Do you purge or hoard?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's a good one:

My father/step-mother keep bringing Goodwill stuffed animals and clothes over for my DD. At my baby shower they gave me baby lotion that was manufactured circa 1996. OMG

As soon as they are in the car leaving, that stuff is in the trash - I'm so scared of them bringing bed bugs in those old stuffed animals too!!! I feel bad laying down the law like "will you please stop bringing me goodwill stuff!!!"

OMG. Thrift store crap is the worst. My father loves them - like how much clothes/suits/shoes/do dadas, books aka dust collectors do you need after retiring?

I am so happy that I got a kindle and don't have to buy any more paperbacks - more crap that takes up space.

[Anonymous]

I'm a purger, my husband a hoarder. I never realized there was a word for someone who threw stuff out. I'm a very good purger too!!! Drives him crazy. He drove me crazy going to the goodwill stores and bringing home stuff like a paper cutter and tennis rackets (we have no use for a paper cutter and he would never get out and play tennis) that just takes up space in the already tiny house. Crazy!!

[Anonymous]

I am a hoarder. I hate throwing useable things in the trash. I do donate something but others I keep in case I need them as I hate throwing / giving something away only to need it weeks later then I have to buy it again.

I find purging costs a lot more as you are always buying the things you need as you don't have them as you gave them away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a hoarder. I hate throwing useable things in the trash. I do donate something but others I keep in case I need them as I hate throwing / giving something away only to need it weeks later then I have to buy it again.

I find purging costs a lot more as you are always buying the things you need as you don't have them as you gave them away.

me too! I just have to find a way to deal with the clutter...

[Anonymous]

I hoard, just a little bit, mostly with paperwork. And then one day it starts to drive me insane and I do a big purge, before starting my minor hoarding again.

(I should note that my house is neat, and generally reasonably company-ready, but there are these tiny pockets of disorder.)

[Anonymous]

I'm a hoarder-- I feel an emotional energy and connection to stuff. However, I live in a bungalow so I got professional help... I had this young woman come to my house about once a week for a summer three years ago or so and she helped me with the worst of it. An entire attic full of crap-- we pared down to about 15% of it. That helped with the rest of the house too. I'm not perfect and right now I could use about 3 days to really sort and purge but it's not awful. Now we don't usually buy books and generally come up with a load for charity about every six weeks or so.

[Anonymous]

I'm a purger who is married to a hoarder that comes from a family of hoarders. My MIL, who is very low income, actually pays to ship crap to my DH. By crap, I mean old boxes of playing cards, old sweatshirts that don't fit any of us, boxes filled with paper (not kidding -- she once shipped a box filled with paper that had random notes and doodles written by my husband when he was in school), broken Christmas ornaments....the list goes on. Whenever I see a box in the mail from them it makes my blood boil. What makes it worse is we live in a very small apartment with 2 children and a cat. We don't have room for all their shit.

[Anonymous]

Purge. At least once a year, sometimes more. We don't have a lot of space, so if we don't get rid of some of the crap we start drowning in it and I go insane.

My great grandmother on the other hand keeps everything. Wedding invitations and favors, birthday gifts (that she often doesn't want to open because it looks too pretty), etc.

[Anonymous]

The less I have, the easier it is to clean and keep track of things.
Of course DH never cleans. Of course he is a miser and thinks we should "recycle" odds and ends into useful gadgets. Of course he rationalizes all this by bringing up his deprived childhood.

We recently moved for the first time in 9 years and I was thrilled, but THRILLED, to have a reason to get rid of half our stuff, including old, ugly and damaged furniture DH wanted to keep.

Actually a few years ago I sorted through all DH's hoarding closets and threw out two thirds of the stuff while he was out - he never even noticed!

Sigh.

[Anonymous]

I am a hoarder but you can't tell from my house, but I have a room of shame! Our office is like Monicas closet on Friends. If you open the door it's like an avalanche!
My house is tiny and tidy, but man the office is bad. Every couple of months dh and I go thru and basically get rid of all the junk that we never even needed in the 1st place...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My husband hoards, and I purge when he's not around

This.

[Anonymous]

Purger married to a hoarder. It's a constant source of friction. His mom was a really bad hoarder. With a bunch of cats and everything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a purger who is married to a hoarder that comes from a family of hoarders. My MIL, who is very low income, actually pays to ship crap to my DH. By crap, I mean old boxes of playing cards, old sweatshirts that don't fit any of us, boxes filled with paper (not kidding -- she once shipped a box filled with paper that had random notes and doodles written by my husband when he was in school), broken Christmas ornaments....the list goes on. Whenever I see a box in the mail from them it makes my blood boil. What makes it worse is we live in a very small apartment with 2 children and a cat. We don't have room for all their shit.

When she sends a box, go through it and make sure there is nothing in there that you want/need. If there is anything that someone else may need/use? Donate that. Can anything be recycled? Put that in your recycle bin. Toss everything else. You are under no obligation to keep other people's junk. Don't feel any guilt about it.

[Anonymous]

I keep and store stuff, for far too long
Reading this has now motivated me to clean out the closets.