at 19:47, is that a porn mag?!?

While I do have way too much crap in my house, it's nothing compared to this. Not being able to clean or dust, not being able to use a kitchen, it's horrible for someone's mental and physical health.

When I lived at my parents, at points I had a pathway from my door to the bed to the closet and to the desk. I would have to move around stacks of textbooks, clothes and papers to clean. It's hard to say goodbye to things, even things I'll never need again.

When I moved into my new home (still beautiful after 2 years, just don't look in the basement or spare bedroom), I had to force myself to get rid of crap, one box at a time. I found myself asking "would I be upset if I lost this in a fire?" to try and get rid of the clutter. I have yet to miss anything I have tossed or donated (and I have to thank my husband for the motivation).

Your wife needs your support more than anything. Do not give up.

The first guy's house looks like mine, at least the back room and the garage. I have the book thing.

I might have the beginnings of a problem...

:'(

Losing one glove is certainly painful,
but nothing compared to the pain
of losing one glove, throwing away the other
and finding the first one again.

-Piet Hein

(He was Dutch so his English rhymes aren't always perfect)

@BZMedia: I'm the same; for me, I think it's a way of dealing with having too much to do and too little time to do it. If I'm not going to use it again, I either sell it (if it's worth the effort) or dump it. Same for e-mails: if I'm not going to need it again, it's gone. I can't understand people that save every e-mail; that would totally stress me out.

I used to work for a moving company that did moves for people in Section 8 housing that were about as bad as the last guy. I'm not usually one to have a weak stomach but the smell of all their stuff got me close to vomiting. There was also a story in the company about a move where there was a pile of still born kittens under a mound of junk.

I would also like to point out that I am a digital hoarder. I pride myself on getting as much music as I can and thanks to Lifehacker I install pretty much anything that looks vaguely useful.

For my dad, hording is like a gambler's addiction. He saves everything and anything that *might* have value. Why? Because every-so-often, just like a gambler, he is rewarded by finding someone who does see something of value. It doesn't happen often but it does.

Case in point. He had an old oil lamp that looked like junk laying around for 15 years. He finally decided to take it over to a local antique dealer and sell it to the guy for $0.10 to get rid of it. Well the guy's eyes went as big as saucers because it was one of 4 lamps crafted for a coach made for Queen Victoria's visit to Canada about 100 years ago. My dad ended up with a lot more than $0.10 for it.

Now he looks at his stuff and thinks, is there another diamond in there? I better not risk throwing anything away.

BUT then you have to buy it again and again and again. to me, it affects me emotionally to keep supporting companies by constantly buying stuff. I think finances come into play in hoarding as a learned behavior. Maybe I'm afraid if I have to spend money all the time, when that needs arises, and I'm broke, WHAT WILL I DO? I like being in complete control and controlling what happens to me and what I allow to affect me. If I can keep that control wall up, nobody or nothing can hurt me.

Luckily for me, I'm a more of neat-nick & love to throw things out.

I'm a hoarder of old computer stuff, dvd, cd's, PC magazines, cables, metal coffee cans, and all metal hardware. SOON,I will be ebaying my things to clear out my house.

His CV also includes a manual for therapists of Compulsive Hoarders and a self-help book.

I think for people who suffer from this terrible problem, it must be nice to know that there ARE scientists out there who recognize it as a serious issue that can and should be treated.

If you have an itch, you learn that scratching it makes it go away. Sometimes you get an itch for no reason, and though you know it intellectually and can resist the urge to scratch at it, it only makes the itch worse and you will eventually either scratch it or end up so focused on how maddeningly itchy the spot is that you do nothing else. When you cave in and scratch that itch it goes away and your life can continue.

My friend and neighbor has OCD and watching and listening to him over the years has led me to that conclusion. Probably not very accurate but I think it has the general outline.

She puts back near dead ones.

WHY WOULD ANYONE ELSE EVER WANT A 99% DEAD BATTERY?!

So frustrating to die on the Elite 4 in Pokemon red 'cause of crummy batteries.

I know depression era elderly have a somewhat legitimate mental issue with throwing anything away. They saw their parents go from doing well to suddenly having nothing in the blink of an eye. They know how fast someone can lose their job, the bank fails, and they lose everything.

In addition to hoarding goods, they also tend to hoard cash - still afraid of bank failures and not trusting the FDIC. We found stashes of a few hundred dollars here and there throughout the house - in old boots, the mattress, a coffee tin, etc. Emergency money.

I think there are *some* lessons we should take from our grandparents - not being wasteful with material goods, keeping a good sized savings account, and keeping a couple hundred dollars cash handy for emergencies. Buying sturdy products that last a while and reusing them instead of cheap disposable goods.

But when those pieces of advice are taken to extremes they create real problems. Like the elderly woman in the news who recently lost her million dollar savings when her daughter surprised her by purchasing a new mattress and throwing out the old ratty one. Or these hoarding cases. Or people who die with a huge savings account, never having taken the trip of their dreams.

A balance has to be struck.

Wood water ski's from the 60's.
bits of wire. None more than 2' long.
bits of pipe/hose: most under 6'
Bonsai pots. That was a hobby that my dad had quit 10 yrs prior
Camping stuff: They used a trailer and didn't need the stuff.

It took me hours to get all the "stuff" out and to the front. They did manage to sell most of it...and one guy came at the end when the boxes of wire/hose/random items was left and took it all and gave is $20 for it.

I've managed to mostly avoid this pack rat behavior.

Mostly.

I also have a weakness for dishes: pots and snack dishes especially. The flea markets have them in droves. I had three sets of snack dishes and I never have anyone over for that. I gave one to my mom for Christmas because I ran out of money for presents - it was iridescent thumbprint glass. The other one I saved because I collect the thumbprint glass, and the third one is a gorgeous violet-printed one with shell-shaped plates. I have to force myself not to buy any more!

I get the pen thing. I do that too, but unfortunately, they dry out. That makes me so mad!

That's not that bad. My back room is much worse.

I'm a HORRIBLE pack rat. Getting ready for a garage sale soon...haven't even started...oh my God I'm screwed.

Most of my stuff is dollhouse hobby crap. Since I don't have time to do it, it sits. The majority of the stuff fits in a chest of drawers but the dollhouses take up a lot of room, even in the box. Once I clean out the garage and price all the junk that's in there, I'll move the dollhouses that are in the back room into the garage and put them on my newly empty shelves. Oh, and I have tubs in the garage with some more stuff in them, but it's not that much. I wish I had an extra room so I could make an art studio, and put shelves up. That would solve the problem.

I just can't pitch something if I can make a little dollhouse thing out of it.

You hit on some really good points there. My wife also has the "decision" issue, especially for her stuff, but to a (far) lesser degree, with other things in life.

And, anxiety?! Absolutely! In fact, she's been clinically diagnosed with social anxiety disorder and left her last job with a GAF of 55 due to anxiety. Personally, I think if the psychiatrist had the opportunity to look at the place, it'd be more in the 41-50 range.

As a professional organizer, even one who does not work with compulsive hoarders or even those on the high end of the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization's clutter scale, I nonetheless am exposed to a lot of research on this topic. For those who would like to learn more, may I suggest the book "Overcoming Compulsive Hoarding" by Fugen Neziroglu? Among other things, the book explains the difference between the easily confused conditions of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder.

For those who are struggling with hoarding themselves, or have loved ones who are, I can recommend the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization or NSGCD, an sister organization of the National Association of Professional Organizers.

For family members seeking support among similarly-experienced people, ChildrenofHoarders.com has a compendium of non-clinical, anecdotal advice.

Again, I don't work with compulsive hoarders, myself, but have heard excellent things about the work done at the Hartford Hospital Anxiety Disorders Center program for compulsive hoarding

Finally, for those who like to surf for themselves, Dr. David Tolan and Gail Steketee, two of the foremost authorities in the field.

My mother would fit right in with the other subjects in this documentary. Growing up in that environment, it was always a source of pain and shame. When I was a teenager I'd secretly take the trash from my room to a garbage bin at a local apartment complex, as my mother would routinely rifle through my garbage to ensure I wasn't throwing something valuable away. We were never allowed to throw away old newspapers unless they were older than six months old (we received two newspapers daily). I could go on but you've described the situation much better already.

My father was able to keep things in check, but only just barely. And when he died, the situation became much more serious. Soon my mother was so ashamed that I was no longer allowed in the house - it's been about six years since I've last been there. And that's the worst part I think -- the mess is awful, but it's nothing compared to the state of our relationship between my mom and her kids.

I also don't buy the theory that this behavior is some sort of statement against consumerism. With my mother, the behavior isn't the result of a conscious decision. If anything the rationale for her behavior comes after-the-fact ("I can get money for all these aluminum cans", "I may read these newspapers someday").

Yes, she realizes she has a problem, but there's something that stops her from acting on the problem.

Conversations will go like this (In fact, despite it sounding so stilted and unlikely, this exact one was one we've had):

"You know that by not getting rid of stuff or meeting reasonable deadlines (we're talking MONTHS to complete a single room here) you're jeopardizing our relationship and possibly the future of our children?"

"Yes."

"And what do you plan to do to change that? I'm willing to help."

"Whatever."

And there you go. Total complete roadblock. She isn't normally like that, just on topics related to this issue. This video reminds me that I need to get her to a psychologist again. Can't hurt. And that we need to stop wasting money on drugs--once her doctor weans her off the current meds I'm just going to forbid it. They're pointless. She's been on at least 2 different SSRIs at different times and they do absolutely, positively nothing at all.

The only resolution that will work in the long run is to break down that mental barrier, either through time, or through a psychologist.

I've been through the costs side of things but since it's a mental illness that sort of "therapy", well, isn't. If she were being rational in the first place I wouldn't have 100+ boxes of her junk in the basement that haven't been opened since they day they were sealed away. That doesn't count what's lying around, of course.

The give/keep/junk idea doesn't work, either. The "keep" box just gets full and the participant gives up.

OCD support group might be a good idea.

I suppose I'm not a shining example, I do have a lot of crap lying around (mostly PC parts and electronics bits). HOWEVER, the difference is that if someone close to me said to me they were going to leave me if I didn't throw them away, they'd be in the trash before the end of the day, no questions asked (In fact, during an argument, that sort of thing has happened already.) They just aren't more valuable than a decent relationship. That and, quite honestly, computers are my job and electronics my hobby.

If there were a medical solution to this, I'd be ecstatic. It'd be like improving my life 20-fold.

I was raised in the opposite environment and it's really hard for me.

The thing is, she's really a smart person and realizes, in a painful and guilty way, that she has a problem. She even understands why--she suffers from a great deal of anxiety over making commitments or decisions. Getting rid of something is making a decision of sorts, it's crossing a border over which one cannot return, and therefore is terrifying to her. Life doesn't have an "undo" button, but she improvises one the best she can by simply never deciding anything.

I think all hoarding behaviors have extreme, crippling anxiety at their root. I don't think it has anything to do with addiction, though the guilt and pain at realizing there is something wrong with you can lead to contributing behaviors like over-acquisition which just serve to exacerbate the problem.

Those of you who are asking "why" or "how" need to understand it has nothing to do with logic. I am a very logical person, yet I feel that is the problem. Everything has a purpose, and missing out on a "good deal" can become an obsession. You can' just get rid of it, because then you are wasting your money. And you can't not buy it because you will obsess over it until you do. It is a combination of over-thinking and paranoia, but you can't stop.

I have gotten much much better, but I am pretty sure this will be something I deal with for the rest of my life.

Good luck to my fellow CH, you're not alone.

(sorry for the long post, this is very personal to me)

A friend of my family's is a hoarder. He's got multiple buildings on his property stuffed to the gills with various things. He runs it as a store and if you can find something you want he'll sell it to you, but nothing is really priced to sell and most of it is kept in poor conditions so even if you can find that one issue of Life from 1952 in the giant pile of Life magazines, chances are it will be rotten. Still, it makes for really cool photos.

Poor guy in the last segment, I also feel bad for his neighbors, can you imagine the vermin/insect infestation in that filth? And, really, it was one of the filthiest living spaces I have ever seen, his kitchen was gross.

As for myself, I try to convince the hoarders I know that, of the three piles they have (give away, throw away, and keep), that the give away and throw away piles need to be larger for the sake of health and sanity.

Also, it seems to help to point out the associated cost with having stuff hauled away. Math is your ally here. The 1-800 junk hauler guys seriously charge $125 bucks to fill an eighth of one of their little trucks. That helps convince them. If you can show a hoarder using a storage unit how much they've spent over time on keeping their "valuable" items, that can help too.

But yes, I do hoard. The big difference I tell people is that I'm cluttery, not dirty. There may be piles of paper/clothes, but I never leave food or anything that can go bad around. But if you look in my cupboards, you will find at least 5 of everything b/c I find them onsale, and so I'm saving! I may never use them before they expire, but I have them. Same thing with receipts. I had a job that required me to keep receipts of stuff I bought, to prove we paid, and since then, I keep every receipt/packing slip/etc.

@nwaasob: Well, I perceive it as bad, which helps motivate me to rectify it. From the room above, which was taken about 5 years ago, I currently have this:

But as you can tell by the Hard Drives, which I got from searching trash, I still hoard things. Part of what helped me is switching to a new psycho, who understands I downplay my habits, and I would like to change.

Yes, that's big. Also for bits and pieces, I'll get a tacklebox or something like that, and all the random extra hardware bits and things like that my husband wants to store can go in the tacklebox. If they don't fit in the tacklebox, out they go. They never get used in the tacklebox, but at least they're confined to a small space and if we DO need an odd screw, we know EXACTLY where to look.

Just sorting the junk can make a big difference ... then you don't do all the repeat buying of stuff you already have (which is how junk begets junk). We have waaaaay too many pads of paper, but now they're all in one place, so no more come into the house and we know exactly where to find them.

I sympathize, too. My mom was a hoarder. The usual story of emptying her house after she died, etc.

Do YOU have anywhere to go for support? You cannot be strong AND keep up with the incoming tide of stuff 24/7/52. Maybe there's an OCD support group you could call to see if they have a "Family of OCD" support group.

It's hard for us without the problem to realize how intractible and frighteningly emotional it is for its sufferers. There have been, in the past few years, discoveries in genetics that for some percentage of hoarders, it actually is a gene missing (or something) in the part of the brain that makes decisions. I'm sure there are articles all over the internet about it. Wouldn't it be great if they could help the sufferers medically? It's a tough one, it really is. I feel sorry for the folks, especially the last fellow in the film. I hope they are finding help, and peace, someday.

@Chris Dail: I'm the same way. I won't keep anything if I know I won't use it. I hate clutter. I'm not OCD with cleanliness. I have my lazy weeks. But I just don't keep junk. It's less to worry about. I guess that stems from me having moved so much in my life. I like having less things to worry about and living comfortably with the least amount "stuff" possible.

Sort of like this:

"Let's just work with a few piles of stuff here... You've got the give away, throw away, and keep piles. Now if we can just make those give away and throw away piles a little bigger, you'll have more room to live in, and less stuff to keep track of."

I also found out that the 1-800 junk haulers charge about $125 bucks to fill up 1/8th of a truck, or save big by spending $500 for a full truckload. This seemed to go a long way toward convincing them that it would be more expensive in the long run to keep so much stuff.

That's a horrible personal violation no matter who you do it to, but especially so if you do it to someone with hoarding issues, which seem to be pretty solidly geared toward maintaining their feeling of security.

I'm sorry she died, but I'm glad the junk is gone. That's no way to live.

I think that's the definition of a hoarder. You're 'hoarding' excess that you can / will ever use. Like the guy that had all those packages of the exact same product, unopened.

I believe some of the lines of thought involved in that is, "I like this product, but if they stop making it, I will have all I need", and "if it breaks or I lose it or it gets stolen, I'll have a spare." (and a spare for the spare, and another spare just in case), but that's just a guess.

Unless you just accidentally ordered way too many by accident. In which case, return them.

Well, she did. I don't know if she started again after I cleared out three rooms of her house, the garage, and the entire back yard.

You could actually see her mess on Google Earth. (It's not so bad last I checked, though)

She'd always been hoarding, and it was pretty bad by the time I left...but some time after I left it just went completely out of control. I was actually able to figure out when, as I was digging through the piles, I was able to date the layers by looking at the newspapers and bags of mold that used to be bread.

@SaritaPony: You might want to look into the FLAC format. The music doesn't loose anything, but it will still take up less space than a full wave

Flac article at Wikipedia

@MameDennis: I remember reading a magazine article some years back about a compulsive shopper. She was stressed from being broke and lonely in a strange town (New York City), and obviously a little mentally ill, because her coping strategy for poverty was...to buy stuff. Loads and loads of junk from shopping channels and websites, boxes that she never even opened. She got thousands into debt maxing out cards left and right before she recognized that she needed to fix the problem. For her, the elation at receiving a package - and a visit from the UPS guy, the only person she knew in all of New York - kept her buying stuff.

@doctor_cos:

Me. I don't have a single box of junk anywhere. My obsession is cleanliness and order.

@calquist: I think there are a lot of us that envy you. Others have asked, so I'd like to do the same. Can you describe the emotional component behind it? What drives it? I knew this girl in college that had trouble forming real relationships with anyone (friend or love). She had very few possessions and always had a bag packed. This is an extreme example, of course.

@Julia789: As I mentioned in a previous comment, my grandma was a hoarder too. But she was an artist and craftsperson, so her clutter tended toward art supplies and old junk she thought she might repurpose into craft projects one day. The downstairs level of her house wasn't too bad 'til right before she died, but the upstairs was basically impassable. And near the end she obviously just starting collecting everything: my sister found a neatly lined-up collection of 7 coffeepots...and no coffeemaker. The oddest thing I found was a big clay pot, filled with dirt, and stuck in the dirt were about 500 plastic sporks.

Financial records are one thing I keep indefinitely. And there's a good reason to do so. A few years ago I was sent a letter from another state I had never lived in saying I owed them taxes from 1996. It was a BIG deal. There were loads of penalties attached to it and threats about prosecuting me for tax-evasion. I had to prove to them that I didn't evade anything because I lived, worked, and filed taxes that year in a completely different state. It was the ONLY thing that got them to back off. A Federal tax return with my address on it, and the state return. Nothing else was considered "proof". Not even phone records, drivers license, or a lease agreement.

Turned out they had me confused with someone else by the same name. But unless I could prove it, I was on the hook for the entire mess. So yeah, I keep every single piece of financial records going back to Day 1 of the first job I ever had, locked up in a (now very large) safe. Other docs I keep forever are my military records, any legal docs, etc. But that's definitely not considered "hoarding" by any stretch. Keeping them in a safe does not overrun my home or disrupt my life. My advice: Keep that kind of stuff if you need the peace of mind. I do.

@SeniorPonzologist_GitEmSteveDave: Honest question, how do you know if you're bad or not? Is it something you understand intellectually, but emotionally, you have a hard time letting go? Is it procrastination (I know a few of my messes are from me wasting my time, when I could be organizing)? I'm absolutely not suggesting you're like the people in the video, I guess I'm just curious about if many people with serious problems might have the same attitude as you- the, "I could use some improvement, but its not that bad." As I said, I'm not accusing you of hoarding, its just your comment got me thinking about how often people say that. The 500 lb person who acknowledges they need to loose a few pounds, etc. I realize this may be offensive and so I want to apologize in advance. I guess I'm extremely curious about the emotional state of hoarders and how they justify it and your comment got me thinking about that.

@spanky: She probably complained or in other ways expressed frustration to her kids about the clutter and the fact that she couldn't stop hoarding it. My grandma was a hoarder and complained about the mess all the time. To hear her gripe, you'd think she'd want help getting rid of the mess - but she always balked when someone actually made attempts to clean. The kids probably heard Mom complain or express embarrassment and naturally assumed she'd be happy when the source of her anxiety was cleared away, not understanding she's mentall ill, not just messy.

also, if you hoard shampoo bottles, or collect newspapers, or pennies thats fine. Heck, I used to collect glass jars, my closet was full of them. But if collecting/hoarding a reason, past experience (G. Depression) or for posterity its much different than doing it out of fear, or compulsion (as in being unable to resist, unable to throw any of it, unable to compromise).

For the hoard!

WoW players will get the ref.

As for getting rid of stuff... I usually don't regret it in the long run. If it makes me feel better in the short term and I never miss it, it's kind of a win-win. Sure, I keep the important stuff and the essentials, but if it's not something I need or use, it's just extra baggage or it's in the way and needs to go.

I can understand people compulsively collecting certain stuff, but not what most would consider "junk". What could be so important about stacks of old newspapers that someone could have such a strong emotional connection to them? Its just old crap.

Sounds pretty rough to me...

Also having moved 14 times in the last 10 years, I learned to get pretty ruthless. Though I've now been in one place for over a year and a half, and with a wedding coming up it's amazing how much the Useless Crap is piling up. I'm looking forward to having a massive apartment purge after the wedding (and anything that gets replaced by registry gifts can go too).

@nwaasob: I'm "neat" in my hoarding. Like if I save a catalog b/c it contains something interesting, I will rip out that page. I will also ditch a clamshell package after about 3 months, and just keep the packaging. Receipts are my biggest vice, and they get collected for a month, then put in a accordian folder and finally into a plastic currency deposit bag when the year is done. I got the bags from my old job when they sold the store and were going to chuck them.

My problem is that I'm paranoid, and occasionally, something I save comes in handy, like a screw or bolt, and it re-inforces my paranoia.

If you want to know how bad I got, many years ago, here is a sample:

@moore850: But they all seem to understand at some level that what they're doing isn't "normal" or logical. What I'm curious about is trying to understand what that emotional compusion is that won't let them get rid of things? Perhaps its something you just can't get your mind around unless you suffer from it, like drug addiction.

I admit, I have a bit of that when it comes to my financial records. The what if I need to prove X or Y prevents me from throwing some away.

If any of you did a "dir /s" of my hard drives, you'd be horrified.

But at least they don't smell, rot or take up physical space.

@shepd: I'm sorry for what you're going through. It must be difficult. I know this is a personal question, but does your wife "intellectually" know that she has a problem? In the videos, all of them understand at some basic level, that they have a problem, but that there is such strong emotional component, that they can't overcome it. Has she ever been able to explain what that emotional compulsion is?

@GMFish: That's so sad! If there was even a small fire, all those thousands of newspapers... before anyone could help to put it out it would be too late.

My grandmother (depression era) hoarded newspapers in her attic. At least it was confined in one area. But the ENTIRE attic was filled with neatly stacked and tied newspapers sorted by date.

When I asked her why she needed to keep them, she said she worried she might want to look up an article someday. I tried to tell her she could search the newspaper archives at the library if that happened, but she was not convinced.

When she died and we went to clean out the attic, there were thousands upon thousands of silverfish feasting on the old newspapers. We had to have a company come spray the attic and wait 2 weeks to come back in and start putting them in a dumpster before we could put the house up for sale.

@HiPwr: I had a distant relative who hoarded (among other things) unopened boxes of stuff she'd ordered from the shopping channel. So, yeah, she was not so much "rebelling against rampant consumption" as she was "batpoop insane".

That's good stuff there. I run through a similar internal dialog myself all the time too. Usually the last question I ask myself is "repurposing". I ask myself, "is there any other purpose I can put this to use for?" Like, a coffee table I no longer needed (because of a move to a house with a different layout) was on its way out, but I repurposed it for the guest bedroom because the new guest room is larger and it needed one. But if no new purpose can be found for something, it goes. Some barstools that got replaced with new ones found a new home in my garage for times when I'm fiddling out there on the weekend and just want to sit for a minute. Some desk grommets from an old desk I cannibalized for the new desk, (to be used immediately, not lay around just-in-case) and the rest went away.

I think that's one of the barriers hoarders can't seem to cross. The "just-in-case" mentality. The idea that somehow, someday, they will be able to put it to use again. Usually that day never comes. A good rule to break out of that is, if you're keeping it "just-in-case", it should go. (obvious exceptions would be things like fire extinguishers, emergency flashlights, jumper cables, etc.... those really are just-in-case items.)

[flac.sourceforge.net]

If the answer is yes (or maybe), I ask myself if it's worthwhile/easy to store, or easier to just replace if I do need it again at some indeterminate point in the future (or if I can rent it if I need it). For example, my husband hates getting rid of pens. We had three shoeboxes full when I collected them from all over the house. Pens are cheap and easy to replace, ONE shoebox will probably keep me five years, and the excess were easy to donate to a school. Other things I'm more likely to use at least now and then and might cost more to replace -- like I have an ice bucket I'm not crazy about, but it works and I do use it enough that I'd end up having to replace it if I pitched it. So I store it.

If the answer is no, or if the item is decorative/non-useful, I ask myself if it has sentimental value. (If not, out it goes.) If it does, I ask myself if I have other items from the same person or same event that I value more, that are easier to store, that I get more pleasure out of, etc. Pro organizers will tell you it's the memory you hang on to, not the "souveniers" but I like the souveniers too ... but I force myself to sort to retain only the best ones. Like I kept my hand-sewn First Communion gown that my grandmother made, but got rid of some quickly Hallowe'en costumes she threw together. The gown is much nicer and had more love and care put into it, and may be re-used by my children; the Hallowe'en costumes were just sitting there. Or I sorted my souvenier T-shirts and kept the best/most meaningful ones for a T-shirt quilt. The rest go to charity.

(Yes, I know I can't spell souvenier. Repeated attempts are not getting me any closer.)

I also remind myself that getting rid of crap/things I don't use/meaningless stuff leaves me more room to have and enjoy the things I have, and to get new good things (if applicable). It's amazing how once you sort through the clutter, you can suddenly enjoy, say, using an heirloom serving platter that before was at the bottom of a box under 12 other random kitchen thing that had no match, or put on display some really special items instead of having a giant box of the special mixed in with the meh. A giant pile of memoribilia will prevent you from enjoying any of it ... it's just in the pile. That's a big motivator for me.

Another good resource is the book "Buried in Treasures: Help for Compulsive Acquiring, Saving, and Hoarding" by David F. Tolin, Randy O. Frost and Gail Steketee [www.amazon.com]

Hmmm, well, I guess it's a minimalist mindset. I like stuff as much as the next guy, so it's not like I'm living in an empty house. But I just try to only keep the things that are useful or relevant. For example:

If you go through the trouble of picking out and customizing and buying a new computer (or any other object) because the old one is no longer satisfactory, the old one needs to go away. There's a reason you're replacing it.

If you have something because you had a need for it, like a lawnmower and other yard tools I had, but that need goes away, the objects need to go away too. If the need arises later on down the road, you can always acquire the objects again.

If you change your decor, furniture, artwork, etc, the old ones should go away. They are no longer useful.

If you have stuff packed in a box or stuffed away in another room, and you can't remember what's in there, or that you even have it, you obviously don't need it. It's just collecting dust and consuming space. Eliminate it.

I think this stems from the fact that I've done a huge amount of traveling and moving around in my life. I've lived in different countries, states, islands, etc... I've moved easily 50 times. And dragging around all your junk is a real pain. Less is better.

But that also doesn't mean everything has to go in the trash either. If I have a friend or neighbor that needs something, I'll give it to them. If I can sell something, I do. If it can be recycled or go to Goodwill, it goes. The rest goes in the trash. I don't keep old stuff around like computers or food processors or stereo components as "parts in case something breaks". Odds are you will never touch that thing again. Just get rid of it.

Basically, I feel that, if you're not getting any value out of something other than the value of it consuming space, it has no value. And hanging on to old vacuum cleaners and such for years because you may need to cannibalize some plastic widget off it ten years from now, is not worth it. Let someone else benefit from it, make some cash off it, or ditch it. That's how I view materialistic things in life anyway.

For some reason, my father is NOT in the documentary. That's a mistake by the filmmakers - they could've used him as their opening AND closing arguments.

It is absolutely a mental illness, and I can tell you, it takes a heavy toll on everything.

It takes a toll on the relationship.
It takes a toll on friendships (you can't have anyone over)
It takes a toll on health (you can't use the kitchen)
It takes a toll on your money (rebuying what you already own because you can't physically find it, eating out because it's too disgusting inside)
It takes a toll on your job (it is absolutely mentally exhausting just getting up and seeing it all, and then you get to go to work)

And there's plenty more. It's probably one of the worst "hidden" mental illnesses. It's also one where the people with the issue have a hard time getting help because they either know they have a problem but feel unable to do anything about it, or won't admit it. I've tried many times to get my wife to get help, but it hasn't worked. The help is "too basic" and "doesn't work". The books are "not right for me".

The only thing that's worked (and this is only very slightly, but anything that is positive helps) is to basically spend hours a weeks cleaning yourself and encouraging her to do some too. The only issue is the only cleaning YOU can do is actual normal cleaning (you know, dusting, wiping, washing, etc). The moment you try to dump things is the moment the person with the problem will absolutely explode.

But hey, it is getting better. Slowly. Gotta remember to keep strong...

Of course, mp3s, for some odd reason, seem throwaway to me. eBay, Amazon, Musicstack, and Juno love me.

Now I run an eBay consignment shop. Great stuff comes from the estates of hoarders who pass away.

When talking to people who are on the fence about giving up their stuff, I always advise to sell it now while you can. God forbid your stuff gets lost, stolen, damaged or just loses value.

I avoid being morbid by NOT saying "sell it before you die and you get nothing out of it", but that's basically what they need to do.

Can you describe (for the hoarder types reading) a bit more what makes you feel the driving need to have less stuff? How do you overcome the "what if I need it?" feeling, or do you even feel that?

Why would anyone expect her to be grateful?

@BZMedia: You beat me to it; I was about to say the same thing about myself. For me it's rebellion against my family of hoarders...

Thanks in advance. :)

Of course, I guess it's technically healthier than being an obsessed collector...

@SeniorPonzologist_GitEmSteveDave: I have a goat path that perfectly fits my motorcycle in my garage amongst all the tools and crap in there :)

I mean, everyone does this to some degree, but what do we do to help the people who are really bad?

I find that depression era survivors and their children are often some of the worst offenders. This also makes it difficult to argue that they should get rid of X. Because what if the economy tanks, and they can't afford X? The "haven't used it in 6 months, throw it out" rule doesn't seem to work on them either.

@Newmy:
See, THAT is a collection. There's a pride to showing those items. Just piling things without a sense of respect to them- despite emotional connections- that is hoarding.

And animal hoarding is by far the worst. Not only are you in possession of more than you can handle, it's destroying living creatures' lives.

I am convinced that when the full human genome is decoded and understood, they will identify the packrat, the clutter-doesn't-bother-me, and the procrastinator genes. How do I know that? Because I suffer from those problems and need a medical reason as to why I postpone cleaning the cluttered areas of my home. I am currently wearing my "The top 10 reasons I procrastinate: 1." t-shirt. And if you've never seen one, it shows item 1 blank and 2-10 aren't even listed.

A friend of mine calls my clutter problem "nesting." I think she'll get a kick out of the 'goat path' comment.

We've reached a detente of sorts ... if it's sorted and in a limited container space ("you can keep all the childhood toys that will fit in this tupperware tub"), I ignore it. If the piles are NOT contained, it's uncool.

There's still too much of it, but at least tubs stack out of the way.

Sure we're all obsessive/compulsive in some way, the problem is that some people are worse than others to such an extent that their quality of life is impacted.

I wrote a comment about my old landlady. The vast majority of her house was completely unusable because she stored her stacks and stacks of worthless newspapers in them. Her living room? Can't use it. Her spare bedrooms? Can't use them. There was a very narrow path from her front door to her kitchen, to her bathroom, and to her bedroom. Every other horizontal surface had newspapers stacked on it.

Unlike keeping stuff stored out of the way in "a drawer" (Wow, one drawer of stuff!!!), she had a major problem. Her obsession/compulsion took over her life and her house.

@GMFish: Yes, I think the "I'm revolting against the material recklessness of consumerism" by amassing empty shampoo bottles until I can't see the floor is a bit of a stretch.

:-P

I saw this video over a year ago in my "Studies". :P It is one of the BEST. Highly recommended. 5/5

The last guy in the film is by far the most disturbed.

@WEGGLES90: I think you answered your own question, it's mental sickness. Mental illness never makes sense.

@doctor_cos: I agree with you 100%. I have boxes of stuff in the garage I haven't touched in years, but no way will I get rid of it. I'm not a hoarder by any means, but there's a little piece of us that just can't let go of some stuff.

I used to have a landlady (I lived upstairs in her house) who hoarded newspapers. Her house was literally filled with stacks of them. You'd have to walk through narrow paths to get from room to room. I offered to help clean up, but she declined.

She also hoarded batteries. Every year when it was time to check the smoke detectors she's pull out this box of old batteries and we'd go through everyone until we found one that worked. I suggested that we simply throw away the ones that we know don't work, but she wouldn't hear of it.

So in my humble conclusion it's mental. No doubt about it.