I probably am - Throw/give away old one

Oldwoman70 - I gave mine to the electronics / IT service and repair shop, on condition that if I discovered I needed one of them, he'd give it back to me. So far, I haven't needed any of them.

I tried to clear my wardrobe during the week. Everything came out on the bed, tried on, rehung and all went back apart from about 6 things . It is so hard to part with items. Why????

My father used to keep old batteries just in case they recharged themselves!

Thankfully DH and I have the same "get rid" approach to failing electrical items which are beyond safe repair (by someone qualified). We take such items to the "small electricals" section of the local authority tip. End of.

Chatting to my son’s MIL in Australia, I mentioned that I was getting rid of a big bag of patchwork pieces. She begged me to find room for them in my suitcase, on my next trip. I did, though it meant leaving some of my clothes behind.
When I presented them to her she gratefully tucked them into her ‘stash cupboard’- which already contained enough fabric to keep her sewing for 50 years! Grrrrr!

Perhaps she'll make you a lovely quilt, Greengran.

Don’t ask, just bin it...I bet he won’t even notice

Yes that's a good idea .. just like Mary (Imelda Stanton's character) did in that latest drama. I forget what it was called

lin663
But it's not mine to bin though is it?
and he would notice

Not sure what's worse, my OH gets rid of things because of the smallestt hing wrong, the lever on the toaster lost its plastic bit so you had to press down a metal lever. He insisted on replacing it!

I do keep boxes in the attic in case I need to send things back. A couple of years ago DH was offered a phone upgrade and took it. The phone didn't work and he had chucked the box, we had hells own job to get the company to take it back!

Some older people hang on to broken kettles, toasters etc simply because they have no way of getting rid of them. The bin men won't take them and they don't have the means to go to the tip.

May7

Yes, yes, yes, I share your pain. This is exactly how my husband behaves. We have spare of almost everything cluttering up the cupboards and the garage. There is no room for a car in our garage because it’s full of ‘stuff.’ The ‘stuff’ might be useful one day apparently. I’m fed up with it but cannot change his behaviour.

Hide it somewhere and if he hasn’t asked after it in 6 months quietly bin it....

Possibly the worst of it is that he sometimes brings other people's ‘stuff’ to our house from the tip, apparently the parts might be useful to him when he’s repairing something!

My Mum used to say 'keep a thing for seven years and you'll find a use for it'. Well...... I didn't practise that but there have been odd occasions when I wish I had.

I have had such a chuckle reading this thread!! I'm sure some of the hoarding in my generation comes from the education we received from our parents and grandparents who lived through wartime deprivation. I was born just after WW2, and some of my earliest memories are of my grandmother saving pieces of string, paper bags, and wrapping paper, all carefully put away, including at Christmas saving pieces of sticky Christmas tape. Every year as part of our tradition at Christmas the box of previous years' wrapping paper and tape was brought out for re-use.
And when it came to nails, screws, washers, nuts and bolts all carefully removed and saved by the men in my family, bent and rusty or not, well, words fail me!!

Now I am in my 70s, I am just beginning to think of the "stuff" our children will have to deal with after I have died, and it's being a real struggle to let go, especially when it comes to sorting out our accumulated library of 5000 books. Too many memories.....

My dear old dad was a bit of a hoarder. When we cleared out his bungalow after he died we found old wrapping paper - all smoothed out and folded neatly - down the back of his wardrobe. Boxes of soap - he always said it got harder if you kept it for a few years - it did but non of it had any perfume left! He had a tower of washed out margarine tubs piled on top of his freezer? He also watched every penny but not if my mum or I needed anything. To us, and my brother, he was extremely generous

I'm the hoarder in our family! Unfortunately, when I have been persuaded to throw things away in the past - I HAVE needed something I had been keeping, hence I cannot now be persuaded, Recently, our Vacuum stopped working and yes, I DID have the box to pack it up and return it - just as well! Can you imagine having to parcel up a vacuum cleaner? Every now and again, I go through all the receipts and "Guides" to electrical equipment (and other things we have purchased)and throw out the ones we no longer have. When we had a new kitchen installed, I kept the (still working) Microwave and was able to gift this to someone in need, complete with manual and cookbook!

OldWoman70, I also have a large box of unidentifiable wires.

Maybe if I put it out near the pavement, somebody might just find them useful?

Probably not, but I do dislike throwing things away when there's nothing wrong with them. Perhaps they're a weaving project?

Hoarding won’t really protect us against the unexpected things life will throw at us. Hoarded things can also send us depressing messages, the wool we haven’t knitted, the handicraft materials we haven’t used, the clothes that are too tight, that are the wrong colour, that are ugly, that are uncomfortable

Totally with you there Chaitriona. Well said. We need to ‘let go’ of stuff.
?

Dowsabella, we must be of the same generation. Mum and dad kept said bits of string, brown paper etc. I was usually give the job of undoing the knots in the string. Mind you, dad was a jolly good 'maker and mender'. When he was alive, neighbours would ask if he could use various bits of wood, and he would squirrel them away, often to be used for some project or another.
As a moving in present, to our new house, when we married, mum gave me a small paper package containing a piece of coal, so that we need never be cold. I still have it in a kitchen drawer.
I used to keep boxes that things like TV's and mixers came in, just in case, but recently have cleared out a lot from the loft, and I am also getting better at clearing clothes from the wardrobe, that I haven't worn for a long time.
DH has at least two drawers of bits of 'electrical string' with various plugs attached. We don't need any of them, but he won't get rid.
Why have we got half full/ empty tins of paint in the garage?
I guess it is the wartime habit of making sure you don't run short.

There'a a brilliant paint recycling project here so you can donate and buy. I do keep some for touch ups though.

When I was little, my job was to get buttons removed from old clothing for the button tin, then cut things into pieces for the rag bag - used for cleaning, shoe polishing etc.

I have no problem taking clothes to the charity shop but I feel guilty getting rid of books (for some reason) or anything that belonged to my late husband. He's been gone for 23 years but still I have a problem!

Guilty as charged. Nuff said!

This is my husband all over. I have to have regular purges in order to keep things liveable. He sees value in everything and his favourite words are "reduced, special offer" whether or not we need the bargain. Mind you, he has always hoarded toilet rolls so in this present crisis we are sitting pretty.