Is anyone else a hoarder?

That doesn't work for me. I have a photograph of my mum wearing a brooch that I loved as a child. No-one knows what happened to it and I feel a little pang whenever I see the photo.
Obviously you would keep that brooch if you still had it. I said to photograph things you want to throw out but remember.

Thank you all for making me feel normal again with your understanding comments. Thanks also for the practical pointers. My DH is also a hoarder of tools and car parts but at least his hoard is down the garden! We try and understand each others hobbies which helps.

Stansgran

Well, it’s probably a blessing in disguise if the specialist shoe shop is closing down. If you have 6 unworn new pairs, surely that will keep you going for a while! ?????

newnanny

On another thread a while back, someone named a company that buys china. I had a retro dinner service that I asked them to quote on. They weren’t able to offer to buy it, they obviously know what things sell well, but I was pleased they got back to me quickly and courteously.

I'm more of a clutterer than a hoarder.

I just can't resist buying things which serve no purpose other than going with all the other clutter.

I was turning out my shelves in a walk in cupboard the other day, getting rid of old cookery books/novels/ref books/fabric I will never use etc. My OH was "just looking" through stuff I had put on the kitchen table before moving to recycling bin or charity bag and before I could say anything he'd put two books to the side. I couldn't believe it, took them back to the pile and said if he hadn't read them in the 30 years they'd been in the house he never would!When he asked why I was clearing stuff I replied that at our age we should be clearing not collecting, he just huffed and said "our age?" He is 72 and still collecting postcards/photos of where we live - nobody except him have any interest so they will all go in the skip.
Fishing tackle/diy stuff - loads of both and still buying.
I have told him that if he goes before me I will have a big skip on the drive and that's where it will all go. He nearly fainted lol.

When my mil died there was lovely teasets some quite expensive but I knew I couldn’t take them and donated them to the home she had been in and my mums home. They were thrilled and they put them in nice cabinets for all to see. So it was a nice reminder.

I aren't go into charity shops, MissA because I know I'll come out with a piece of china (or even a whole service) which I Just Do Not Need.

Daren't

Really fed up with this auto-correct

Some old postcards can be quite valuable, justnoneed
Someone's junk is another person's treasure!

my 'thing' is china mugs!! I have a whole cupboard of them and DH and I use the same two mugs every day. Mine is one my GD bought me and his is a blue and white cornish mug. The ones in the cupboard are delicate bone china and so pretty i cant bear to part with them, but i know they will all end up in a charity shop when i leave this mortal world!!!!

I do use part of one of the tea sets every day and if anyone comes I go full out with silver sugar tongs and Jam pot with little silver spoon. The rest are sitting on several display cabinets in lounge, dining room and three in very large conservatory. I do like to look at them though and I clean them in rotation.

My parents were both hoarders - mainly because of when they were growing up, things weren't thrown away in case they could be used again.
It depends on what you term as hoarding - keeping photos of family, friends, happy occasions isn't hoarding and a lot of people are quite happy with collecting postcards and so on.
I think if you start keeping broken items, wrappers, and things like that, that is hoarding!
Recently I had to empty my wardrobe as we had a problem with the electrical wiring upstairs - I found 2 bags of clothes that I had intended to take to a charity shop after I lost a lot of weight and when I looked through the bags, I found 3 pairs of trousers, 4 tops and 3 bras (2 hadn't been worn) that now fit as I have put weight back on, so I have saved quite a bit of money because guess what ? two pairs of my trousers have been worn nearly see through and I several of my tops need replacing as well as 2 bras - don't have to buy them now!

Some yes Callistemon, I think these will never fall into that category. Far too many available on the sales sites, or 50p/£1 from market sellers.
He also has his mothers old dinner plates.. worth nothing as they are all well used but he thinks the name printed on the back makes them of some value. She has been dead about 15 years and I never knew he had them until last year, he snuck them into the loft.
He used to work at the private school here, they chucked some prints into a skip - he "saved" them. When he took them to auction place they said the frames were worth about £2 - I did say I thought the art dept of the school would probably know if they had any value lol. There are other bits from the same place.

That was a handy find jaylucy.
Heaven only know what else he has tucked up there, my son will have a good clear out one day

My husband is a hoarder. I think that the definition of hoarding is when the belongings aren't kept neatly and it drives the other person mad. That is our situation. He can spend hours tidying and accomplish nothing. It is still a mess. He has bought the same article more than once because he has forgotten that he has it. He can't bear to chuck anything out and keeps totally useless items. He gets more storage and then more items.

I've said that one day I'm going to open the house up as a junk shop and see how much money we make.

Moving stuff around apparently is called “churning”.
Much as I love my stuff I think of our 2 DDs; one local one 3 hours away. Both busy working and with their own families-I don’t want to create work for them.

Interesting.

I looked at my mantelpiece this evening and thought I would swap some things with others that are hidden away.

I shall now call it having a good churn - it makes it sound as if I'm actually doing something.

NanKate I think we are married to the same man. As for the shampoo bottles - well spot on plus dregs of any other bathroom commodity all stored in the cabinet together with empty containers which I have to examine and remove at regular intervals. Nails, screws all found and stored away.

It's a lovely feeling when you've had a good clear out. A trip to the charity shop or just leaving things on the wall outside with a note gets a new home for stuff you never use.

I never miss things when they're gone and I appreciate all the clear space left behind. It means less dusting, easier cleaning, no more shifting things about!

I haven't gotten to the hoarding stage yet lol, but I keep things in case I need them, so have a drawers full of old phone chargers, various cables and computer bits, computer bits that are now redundant and no use to any modern pc's. so they are going to have to go.

I'm in the process of clearing out junk, bit by bit, we had to clear my mother's house last Christmas when she passed away, it was quite a daunting and heartbreaking task to do, every pair of glasses she had ever owned, old bills going back to the year dot, numerous broken clocks, clothing and footwear that she had stopped wearing but kept hold of. I never want my family to have to go through that.

Am I a hoarder? Guilty as charged. So is my wife, her hobby is dress making. In her cabin she has every sewing machine that she's ever owned, but at least they are on display shelves. She has paper patterns going back decades and all sorts of sewing paraphernalia.

We still have most of our wedding presents, like bathroom & kitchen scales, bed linen and knick-knacks. Our original dial phone is still in use, but we had to hook it up to a phone with touch-tone technology. When you hear: Press one for the money, two for the show, dialling it will cut you off. Having the modern phone also allows us to see the number of the incoming call.

We have all our wedding cards, love letters to each other, they are all catalogued in the wedding album. I have my red driver's licence in my wallet, that raises a smile. We still have all our former passports, heaven knows why, we have even got the cumbersome vacuum cleaner my in-laws bought us for a wedding present, it still works too. It lives in my wife's cabin.

The things that we keep, all our various cell phones, spectacles, cookery books, photo albums, all a treasure trove of memories.

This is a really old thread Spangler! I’ll say what I always say though, what happened to all this “stuff” when you shuffle off? Who has to sort it out ?

My first husband was like that, my second totally opposite and would be horrified! Same here, I used to be a hoarder now I'm a minimalist. As for your question Lucca when a hoarder uncle passed away, a professional had to be called in to clear his treasured possessions!

Lucca

This is a really old thread Spangler! I’ll say what I always say though, what happened to all this “stuff” when you shuffle off? Who has to sort it out ?

Happens not happened, sorry.