Hoarding and the hoarding hoarders who hoard hoards.

[herr_oberst]

Yesterday, I came home from a long morning of cycling and dumped my gear into this little area of my garage, as I always do. Went inside the house, showered, changed, went about the day. Came out a while later, saw the clutter I’d left and determined that it was time to try and modify my behavior by making it easier to stash bike things as I’m finished with them rather than just unloading everything into a heap. Keep my garage nice, you know.

I thought maybe I could create spaces for individual items; helmets, gloves, jackets and layers, powerbars and other stuff.. “I’ll have a place for everything and I’ll just put it in its place after I’ve used it.” I decided to start this project by gathering ALL the riding gear in order to sort it into categories and then make individual spaces for all the individual things. This is when I realized that the iceberg had calved.
Gentle reader, these are just the cycling gloves. Uh-oh. When did I decide I needed this many? 3 pairs of black Fox mesh backed gloves? (And I don't wear gloves at all if the weather is willing)

With gloves on my brain, I walked over and got the tub of regular work gloves. You have got to be kidding me. (And there’s more in my shed with the lawn tools)

This is a transformative moment. Something has just fired in my pea-brain and I’m taking a look at this pile and sort of glancing around the garage and realizing that gloves are a microcosm. I’d better go in the kitchen and grab coffee and think this out. Walking through my house to the kitchen I’m acutely aware that I’ve got multiples of many many things. Camping and backpacking. Shoes. Bikes. Kitchen tools. Tools, and more tools. Parts. Electrical parts, computer parts, stereo parts and speakers. Bike parts, car parts for cars I no longer own. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve always been aware that I have a fairly comprehensive amount of stuff. But I’ve always taken some measure of pride that I keep my house clean and neat, everything is put away, and I can usually find anything I need quickly. “This isn’t hoarding. At worst it’s collecting” - at least in my mind.

(Inspired by jyl's thread on mini-tool boxes I dragged these from the catacombs. These are tools I used to use as a lithographer in a previous life. I don't use them, they are as they were. Have I made them into a shrine? The dark brown box has a picture of the contents so I can tetris the contents in at the end of the shift. So much wrong here.)
Well, guys and gals, a quick look at the googledeegoo shows me that there is indeed a subspecies of the hoarder known as the organized hoarder. This creature can never get rid of the things that they see as valuable, and conversely sees value in the most mundane of things. A length of twine. A scrap of steel. A cable from a computer that was obsolete in 1992. That big stack of numbers from when you used to be a semi-competitive runner.

I have all that and more, and if you ask me where it is, I’ll find it and hand it to you and three other iterations of the same thing.

The bottom line is this. I have a pretty good life, but I really need to have some sort of reckoning. One of the overarching thoughts is, as I’m a lone wolf at this stage in my life, what sort of burden would I be placing on the shoulders of a friend if something should happen.

Who what where why and when. I have a lot of decisions to make as I open drawers and closets and cupboards.

Wish me luck.

[oldE]

Don't worry too much about burdening a friend. It's easy to hire a dumpster.
A guy I knew told me he was helping clear out a house and found a small box labeled, "Pieces of String too short to use. "
Good will is your friend. They can take a lot and make you feel like you're helping others.

Best
Les

[LEAKYSEALS951]

P.M. sent

edit- oh.. and the castelli's

[KFC911]

A Pelican brother needs an intervention....

All hands on deck!

I got nuthin'

[jyl]

One obstacle to de-hoarding is that you have to get over throwing perfectly good, even quality, stuff into the landfill.

When we try to “edit” down our stuff, my wife freaks out at the idea of landfilling the unwanted stuff. It’s almost a moral stance. So we have to find someone who wants it. Either no-one wants it, or in theory someone does but the effort to find that person for each item becomes impossible.

Good luck!

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by oldE

found a small box labeled, "Pieces of String too short to use. "


Best
Les

Originally Posted by LEAKYSEALS951

P.M. sent

edit- oh.. and the castelli's

You guys crack me up. Leaky, we'll see how it goes.

Originally Posted by jyl

One obstacle to de-hoarding is that you have to get over throwing perfectly good, even quality, stuff into the landfill.

Good luck!

Yep. This is one of the hardest things to do. I have a box of string marked "just the right length for all manner of projects." How do I, with good conscience, deprive someone of that treasure.

[LEAKYSEALS951]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

Leaky, we'll see how it goes.

.

All I'm saying is don't blow snot rockets on the gloves.

[rockfan4]

Originally Posted by jyl

One obstacle to de-hoarding is that you have to get over throwing perfectly good, even quality, stuff into the landfill.

When we try to “edit” down our stuff, my wife freaks out at the idea of landfilling the unwanted stuff. It’s almost a moral stance. So we have to find someone who wants it. Either no-one wants it, or in theory someone does but the effort to find that person for each item becomes impossible.

Good luck!

This is where I am stuck. My answer to "How do you deal with annoying people?" is I don't. I hate selling stuff. No, I don't hate selling stuff, but I hate stupid buyers, so I don't sell much stuff. I've inherited this from my father, he was the same way, and left my mother with a hoard of stuff when he passed. I expect to do the same to my wife. Hopefully a few of you on here can help her out when that time comes.

[Zeke]

In the business that I do more as a paying hobby, it is a good thing to keep just about anything. Any kind of knobs, different species of wood (no matter how small), even plastics, metal shapes like brackets and the list goes on and on. Wire, rope and string, metals and too much paint and stain. Hoses of all sizes, electrical and plumbing. I haven't even mentioned obscure tools.

I try to keep lamp parts in one area while keeping a stack of veneers in another. It's a battle.

But I will verify the statement that if you throw it away, you will need it probably in the next week.

[wdfifteen]

Thanks a lot for this thread Mike.
Now I'm going to be constipated for a week.

[pwd72s]

Hey, you never know..you might need that stuff some day...

[wildthing]

Three piles. I will use this in the next 6 months pile. This is still useful to someone else, I will give it away pile. This is crap, I'll throw it away pile.

[Baz]

I'm in the same boat.

Been on my mind the last few years too.

[look 171]

A college said to me, if you aren't using that item for over two months (I give it three) and it can be had within a phone call or keyboard away, it goes in the trash. If something once thrown away, it can't be bought again, then keep and take care of it. I live life by the rule, both personally and professionally. It goes in the trash. It feels so good to get rid of stuff.

[porsche930dude]

Organized hoarder thats definately my problem. I go through alot of stuff though it goes out almost as fast as it comes in. I still have way too much of the same stuff. Like buckets full of screwdrivers and hammers. Iv sold alot of them but somehow still have more. The more i clean the more I have. Nothing really gets thrown away except for the real scrap metal that goes to the scrap yard and plastic junk gets dumpstered at work. But anything useable or remotely good gets sold on ebay or piled up in a corner and when i have enough goes out to the curb and posted on marketplace for free and its gone in an hour or two. There are regulars that come. I almost know them by name now. Forget goodwill they dont deserve anything. If you must take it to an independent thrift store. Everyone that sees my spaces is impressed and says is cluttered but organised. Which is only partly true but I do know where about everything is. It just looks messy because I detest storing things in boxes and such where you cant see anything. If I cant see it I cant find it.

[Bill Douglas]

I'm a crazed hoarder. Everytime I've been convinced to throw something out a month or two later I need it. So lesson learnt - don't throw it out.

I've recently bought a small commercial unit/lockup so I can move all my junk into the unit and that way I'm not tied to the house. Freedom, I think I'd like to live in Spain for a year.

[fanaudical]

Having dealt with family members who are hoarders of the worst kind: If you can see your floor and the walls of the room, you're not beyond help...

[Bill Douglas]

I case I cark it. I'm thinking of putting a note on all the Porsche things in the attic that I have just in case I need them It will say "Porsche Part DO NOT THROW IN THE DUMPSTER." I'd be spinning to know important things got thrown out. Sure throw away art works antiques stressless recliners and couches and silly old Royal Doulton, but not the Porsche stuff.

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by Zeke

In the business that I do more as a paying hobby, it is a good thing to keep just about anything. Any kind of knobs, different species of wood (no matter how small), even plastics, metal shapes like brackets and the list goes on and on. Wire, rope and string, metals and too much paint and stain. Hoses of all sizes, electrical and plumbing. I haven't even mentioned obscure tools.

I try to keep lamp parts in one area while keeping a stack of veneers in another. It's a battle.

But I will verify the statement that if you throw it away, you will need it probably in the next week.

I don't even get paid for saving things but boy, I go to great lengths to store stuff, as this tiny sliver of my life demonstrates....



To deal with collections of junk like this:

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by LEAKYSEALS951

All I'm saying is don't blow snot rockets on the gloves.

Too bad you don't live closer; I'd let you take the Kona Rove off my hands.