[FITZ]

My grandfather was like that --- I always thought it was because he had lived during the depression and also during those "waste not want not" days that most of us can't imagine.

He wouldn't throw out used shoes because even though he didn't need to wear them now, he figured hard times could come back and they'd be better than wearing shoes with holes. He saved electrical cords, figuring if he ever needed to he could melt off the plastic and sell the copper. His house was neat because he didn't store his stuff there, but you couldn't have parked a bicycle in his 2-stall garage.

[sinkspur]

The success of the off-site storage business (with garage-sized spaces crammed with stuff people don't even think about) shows that hoarding is widely practiced.

My wife hoards Christmas decorations and stuff, so we've had to rent a small storage space to keep it all.

My mother was a pack-rat; it took us a week to throw out all the junk she accumulated after she passed.

[tgslTakoma]

I think you're right about older folks saving things that may have some use left in them. The depression probably made a lot of folks more resourceful than we are now. Dad and mom both grew up during the depression, mom in the country and dad in the city (DC and Philly). Dad remembers putting newspapers in the toes of somebody elses wornout shoes so they'd fit him and help keep his feet warm. He drove a delivery truck in Philly when he was 11 to help feed the family. Mom's small town memories were of growing their food and making their clothes. Both remembered their mothers saying that they "weren't hungry" at suppertime, so their kids would have food on their plates.

I learned a lot from both of them, and I miss them.