Sunny Day in Hoarderville

I did nothing with The Project today, except to post one list on this site.

Perhaps it has something to do with the lovely weather, a picture-perfect day. Last week, when it was so warm in Hoarderville, I jumped the gun and dragged out my summer stuff, and then it got cold again. I had to go into the off-season closet and rescue a long-sleeved top.

I have actually packed up a lot of boxes, but most of them have not yet been posted here yet. I started organizing in October 2011; much has been inventoried and packed, over 100 containers, inventory lists saved on my hard drive--no wonder why this job seems wearing.

But I fear fire, theft, or some other catastrophe that could possibly wipe out everything we own, including the lists. I do have a fire-proof safe, where I store one of my hard drives, but, still, nothing is ever 100% safe. By posting the lists on this site, we have yet another layer of safety, unless Blogger's cloud goes down AND our house and shed burn down AND our safe doesn't stand up to the heat.

What would be the odds?

Most possessions, if lost, are replaceable, but important papers and family photos are not.

Which reminds me: what are some characteristics of a hoarder or near hoarder?

--Obsessive/compulsive behaviors (varying degrees, some slight, some full-blown--if you have ever seen Monk, you'll understand how paralyzing this behavior can be).

--Perfectionists--this may seem counter intuitive, but sometimes our standards are so high that we decide not to bother, which is why our spaces lapse into chaos. Non-hoarders are willing to settle for "good enough"--pick up quickly and put away-- while we envision House Beautiful. Of course, only the rich, like Martha Stewart and Oprah Winfrey, can afford perfection to that extent. The other 99% of us live in modest digs with those flickering dining room lights and ugly and shop-worn family room rug.

--Over-involvement with possessions and personifying inanimate objects:

I can't throw away this piece of ripped tin foil because I might hurt its feelings or disrespect it.

Silly, I know, but that's something that goes through one's head when holding trash over the garbage. Often, for those of us who just teeter on the edge of hoarderdom, the thought is usually momentary and the foil gets tossed.

--Fear of poverty, past, present, and future. We keep things because we might "need" them later. However, no one needs 35 purses and 50 pairs of socks and underwear. Ironically, hoarding itself can lead to poverty as homes deteriorate into heaps of garbage. My depression-era grandmother used to save rubber bands by slipping them on doorknobs, a habit I have picked up, and I wasn't even around during the depression.

Another story.

--Artistic, creative, and dreamy, which is why we tend to save strange items

Logical: buy new and toss or donate the old.

If only it worked that way...