The tendency to hoard: What's up with that?

I have long been fascinated by people who hoard. In my experience, I was given very few things as a child & so later, when I had my own money, I started to buy lots & Lots of things & saving them... I eventually had too many things to put into my residence, so I had to put them into storage. I did see one episode of the extreme couponing show & this lady was hoarding food. It was probably over $100,000 in food! The reason she gave was that at some points in her life, her family was so poor that they almost couldn't afford to eat. So now she gives food to her grown family members, charities, etc. So yes, I think it definitely can stem from a past of having near nothing and wanting to provide for oneself & for one's family.

my mom seems to have a small tendency to hoard. she usually points out how they all seem to carry "memories" whether its a childhood photo or a lame paper boat i made in the 3rd grade..hehe. maybe its the fact that it carries a part of us we dont want to forget so we keep them

My husband is a hoarder and he never wants to throw anything away. When I want to throw something away he stops me and tells me that he can use those things. He uses our basement as a storage room, and it is absolutely full of things. The washing machine is in the basement and when I want to do some laundry I have to walk thorugh a maze of things He says that he has thrown some of his things away, but the basement still looks the same. I hope that he doesn't end like my great-grandfather, because he had serious problems with hoarding. He kept everything including broken things that were more than 60 years old. My grandmother, my mother and I haven't inherited his tendency to hoard. I don't know if it is possible to inherit the tendency to hoard. I know there are families where there are many hoarders, but I am not sure if they have inherited it or if there are other reasons why there are many hoarders in some families.

I live with someone who is a hoarder. T he only reason we can get through the house is because we've been able to sneak things out before it gets too much, but she keeps things that don't even make sense. Even food. I found something that expired back in the 80s and she argued that it was still good. She is working on trying to get it cleaned herself, but she's done that before and then reverted back to the same bad habit again. She is the only one of her family who I'm aware of being like is like this. I really think its a mental problem.

I'm not an extreme maniac, but I have this "this could come in handy" thing going on. Oh, well, this is going to be funny :D. When I was a little kid, once in elementary school we made this city out of boxes and Kinder Surprise figures and stuff, and I wanted one so bad for home, so I started collecting boxed for that (I was about 7-8 then), and my parents always threw them out, but I kept collecting... now I have a bunch... I guess I got so used to collecting these smaller boxes. Now I'm kind of telling myself that it would be for my future kid :D.

I'm thinking that maybe it comes from having a feeling of not having enough? Perhaps a hoarder went through some particularly bad times at some point in their life and now that they have things they don't want to get rid of for fear that one day (again) they won't have enough? Or perhaps it is a learned behaviour?

My star sign is Cancer and we like to collect things. This statement is certainly true for me. I collect costume dolls from around the world. My shelf is full of them and still I get more which won't fit in. In Chile I got five more and in Brazil I got one more. I didn't find any in Argentina and the one I saw in Uruguay was too expensive. I collect postcards from my travels. I have got a lot of fridge magnets which I said no to getting many more. I have coins and bank notes from different countries. I have got a small collection of colored crystals. I have a tendency to hoard and so do my children. I often do clutter clearing but I leave my collections alone.

I have watched the hoarder programs and I don't know anyone that is really a hoarder. I know people that collect thing....I know people that have alot of one thing....but none that has a home that is overtaken by possessions..I know alot of our tendency come from our family genes etc.....like my grandmother hid money in her house...my mother did it too....my younger sister and I also have a stash someplace...I do think there is a big difference between being a collector and a hoarder.

After seeing my mom do it I seeing hoardering in a different light. I also have seen some of those shows on hoarders. I believe some people are do to mental illness,like depression. Some have issues with dramitic things in their life,like a divorce,kids growing up and leaving home,having parents who are hoarders and the fear of running out of certain items. I still fear I will become one because my mom was and that scares the crap out of me! It really does!

I mainly hoard old clothes because I always have the feeling that they will do their job again. Sometimes they do, but not always. Lately I am trying to give away part of my junk (the type my girls would like) to my daughters. I gave away extra glasses, dishes and the like. They have big families and I have at the most 2 couples for diner at a time. I don´t think the hoarding tendency has to do with DNA but with anxiety and solitude.

I really don't get this quality with some people. Granted there will be a sentimental value for some things that are out there. We all know that there are going to be a few things that we might hang onto but naturally as we all know, hoarders rather tend to take this to about nine million different levels beyond what is rather sane. I think that hoarding is just something that might be considered a mental illness to some people. And given that mental illnesses can often be something that is very prominent right in many families. It is really something that is interesting to study, especially when there are certain levels of hoarding and there are some people who selectively hoard things like animals(which can be considered animal cruelty), and some that hoard everything that can be hoarded.

WE are still trying to finish giving stuff away that belonged to our deceased parents. We are dealing with the tons of junk mail that finds its way here daily. I now throw most of mine away unopened unless I have to shred it. My old book inventory is the biggest problem becauseI have to keep detailed records of what I give away. Then I seem to have health problems or surgeries that limit my physical activities and have to delay the sorting and boxing and carrying away. What I'm ready to give away, my husband wants to keep. Stuff accumulates so gradually and then suddenly it seems overwhelming. Clean-up used to be easier when it was OK just to put everything in the trash. Now you have to sort it all for recycling take old batteries and toxic stuff to other places for which you have to make special trips, and it seems so complicated. I feel guilty throwing out anything someone could use, but you can't donate pillows or mattresses to thrift shops anymore, and they now hand you a list of everything they won't accept.