You know that show with the people who collect everything under the sun? They are…dam what’s the word. Oh yes, hoarders. Which I guess is a nice word for pack rat. They even have a show now on TLC called Hoarders. The experts (experts in what, I have no idea) go into the persons house and help them see that they have a problem. Then they help clean out the house. Or this is the gist of the show, from the commercials on it that I’ve seen.
I am not a hoarder, not by any means. However, I remember how much stuff we donated when we move here. Things like an entire box of Simpson’s figurines. **cough *Logan* cough**
We have some weird things that we choose to save. I thought you guys might get a kick out of hearing some of these.
Cards. I save birthday cards and Christmas cards. EVERY SINGLE ONE. Since I was 10 years old. I can’t even tell you why I keep them, but I do. I literally moved a box of them when we came to Colorado.
Pez dispensers. My husband has a thing with Pez dispensers. My brother does too. I don’t get it. I never have. We have more than I want to admit. When Morgan was a baby, we had a bunch of them attacked by ants. Logan killed each ant and then replaced the ones that had been infested. The only good thing about this, was he started keeping them in big Tupperware bins and not needing to display them. Oh yes, they used to be displayed. It was wrong.
Music. Logan has this issue with not giving away CD’s, even though we will never listen to them. Even though we don’t exactly know why we own things like Hanson, Tupac or the Spice Girls.
Books. This one is me. Even if I hated a book, I can’t seem to give it away. We have bookshelves and bookshelves full of books. I will almost never let the girls buy a toy at Target, but god forbid they want a book. They always get it. They know my weakness. You may think I’m joking on not giving away books. I have an entire box full of Baby-Sitter’s Club books. Another of Sweet Valley High. It’s bad.
Glasses. We own more dishes than one needs to own. I have two sets of china, a set of dishes that we use every day, a set of Christmas dishes and dishes that we use at BBQ’s. However, more than that, we collect cups. And mugs. And cool glasses. I have a weakness for cool cups. In Vegas in September I saw a set of glasses that I wanted at the Coca-Cola store. I didn’t buy them there, since I didn’t want to carry them home…or back to the hotel. What? It was 106 degrees. Anyway, when I got home, I ordered them off the Internet. I heart them. I already want more.
Coasters. This one is Logan. Although, I seriously do own the coaster that my great-grandmother sewed. We also have the cork ones. The picture ones, because everyone should put a glass on their kids smiling face. The character ones…Simpsons, Muppets, M&M’s are the ones I can name off the top of my head. The heavy ceramic ones that we had to put away, because Harrison is likely to throw them at the dog. We have the wood ones, from that one place, where we went that one time. Yeah, he has a reason for keeping them all. Funny enough, I rarely use the dam things.
Movie/concert/plane tickets. I have every ticket from the time I was 12 years old. Some day I want to make something cool with them. Someday. You know? One of those days.
Okay, that’s all I’m admitting too. I can’t be the only one who is two steps away from being featured on the show Hoarders. What’s your thing? What do you have that you can’t seem to get rid of?
26 Responses to We might be pack rats. *maybe*
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I probably would have a lot more useless stuff, but we’ve moved so often and (maybe thankfully) things seem to get lost.
.-= C @ Kid Things´s last blog ..Meet Stumpy =-.
Issa Reply:
November 4th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
@C @ Kid Things, I am never moving again…unless I can have my dream house. So, i guess I may need to go through things.
i save christmas cards that have pictures attached or in them! i like to save that. i can’t stand to throw away a photo! and i saved every card hannah got for her 1st bday. gonna do that for liv too.
.-= becky´s last blog ..Thankful =-.
Issa Reply:
November 4th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
@becky, Becky, get this, I have my cards from my first birthday. My mom saved them.
O.M.G. The Babysitters Club and SWEET VALLEY HIGH!! I loved those books. I was so happy when they turned them both into TV shows. Those were the days!
I have a problem with keeping old cassette tapes. Before CD’s I had hundreds of tapes of all my rock and hair bands. I will never listen to them again. Do they even make cassette players? lol
I also have a garbage bag full of notes. My friends and I would pass notes to each other in the hallway every single day. I’ll never read them again. Why I keep them I don’t know. I do know that I’m the only one of my friends who still has them. Maybe I should let it go?
Issa Reply:
November 4th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
@Chantel, OMG I have notebooks full of those somewhere. With 15 ppp.s’s. Oh those were the days.
Um, cassettes? Yeah, I don’t think anyone makes those anymore.
I saved a lot of crap…I mean stuff, from my childhood. For the life of me, I don’t know why I saved it all. The strangest thing has got to be A Days Of Our Lives Magazine from 1986. I don’t know what’s more pathetic – the fact that I have it or the fact that some of the actors & actresses in the magazine are still on the show.
Issa Reply:
November 4th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
@drlori71, When we moved, I threw out tons of old magazines. Like I needed to keep a Tiger Beat with New Kids on the Block on the cover. Shudder.
There are certain things I hoard because I think there is reason to hoard it. Like the tickets you keep, pictures, some of my kids drawings/school work and things of sentimental value are ok to hoard but there is an extreme. My mom is/was that extreme. She is better now but it’s till too much, really, throw it away.
.-= Kel´s last blog ..Because It’s Tuesday =-.
Issa Reply:
November 4th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
@Kel, I keep almost none of the kids school stuff. I should keep more maybe. Hmmm.
I save everything too. When our basement flooded I finally got rid of my notebooks from college and law school. I never once looked at them but “I might”.
We are going through a massive purge right now to clear out the guest/storage room for the baby and there is a lot of sh*t there I can’t believe I still have.
.-= But Why Mommy´s last blog ..Stuck =-.
Issa Reply:
November 4th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
@But Why Mommy, Yeah, it’s the I might want to look at that again one day that gets me every time. Hey, how many months are we at? Are you down to five months now?
As the daughter of a very real hoarder, I have gone completely the other direction. My husband and kids make a point to tell me not to throw their things away. I can’t even stand to have left overs in the fridge… it drives my husband nuts.
I wish I could find a happy medium though because sometimes I inadvertently throw away important stuff or things I wish I’d saved.
.-= Kirsten´s last blog ..House Beautiful (well not really, not yet anyway) =-.
Issa Reply:
November 4th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
@Kirsten, I think a lot of people do that…going the opposite of their parents. My mom was middle ground, so I am too.
You could give the kids each a big Tupperware, to put things into it that they don’t want you to throw away. The clutter is what makes me throw stuff away. If it has a place to be, it doesn’t bother me.
I have a hard time tossing out things that might have another use in them. Like boxes and fabric and anything made of glass, metal, aluminum, or paper that could be recycled or refurbished. Luckily I have a smallish home and two kids so I can’t let it spin out of control, but I hate tossing things out so much I had to start composting my kitchen waste. I cannot stand throwing things in a landfill!
.-= Kelly´s last blog ..Happy Recovery From Hauloween =-.
I’m not a hoarder, but I do have some USELESS things that I refuse to get rid of. You know, like the 2 boxes of *NSYNC memorabilia that I keep saying I’m going to list on eBay but never do. Yeah, that kind of stuff. **Don’t judge me!!! LOL
.-= AmazingGreis´s last blog ..Wordless Wednesday – Halloween candy I LOVE edition… =-.
Issa Reply:
November 4th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
@AmazingGreis, No judgements here. I saw them in concert when i was nine. I have pics of me in their t-shirts.
I did throw out the stuff left from them though, when we moved here.
Wow. I think we’re living in the same house—substitute Pez dispensers for Starbucks Bears and we’re so there. Bill is the one who won’t/can’t throw out a card. Someone could hold a gun to his head and tell him “Your cards or your life,” and he’d save the cards. I can’t even tell you about the old mail without crying. But the CDs, DVDs, books, concert tickets, mugs (I lurve me some cool mugs), dishes (Christmas, two daily and a holiday, plus the ones his mother left me that I’m afraid to use)…it’s endless.
Issa Reply:
November 4th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
@Mo, I have a friend who has EVERY. SINGLE. STARBUCKS. BEAR. since they started making them. It’s a sickness. Ha.
I have china from my great-grandma on my dad’s side. It’s the only think I have of hers…well except her name and smile.
I’m afraid to use it too.
Girl, you need to throw something away. Anything. Just pick something and throw it away. And then do it one more time. And then think “Hmm. That wasn’t so bad. I now have 1 less bit of crap to weigh me down. I wonder what 1 less box of crap would feel like?” And seriously? It feels great. Not that I pitch everything. I don’t. But I DO reevaluate my “crap” from time to time and weed through the things that don’t pull up some memory that was lost to me. (i.e. a box full of notes from junior and senior high school. THEY pull up special memories EVERY time!)
.-= tracey´s last blog ..When I get down, I bake a pie. And eat the #$@% out of it… =-.
I keep birthday cards, too.
Marshall saves coke bottle tops. he claims it’s for “the points”…but he will enter the points and still keep them. I think I’d rather have a bunch of PEZ.
.-= Bridget´s last blog ..Wordless Wednesday: My Backyard at Sunrise =-.
Issa Reply:
November 5th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
@Bridget, Oh B, I don’t know girl. Serious, it’s a lot of Pez.
Ads & coupons…for whatever reason I can’t bring myself to toss them until well after they expired. I hold onto them because I need to know what’s on sale and how much money I can save. Its crazy, I have begun tossing when that stuff comes on junk mail day…says the lady staring at ads on her desk…LOL
.-= Domestic Extraordinaire´s last blog ..You Capture-At the Park with A Nephew Edition =-.
Issa Reply:
November 5th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
@Domestic Extraordinaire, I never even bring them in the house, because I’ll pick them out and not use them.
Dr Oz was talking about hoarders/hoarding today and how it’s a disease and it’s genetic and it can KILL YOU. OK, I think you have to be an intense, over the top, 85 year old hoarder to die from it. Or, when things get piled up too high, they can topple on top of you and smoosh you to death. Nothing like death by pez dispensers. Gosh, I’m so chipper today.
You’re not hoarders, or even pack rats – you are collectors. Hey, some of that stuff might be worth a lot of money someday! I can’t stand to toss cards either…kills me. Or pictures. Even the digital ones. My husband had to get an external hard drive to house all of my pictures. 25 of the same pose of one of my kids. Nope, can’t just choose the best one and delete the others. Just can’t do it.