On the Edge of Hoarderdom...

Just to break up the tedium, a personal essay...

Perhaps you can relate, perhaps not, but it is what it is...

After watching a few episodes of Hoarders, I realized that we were quickly going down that road of Hoarderdom.

It started in the mid-1990's with Beanie Babies, which, at this posting are not yet listed here. Before that foray into stuffed beanbag critters, we had a lot of stuff, but it was mostly books, magazines, VHS tapes, old papers, and too many clothes. A good sweep through the attic would have pretty much taken care of the problem. But, no, those hot Beanies started filling up the house, then eventually tossed willy nilly into boxes and stuffed into the attic.

In 2001, shortly after 9/11, I started going to auctions--I can see now that 9/11 affected me in ways that are just now becoming apparent. But, make no mistake, the tendency to hoard was there long before 9/11. And I don't want this to be a whine about how difficult 9/11 was for me; I lost no one and I didn't live in New York or Washington, D.C. I'm just saying that the auction scene tipped me into dangerous hoarder territory.

For me, auctions fed my addiction even more. Admittedly, I made some good buys, but we were fast running out of room, with no place to display my new treasures. More boxes going to the attic.

In 2002, I started bidding on ebay: Disney stuff and costume jewelry. More stuff and more boxes. The attic was absolutely stuffed full, and some of the stuff was starting to pile around the house, unorganized. Meanwhile, I was still collecting Beanies, although I was slowing down as the fad faded out.

In 2003, I realized that bidding on ebay was not a healthy habit, so I abruptly stopped and made a lame attempt to organize. Before packing things into boxes, I inventoried the items, handwriting the list and marking the boxes, but failing to transfer my lists to my computer.

Then we rented a storage unit (this behavior seems to be a natural progression into full-blown hoarding); we placed these inventoried items there and then promptly forgot them until 2011. Then I just stopped with organizing; the attic was still stuffed full, and I was still collecting, although I was slowing down.

In 2009 and 2010, I again made some wishy-washy attempts to organize.

In 2009, as I was preparing to live abroad for a year, I had difficulty finding books and files that I needed, so I went through my papers and weeded out those I didn't need, but it wasn't a very serious attempt. I was too busy getting things together for my big move.

While overseas, I lived in an apartment that was clear of clutter, and I loved it! To keep it that way, I regularly weeded through my stuff and kept the keepers organized. Before leaving my adopted country, I gave away a lot of stuff. Still, we came home with seven suitcases (I had left the U.S. with four, but my husband had arrived later with about four or five).

In 2010, it was disconcerting returning to the chaos of our house, so I made another attempt. But with nowhere to put stuff, it was a hopeless task. By this time, I realized that the storage unit rental had been a HUGE mistake, and I wanted to get rid of it altogether, not store more stuff in it. I kept thinking about all that stuff there, and, by this time, I didn't even know what the stuff was.

But I did work on our living area, clearing out expired food and medicines. I also cleared boxes from the living room and our bedroom, and I did some light weeding--again, papers and magazines. I worked on developing new habits, such as keeping the dishes washed and dried and food put away, my clothes picked up, laundry kept after, etc. I'll never be a cleaning freak, but at least I can walk through my house unimpeded.

By 2011, I figured out that we had spent over $7,000 storing our stuff, renting a unit that was giving nothing back in terms of equity.

That had to end.

So we had a two-story shed built on our property. This may seem counter intuitive, perhaps encouraging even more hoarding, but nothing was going to happen unless we had a space close by to put our items as we sorted. However, I was determined that nothing would go into the shed unless it was inventoried and neatly packed in marked containers.

In January, 2012, my son helped me clear out the storage unit, I settled up my bill (I owed $1.00), and we placed the items (the handwritten inventory) into the new shed.

I felt so light after that, a huge weight lifted from my shoulders.

Since then, I have repacked some of the items into better containers, some I left in their original boxes, but most lists have been updated and added to my hard drive. My plan is to send a lot of the items to auction--perhaps to SELL on ebay--but I figure I will have a better chance of getting an auctioneer to take my possessions more seriously if I can show him or her inventory lists and easily accessible items.

I still occasionally buy something; I'm particularly weak when it comes to jewelry, minerals, and rock specimens. And just last week, I bought a squawky Donald Donald. Still, such buys are fewer.

So it's evident that I still have some emotional work to do...

Since October 2011, I have packed up and inventoried well over 100 boxes and donated 20-30 bags and boxes to charity. I have also tossed bags and bags of stuff.

The attic itself still needs much work, but it seems to be at the point before I started collecting Beanie Babies (1995). A lot belongs to my husband (one box is from the 1970's, an artifact), but a lot belongs to me as well. Two clutterbugs does not make for a neat space.

When it was still cold out, I did do a rough sort of the attic, but there are still some hidden boxes that I can't access.

Meanwhile, I'm still organizing, selecting boxes that are readily available. For now, the attic will be tackled last.

I believe a large Dumpster will be involved.

:=)
In another article, I will reveal how I have approached this major task and how my system has help me not to become too overwhelmed (although some days have been difficult).

One day at a time...

Do you have a hoarding or near-hoarding story?

Feel free to post it in the comment section (although posts with spam and live links will be deleted).