Are you a packrat?

This makes me laugh out loud.

The old "I might need that someday" argument is, basically, how hoarding starts.

But then, I laugh at myself, because I have three huge boxes of..........cables. I'm talking every kind of cable associated with computers, from printer cables, network cables, ribbons for internal drives, for all versions of USB, power cables, three types of HDMI cable..... and on and on. THREE boxes. It all made sense when I was working, and it paid off many times. But now? It's junk, basically. :D
 
I don’t consider myself a pack rat in the true sense, but I think there’s a bit of a pack rat in many of us. Mine has more to do with treasures I collected thru the years.

Mom was the one who got rid of things because her OCD self couldn’t stand having anything “old” laying around. She painted over the words “Itinerants Room” in the downstairs bedroom of our 1800’s house. She even waxed the garage floor of the new house when we moved.

I have seven saddles in the attic, one of which is my first saddle/bridle/martengale mom bought from Sears & Roebuck in 1959 for my first horse. All of their bridles still hang in the laundry room. My brother can dispose of them after I’m gone. I have the cold weather horse blankets for all my horses - past and present, in bags, in a corner of a spare bedroom.

I have the proverbial junk drawer that every kitchen has - well - except for mom’s kitchen.
 
Aunt Bea said:
I have to set limits on the number of nice little boxes and jars that I save.
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jujube said:
The Spousal Equivalent asked me just the other day why I have so many empty boxes. But, but, but.....they're such GOOD boxes and I MIGHT need them....
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Boxes are good things. Actually I don’t have the size ones I need right now. I had things set aside in the basement for donations. Decided to organize them by charity.

The good news was when I was doing this organization I found two items I’d been looking for. Sometimes I get a little too efficient in clearing out things.
 
Don't call yourselves packrats! think of yourselves as artistic bower birds building a delightful home to attract a mate.
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Well, I wish you hadn't asked. I am a pack rat and pretty good at it. I am having to deal with years of squirrelling things away. Not only my own stuff but that of family members who have passed on. It seems a shame to throw out someone's year books and awards and diaries as if they never existed but there is no one to pass it on to.
 
no, I am definitely not a pack rat. When I moved into my condo, I brought 60 boxes and that actually was too much stuff and I got rid of probably another six boxes after I moved in. Now if I buy anything something of a like adjectives donated. Someone could pack my condo in less than one day. Since moving in, I have downsized even further.

I have three closets and half of one of them is stuff my son left behind when he moved out of the country that he wants to keep. When I decided to buy a years worth of paper products and cleaning supplies everything fit into my closet. That means when I have it all used up by fall that I will have empty closet space.
 
That Lady in PA said:
I don't have one either... don't see the point of wasting good kitchen space on 'junk'.
If it is junk, get rid of it.
If it is not junk, put it away.
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“Junk” is by whose definition. There are some useful items that don’t have a specific place, so they go in the junk drawer. Everyone I know has a junk drawer. When I moved to this house, they asked which drawer was the designated junk drawer🤠🤠

I have more than enough kitchen space without utilizing the junk drawer for something else🤠🤠. I have three big drawers of various cooking & baking utensils that I have forgot what’s in them, plus the designated silverware drawer. I know what’s in the junk drawer🤠🤠
 
Mother, sister & daughter all are/were hoarder's. Me being OCD never could stand the clutter, so NO! to the OP's question. I give up or away more than I save.
 
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I am the polar opposite of a pack rat or hoarder. I cannot stand clutter. And I move or have moved so much and purge every time I do. The only thing I regret getting rid of are my hundreds of vinyl records.

I do, however, admit to keeping a junk drawer in kitchen. It is full of cable wires, users manuals. and lots of unfathomable things I'll probably never use.
 
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I spent 30 years in the Marines. When I moved down here to Pensacola, I unloaded a ton of Marine clothing, including t-shirts and fatigues that I never wore and a lot of other stuff that I classified as junk. I took 4 pair of unworn boots over to a Catholic Church that takes clothing and furniture donations. I also gave the Sisters a check. This church also runs a food bank and the one Sister told me they would use the money to buy food because they have been getting hit hard.
 
Marcy Sheiner said:
The only thing I regret getting rid of are my hundreds of vinyl records.
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My brother had an enormous collection of vinyl records, they took up almost the entire basement of his house and were very expensive to move from San Francisco to Ohio when he retired.

When he found out he had terminal cancer he started trying to sell them so he would have more money to leave his girlfriend. No one was really interested. Finally a dealer from another state came and took away about 10% on consignment and sends her a small check once in a while. Not really what we would have expected from such a huge collection.
 

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