the anti-hoarder thread

[Zoe Girl]

I think I am the anti-hoarder. Just like the people who grew up in the depression I am affected by my life. 5 long distance moves in my life (I know there are people who have done more). Also with my um, personality, I cannot pack books with mixing childrens, philosophy and physics. I pack myself every time even when extremely pregnant. So some things that make me happy as an anti-hoarder

* trash day, ahhh, lovely day
* empty spaces
* having a sewing kit that is not a quart ziploc bag
* getting a new sweater and throwing away 2
* the essential dress shoes for colorado, cowboy boots, they go with everything and your toes do not get cold
* all my cosmetics, lotions and potions in one bag ready to travel (or move)
* all my eye stuff, contacts glasses and prescriptions in one bag
* small dish soap bottles, milk in half gallons, tiny computers (like the Acer I am using)
* throwing away ALL my DVD cases and putting movies into a large binder, 2 trash bags fill to recycle, love it.


Anyone else an antihoarder?

[loosechickens]

I'm a total non-hoarder, except for books....other than a major book acquisition habit (for someone living in a motorhome), I'm pretty much a "one robe, one bowl" kind of gal, and can live quite happily with a minimum of possessions and travel for long periods of time, (months) with the stuff in one carry-on bag (especially now that I have my Kindle, because probably a third of my carry on before was always books).

[reader99]

Yes, I'm nearly as compulsive about getting rid of stuff as hoarders are about getting stuff. I love empty spaces in my visual field. Halve of my kitchen cabinets are empty

[Greg44]

I worship you all! My anti-hoarding feelings are not shared by all those who live in my house...! Empty spaces are to be FILLED.

[Float On]

I too am an "Anti-Hoarder".
My mom is always telling me she'll never give me anything ever again because "You NEVER keep anything!!!" She keeps everything - neatly organized but still----EVERYTHING.

[redfox]

I am neither. I really like all my stuff; I chose it because I liked it! I have many collections, and they all get used. Dishes, textiles, art, & yarn that is slowly being converted into socks, mostly.

One of my basic criteria for bringing something into our home is that it is not too special to be used. Some of my very very old textiles are gently used, hung away from direct light, etc., but out nonetheless.

When I notice that things are not being used, they go back to their 'family of origin', usually the Goodwill!

[loosechickens]

I'm like you Greg44.....while I'm quite the NONhoarder, my sweetie comes from a long line of people who lived in large, old houses, with barns, etc., so they never had to throw away ANYTHING, so never got the habit, and the only thing that saves us is living in a motorhome, because whatever space he has available, he is quite capable of filling. I would pare down my belongings even more, except if I made a space, he would just immediately fill it with something of his.....the joke in our family is if he goes first, the thrift stores and dumpsters anywhere around where our motorhome is at that time would be filled.....and if I go first, he'll have a tiny space once he dumpsters and thrifts all my stuff, but my body will probably not be cold before he gets those spaces filled up.

Living in a very small space has improved him a LOT since the days when we had a house, but still.......one time in Prescott AZ, I made the mistake of coming back from a walk and saying, "boy, I passed the dumpster at that door and window place and there were some beautiful pieces of trim in there", and months later, while looking for something in the storage compartments beneath the motorhome, discovered a stash of about fifty pounds of trim pieces that he had, over the time we were in Prescott, rescued from that dumpster (with no real use for any of them.....his excuse being that they were such beautiful pieces of trim and he'd find someone who needed them sometime). AAARRGGGHHH

[Anne Lee]

I'm not an anti-hoarder but I do like my space open and functional. For example, we have an attached garage. A benefit of an attached garage should be not to have to go outside to dump the trash. Well. Our garage was getting so cluttered that the trash can was in a section of the garage accessible only by going outside. Recently, I decluttered/organized the garage so the trash can live in a space so I can get to it.

Also, in my world if something has a space and then temporarily gets moved, something else should not fill the space of the first thing. So if we want to stage the snow blower in the winter so it's can be pulled out into the driveway easily then other stuff should not live in the snow blower's summer home.

A guest room is for guests, not storage.

And so on.

[Simpler at Fifty]

I am not an anti-hoarder. I like an organized home. Big difference.

[saguaro]

My mom is always telling me she'll never give me anything ever again because "You NEVER keep anything!!!"

I was told this after a relative dumped a bunch of stuff on me a few years back; then realized after a few visits to our home that I hadn't kept any of it (it was pure junk). Hmmm...now that I think about it that's why she insisted on coming in through our garage......