Am I a hoarder? I feel like this is a terrible question for me to be asking, because I am really really really hoping that the answer is no, even though I already know in my heart that I probably am. It’s a good question to ask though, because I don’t know really know what the full definition actually is, I mean maybe I am not so bad, I am not collecting old TV guides or plastic cups, I am very happy to rid my life of unwanted trash, but I do find myself holding onto things that may or may not be sentimental one day.

You may remember that a few months ago now I wrote a blog all about the last few boxes I needed to unpack… in fact if you don’t remember and you are curious you can read/re-read it here… Anyway, I even admitted in the blog that the ‘last few boxes’ was actually more like 15, what I failed to mention is that those 15 boxes filled a room… and it looked kind of like a dump site… in fact although I am ashamed of it… this is what the room looked like at the beginning of August and at the beginning of September…

So while September was a massive improvement on August, I still had a lot of crap around. Since then, I have continued to work through the piles slowly but surely, but there is still a long way to go… but I have been very proud of the amount of things that I have just thrown out. But a little while a go my simply incredible husband surprised me by just organising the room a bit better, he didn’t actually unpack anything or throw anything out, because that is my job… and so it should be… its my crap, but he just moved it so that the room was functional, giving me my own space in our little house, which was overwhelmingly unexpected and now the room looks amazing and I now have my very own study!

Anyway, all this talk of sorting and the unveiling of a fully functional room has made start wondering whether or not I would classify as a hoarder, and why is it that I feel the need to hold onto things?

I think the answer is yes… I have a mild dose of hoardism… No, that’s probably not a word, but you know what I mean… but why is the real question and these are the top 5 reasons that I have come up with to explain why I hoard…

1. I am lazy
Instead of actually dealing with things when I get them, eg cards, bank statements, magazines, junk mail, important mail, receipts… I tend to say ‘oh I can’t be bothered with that right now, I’ll fix it later…’ but later never comes and what was one little piece of mail eventually turns into a large pile of unsorted paperwork and odd things.

2. I like to reminisce
I like to reminisce on most things, but in particular on my life… in fact I guess you could say that my little collection of blogs is actually just a form of hoarding… Anyway, in this, I find that having physical items, or written words help me to remember things that I had long forgotten, I guess it’s like my obsession with photos… I like to look back and see how I have changed, how my life has changed, where I have come from and what I have achieved… that’s not such a bad thing is it?

3. It’s genetic
Look… at the risk of offending her… I think my mum is a little bit of a hoarder too, and I think that this is where I have got it from. Mum loves to show us things from her past, her old houses, the streets she lived on, and anything she can find… and I think that this, mixed with the fact that I actually really like history and looking at actual belongings and writings of people from the past has made me want to hold on to a lot of my stuff so that one day I can show my kids… In fact you could probably say I am building a little time capsule of all that was and is me… just so they can sit there and listen to it, whether they like it or not.

4. You might need it one day
Look, you just never know when you might need something… a reference, an extra comb, a spare eraser… its all quite important really, there was a reason it all came into my possession in the first place so who am I to say that purpose is complete?
5. I watch too many cartoons
So this may be the reason most things never actually make it to the bin… I think I have watched too many cartoons and have started to believe that I will hurt the feelings of inaniment objects if I just casually disgard them, because lets face it, most of the cartoons I grew up with were about things that came alive when the humans were gone, or everyday objects that had feelings, dreams and lives just like you and I… Let me give you a few examples:

• Toy Story 1, 2 and 3
• Johnston and friends
• The Brave Little Toaster goes to Mars
• Raggy dolls
• Beauty and the beast
• Brum
• Budgie the Little Helicopter
• Super Ted
• Gumby

See what I mean… all normal things with a heart and feelings… wanting to be used and treated with kindness, not to be forgotten and then just tossed out with the rubbish…

So that’s my reasoning… I guess it doesn’t change the fact that I am probably still a hoarder… but it makes me feel better about it… oh and the problem seems to be limited to areas belonging to me… I have no dramas throwing out other peoples stuff… check out what I managed to achieve in Jake’s room on my Wordless Wednesday… Of course gloves and sented candles were requried… but now it looks amazing and there was no hoarding what so ever.