As I mentioned before, I am the kind of person who hoards food, or at least tries to hoard it, unsuccessfully. But I have no attachment to other things, like clothes, or shoes, or handbags. I do not have any problem donating my unused or overused items to Salvation Army.
My mother and sister on the other hand are major hoarders of items. It could be any item. It could clothes, handbags, shoes, mayonnaise jars, yoghurt containers, old cutlery and cups from the 80′s, etc. My mother is so good at taking care of items and keeping them, that she still has most of the furniture she had from when she was married in 1979. Some of it is still being used by us or some relatives of ours. Sofas, and persian carpets. Some of it is sitting in our basement, or cold room, waiting for the day when they will be donated to some unsuspecting charity.
We have a lot of stuff. To say that would be an exaggeration. Not valuable stuff. Maybe some of it has value as to have some memories associated with it, but besides that, I wouldn’t say that it has any monetary value. But most people in the world have a lot of stuff. At least in the Western world, although, believe me, the Asian countries, at least India, is working hard to accumulate as much as the Westerners have.
The problem with all of this stuff is where to store it? People I know have spent hundreds every year storing their unused items. Lockers and Storage facilities make loads of money just from those people who have all of this stuff, that they think they will use when they move into a bigger house, but just ends up going to a landfill, because either it is too old by the time they get used, or everyone usually ends up getting new items for a new home. Why wouldn’t you, when you dont have to pay anything, not even the taxes for a few years at a time with all the deals going around?
My food hoarder mentality causes me to pack the pounds on my body which isn’t healthy. But the stuff hoarder mentality isn’t far from being unhealthy either. All of the stuff causes you to worry about its safety. Is it safe? Will it be stolen? Should I get a security system for it? Worrying about all your stuff causes you to buy more stuff because you are worried about your previous stuff. Isn’t shopping supposed to help with your worry? It is after all a source of endorphins.
Maybe the better thing for both kind of hoarders would be to go do a nice round of Hot Yoga. At least you will stop thinking about food and stuff for a bit, and balance out your life a bit.
A good book about stuff is by Anne Leonard, The story of Stuff. It really opened up my eyes on a lot of mundane items that we use daily without thinking, but these items have a really high impact on the environment, just for that unthinking use. Check it out!
Think about what you hoard in your life and try to understand why. Whenever you start storing an item, think about if you will ever use it. Seriously, think about it. If you are not going to use for a year, consider giving it away to someone who will be able to use it better than you. Donate it to charity, there are hundreds out there looking for every benefit you can give them. I’m sure you will be better off for it, and they will as well.
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