Featured Hoarder or storer?

Thought I'd mention re the hoarders topic, that I'm happy to say I'm making still more progress.

I've found that doing a little at a time is working much better for me than a marathon session. I don't get overwhelmed or burn myself out that way, and find it less intimidating to start back up each time.

 

Plus, a little at a time prolongs the pleasure of re-finding something you'd forgotten about but "might" decide to keep.

 

Oh, yes, those forgotten treasures! I've come across many of those...

 

I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I cleaned out and organized my garage enough that I can get through it. There is one wide aisle down the center that leads to stairs to my lower level.....


There is a narrower aisle down the left side that leads to stairs to my upper level.......


I had to stack things pretty high to be able to get this much room.......


The bad news is that I have filled it all back up I have eliminated my storage unit in the process so I guess I am making progress.

 

Agreed... good job, Brad!

I have a similar thing happening as I play "musical stuff" in my house. As soon as I clear an area, it becomes a good spot to put the excess stuff I'm trying to clear out of other areas.

Bit by bit, I am getting rid of some things and getting other things organized in a much better way. But no one but me would be able to tell!

 

^^I can SO relate! Seems as soon as I get rid of stuff, more takes its place!

 

Ah yes, "musical stuff;" I hadn't realized there was a name for that process....

 

another hoarder tale:
My sister's MIL was a senile hoarder. During her last years at her home she would go to the market and purchase 3 or 4 standard household items like dish detergent, paper towels, and a couple of other items. She would bring the bags home and put them in different rooms throughout the house where they accumulated. The dining table was set with china and silverware in place for a family dinner, but then the table was covered with layer upon layer of old mail, newspapers and magazines; it's a wonder the table didn't collapse from the weight. She could barely walk thru the kitchen with the stacks of papers and mail, along with those filled bags from the market.

She long told her two grown 'boys' that they would need to go thru everything when she died. What she did was hide money literally everywhere. She was a child of the great depression, which may provide some insight into her actions. She would sew money into pillows, stuff cash into socks and clothes in drawers throughout the house. She would buy new shoes and stuff cash down into the toes, and then stack the new boxes of shoes in the closet never worn. She'd also sew cash into hems, pillows and cushions. She used cash for bookmark.

Several years ago MIL had to move in with sis and BIL because her dementia had progressed to the point that she could not function on her own. For a short time she would still drive to her house to check on things; it was only about a 5 mile trip. That's all ended when she sailed thru a red traffic light and sideswiped another car. She ran the car into a vacant lot adjacent to the traffic light. She looked around in her confusion and couldn't figure out what happened. So she drove back to sister's house. She told sis that someone had run her off the road and kept on going; she didn't know what to do so just came home. About that time the police are pulling into the driveway ready to cuff MIL for leaving the scene of an accident. Meanwhile sis had called BIL to come home; he arrived shortly after the police. Fortunately, after the policeman 'talked' to MIL he was astute enough to realize she had no clue as to what was going on and just let her stay with her son. All was resolved in court sometime later, where her driver's license was officially revoked; and the insurance took care of their part as well.

It was shortly after the crash incident that the son's talked to mother and decided to sell the house and contents. So back to the hoarding story. The family gave away lots of those cleaning supplies that had accumulated over the years. It took about 3 week for them to go thru as much as they could while getting ready for an estate auction. All totaled, the family rounded up about $10,000 in cash that 'mother' had stashed over many years.

MIL passed away a couple months ago and sis was still finding money she had hidden around her house while living with them these last years.

I was reminded of all of this today while cleaning out my garage. My sister had brought thing over to give to our other sister who came by to pick them up. Well in the process she tossed a few things onto the workbench in the garage. I guess my sister really did not want that old NEW pair of pantyhose that got tossed aside. Well, there really were no pantyhose in what was thought to be a new package of pantyhose. But there was another stash of cash in there totaling $142.00.

I'm not sure we are at the end yet...

 

Tallcakes, I inherited the contents of a few homes within a very short time period. It's both fortunate and unfortunate, that I found $1600 in cash the very first day I started going through some of the things. Now, I can't donate, give, sell or throw anything away without going through it thoroughly. Since finding the initial $1600, I have a jar of change and $22 in paper money. If I had not found that $1600, I might have finished this process three years ago.

 

Wow. I'm so sorry.
I suspected my Dad was doing this but he wasn't senile at the time. I searched the entire apartment and don't believe I left any possible space unsearched though found nothing. If there was anything there I doubt anyone else will either.

 

Hoarder or storer??? -- the document featured in this story has probably been in the hands of both hoarders and storers over its past 367 years.

"367 year-old water bond still pays interest"

http://news.yale.edu/2015/09/22/liv...m_medium=email&utm_campaign=ynalumni-09-22-15

 

Now that's what I call a storer. I've heard some of these money hoarder stories before. Now if only my grandparents had done that...(sigh) My dad hoarded railroad stuff and US Mint proof sets. Those now are worth about what he paid, probably not taking inflation into account. There was one local guy who flipped houses who ran into something like this. A house had a fire in it and the family sold it for relatively little with whatever contents were still inside. The flipper took some old drapes down to toss them and the hems felt funny. He found enough rolled up cash inside to pay for the house. It's kept me busy checking drape hems at estate sales ever since.(LOL)

 

WOW!!!!!

 

Here is a 100 square meters I filled up some time ago.
I only go there twice a year to pay the rent....

 

Hi Evelyb30,
Hi, I always check hems also. I bought a set of drapes for the material, they were red and gold silk embroidered from the 20s. As I was taking them apart. The weights in the hem seemed pretty heavy. They were six 10 dollar gold coins and two diamond rings. As I knew the family, I returned the loot. They were so amazed and then started tearing the rest of the drapes apart. They found 8 more gold coins but no rings. They were kind enough to give me a large donation. I always check the hems on drapes (even if they are not selling them).
greg

 

I wish I was rich enough.....or demented enough....to weigh down my drapes with gold & diamonds !!!

 

A confession.....many of my rooms look much worse than any pictured here.....a lot of it is good NW Coast Native art, of course.....and musical instruments.....and .....and....
and if anything, my wife is worse than me, and it runs in her family. Her Mom once mailed her, from Stamford CT to Seattle WA, a huge box full of felt scraps. Felt scraps. A box 2 feet, maybe 2 1/2 feet long....half a cubic yard of felt scraps.
The sad part: my wife still has that box of scraps. You never know when you might need some felt......

 

Truly is it written "You never know when you will need some felt"

 

She felt the need to keep it handy.(*rimshot*) I have a pile of scrap felt myself; you'd be amazed how often I need a small piece.