My wife thinks I'm becoming a hoarder..

[blas]

Hoarders are people who won't let go of things and get rid of them.

You want to see some bad hoarders, there is my father and 3 out of 4 of his brothers.

After my Nanna died, they could have made an episode on TV about her house. It took days to clean out all that stuff.

And unfortunately, my Grandpa (mom's dad) took a bunch of it, when the purpose was to get rid of most of the stuff, because a lot of it was crap.

And where did Grandpa leave it? My parents' house.

So nearly the entire basement of my parents' house for a little over a year, was a complete and total disaster and you couldn't walk through it once you passed my dad's office.

[AdminAssistant]

I tend to hang on to things like cards (silly, I know) and notes from classes. However, I keep everything very organized and clean and I will throw out useless things if I don't have a place to put them. My grandmother and great-aunt were both terrible hoarders. We could keep Grandma's under control, since we visited her regularly. But my great-aunt was a mean, spiteful old maid who lived in her parents' house. It took us an entire summer of working on the weekends to go through it all. Newspapers, pictures, clothing, dishes, magazines (as far back as the 60's), flour sacks, quilts, you name it. It got so bad that towards the end we were pitching everything, even things that really should have been saved. My parents aren't quite as bad, but there's an outbuilding that I'd really like to start going through.

[drunkenwildmage]

A Friend's mom was your stereotypical horder, typically to the point that you couldn't hardly walk through their house. One year his Parents went on Vacation, and for the week they were gone, he and his brother cleaned just 1 room in the house(Both were adults, but still lived at home) His mother was so moritfied when she got home, that she refused to leave the house for another vacation for at least 10 years.. His father would go.. but Mom stayed home. She finally went after both "Kids" finally moved out of the house.. but it still 3 or 4 years after that before she would go.

[protege]

After my Nanna died, they could have made an episode on TV about her house. It took days to clean out all that stuff.

I know what that's like, Blas. After my grandfather died, we hauled several truckloads of crap out of various places on the farm. He tended to hang onto things, even when he'd already replaced the item. Things like the old screen door from the house, a wooden wheelbarrow with a rotten body, a set of hubcaps from a '52 Buick, etc. At least those items could be easily disposed of--the wheelbarrow and screen door were broken up and torched, and the hubcaps disappeared. But, there were boxes and boxes of various paperwork, tools, and other stuff. Most of that other 'stuff' was just junk. All of it was hauled away and dumped somewhere.

A more serious case was my great-grandmother. For many years, she'd spend the winter in Florida. When she wasn't playing shuffleboard, she'd go to various garage sales. From what I've heard, she would send back *boxes* of crap that she'd bought. She'd buy things like shoes, costume jewelry, books, and anything else she'd think was interesting. All of that crap (or should I say "shit") was boxed up, and UPS'ed to my grandmother's house. Much to my grandmother's annoyance, in fact.

For years, all of that shit was scattered throughout her bedroom at Grandma's, or boxed up in the basement. There were boxes stacked from floor to ceiling in the storeroom under the garage for years! But, after she developed some mental issues, and moved to my aunt's place in Maine...all of that changed. Again, my father and I hauled all that crap home, and eventually sold it at a few garage sales. What was left--namely her collection of old bottles--was disposed of.

[Bella_Vixen]

a wooden wheelbarrow with a rotten body

(I know what you mean, this just struck me as funny.)

[hinakiba777]

When People visit my house during the summer they look at my room and think I'm a Hoarder. I mean, there isn't enough space in my room to move and then the basement is fully of boxes of my stuff.

But this is easily explained. My mother refuses to allow me to keep things in the Living Room in case company might see it. Actually she has told me over and over to put my coats in my bedroom closet instead of the coat closet in the living room because it would look neater in the living room.

Plus my mother stores things in my closet. Blankets she never uses, boxes of stuff, etc. Ironically this was MUCH worse when I was child. When I got to be a teenager I pointed out that there was barely enough room for me in my bedroom, yet my closet was full of her things. She eventually let me clean it out. Moving a few things to the basement, throwing stuff out, moving it into her closet or my brothers. But she kept my closet shelf full of stuff. She is actually currently cleaning out the linen closet to put that stuff in, because there is no room for me in my bedroom.

See when I come home for the summer all of the stuff I have at school comes home with me, which fills up the house. Towels, Bedding, A TV, Microwave, etc. Everything I need in my dorm at school. So it takes up a lot of space.

Sadly my room is also quite small. So when you fill it up with clothing it becomes nearly impossible to move. I recently had to get rid of my desk and buy a new smaller one so that there is more space in my room. I'm actually quite a marvel at organization, and then I see how much space we have in the living room and I want to throw things >.<

My mom is constantly trying to get rid of my stuff (Read As= Throw out all my novels and my comic book/graphic novel collection) because it "takes up space", yet she uses my closet for storage cause she doesn't have the "space in her room."

It should also be noted that she has TONS of open floor space in her bedroom. She just doesn't want it to look cluttered. >.<