are you a slave to your stuff? a pack rat? help me

I can be a packrat at times too. I will usually clean out everything when I have had enough, but I should never have made the mess in the first place. I try to keep things with the intention of using it later on, but then I never do and it ends up in the trash a few months later. I would say as long as you continue to go through it and dispose of the things that are not so important anymore, it is okay to keep some things.

Oh my Cheryl, we are just alike!! I do not like to throw things away........The min I throw it away, and the trash man comes and gets it, Oh, I could have used that!! Like your husband, Mine did that to me, made me get rid of a bunch of my things!!! oh man, like a whole room of things!! Then I stopped......I told him, "Look, you have a lot of things too, crap, you even have the title to your Dads old car that he sold over 30 years ago!!!! I told him, next things that go out of this house, is yours!" Well now we are in a small apt, and still have too much stuff............yard sale time this summer!!!

My husband and I go round and round about the stuff in this house. He bought this house before we met and lived in it for about four years with just him. He had so little stuff that when I walked in, my first impression was that he had just moved in and his stuff hadn't arrived yet!

Then me and my two girls moved in, and then he and I had a son together after we got married. Now the place is crammed to the rafters and we're really feeling overwhelmed in this little place.

The amazing thing is that we throw out stuff by the Jeep load, and still never seem to have any more room! I think it's because once I see an empty space, I have this urge to fill it and go buy something.

Good luck with the purging and moving. May you be more successful at it than most of us packrats!

I feel for you as I have been there. Two years ago, we moved from a three bedroom house to a smaller three bedroom townhouse. I had to decide what I needed to keep and what I wanted to keep. I knew that I didn’t want to pack up all that stuff and take it with us. It wasn’t easy but it had to be done. Think of it this way, it’s just stuff. I understand that you are probably saying, but yes, it’s my stuff and I like it. Are you using that stuff, if your answer was like mine, no, then it’s time to say good bye. Here’s an example, I had four sets of dishes! I gave three of them away and made my family and friends very happy. I decided to keep only stuff that meant a lot to both me and my husband or that had been in the family for some time. I was brutal with other stuff and once I had my cousins and friends come over, and I saw how happy they were going through my kitchen and taking what they wanted or needed, I really was happy to see them take it.

I know it’s wonderful to have stuff, but that’s really what it is, stuff. Try to use this rule of thumb, if you haven’t used it in six months or longer, it’s time to go. Items that you are keeping like that saw, most likely won’t be made into something so it’s time to let that go. I find that now that I have less stuff in our new home, I feel better. I make it a point not to buy “things” as I don’t want our place to feel cluttered. And believe me, it’s a lot easier to dust when you don’t have to move knickknacks. I’ve added a link to a site that you might find interesting as it talks about decluttering. Good luck and let us know how you are progressing. Take care.
http://organizedhome.com/content-2.html

Oh my goodness! You must be my long lost twin! I have been trying to fight the packrat syndrome for years, especially more so since my younger daughter was born, and has shown signs of being a packrat herself, worse than me. Some stuff, I will sell on Ebay, especially if it's brand new and I never opened it. I've even sold a bunch of stuff that I accumulated from my old job that I don't need anymore.

Other things, I have given to Goodwill. I have craft items that I bought years ago, that I've never used. I'll hold onto them thinking that someday, I'll get around to doing something crafty. That time still hasn't come. I have had a couple of yardsales, but they weren't too successful.

I'm still fighting this packrat syndrome, and have noticed that even my daughter has improved a bit with her packrat syndrome. Someday, I hope to be victorious!

Nope! I REVEL in my clutter and memories. I am the family keeper of history and everyone dumps their stuff they don't want to throw away but dare not keep either, and then out it trots when the next generation come along. For instance, I still had my brother's football rattle which he used as a fan, and twenty years later it was handed back to his daughter, alas to cheer on a different team and annoy her Dad lol.

I tend to favour clear plastic boxes with lids so that you can see what is in them, and I buy them whenever I escape my partner and put more of my treasured relics away.

Why not make yourself a list of all those things you want to do something crafty with and take on one project at a time and work through them, write the book or blog about it and have your revenge on all those people who said it was junk? There's an enjoyable thought for you:-)

You have pack rat issues like I do:)) I hate it but I love to collect stuff. When I was little I collected so much I about wrote a book about my 101 collections including such things as home magazines, and rocks.*L*

I'd say just start somewhere small. Know someday isnt gonna come. They say make a rule. Put stuff in a box and if you dont touch it after say 30 days give it away or trash it.

Always go through your mail over the trash dont let it pile up. Just work even 15 mint a day on a pile of stuff and you should be okay.

When we were moving last November we ended up having to bring at least 4 boxes (unknown location now in the garage) from that house to this because we couldnt go through it all. But we went through tons. And ME a person who collects lots even got rid of lots and lots of bags of stuff. Just do what you gotta do. I took pictures of some objects that were too big or bad to keep. Some I tried to sell at our moving sell. The others I trashed. I have the pictures and thats all I needed. Including several clothing items, and such.

Work hard, be brave. Its not gonna be easy. There are some books on pack rats you should check them out. I know "Clutters last Stand" is supposed to be good.

Good luck!

related resource: moving boxes

even I am addict to reading good things. I just share it with my friends who will not have knowledge of the subject. I keep rotating my books/magazines with all my friends. once I have circulated the knowledge at any point of time even if I forget what I had read I can share it with my friends. Once the circulation is over I sell them.

how`s the idea?

Purging your stuff is very hard, I know and it seems like the more you purge, the more you have. I keep throwing out so much stuff. Yet when I look around, it doesn't look like I have thrown anything out. This week, I am going to do my kitchen, dining room and living room and the next person who leaves stuff lying around in any of those rooms is going to lose fingers.

Next week will be the bedrooms, then the next month will be the family room and storage. And when I turn around..it will end up being exactly as it is now. It is a mystery!

I dont really hold on to things or get attached to them. I am of the disposition that many things are going to go away, so the main thing I try to build up on is the stuff I place in my mind. While I dont want to build a great heap of books or a film collection.. I do want to build the number of books and films that I have watched. That way even if I never read that book again, I learned something from it and can use the knowledge in the future.. even if the book is no where to be found..


That plus, Im always scared that my house is going to go up in flames.. If I dont get attached to stuff, then Ill never miss it!