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Mesa

Super Freak
Joined
Jun 19, 2007
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Down in a Hole
So I just started watching this show on A&E a couple weeks back. And it has me thinking, "I don't ever want to become like that." But I've also realized that there is a fine line between being a "Collector" and being a "Hoarder." Collectors just have lots of stuff that isn't worthless trash and can usually be turned for at least a partial return of investment, but left unchecked it can still quickly occupy your garage, spare bedroom, etc.

For instance, my spare bedroom is ALL boxes. I have my stuff on display very nicely throughout my home, and my living room and most of rest of house is clean and mostly uncluttered when I need it to be, but that back room looks like Indiana Jones' warehouse. I feel like getting rid of some of the stuff that just doesn't make me happy anymore, but usually the work involved on Ebay or taking the loss from retail to aftermarket sales sometimes discourages me from selling anything at all, unless it's an easy sale on this board.

What's even more scary to me is that growing up, my mom was slowly turning into a hoarder and I hated all the crap laying around in the house. When I would go back to visit during college, the crap literally started piling up vertically. And now as I'm older, and I go into that back spare bedroom, I have vertical columns of empty boxes. So I see myself starting some of the same habits, or maybe this is a different thing entirely. It's also weird on this show when they bring in professional help to help these people clean up, and they are so attached to their useless crap and garbage, that they get stressed out and have anxiety attacks over separating with the smallest pieces of junk. I remember my mom acting the same way whenever I tried to help her organize, clean, or throw stuff away.

Anyone else seen this show and notice the similarities?
 
I haven't seen the show but I saw a 20/20 special on people like this. What is funny is after my divorce I moved into a 2 bedroom apartment. Why? I certainly didn't really need the extra room. Or do I? Hmmm....you be the judge! :lol

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Now granted I have since cleaned it up a bit. But still. I am paying a ton more a month for an extra space for my goodies. :rotfl

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oh man that show is gut wrenching at times...............makes you want to slap some people. there have been lots of shows that touch on this subject and its really easy to see how they fall into the trap of it all. whats scary is when the affected actually choose all the junk over their own family. quite sad. thats where the whole slapping situation comes to mind......:cool:
 
oh man that show is gut wrenching at times...............makes you want to slap some people. there have been lots of shows that touch on this subject and its really easy to see how they fall into the trap of it all. whats scary is when the affected actually choose all the junk over their own family. quite sad. thats where the whole slapping situation comes to mind......:cool:

I remember the guy on 20/20. He collected old golf clubs. Every day he would stop after work at the thrift store to check out their wares. He had hundreds and never even used them. He was just addicted to buying them because he thought them to be still useful. :lol
 
I remember the guy on 20/20. He collected old golf clubs. Every day he would stop after work at the thrift store to check out their wares. He had hundreds and never even used them. He was just addicted to buying them because he thought them to be still useful. :lol

i had an uncle like that, except it wasnt just one thing, it was every damn thing. didnt matter if it worked or not.....he would buy it to fix up or buy at a cheap price thinking it would be of use one day. needless to say that when he died 2 years ago he put quite the burden on his family to get rid of all the crap he accumulated. he was a definite believer in the "one man's trash is another man's treasure".
 
I haven't seen the show but I saw a 20/20 special on people like this. What is funny is after my divorce I moved into a 2 bedroom apartment. Why? I certainly didn't really need the extra room. Or do I? Hmmm....you be the judge! :lol

IMG_1213.jpg


Now granted I have since cleaned it up a bit. But still. I am paying a ton more a month for an extra space for my goodies. :rotfl

My spare bedroom is worse. It is literally floor to ceiling with boxes. But a couple of weeks ago I made it in there, moved everything out, vacuumed, and then neatly put the boxes in stacks and created isles between the stacks. I also labeled the boxes so I can find them more easily I was glad I did it afterwards, but have had several SS delvieries since then and realize I need to sell some stuff.

Also, I have a couple book cases full of those Forgotten realms TSR novels that I read in high school. They were a great read, and me and my dad both enjoyed them, so they have some sentimental value, but I know I will never get around to reading the ones I haven't and am asking myself why am I holding onto them. If I could get of those two bookcases, that would free up more space for SS boxes. :lol It's that inability to let stuff go that starts the trap that these people find themselves in.

Last week I took a couple crates of text books (that no book store wanted), a rug shampooer, and just crap to Goodwill. I was glad when I finally drove away. I just need to do that with other stuff that I no longer use. But again, I find myself thinking, "Well, I spent $40 for that rug shampooer that I no longer use because the house is all tile, so I don't want to just give it away for free." It's stupid, I know, but that's the thought process that goes on when trying to get of stuff I really don't need anymore.
 
i had an uncle like that, except it wasnt just one thing, it was every damn thing. didnt matter if it worked or not.....he would buy it to fix up or buy at a cheap price thinking it would be of use one day. needless to say that when he died 2 years ago he put quite the burden on his family to get rid of all the crap he accumulated. he was a definite believer in the "one man's trash is another man's treasure".

My sister is currently working with our father to help him donate some of his "treasures." He will buy the McDonalds Toys, he still buys VHS tapes for $1 and maybe he'll get aroudn to watching them, he has LOTS of tools and some unfinished wood working projects that will probably never get completed. It seems likes it's an endless job.

I also think that organization is key. He must have 80 pairs of scissors, but they are never where they should be in the drawer when you need them, so he just buys another pair.
 
My grandmother is a hoarder. Not as extreme as on that show, but pretty bad, as you guys say, she doesn't like people throwing any of her old crap away. She saves plastic tops for cups, twisty ties, all kinds of useless ^^^^. Whenever we go up there to visit, we try to throw stuff away when she isn't around, hoping that she won't notice.

Personally, I find myself inching in that direction sometimes, and it scares me. I try to sell stuff off as Mesa suggests he would like to do, but a lot of this stuff is old DVDs and CDs that I spent too much money on to just throw away but is a real pain to try and sell (even for a significant loss). On top of all my current collectibles, I've got all my old crap from when I was a kid, and I have no storage space left at this point. I should be moving to a bigger place next year, but I hope that doesn't give me an excuse not to try to get rid of my excess crap.
 
I just discovered this show a week or two ago and I really like it but there were one or two episodes that were hard to watch. I don't think I could ever get like that because I live with my girlfriend who is a neat freak. She would neverlet it get like that.
 
oh man that show is gut wrenching at times...............makes you want to slap some people. there have been lots of shows that touch on this subject and its really easy to see how they fall into the trap of it all. whats scary is when the affected actually choose all the junk over their own family. quite sad. thats where the whole slapping situation comes to mind......:cool:

I've been following the show somewhat but i'm gonna assume the "needing a slap" episode you are referring to is the one where the little kid becomes effected by his dumb ass lazy mom? :D

I felt REALLY bad for the older guy with the junk yard on his property.
 
Collectors just have lots of stuff that isn't worthless trash and can usually be turned for at least a partial return of investment, but left unchecked it can still quickly occupy your garage, spare bedroom, etc.


IMO that is just your opinion of what a collector is. People collect all kinds of things from statues to soap. It doesnt have to turn a profit to mean it's a collectible.

I think collecting and hoarding definitely border a fine line. it's all about personal intent and if you have self control over your hobby.
 
I've been following the show somewhat but i'm gonna assume the "needing a slap" episode you are referring to is the one where the little kid becomes effected by his dumb ass lazy mom? :D

I felt REALLY bad for the older guy with the junk yard on his property.

Actually, she wasn't lazy, but like other hoarders, she just gets so overwhelmed with it all that it's easier to just put it off.

I do that with alot of things. There's always tomorrow....but all of the sudden, it's next month or 3 months from now. It's very easy to get caught up that way.
 
My grandmother is a hoarder. Not as extreme as on that show, but pretty bad, as you guys say, she doesn't like people throwing any of her old crap away. She saves plastic tops for cups, twisty ties, all kinds of useless ^^^^. Whenever we go up there to visit, we try to throw stuff away when she isn't around, hoping that she won't notice.

Personally, I find myself inching in that direction sometimes, and it scares me. I try to sell stuff off as Mesa suggests he would like to do, but a lot of this stuff is old DVDs and CDs that I spent too much money on to just throw away but is a real pain to try and sell (even for a significant loss). On top of all my current collectibles, I've got all my old crap from when I was a kid, and I have no storage space left at this point. I should be moving to a bigger place next year, but I hope that doesn't give me an excuse not to try to get rid of my excess crap.

Classic Carlin. This is probably my favorite act of his.

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Interesting. I guess I would have to call myself a hoarder then. When we moved in to this house...displaying my collection was not even remotely considered. And so now it is in a storage unit. It fills a 10 x 10 x (8 or 9 feet high) pretty much completely. I am only just starting to sell stuff off. It will be a long road.
 
Actually, she wasn't lazy, but like other hoarders, she just gets so overwhelmed with it all that it's easier to just put it off.

I do that with alot of things. There's always tomorrow....but all of the sudden, it's next month or 3 months from now. It's very easy to get caught up that way.

Well maybe it would be kinda mean to label her as "lazy" but out of all the episodes i've watched she really did come off as more lazy than anything else. Or at least as someone with a more minor case of hoarding.
 
My grandmother is a hoarder. Not as extreme as on that show, but pretty bad, as you guys say, she doesn't like people throwing any of her old crap away. She saves plastic tops for cups, twisty ties, all kinds of useless ^^^^. Whenever we go up there to visit, we try to throw stuff away when she isn't around, hoping that she won't notice.

Personally, I find myself inching in that direction sometimes, and it scares me. I try to sell stuff off as Mesa suggests he would like to do, but a lot of this stuff is old DVDs and CDs that I spent too much money on to just throw away but is a real pain to try and sell (even for a significant loss). On top of all my current collectibles, I've got all my old crap from when I was a kid, and I have no storage space left at this point. I should be moving to a bigger place next year, but I hope that doesn't give me an excuse not to try to get rid of my excess crap.

My mother is kinda like this. She hates throwing any kind of plastic container away. Anything that comes in a plastic container was saved. She used to wash out Ziploc bags. Saved paper sacks and plastic handle bags. All kind of things like this. What finally got her away from that is when we started doing recycling. I think it eased her mind that things weren't just being thrown away.
 
Interesting. I guess I would have to call myself a hoarder then. When we moved in to this house...displaying my collection was not even remotely considered. And so now it is in a storage unit. It fills a 10 x 10 x (8 or 9 feet high) pretty much completely. I am only just starting to sell stuff off. It will be a long road.

Do you have a Freddy PF you may want to get rid of? :monkey3

j/k :D
 
My mother is kinda like this. She hates throwing any kind of plastic container away. Anything that comes in a plastic container was saved. She used to wash out Ziploc bags. Saved paper sacks and plastic handle bags. All kind of things like this. What finally got her away from that is when we started doing recycling. I think it eased her mind that things weren't just being thrown away.

My father used to work at a grocery store. He would bring home those produce plastic bags, rolls and rolls of them. They were used for everything, beyond their intended purpose. Need a ziploc bag for your sandwhich, make due with a produce bag. Don't want the food in microwave to pop and make a mess, cover it with plastic produce bag. I'm pretty sure that wasn't healthy, putting them in the microwave and against your food and heating them up.

My mother worked in the medical field and she would bring home these pink rags and plastic blue sheets. They sound convenient: Don't have a paper towell, use a pink rag. Don't want to get the car dirty while loading bags of dirt, put down blue plastic sheets. But eventually there was an entire dresser full of these fuggin blue sheets and pink rags that I grew to despise the site of them. The best was when my dad came to visit me and he brought me some of the "supply" from his home, I couldn't stop laughing.
 
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