Hoarding!

So, I have neglected my blog this summer, but I am back.

I recently finished reading a deliciously fascinating book called Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things by Randy Frost and Gail Steketee. I don't remember what prompted me to request the book from the library, but I did months ago. (It was probably a story on NPR.) Anyhow, the book was difficult to put down, and I got through it very quickly, and I haven't been able to get it out of my mind.

Do you have any hoarders in your family? I remember visiting a great aunt, who I had met occasionally at my grandparents' house; she was a cat lady. This is considered a type of hoarding by the writers of the book, and the chapter on animals did bring Auntie Marianne to mind. I will never forget that visit and the little apartment full of cats, with newspaper covering every surface. I can only imagine what my mother and aunts went through when they cleaned out Auntie's apartment!

There was a section in the book on childhood hoarding. This brought one of my dear children to mind, but since I have finished the book I have been remembering my disorganized childhood (no reflection on the parenting I received).

Then today, while purging a perfectly good white (ish) t-shirt and perfectly good white (ish) pillow case I couldn't put them in the giveaway bag. I set them aside and thought, "I will tie-dye them, they'll be really cute." Keep in mind, I have never actually tie-dyed anything, don't have any dye on hand, and don't really want to undertake a tie-dye project at this time. Then the hoarding book popped into my head. I immediately put the shirt and pillow case in the bag! Whew, that was a close one!

The well-researched book taught that compulsive hoarding has a relationship with OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) and that people with this tendency have some interesting other issues. I am not a compulsive hoarder (I don't think), but in the past few days I have realized I do have some of the thought patterns of a hoarder. This has been insightful and enlightening! Hopefully, this will help me continue to purge.

On that note, I have erased my 100 Things--Again list, since I have gotten rid of many more than 100 things this past month. I am sure I will need to do it again, since I have probably brought in nearly as many things as I gave away.