Okay, one of the behaviors and personality quirks I have is hording. Oh sure, I come from a long line of champian horders, I suppose it's in my blood at some level. My grandfater had the largest junk yard in two counties for crying out loud.

Lisa's (DeLarla) thread on Honesty got me thinking. I have to be honest about my my hording. If I want to stop hording my body fat, I have to start letting things go, physical and tangible things.

Today, I took a small step. I got rid of a paper bag full of thing from my bathroom. I reclaimed a shelf in my bathroom cupboard. One small step, one step at a time.

Funny, I did the same thing yesterday. I cleaned out my linen closet and gave our local womens shelter a whole box of lotions, body sprays, and bath goodies. My mom always buys me bath sets on the after christmas sale and I can only use some of the sprays. I usually find a good use for the basket in my daughters room and the rest goes on a shelf in the linen closet. That shelf is now clean. Today I am working on the kitchen pantry, I am going to put all of my "post-op foods together and get rid of some junk food. I need to take stock and go to the store, I have a lifting restriction after surgery and My hubby works odd hours so I need to get it bought and in while I can still lift stuff.~Mandy

Vines,

I have the opposite.

I have OCD when it comes to clean and clutter, I can not keep anything. I throw everything away in fear of clutter. My family wishes I was a horder. Nothing lasts in this house, if it hasnt been used in a month it is in the trash, if it is left out to clutter my house it is thrown in the trash, my kids have learned to pick up after themselves in fear of mom throwing it away. It is a habit Iam trying to break, when I was on the Paxil for it , it worked great I did not throw things away , I was able to let it go.but I gained 70 lbs which is why Iam here today.

I had so much stuff on the shelves in my bathroom, there was one shelf for sheets and towels. One little shelf, and the other 4 were full of ... stuff. Now I have 2 shelves for towels and linens.

So, not only do I horde, but my DH hords as well. Not going to be easy I suspect

Michelle, you may see that as a problem, but I think it’s awesome! I despise clutter, get rid of it! I was raised by hoarders (to the point my family collected citations from the Health Department for piles of cars, countless animals, junk piles.) This left me with complete detest for clutter, dust and disorder. I feel physically sick around dusty piles of crap, unfinished projects, and overfilled, cram-packed closets. I can't work, think or live that way so I'm constantly reorganizing and donating to charity. My house gets still gets really messy, but I have rules for cleaning that I always have to get rid of at least 5 things, even if it's just scarf or plastic cup. If it's been sitting there more than 3 months, throw it away or give it to charity. Clean it up!

My husband drives me nuts cause every time he sees a clear counter he drops his keys, glasses, tools n' crap. I've made him his own special clutter areas, but he's just gotta jack up my clear spaces... if he only left my counters clear I might consider DOING IT WITH HIM RIGHT THERE on the clear counter! Can't I just have a clear counter?

My dream house would have wide-open spaces where I could skip through the house and dance and twirl without bumping into anything.

My enormous problem is with food by hoarding & stock piling when I order in restaurants or fast food. I see the menu and go nuts. I MUST have food immediately so I ask for bread, and I better get my dinner salad damn fast. Then I need appetizers, main course, and dessert. By the time I'm done with my dinner salad, I'm full but have this enormous heap of food sitting in front of me.

I always buy too much at the grocery store, but because I can't stand clutter I end up throwing tons of it away on the weekends. I'd love to order just an appetizer one day. Maybe tonight.

Here’s an exercise for all you hoarders. If you’re afraid to get rid of something cause, “you may need it one day” just think that someone else might need it today. This sounds weird, but I always put things on my curb when it’s not trash day. My husband used to hate it, but the stuff is always gone by the next day. SOMEBODY out there needs that stuff, and they’ll drive by and snatch it up. I’ve done it with furniture, dishes, and clothes. Sometimes I tape a sign “FREE WOMENS PLUS SIZE CLOTHES, PLEASE TAKE.”

The wheels on my otherwise perfectly good suitcase broke, so I set it on the curb and it was gone by morning. Don’t think of it as getting rid of something useful, think of it as helping out someone who really needs what you aren’t using.

I would love a clean house. But the men I live with don't care about clutter. They don't care about clean either. They are bears. Bears living in caves. But they are making my house a cave. One of the deals for me to go off to school was that we would keep our house cleaners. They come every two weeks and I know that if they didnn't come, I wouldn't be able walk in the house for the mounds of garbage and clutter.

I wish I could keep a clean kitchen if nothing else. But I was dragged out of bed to clean the kitchen after I'd cleaned it before I went to bed. I mean litterally dragged out of bed by my hair by my drunken father or screaming lunatic mother. Abuse and self loathing.

ahh, dont you guys just love our dysfuntional backgrounds that made us this way?

Michelle, Lisa - I am definately on your team! I have a reputation in my family, "Dont leave it at Paula's house, she'll throw it away!" - and I will!

I hate clutter. I mean it - I hate clutter!

and Lisa, you are so right, I H A T E stuff on my counter tops too.

I go to my parents and immediately start clearing the counters. Whats the deal with our kitchen issues?

Crystal (and other hoarders) - one question. If you never use it (hadnt used it in years), why keep it? honestly now.

www.FlyLady.net Oh Yeah!! This site has helped/is helping me alot. I have had this goal to totally clear my countertops of all clutter. It's amazing the stuff that can collect! But I want nothing on the counters but the Bread basket and coffee pot. That's it!! Still working on decluttering and using my space better. It's getting there! I'm not particularly sentimental, so I have no real problem throwing away stuff. I guess I just need to develop the habit of pitching it, rather than moving it around!

My Dad is a hoarder, big time. He gave me a larger glass cookie jar that my grandmother had. Inside it were 7 rolls of Kodak film that said "develop by June 1960" Film from the 50's!!!!! Man I'd love to see those pics! Anyhow, what I have I get honest. And my Mom is the worst about kitchen counter clutter. Every space has something on it! Throw it out or put it away!!!!!

I'm improving. Keep inspiring me, everyone!

I'm terrible at this...and would welcome any of you that are good at throwing away crap to my house for a while to do just that. LOL The kids have too much stuff, mostly that they don't play with. We have all this other crap around that we don't use or rarely. My husband builds and services computers so we have bins of computer parts. He also has a passion for gadgets so we have a bunch of outdated "gadgets". I'm terrible at hording books. Oh and don't even get me started on the linen closet or the t shirt collection. I think at this point it would be okay to take every thing in my attic to goodwill....most of it has been there for over 3 years....I obviously don't need it. It's funny the speaker at church today spoke about his experience recently of purging his stuff because he is preparing his home for sell. I came home and boxed up a box of books but thats as far as I got. Maybe I'll try to get a closet cleaned out tomorrow.

Melissa

I want everything to have a place and I want it put in its place. If my cabinets or drawers start getting to full to hold what is suppose to go in them it is time to clean them out. And like Kathy and Lisa I think it was I won't my counters clear...nothing on them and the same for tables. I drive my family crazy. I facilitate a training and development program called "Leave the Office Earlier" it is all about organizational skills and time management. I need to develop a similar program for the home....keep your stuff put up or throw it away.

Every week when I get back home the first thing I have to do is throw stuff out of the fridge because my DH lets thing collect in there.

Crystal (and other hoarders) - one question. If you never use it (hadnt used it in years), why keep it? honestly now.

SECURITY. Plain and simple. Not as bad as my mother, "It's MINE and I'm not giving it up! MINE, NOT YOURS"

I might need it. No, really, I might.

I bought it, and I sure as hell don't want to buy a second one when I needed it. Like I told you I would.

Why keep it? Plain and simple, I'm cheap....I can tell you how much I paid for something in most cases. I'm still trying to become less of a horder...and even though I'm bad, I"m not as bad as my parents were...maybe my kids will be even better?

Melissa

Heck how can anyone with an game name of Dragon Willow not be a horder...hehe dragons are famous for it.

Its really a good balance, hoarders and OCD's...

you see, my parents moved last fall - both are hoarders. It took about 2 weeks for them to move everything they -needed- into their new home. Meanwhile, the old house remained F U L L of things they never needed or used... like scrap material, my mother hasnt sewen in 20 years. There was MORE things in the old house then what we moved to the new house (except for furniture).

NOW! When it came time for us to clean the old house out, we made a "keep" pile, "garage sale" pile, and (my favorite) junk pile. They had lived in this home for more then 40 years, they had crap that they hadnt seen in... oh, 40 years. But my mother couldnt part with a lot of it. So I stoped asking "which pile" and just started chunking.

4 full outside trash cans later and a trip to the local dumpster, and only 2 rooms were cleaned out!

phew!

In her new home, she has a huge living room - 25X25. There is something on every wall, in every nitch, in every space. TOOOOOO suffocating for me.

So I come home to my sanitarium.

Crystal, all that crap everywhere is her security too. But security from what???

Good question Paula, security from what.

My fat is security too, it's armor. Perhaps my hordings are my castle walls, my battlements.

I don't know how old your mother is, but mine is 70, so she was a child of the depression and WWII with all the rationing. My grandmother is a more pack rat than true horder, which is actually where I see myself. My mother is a different matter though.

I try to get rid of something if I buy somethiing. This goes especially for red shirts, a person doesn't really need more than 8 red shirts do they? Well, that covers 2 differnt red sweaters, a couple or three different silk blouses, a teeshirt, henley.. well you get the idea. I can only buy a new red shirt if I let one go. (This doesn't count for books though. I think with books it reperesents wealth.)

And is part of it, letting things go.