Recovering hoarders?

[Chicken lady]

She might need one. And she will have exactly the right size. It was always such a rush when a kid needed something that normal people don't keep and I could produce it. And one for their friend too....

A sturdy cardboard box is so full of potential.

Also she might have plans for the boxes. Have you asked her? My tower of boxes is for mulching the garden. Only this year - I've actually been using them up!

At one point, my kid asked for some of my boxes for moving and I said "they're gone.". She said " What?!" and I said " they're gone. I used them up in the garden. All I've left is the flat ones the windows came in because I haven't cut them up yet.". She was shocked. I was sad because I couldn't give her boxes. But then, she was really proud of me. And she told me it was ok, she could get boxes somewhere else.

Is there cardboard recycling in her area?

[pinkytoe]

Around here, cardboard boxes and paper sacks are roach magnets so don't like to keep too many. I would think that hoarders might have issues with insects and rats too.

[Float On]

Around here, cardboard boxes and paper sacks are roach magnets

and silverfish too - ick! (which reminds me I really need to dig 9 banker boxes of tax records out of the dormer attic space and get them out of the house)

[libby]

Around here the piles of boxes would attract mice. It just makes no sense to me that she would not want to keep her garage useable for parking her vehicle. The inside of her house is in the sMe condition as the garage. However her yard could be featured in any fancy gardening magazine. She is all about outward appearances. Just don't go past the front door.

[Ultralight]

There are so, so many interesting, heartfelt, and insightful comments in this thread. I am going to take some time to consider them all.

One person referred to my fascination with extreme minimalism as being the other end of the hoarding spectrum.

I am actually very curious as to whether or not hoarding and extreme minimalism share some characteristics in the brain. fMRIs have been done on hoarders. Their brains are literally different than the rest of the population. I wonder what fMRIs of the brains of extreme minimalists would look like.

I feel like I am in control of my minimalism. For instance, I had a box fan that was old and clunky. I donated it thinking I probably did not really need it anyway. About a month later I realized I did need it because I used it to dry some clothes that could not go through the dryer. This had slipped my mind. I went to Target and bought a new one for $25. No real qualms about the acquisition.

I have also been as low as 167 possessions, and as changes in my life have happened I have gone back up to as many as 189. So it fluctuates.

I watched a documentary some time back. In it, a historian said something like this: "In most Native American cultures and in the cultures of indigenous people in other parts of the world a person owning more things than they themselves actually need is considered a form of mental illness."

I think this demonstrates that where on the minimalist-to-hoarder spectrum is deemed mental illness is socially constructed.

Thoughts?

[shadowmoss]

Ummmm... Doesn't everyone keep the 'good' cardboard boxes, you know, just in case?

/me slinks off to ponder the cardboard boxes that have crept in since she last got rid of 'all' of them.

[libby]

Ummmm... Doesn't everyone keep the 'good' cardboard boxes, you know, just in case?

/me slinks off to ponder the cardboard boxes that have crept in since she last got rid of 'all' of them.

These boxes I speak of literally fill a single car garage floor to ceiling front to back. Would cause a cardboard box avalanche if the overhead door was opened. Yeah she keeps them "just in case".

[ApatheticNoMore]

and silverfish too - ick!

hmm I've always co-existed quite peacefully with them. The last apartment had roaches, they were disgusting and gross and smelly, ugh so smelly. This apartment has silverfish (but haven't yet seen a roach). The roaches I hated, the silverfish don't bother. I suppose plastic storage boxes would keep silverfish from getting into papers and stuff. But of course since they were here when I moved in I suspect they also just live off the glue and paper in the walls.

Ummmm... Doesn't everyone keep the 'good' cardboard boxes, you know, just in case?

well I have kept a few with the thought of if I moved ... I guess I average about 4 years at a place (and move for good reasons, like the roaches - plus that place had other problems, or continually increasing rents). But one can always get boxes for that, so I don't know how justifiable it really is at all, maybe I'll get rid of them.

[Ultralight]

shadowmoss:

I think having a few cardboard boxes around is not a bad idea at all. Might be a really good idea depending on your lifestyle. When I was married my ex had a lot of artwork, some hers and some from others. But since we moved a lot it made sense for us to keep boxes around, for general moving but also to move and/or store the artwork when it was not on display. Right now I have two plastic tubs for storage, one big one and one little one for outdoorsy stuff. I also use my luggage case and a backpack to store out-of-season clothing.

[JaneV2.0]

Ummmm... Doesn't everyone keep the 'good' cardboard boxes, you know, just in case?

/me slinks off to ponder the cardboard boxes that have crept in since she last got rid of 'all' of them.

I've kept boxes around here ever since I moved in, when I started yearning to move out. I hope they'll be useful soon.

I like to think of myself as a curator. Or maybe an archivist. Some part of my mind is absolutely convinced that I can take it with me.