Featured Hoarder or storer?

Lil & Brad..................

 

No, of course not,sorry you misunderstood my post. I was giving an example of MY situation,thats all. I cited my reasons for my hoard/disaster area and followed up with others having other obligations in their life. Plus I live in an 850 sq.ft. cottage after having lived in a 2,300 sq.ft.home,LOL. A lot of carp to cram

GOSH...I keep editing my posts...I need COFFEE

 

Thanks Shiloh! It is now 3:30 here, just finished watching Cape Fear for the umpteenth time, Had a good conversation, and I am off to bed......

 

oops

 

I slept a few hours this afternoon now I am wide awake. What to do...what to do.... G'nite.

 

I see that because of this thread it seems a member, afantiques, was motivated to clear up a room, leaving his wife utterly gob smacked.

My real motivation was that I had run out of chaos to show, so I thought I'd have a go at anti-chaos for a change.

Plus there is an aspect that all hoarders know, and that's the forgotten treasure aspect. After a fairly long while, a store or hoard may be considered as 'mature'.

In this condition, you have no detailed memory of the contents, and often no great attachment to them, having not only bought more and better in the intervening years, but in many if not most cases, forgotten what they cost.

The mature hoard may now be considered 'Ripe' and ready for picking. It becomes like someone else's stuff, that you have a free pick at if you just haul away the real junk.
The good, salable bits are the 'pay', some of the other stuff might be left to mature further somewhere else, and and a fair amount you no longer care enough about to regret discarding.

You can't measure 'hoard maturing' in cash terms. If you can afford to let it fester, even with storage costs, without it really hurting your spending, then while it may be sensible to argue that you could be making just a bit more money, for most, maximising cash flow is not the goal.

If it does not mutate into some hideous burden, a nice store of stuff satisfies an atavistic urge to gather and store that is shared by the squirrel and his winter nuts.



(His OTHER nuts, idiot illustrator)

Having a load of stuff can be comforting, and it's worth cash money just for that. And it can make money too, some stuff is hot one year, unsalable the next and back to hot again a decade later.

When I was heavily into ebay selling the entire current stock fitted into a normal size filing cabinet, everything was sold every week, and the only use for storage space was to pile up the stuff that came in boxed with the salable bits but not really costed in as anything.

Stuff not valuable enough to ebay, or too heavy or large or broken. In effect, a stream of free or low cost stuff piling up for the winter.

When I packed up the ebay selling, that old hoard was there to replace buying new stuff to satisfy my stuff-lust.

So may it be with other storers.

In reply to a question, how much was thrown away and how much simply moved, some old electrical stuff went for recycling,
six bin bags of mixed ladies clothes went to the charity shop, and some more including a couple of clammy old duvets are destined for the tip. Smallish stuff worth having has been condensed to one modest storage box. A few boxes remain to be sorted, most will be long obsolete paperwork, and instruction manuals for long discarded gadgets.

 

If I may comment here: while I am aware that Brad is as imperturbable as the faces on Mount Rushmore, and that Af is utterly and deservedly secure in his own abilities and choices, and that neither needs my defense, nevertheless -- like Shiloh -- I felt an urge to defend them.

It is not a question of defending against storage, or decorating, advice, it is that the length and detail given is gratuitous and unfortunately, to this reader, comes across as presumptuous. I am sure that Lilfont had no such intention, and I am aware that the advice is good. But such information should be given either as a response to a question, or be given its own thread which could include other hints.

I am neither a seller, nor (as I now realize!!!) a true hoarder, but I AM a bit of a decorator, and while I recognize the validity of the critique, I would prefer not to be given an answer before I ask the question.

I am not chastising you for your enthusiasm, Lilfont, just its placement. As someone who has gone into a home for sale which had the laundry on the dining room table, 87 family pictures Everywhere, and dust rabbits from the hairy dog, I know how you feel. The difference is that I had been asked to stage the place.

 

"laundry on the dining room table, 87 family pictures Everywhere, and dust rabbits from the hairy dog"

You can't even copy and paste, yet you've managed to put a camera inside my house? hahaha

Decorating 101: Check your personal taste and preferences at the door - it's not your house.

 

I see rooms I would love to go shopping in .

 

Morning, Sue! Yeah -- good advice. I've seen rooms that have caused my lower lip to bleed! But if lavatory green floats your boat, who am I to put in my oar.

 

Morning! Stories....oh, boy! Could I tell stories....

 

I think it kind of depends on the application of the green . . .

1930s bathroom . . .

 

When you politely suggest that I go start my own thread, etc., etc. the Irony is that you are giving a response where no question was asked as well.

The thing is there are many comments on these threads that I am indifferent to, and I read, ignore and forget. But then there are others that I am different too, and feel the urge to comment on. Yes, sometimes my comments are not in direct relation to a question asked, and sometimes they make people react in unexpected ways, and sometimes I guess folks think I am being presumptuous (though, that's a new one). But here's the beauty of this. I make a comment that wasn't asked for, you get to politely tell me that my comment might not have been appropriate, I disagree, which I am doing now, and you get to read and either ignore or comment further. And we all feel better. I love open forums.

 

Hi,
Only have one that still gives me nightmares. House for sale, open house. I walk in the entire family is doing what they normally do, I went to the basement. Laundry 3 feet high everywhere on the floor. Washing machine churning away with suds seeping under the lid. Back of basement had a huge pool of water on the floor (did not check to see if it was clean or stagnant). The realtor was dying. The father (I persume) was screaming at a ball game in the family room (at least he was dressed I was picturing him in his underwear) when I walked in I was asking the realtor how old the roof was? The woman told me it's none of my business about the roof. I am totally thinking this must be a TV joke. Dirty dishes in the sink,on the kitchen table and covering the counters A teenage girl was ironing her undies on the dining room table. Two little kids and a big OLD OLD dog yelling and barking all over the house. The dog's nails were never cut and gouging the wood floors. I thanked the realtor who looked like she wanted to run out with me. I heard the woman ask the realtor if I made an offer! As I was flying down the driveway a couple with a new born infant was walking up. I really wanted to stop and see their faces coming out but I was on my way home to take a shower.
greg

 

Hi Davey,
I had a box marked important save. I moved five times with that box from one coast to the other, stored in closets and attics and behind the sofa. After my move from Brooklyn to Jersey, I opened the box. It was the nightstand to the bedroom suite I had in college.
greg

 

Davey -- It's that Crate gettin' up morning, fare thee well, fare the well!

 

As AF suggests, there is comfort and value in having a hoard. While I don't see the value of the hoard one usually sees on the TV show Hoarders, I do see the comfort for the most part. The filth and vermin does sometimes give one some pause though. Fortunately, no real filth or vermin in my hoard that I know of. my kitchen and bathrooms are in fine working order unlike those sometimes seen on TV. At this stage of my life, I could use a bit less of a hoard or a bigger facility to store and organize it. Truth be known, I would probably choose the latter if given the option...... LOL!

Ridding myself of the hoard entirely, would be out of the question. It would be like throwing away my blanket on a cold Winter night. Besides, the monetary value received at auction probably would not meet what I have invested in it. If there is any monetary value to it, it is based in refurbishment and proper marketing. That said, there are way too many projects that I can never get to in this lifetime. Ridding myself of some, even if at a loss, could be cathartic.

I have enjoyed picking through my mature hoard and like having the ability to determine what happens with it. I understand the angst seen on TV when people come in and attack the hoard. I would hope that will only happen when I leave this Earth. Truth be known, I hope I live long enough to not place this burden on my heirs and get to pick through every last bit.

 

I probably mentioned much earlier in this thread that I don't really have enough of a hoard to even show it. It has been interesting to see all of your photos, and to read everybody's thoughts. I hope it continues!

 

Fig, your post made me think it would be nice to have a parallel thread for sharing some of our collections (regardless of how they're stored or displayed). There have been threads for sharing particular types of items, but not a general one for "whatever."