Are you a hoarder?

[boggen]

there is an un-orgnaized mess. "path that you barely can fit though" and then actual room and path ways you can walk done without fear of hitting something or breakin something or nocking it over.

put me on the later list. i hoard somethings, but there is a limit. and do my best to get away from anything that will attract any sort of critters, bugs to mice or like. if it gets close to critters, it is gone without thought. if i have to dig for 30 minutes to find something, then it is gone. if i have to goto more than 3 boxes / bins to find something. then stuff gets tossed.

 

[mjarrels]

No, I just like my stuff. Spent 21 years in the Navy and always had to look at a move every 36 to 42 months. Got lucky and stayed at NAS Whidbey Island for 10 years. Now I have two houses, two large garges, large bank barn, large machine shed and numerous other out buildings to store things in the dry. If is says Navy on it, I probably have one. I even have two Philippine license plates in the garage along with numerous advertizing signs taken from old sari-sari stores in the Philippines. Probably not another of these items for 9000 miles. Heck, I still have a jar of nuts and bolts taken from and old avionics test bench I deep sixed from the USS Enterprise back in the early 80's. And the list goes on. Once I'm gone, there will be one heck of an auction taking place.

mark

 

[nybirdman]

That stuff drives me nuts.I can't stand to have a bunch of junk laying around period.Neat and orderly.
I had a friend(now deceased)that was the biggest hoarder in the world,great guy don't get me wrong.
The biggest problem was his wife was and is as bad as he was.He filled a 40x80ft.building before it was completed.His house was just path-ways through the clutter.
He was a big time reloader;had gun powder stored everywhere including under his bed.
To each his own just not me.

 

[nybirdman]

That stuff drives me nuts.I can't stand to have a bunch of junk laying around period.Neat and orderly.
I had a friend(now deceased)that was the biggest hoarder in the world,great guy don't get me wrong.
The biggest problem was his wife was and is as bad as he was.He filled a 40x80ft.building before it was completed.His house was just path-ways through the clutter.
He was a big time reloader;had gun powder stored everywhere including under his bed.
To each his own just not me.

 

[/pine]

I think there is a law of whatever (like Murphy's) that says we will never find another use for any of the stuff we have "stored" until shortly after it has been tossed and is gone forever...!
...There is a similar law (or there should be) that says something about "moving" the above mentioned "stored" surplus...i.e., if you move a "stored" item that you previously known exactly where it was (regardless of how many years it's been in the same spot) if you move it (in an attempt to neaten or organize etc...) you will play heck trying to remember where it was moved to...!

 

[MossRoad]

While I have way too much stuff, I have made it a point to not let any of it invade the living spaces in our home. That's the wife's domain. You'd never know what lurks in the basement or garages based on the nice neat home our friends see.

 

[PILOON]

While I have way too much stuff, I have made it a point to not let any of it invade the living spaces in our home. That's the wife's domain. You'd never know what lurks in the basement or garages based on the nice neat home our friends see.

Same situation here.
Except my wife hoards sewing stuff and at last (quick) count she has over 150 cook books but I can't complain as she is really a gourmet cook.
So I guess we put up with each other.

Whenever she suggests I 'clean up' all I need to do is say OK we'll start with the books and magazines.
The main difference is her's is classified and mine is scattered.

 

[davrow]

One of my Old Man Mentors told me one time that he saved stuff for seven years. That was it, seven years.

We're in a slow process of moving. Trying to weed out the junk before moving it.

Our neighbor said much the same as MacLawn's mentor: "Everyone should have to move every 7 years. That's about the time it takes to accumulate so much clutter it becomes a nuisance instead of a resource".

 

[ultrarunner]

Probably... thing is I know what it costs to replace things and I wouldn't sleep well at night adding to the landfill

At work I've been chided for holding on to things... yet, the moment they need something, I'm the go to person.

We just completed a new imagining center and needed a 4' fire rate door assembly to the new area of the hospital...

Contractor came back and said can't match the laminate... has not been made in 16 years...

I said how many would you like kidding... he said one!... done deal because I had one that was being trashed... we paid over $2500 for that door in 1995 with hardware and rating and I was not going to let it go into the dumpster.

A few weeks ago cabinets were reconfigured in the lab... the bid was thousands to re-paper with the good commercial heavy duty stuff... seemed a shame when only about 150 square feet of matching would do the trick.

You guessed... up in the rafters sealed in a garbage bag I had just enough to make the repair... now, mind you I saved this from 1991!

 

[Larry Caldwell]

It's part of country living. Need an O ring? I have a complete assortment. Zerk fittings? Cotter pins? Shear keys? 5" lag bolts? It has saved me dozens of trips into town, $5 worth of gas to buy a $2 item. I will admit I needed a dental pick a couple months ago and had to make one.