Are you a pack rat?

I am sooooo a packrat. I keep things for various reasons: sentimental value, possible later use, hate throwing away things that are still good. It does take up a lot of room though. I need to get rid of a lot of stuff.

yeah i think there are some items that i've been keeping, which i don't really need. i sometimes forget their existence and haven't use them for a looong time, things like that. don't know why i like to keep those things. don't have the heart to throw or give it away and yeah, who knows, someday i might want to use it or something. lol. i can never get rid of stuff this way! even when i try to declutter and able to throw away some stuff, there seem to be still a lot more of it..sigh.

I know people who are, but I try never to be a pack rat.

I am a recovering pack rat,lol. I have gone to pack rats Anonymous which involves living with my gf who cannot stand my stuff!!

hi everyone, my name is Diane and I am a pack rat. I keep things for future projects of all sorts. I keep things from my childrens' childhood. I keep things to maybe work on later. None of it is junk. All very important stuff!!!! My husband has now started to throw things away when I am not home. I keep thinking I will get around to using this or that or I will meet someone who can use something I have and I can help them. I also believe I may someday soon put some stuff on ebay or have a yardsale. We didn't have much growing up so it is very hard to trash something that has nothing wrong with it. Right or Wrong.....thats me

I'm right up there among the best of the pack rats, cynddvs. You wouldn't believe how much STUFF I have in a tiny one-bedroom apartment. You gave me a good incentive to start clearing out some of the stuff though. Some I have not even looked at for more than a year. Thank you.

I'd have to agree I'm somewhat of a pack rat (although not a total one, lol.) I grew up in a family where my parents were poor and went through the great depression in the 1920's. Their theories on life, making do, and recycling have served me well. Most people just get rid of stuff, if it gets broken and I throw it away, I'll usually harvest the screws, bolts and that kind of thing...I haven't had to buy screws or bolts in years, I always have just the right size on hand. Another thing I sometimes do is 'repurpose' things. One neighbor had an old Singer treadle sewing machine, the top was ruined, but the legs were still wonderful and in good shape. He gave me the legs and said he knew I could do something with it. So, I had saved the antique lumber from another project, that was just the right size for a table top. I combined the two and came out with a beautiful writing desk. I've had nice offers to buy it because not only is it pretty, but it is unique, and all the pieces are antique. I don't save everything, lol. Just if I can see there might be a purpose for it in the future. Too often now-a-days, people just throw everything away automatically...we truly HAVE become the disposable society, and our landfills with trash prove it. Someday I will have to downsize too, but until I don't have a workshop & garage, I don't see that happening quite yet. I keep it uncluttered and pretty much organized. I have a lot of projects to build with that free wood and screws!

Three pack rats in my house, which means to many items are here. The items are kept for many reasons; however, I'm trying to change our home. This summer have been reducing the living room and was surprised at the number of items that were under the furniture.

I am definitely a pack rat! My husband is, too. I didn't realize it was so bad until we just moved. The Air Force is paying for the move, so we've had to weigh every load we took from one house to the other. We still haven't weighed empty so I don't know exactly how much stuff we've brought over, but I do know that it was A LOT. It's more than what the Air Force would pay for if we were moving a long distance away, but since it was a local move, they pay for whatever we have. We will definitely be getting rid of some stuff before we get somewhere else! I'm not sure why we keep a lot of the stuff we have. A lot of it IS stuff we use. My son has a lot of books, and we might not actually look through all of them within a year, but until all of our children are too big for them, we won't be getting rid of any unless they are torn up probably. We're saving the baby furniture and toys that are in good condition for the next baby, too. And clothes! My son has so many that he's outgrown! I got rid of the ones that were stained badly, but he still has a bunch. But since he's our first, we're definitely holding onto them for any future kids we, or one of our siblings, have. Then we also have a large collection of DVD's. We probably haven't watched some of them in the last few years, but we still hang onto them. Maybe someday we will have a yard sale or something and get rid of some. We've probably got close to 1000 if you count the kid ones, too.

I have a little clutter but not that bad. There's some things I need to go through and sort and get rid of. My Mom though is a clutterholic. She has 2 large rooms in her upstairs, a 2 car garage, half of a large farmhouse, 2 single size mobile homes, 2 large storage buildings on her property, several rental units plus stuff all through her house things are stacked. I've tried to help her get rid of it but she fights it all the time. AT PEACE WITHIN