PlasticPole: In the US, people who keep everything in their house, never throwing anything away so their house is stacked to the rafters with stuff are called "Hoarders" and are classified as a kind of obsessive-compulsives who need therapy.
Me thinks PP has been watching reality TV shows about this again. :)
You a hoarder, PP?
PlasticPole: a hoarding situation and is thought of as a form of obsessive compulsive behavior, interfering with the quality of life.
PlasticPole: Scarcity or death of a parent are sometimes prominent when someone has this problem. Growing up with very little, or in wartime situations might spark the disorder to develop later in life.
You're onto something here. My grandfather could have been called a hoarder. He lived through the Depression and wartime and hard times. After he became an old widower and he was lonely and his mind started to deteriorate he began collecting things. And unscrupulous companies that prey on the weak-minded elderly started to inundate him with offers promising "prizes" if he'd buy their trinkets. We were aware of it to a degree but he insisted it wasn't a problem... as piles grew... When he passed away several years ago you could hardly walk through his house but for the paths between piles of worthless junk "prizes", most of it made in China. It took many trips and truckloads and dumpsters to clean the place out.
But it wasn't all junk. He had been a saver for years before that and once we dug through the junk, the place was a treasure trove of antiques, heirlooms and family history. We sold some of the antiques for a pretty penny after distributing some to family members.
So don't be too quick to dismiss saving as just hoarding.
PlasticPole: Hoarders tend to rationalize their keeping of trash in this way, that it will be recycled or used for crafts. Pretty soon, it adds up and the house is filled with it.
You're onto something here to. I am a saver (maybe got it from my grandfather). But I only save good stuff! :)
Seriously, my basement might be loaded with stuff but I have a pretty good inventory of what is down there and indeed use much of it. When a friend needs something they often come to me. And I am crafty, and I do use stuff from down there for this. I also hold a yard sale from time to time and often make a killing on my "junk". Last time more than one yard sales veterans said to me that mine was "the best yard sale they had ever been to". And I made a ton of cash. B)
So I don't think all saving can be called "hoarding" or mental decline. The extreme opposite is weird too; someone who has no attachment to things and zero nostalgia is weird, I think. And they're the first ones quick to label any saver a "hoarder". My brother is like this, he has no interest in even valuable old family heirlooms and archives. When we were cleaning out Grandad's house he would have thrown away all the family stuff along with the junk if I hadn't been there to take control.
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