Confessions of a Recovering Hoarder

 

I am a keeper. I am a collector of many things. I like to think of myself as somewhat of a historian, preserving items for a future generation. My mom sees things a little differently. . . She thinks I am a full blown hoarder. I do however have my dad on my side. I think I may have inherited this trait from him. For as long as I can remember, my mom has strategically forced my father and I to sort through our things. I can even remember one year she decided to get rid of one thing everyday. Ahh!! That News Years resolution nearly caused me a breakdown! We have spent decades, father and daughter, trying to save our precious collections from the minimalist. My plan has always been to hide my treasures before she could find them. My dad would let her kick them to the curb and then sneak out at dark to retrieve them from the trash and relocate them to his stash in the garage. You can only imagine the entertainment this has provided the neighbors over the years. 

While my saving may seem ridiculous to some, to me it has a purpose. I can look at an item and instantly tell you who gave it to me and for what occasion. I see my treasures as keepsakes, mementos. If you ever give me something, it would be safe to bet I will have it for years to come.

Once I became a teacher that only took my hoarding to a whole new level.  Teachers are notorious for saving things.  You may look at an empty coffee can and see trash, however when I look at the can I see the perfect container to hold my new pencils.  If saving trash isn't bad enough, I now find myself purchasing junk to save.  I must place part of the blame on Target for this one.  That dollar section is going to be the death of me!  "It's only a dollar," I think as I load 2 more sets of flashcards, for a subject I don't even teach, into the buggy.  I am convinced all of these things will come in handy one day.  As a teacher, I also feel obligated to save every picture a student has drawn for me and each tiny trinket I was presented as a token of appreciation. This has left me with tubs upon tubs loaded to the max.

In my early years of hoarding, I was still living at home so all of my junk was stored safely at my parents.  Then once I left home, I rented a storage space to ensure I had adequate room for my belongings.  Everything was going well until the minimalist started downsizing.  Suddenly and without warning. . . every single time I visited my childhood home, I was sent away with loads of junk I had saved over the years.  You know the saying, "out of sight, out of mind." This phrase had taken truth in my life and to be honest. . . I had forgotten about my mementos.  The more I dreaded visits to my mom's. . . the more I realized. . . I have a problem!  I am officially a hoarder!  

My Confessions as a Hoarder:

1. I have every single movie stub and ticket from any event I attended
2. On vacations, I pick up every brochure I can find and save it. . .
3. Do you remember. . . back before texting. . . those notes we would write and fold in cool shapes. . . Yep - saved those too!
4. Pressed flowers from my high school homecoming date are still placed neatly inside a hardback book
5. T-Shirts from elementary, middle school, high school, college. . . you get the picture!
6. Cards I have received for all occasions.
I could go on and on, but I will spare you! 

Once all of these items ended up back in my actual possession, I realized it might be time to start letting some things go.  In truth. . . most of it was trash!  I finally sorted through the majority of it.  Some things went to trash, others to charity, and a few things I found creative ways to save as keepsakes.  Check back soon for details on my suggestions for organizing the chaos of your keepsakes.