Accumulated CRAP

[Wildie]

How in the world do we truly end up with so much junk?????
I went on a spree this weekend... I<FONT color=#800080><FONT color=magenta>'ve made a list with all the rooms in the house (including closets, and storage) and made 3 colums "sorted, packed, cleaned" and as I do each thing I check it off. Right now I have 12 of 17rms sorted, and have filled 7 black garbage bags to go into the dumpster, plus 2 boxes of stuff to give away!!! My husband can't believe how ruthless I am being seeing as I'm a packrat who keeps everything!!!&nbsp;&nbsp;</FONT></FONT>
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[tbbrat]

It breeds in dark corners. <IMG src="smileys/smiley15.gif" border="0">
You should try moving from a 3-bedroom house to a 1-bedroom apt - that's a great way to cut down on your junk!&nbsp; Not fun though. <IMG src="smileys/smiley5.gif" border="0">

[draftdriver]

I would dearly love to have a garage sale, only I'm afraid that relatives or friends would drop by and discover that some of the items for sale would be things they gave me. Things now so obsolete or out of style that I can't use or display them. Things I've never ever used or displayed. Things I've never even taken out of the box in years and years. That's how things accumulate at my place.

[goldendryad]

<font color="magenta">Oooooh Wildie, I feel ya. I too, am a packrat. I've come to terms with it. <br /> <br />I also loathe going through my stuff and getting rid of any of it. A garage sale sounds brilliant, except like draftdriver said, relatives and friends would show up to find their gifts going bye-bye.<img border="0" src="smileys/smiley5.gif" border="0"> <br /> <br />Good for you, being able to throw stuff out.

[MacnRio]

I had a day like that on Saturday, sort of.&nbsp; I didn't go quite that indepth into cleaning!&nbsp; I emptied anything in the fridge that hadn't been touched in a decade. My SO kept saying he'd eat whatever it was. Well, it got pitched on Sat.&nbsp; He whined, I kept pitching <IMG src="smileys/smiley2.gif" border="0">.&nbsp; There were 8 jars of open pickles! 6 different kinds, and I only eat one of them!&nbsp; All were well over a year old <IMG src="smileys/smiley11.gif" border="0">. Other leftovers he swore he'd eat went out as well.
I cleared all clutter off of tables, etc.&nbsp; Dusted <IMG src="smileys/smiley3.gif" border="0">, moved furniture and swept, washed carpets and all dog paraphanalia (beds, food/water dishes, food mats, drying off towels)..... OK,&nbsp; I only did one of 3 floors..... all the clutter when to the computer room (upstairs) <IMG src="smileys/smiley2.gif" border="0">&nbsp;to be cleaned up another day.
Feels good to clean up, doesn't it?&nbsp; Definitely need to be in a specific mood to throw things out though. Every now and then I get the urge to go thru the closet and get rid of clothes, where other times I try to do it and say "I'll wear that again" when I havent' worn it in 2 yrs.
Good for you for getting so much done!!! <IMG src="smileys/smiley10.gif" border="0">

[Eileen]

geesh you guys you are making me dizzy just reading about all of the motions that you go through....I too am a pack rat, have been for years....there will be a day when I find a use that that piece of junk.&nbsp; And usually that day never comes....lol&nbsp;

[Ruth]

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;My fiance has kitchen appliances that I don't even know the function of. And he can never finish a jar of something before opening the next one, which would be fine if he ever threw the first one out.<img border="0" src="smileys/smiley7.gif" border="0"> MacnRio I feel your pain about the pickles. <br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;My very worst pet peeve thing that he has accumulated and not gotten rid of is his sailboat! He had it before we met and it is paid for, BUT he hasn't even looked at the bloody thing in 2 1/2 years and he pays something like $100/month to keep it stored. He then has the nerve to complain about money. Oh and once suggested that Boomer would make an excellent tractor. Well, you know what I think would make an even better tractor!!!!<img border="0" src="smileys/smiley15.gif" border="0"> It wouldn't bother me if he actually used it but it's an awfully expensive item to be sitting there doing nothing. And to boot, because he doesn't even check on it, the hold has flooded twice. No-one please suggest that I take up sailing, I went out with him once and got sick just from sitting on the dock.<img border="0" src="smileys/smiley11.gif" border="0">

[Xenasaur]

im constantly sorting through all my junk... its rather disguisting how much stuff I have. I have sooooooooo many cloths, I dont even have enough room to put them all away. And then I have an actual tack room in my base, plus my locker at the barn... but guess what? my living room and bedroom are still stuffed with horse crap... hahaha... My room is the worse, there is like a 2 foot layer of clothing

[goldendryad]

<font color="magenta">My worst habit is probably my tendancy to make a second carpet - out of dirty clothes. <br /> <br />I seem to prefer it when they're scattered about my room instead of in the laundry basket. I don't quite get it....guess I'm a slob. <br /> <br /> <br />Ooooh, and as for the fridge - I'm a condiment queen. Like my mother before me. I have every kraft vinagrette salad dressing, various stir fry sauces, jams, jellies, etc.... but I don't have basics like mayo or mustard, don't use either.<img border="0" src="smileys/smiley5.gif" border="0"> <br /> <br />I also hate cleaning out the fridge.<img border="0" src="smileys/smiley11.gif" border="0"> <img border="0" src="smileys/smiley11.gif" border="0"> <img border="0" src="smileys/smiley11.gif" border="0">

[Wildie]

I am not sure why I started this, I"m so tired, wouldn't it have been easier to just throw it all into boxes and then find places in the new house for it all????????????????
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[Ruth]

It probably would be easier, but then you'd have all that much extra stuff the next time you move!

[pmc]

Wildie - Hang in there, girl, and keep tossin'.&nbsp; When we were getting the old house ready to sell, I swear we threw out or gave away enough stuff to fill a dumpster,&nbsp;and we'd only been there for&nbsp;6 years. <IMG src="smileys/smiley2.gif" border="0">&nbsp; Most of that stuff was stored in the garage, brought with us from our previous house because we'd gotten sick of sorting and decided it was easier to just pack it and bring it with us.&nbsp; WRONG!&nbsp; It lived in the garage until we finally decided to get rid of it this time around. <IMG src="smileys/smiley14.gif" border="0">

[Eileen]

I don't know where that STUFF comes from either...heck even my trailer tends to gather up stuff ( I think it stuff that was not wanted int he house anylonger so put it in the trailer maybe there will be a use for it there kind of thing)...pretty soon there will be no room for me....<IMG src="smileys/smiley11.gif" border="0">

[Xenasaur]

funny thing is... even though my room and everything is soooo messy... I can find anything in 2 seconds... Its like its easier to find if its all over my floor hahaha.

[Xenasaur]

I think I take after my family, they are all polish (dunno if that has something to do with it)... my 80 year old uncle is a pack-rat too... Its horribly... hahaha, but sooo hilarious... I can see where I get it.
I was reading a magazine and there was an artical on AD/HD and one of the symptoms is a messy room... haha

[Wildie]

PMC thanx for the encouragement. I really only have 1room, storage under the stairs, Mr.Wildie's clothes, and the storage shed&nbsp;left to sort I CAN DO IT.... (I will do Mr.Wildies clothes tomorrow when he's at work so he won't know what I've done..)

[Eileen]

Xen...I don't think Polish heritage has anything to do with the pack rat syndrome...however it may have something to do with the depression era back in the '30's...no I was not around in the '30's however my parents, and grand parents were, and my mother was always talking about how tough it was in the late 30's she lived on the farm with her parents, they lost their barn from a fire in the fall when all the crops had been harvested so that was lost as well...they were left with nothing basically for the winter...it was the cousins and relatives from the city that would come out and leave food and things in the mailbox or front porch....that is still with her to this day.&nbsp;

[Wildie]

I have to butt this in b/c I have 2 siblings that are still teenagers... I don't think teens&nbsp;and under age of 23 can really be called packrats. &nbsp;I think they are just lazy slobs who just don't want to clean up they'd rather have fun. Now I am not issulting anyone, I was the exact same way!! The description of "packrat" is someone who keeps everything b/c they believe they will have a use for it someday.
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[Judy F]

You're right on Wildie. There are Obsessive-Compulsives with a packrat complex. They simply cannot discard anything. <br /> <br />My former sister-in-law's husband's aunt was dying of cancer and they had to move her to a hospice. Her nephew had just died and she couldn't cope alone anymore. They lived in a monster old house across the road from Rideau Hall, half a duplex with the other half owned by a VERY IMPORTANT FAMILY (la-dee-dah)... Okay enough history..&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;These two seniors had kept EVERYTHING -- every newspaper, every magazine, every piece of mail, every flyer that had entered the house in the last 40 years. There were entire room stacked waist high with paper. It took 28 garbage bags to clear just the living room! <br /> <br />That's a packrat! The rest of us are just messy types who are slow to clear out their desks, etc on a routine basis. The opposite is someone who tosses EVERYTHING out (ie, a cleenfreek). Frankly, I perfer my moderate messes. <br /> <br />As for the trauma of moving to smaller quarters, try going from a 3 bedroom house to a one-room appt.

[Eileen]

Well I feel better now that you have categorized it Judy...lol I guess I can quite comfortable fall into the moderate mess type....I do take a fit now and then, and clean the whole thing up and throw out everthing that is not nailed down.&nbsp;
But on the same subject I do tend to ponder over kitchen clutter, and sort it out in my mind...I know that I do not use this in the kitchen and it is taking up valuable room....sooooo I will put it in the trailer for camping...if I don't use it there, then in the barn it goes, perhaps there is a use for it there....then in a few years that gadget is either rusty, broken, bent or unidentifiable from years of abuse and neglect then it will get thrown in the junk...heck a lot of my junk travels more than a lot of people do....lol<IMG src="smileys/smiley17.gif" border="0">