A to Z Theme 2016

For my 2016 A to Z theme I used a meme that I ran across on the blog of Bridget Straub who first saw it on the blog of Paula Acton. This meme is a natural for me to use on my memoir blog. It's an A to Z concept and it's about me. No research and nothing complicated. I'm given twenty six questions or topics to discuss that are about me.

In April I kept my posts short and uncomplicated. In the midst of it all you might learn a few things about me that you didn't previously know.

Saturday, November 28, 2015

Newspaper Stacks and Other Hoards

English: Photo of the living room of a compuls...
 Photo of the living room of a compulsive hoarder --not mine though
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
   

      I confess that I am a pack rat.  I haven't reached the stage of the hoarders you see on television or the reclusive oddballs who have been found dead, buried by toppled stacks of accumulated junk.  Not yet at least.  But my wife has her fears.

          Actually I have gotten better as I have attempted to pursue a goal of getting rid of something every day.  I do try.  Really.  I'll admit that new things get added on a regular basis, but so do the outgoing things.  Well, maybe I've slacked off of late, but my intentions are good.

          Stuff piles up.  Even when I was on the road with a touring stage production I tended to accumulate stuff.  If I hadn't have had my own vehicle during those years, my collection of material things accumulated during those travels would have been undoubtedly far less.  When I have a place to put things, I am apt to keep more. At the end of each tour year we'd empty our van to store stuff wherever we'd be provided space.  In most cases that would have been my parents house.  They had a lot of space even though they too managed to store a lot of stuff.

          Part of my pack rat nature probably came from my parents.  They were not "hoarders" in the absurd extreme sense of the word, but like most people they kept things.  Some things just accumulated because they rarely got sifted through while many others were kept for sentimental reasons, family history, or just because they seemed worth keeping.

          After my mother's passing I can't say any of us were amazed or even mildly surprised by all the stuff that was in her house because it was stuff that we often saw when we were there.  There were times when, with my mother's blessing, I'd undertake a mission of sorting, organizing, and weeding out.  That helped some, but still that daily incoming flow of stuff typically outweighed the stuff going out.

         In my own home I've had some energetic bursts of stuff removal with items being sold, donated, or thrown away.  This can be tiring and for me it is often a mission that digresses into diversionary exploration and study of what I have in our home's possession.   Memories are often stirred as well as the puzzling pondering of "why did I keep this" or "where the heck did this come from".

          My stacks of newspapers have dwindled considerably as I've cut back my subscription to just a Sunday paper.  I've been slowly going through the accumulations of old newspapers and moving them to the recycling bin.  I've had a thing about newspapers since I was in high school when I felt compelled to read every word, study every picture, and look at every advertisement--an undertaking that seemed to never gain ground as stacks became higher and higher.

         This never seeming to get ahead of the stuff accumulation is what leads to a purging now and then.  My frustration with not reaching my objectives of wading through the stuff that piles up will sometimes spur me to start eliminating things as quickly as I can.  Or I'll sort things into piles, storage spaces, or boxes in order to create some semblance of neatness until I can get to it all later.

          So it goes.  Stuff comes in while some of it goes out.  What doesn't go out becomes set aside for someday.   I suppose that one day after I have passed from this life there will be stuff for whoever I leave behind.  They will sort through it all in wonderment or perhaps even disgust.  I've got some pretty cool things tucked away.  I wonder if they will recognize that?

           Now excuse me while I carry another load of stuff off to the recycle bin.   Not all of this stuff is all that cool.

           Do you find yourself in a never-ending battle with accumulation?   What kinds of stuff do you tend to keep?    When do you throw something away?

14 comments:

  1. Getting divorced and moving back to the east coast forced me into a major purge. Although I did leave my now deceased ex with some things I wish I'd taken with me. I have tried to purge here too this past year. I have lots of knick knacks and trinkets that I refuse to part with. books. Record albums. But my hoarder's room is my craft room. I hoard craft supplies!

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    1. JoJo, your accumulating sounds like a productive form of hoarding that might more aptly be called supply warehousing. At least you are putting your stuff to use. Being on the road prevented me from doing any major hoarding. Much of what I've done as far as accumulating things has been in the years since I've settled off the road.

      Lee

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  2. I am a pack rat and trying hard to reform. The next ten years I plan to get rid of most of everything I own. I stopped visiting yard sales several years ago. It is just that I see a use in so much. I once moved and got rid of a lot and had the realization that your junk also owns you. But I moved three pack rats in with me. However, I can't blame them. It's me.
    Anyway, get rid of more. Resist bring things home is my motto.

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    1. Ann, in an effort not to spend money I don't really have I virtually buy nothing. My wife is starting to slack off as well. My last haul was stuff I wanted to keep from my mother's estate and now I have to figure out where to put it as it is currently in boxes in my garage.

      Lee

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  3. I struggle with this. I hate clutter—and yet, somehow, it invades my living space when I'm not looking. Yuck! But I have such a hard time throwing stuff away... "It might come in handy." "These are hard to find." "Oh, these would be perfect for..." And on, and on. 99% of the stuff never gets used. And, of course, the 1% that I do throw out is the one thing I find a use for exactly ten minutes after the trash has been hauled away. *Sigh*
    Guilie @ Quiet Laughter

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    1. Guilie, that's the way it is with me too. Sometimes you keep stuff for so long thinking that one day you'll need it and then when it's no longer necessary it seems like maybe it's worth keeping because it's old and seems valuable for that reason. It can be a quandary.

      Lee

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  4. Fortunately, no hoarding tendencies here, or with anyone else in my family. I am a bit of a compulsive chucker of expired food though, which annoys my family to no end.

    Strangely enough, I've had arguments on Facebook with people who insisted that hoarding was not a disease but simply brought on by being able to buy what they want when they wanted due to the glut of products out there for consumers to buy.

    Father Nature's Corner

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    1. GB, I probably have some food here that needs chucking. Better to chuck than to upchuck.. I don't see hoarding as a disease, but I do think it is a compulsory behavior that can be rooted in different reasons for varying individuals.

      Lee

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  5. I too am at war with accumulated stuff, Lee. I think the only real solution is to downsize (probably to one of those tiny houses). I'm working on it a little at a time so hopefully my kids won't be stuck with the task someday.

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    1. Patricia, I've been slowly attempting to downsize, but not to a smaller environment. I'm making progress but it's a constant battle.

      Lee

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  6. My rule: if it hasn't been used for a year, pitch it!

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    1. Shelly, I've heard that rule but rarely abide by it.

      Lee

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  7. I think it's part of our nature to keep things. I definitely like to keep things and a lot of times there's some "just in case" keeping going on, which is never a good idea. I have a rule for clothes and items, which is if I haven't worn it/used it within a year I allow myself one more year to try it if I really like it and think it will be useful, or else I get rid of it. After the two year mark, it's gone.

    If it's a crafting item, it's a little harder to get rid of because with crafting one never really knows when it'll come in handy. And it always seems like as soon as you get rid of it you find a use for it and are sorry you let it go.

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    1. Shannon, I agree that keeping things is part of human nature. I see homeless people with shopping carts full of stuff and am amazed that they hang on to as much as they do while living on the streets. I'm sure there is a reason for this that has been explained by psychologists who have studied the phenomena but I'm not sure what that would be.

      Your methodology sounds like a practical way to address material accumulation.

      Lee

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