in handy". Now, in our home, we have a rule. If its not used in a year, it goes in a box and in the loft. If we haven't needed anything from the box in 6 months it goes down the charity shop/car boot/rubbish dump depending on what it is. This does not include the Christmas decs!! That would be silly. Hubby can hoard stuff for England, I am a mean and horrible wife.
I have a vivid recollection of the cupboard under the stairs of an aunt who had a box labled "laces too short to be any use" and another labled "broken buttons".
After she passed away, it took the family 2 weeks to muck out her home. She lived totally downstairs as the 4 bedrooms and upstairs bathroom were chokka with boxes of stuff.

 

[Smurfy]

I used to splash a bit of bleach down the sink before my ex husband came home from work to make it smell like I'd been cleaning!

Good grief! What a shocking example of domestic fraud!

 

[vernon]

Just this summer we had a clear out,house,garage,shed green house and garden.The skip was filled to the top.It did feel good.

i love the word ,tidy,tidy tidy.

You need to get out more

 

[Archie_tect]

he will... once he's worked his way to the door...