Thursday, November 15, 2012

Am I a Hoarder or Am I a Collector




Am I a Hoarder, or Am I a Collector?

Welcome to LilacsNDreams everyone! How many of you feel you are hoarders? Are you accumulating too many things? When is it that you cross the line from collecting, and become a hoarder?

Ever ask yourself this question "Am I a hoarder?" because you are worried with all the things you have collected from Estate Sales, Yard Sales, Thrift Stores, and over time they start to accumulate. I like to comment sometimes with different places that I am not a hoarder, but a collector of treasures. Sometimes I will also comment how I am a keeper of treasures too. Well, it works for me, and sometimes takes away that guilt of having to many things sitting here. 

Have you ever watched that show Hoarders? Now, that gets to be some really scary stuff. I can honestly say I am not that bad, or have not gone that far. I am thankful to be able to draw the line at a certain point, and stop before it gets that far. 

Hoarders are compulsive collectors who save almost anything that they convinced themselves have some value: newspapers, books, containers of things, animals, clothing, and a little bit of everything. Now, they shouldn't be confused with collectors of glassware, salt and pepper shakers, memorabilia, and so on. Collectors aquire things to show them off, and with hoarders they are not collecting to have that collection be a part of their persona. 

I like pretty things, I like glassware, I like things old, and with some pieces I see possibilities too. My dining room table is half full of items that need to be cleaned, repurposed, maybe pictured for listings, and etc. My kitchen counter top has a bottle of mod podge, some ribbon, sponge applicators, and my scale to weigh shipments for postage. I do have a craft room upstairs that needs to be organized, but that is due to some house remodeling that has finally been completed too. It is not difficult to use rooms in the house, or walk through them. I am not getting myself stressed over my collections....just items I need to get completed...LOL:) 

Everyone gets overwhelmed in one way, or another. We don't all take care of our homes like they use to do some 25 years ago. Don't worry, we are not alone everyone. About 50 to 70 percent  of us have the issue that we suffer from "too much stuff" So, solving some of our clutter problems is actually a good thing really when you think of it. Being a hoarder can be a bigger problem.

Interesting thought of being a hoarder, and seeing it in a more positive way. So, while you think you might be a hoarder don't worry. You are not a true full pledged hoarder till the house is too full to walk through, it has become stressful for you, and in some cases how they are sanitary issues too. Take a deep breath, smile, and remember as I do "Just a collector/keeper of treasures"

Thanks for sharing your time with LilacsNDreams today everyone. Sorry this is coming out to you all a little later today. Hope you enjoyed, and if you have any experience with hoarding please share with us. Take care, and see you all again soon. 

2 comments:

  1. This is a timely topic and I thank you for posting it. There have been times when I have wondered (worried!) that I might be a Hoarder, or at least have Hoarder tendencies. I am sentimental about some items and I have many interests (crafty and otherwise). All of those interests involve "stuff". However, like you said, the house is never in a state that one can't easily get around in it. Most of what we own can be seen, it isn't squirreled away somewhere, piled to the ceiling. Some surfaces are a little more cluttered than we would like - the pile of mail on the kitchen counter and a couple of projects on the coffee table for when we watch movies.

    I do watch the Hoarder shows, for a few reasons... 1: It makes me feel better about our house! 2: It does encourage me to pare down some of my belongings. 3: I am interested in the psychology behind it - why do people do this? How does it get so bad?

    My husband has had some hardcore hoarders in his family and I have one (known) in mine. We are both conscious of it and in agreement that we never want to live like that!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for stopping by, and sharing with us!:) I know, I sometimes worry about the "stuff" that sits around, but when I watch hoarders I don't feel so bad then. I do feel sorry for those who get to that point, and know it has to be hard for them.

    I read some of the issues with hoarding, and it can get quite deep for the reasons that it happens. I feel sorry for them because for some it is a form of depression, sometimes something happened in life to make them do that, and there were quite a few factors for reasons. For some who have this issue there is assistance, and help for them. There are people out there who do work with people having this problem. Different steps, and phases they go through, but there is assistance there for them.

    Thanks again for stopping by, and sharing Horse Trender...I enjoyed it!:) Have a wonderful weekend!:)

    Kim
    LilacsNDreams

    ReplyDelete