My grandma was a packrat like that. She didn't throw anything away. In addition to holding the philosophy, "waste not want not," she loved to shop and was incapable of resisting bargains, nor could she pass up many of the unique items offered in mail order catalogs (which she also never threw out). Her collection of costume jewelry and Avon filled the dresser top and most of the dresser drawers, as well as a couple of shelves in a closet. Hatboxes filled with hats she never wore stacked to the ceiling in one closet whose lower shelves contained stacks of Christmas cards she had received over the years, bound together in 8-10 inch stacks with large rubber bands. She seldom had to shop at Christmas, just rummage through the cedar chest and a few drawers, and she was good to go. Plundering at Grandma's house was truly an enjoyable activity and the opening of any door, drawer or cabinet promised new advernture.
When Grandma passed away back in 1985, it fell to me to go through her things. There was one closet whose floor was stacked several feet high with nothing but junk mail, in addition to what was on the shelves. While I was afforded many a walk down memory lane at the time, the sheer volume of stuff was overwhelming and because she would sometimes stick something worth saving in the midst of all the "junk," it was necessary to handle virtually every item. I don't remember exactly how long it took, but I had to take an incomplete for that quarter at college because I was out of the state for so long.
While I wouldn't have had her be any different than she was, I think I responded by developing an almost obsessive need to unclutter. Now, that may sound simple, but I am much more like my grandma than I like to admit and I can turn even few belongings into a pretty good size mess. It's an inherited talent I think. Anyway, I developed the philosophy that it's not much good to have it if you can't find it when you need it, and decided that if it isn't either beautiful, useful or highly sentimental, it goes. It has worked out well for the most part, but sometimes in my zeal to unclutter, I have gone too far and lost or given up some things that I truly regretted later.
I have noticed that a lot of seniors do the hoarding thing. Must be from having been through the depression.
I am intending to get rid of a lot of our stuff on eBay.
tia
I'm still sick over that bad decision!