I know that I could very well be a packrat, but I was never really faced with a space issue. We always had space for me to keep my things. If we were to move into a smaller house I could be facing some rough patches and would have to separate from many memories or at least the things that do trigger those sweet memories…
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I have a lot of things – I have all my cards since birth (birthday, Christmas, Valentine’s, etc.), neatly in boxes, by year. I know, I may also very well be compulsive…
I also have one of my first doll (Marie-Louise, named after the grand-mother who gave her to me), and a collection of pens, pins, matches and post-cards… everything is its respective boxes. Just this past weekend I gave away all my karate belts, except my black ones, of course! I’ve had those coloured belts for over 23 years… and Saturday I decided to part with them.My MIL recently accused me of not being sentimental about things… That woman doesn’t know me! Having an attachment to something, I think, is very personal. It’s not because it means a lot to you that it will necessarily mean a lot to me. She keeps everything! And I’m not exaggerating when I write everything. In January, we were invited to a birthday party for cousin’s kidlet. At some point, MIL gives a bag full of baby jars to her sister. At the time I wondered where she got those jars… when she (MIL) turns around and tells me that those were jars Hubby ate as a baby! He turned 44 a few weeks ago! She kept his empty baby jars! The part that really freaked me out was when I realised that not only has she kept them, she actually moved them back in ’77 when they bought their current house!
I know parents (mothers) do keep the first pair of shoes, or first whatever, but to keep empty jars is … I can’t even express it…
When my mother decided to sell her house she had to purge, a lot. I helped her through this process. I felt like Peter on “Clean Sweep”, rationalizing with her that the memories where in her heart not in that dish she hasn’t used or seen in years! I know it was/is tough. We will most likely have to do that as well, but I don't want to wait until the day I have no other choice - I want to do it on my own terms - like for my karate belts.
We both think that we have way too much shit, and if we were to move it would be “Major Purging Time”! We’ve been thinking about starting the MPT Operation slowly, and we are (slowly being the key word here! ) – just last week Hubby filled 3 huge garbage bags full of clothes that we will bring to a local men shelter, and I gave one bag full to a friend. We’ve adopted this rule of if something new comes in, something old has to go – and it’s working.
How about you, are you the type to keep things "in case"… or because someone gave it to you? Do you have "Pack Rat" tendencies? Come on, let's hear it!
Image: Pack rats
* Pack Rat
16 comments:
I'm not that attached to "stuff", I don't save every single paper that my daughter makes at school and I don't care for little shelf sitters that say inspirational things.
I do however tend to save anything that I think can be used for an art project. Unfortunately I store those things away and then forget that I have them or where I put them. I would love a room with nicely arranged baskets and drawers a la Clean Sweep.
I have a garage sale every year and usually make about $800. Of course if I added up what I spent on the stuff that I sold for change I'm sure I'd be quite depressed.
I try to keep everything, but it usually ends up cluttering the small amount of space I do have. And then, my mother comes along behind me to throw most of it away, claiming that I needed to clean my room anyway.
haha I read this post just after i took the badge off the front of my car to hang onto for sentimental purposes!! Im always holding onto stuff for memories and sentimental reasons. In fact, i wrote my dissertation on collecting and hoarding, the reasons that people have for holding onto useless objects. I could forward you a copy, if you are interested.
That baby food jar story freaks me out! It is SO hilarious! I'm a pack rat too, but not that bad. I have my first doll too. She came unsewn, and is stuffed into a plastic bag with all her stuffing coming out. It is pathetic and funny at the same time. I still have my first key chain from my first car (which was old and my parents and not even new!), magazines that I can't throw away and even some baby guessing name game from my MOM'S shower when she had ME! Mom purged a few years ago, and her packrat daughter ended up with them. ;)
I prefer the term collector.
I've been collecting things ever since I was a kid: Madonna LP's (actually any LP's) and then later on Expo 67 memorabilia.
I only collect stuff that I find will enhance my surroundings or help my research (books).
But, yeah, I do have boxes full of stuff...
princess: We would all love a room or more à la "Clean Sweep", but I'd looove to have them do it as well (instead of me)! I would suggest that you DON'T do the calculation, I try not to think of that...
thethinker: Space does play a big role in this habit... and mothers as well... ;-)
elf: Sure, send me a copy - I'm curious about it!
shopper: You think it's hilarious, I think it's scary! You ARE a packrat! Or one very sentimental person! ;-)
jason67: You might be a "collector", but my MIL isn't. She keeps things because... As long as you have room for your collections, indulge! I do! ;-)
I have terrible packrat tendencies. When I moved year before last after 11 years in the same house, I forced myself to purge a lot of stuff, and I'm trying not to be quite so bad about it. It's hard, though. Apart from the sentimental attachment, what if I NEED that thingamabob some day?
I am a horrible, horrible packrat! I just can't shake the feeling that once I throw something away, I'm going to need it. Ugh, I really need to clean house.
I am guilty of keeping things for all of those reasons. I have things for sentimental reasons, just in case, and because they are "valuable" (at least to some one).
GOOD LUCK with any attempts you make at purging. I am going to attempt the same thing this spring.
Tell me if you find any secrets to doing it PLEASE.
I SOOOO want clean sweep to come to my house! I've been trying to be better about this. It's just stuff afterall "and you're not honoring a memory by leaving it in a box!"
I could spend a whole week de-cluttering and still have way too much stuff.
lizgwiz: I so hear you, "what if..." but what are the odds? Really? If I haven't used it in the past year, it has to leave! That's what I'm trying to apply.
ananke: and the worst thing is, when we do throw something out, we do need it shortly after! ugh!
wreckless: I haven't decoded that secret yet, if I do I'll let you know!
pg: that is so true! I can be so memory blasphemous at times... and I feel it... :-(
I'm a recovering packrat. It took many years for me to pare down all the stuff I saved. I mean, do I really need the paper tray liner from Burger King because the boy I had a crush on sat across from me? :)
We're in purge mode and I can't wait to go through the house and get rid of stuff. Sadly, my husband is more of a packrat than I am. Our attic is full, our closets are full. We need to be brutal.
The baby jar thing is totally weird, though.
I'm a total packrat although I have gotten better over the past few years.
I only have one rubbermaid bin (left) with childhood treasures in it...I guess I fool myself by thinking that maybe someday my child would like some of it. They probably won't, and yet I keep it.
When we moved my craft cupboard downstairs I went through it and tossed a bunch of stuff I thought I might need 'someday'...but I have a home daycare so I really thought it would come in handy. I hardly used most of it even with the best intentions.
I think I'm getting better at getting rid of stuff as I get older. Of course who knows what I'll be like when I'm a parent...although I can tell you for sure that I won't be keeping baby food jars. That's just weird.
paisley: I think you had it worst than me with the packrat thing ;-) The baby jars thing is worst than weird, it's... it's... argh!
kim: I remember wanting to play with my mom's wedding dress, but to actually use it never really croassed my mind when I got married... Of all the things she kept, baby jars are the weirdest, indeed!
I'm a packrat, but not in the 44-year-old-empty-baby-food-jars way. Yikes!
I don't always keep things for their sentimental value as much as for the fact that I MIGHT need them again someday. Stupid, I know.
dcmm: I don't think there are many like my MIL...
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