calling all pack rats

[strmrdr]

fess up so I dont feel strange

Anyone else have boxes and boxes of stored stuff they have no idea whats in them?
I cant be the only one!
lol

 

[Haven]

I am not a pack rat but I grew up with one. My father is a huge pack rat--I don''t think my parents have ever been able to actually park their cars in their garage.

When my parents used to go out of town and I was living at home my mother would always tell me to donate everything! I had to meet quotes--rid the house of X bags of junk this week.

I think my childhood caused me to become quite the opposite--I keep nothing if I don''t use it regularly, unless it is a dear keepsake. And all of the items that fall into the keepsake category must fit in my hope chest, otherwise it''s out!

My motto: When in doubt, throw it out!

 

[monarch64]

Ummmm....I have way too many Christmas ornaments/decorations, definitely too many plastic bins of clothes I haven''t even worn for years and don''t remember what''s in them, and then there are the random boxes full of written correspondence dating back to my childhood, if I looked at the boxes I would "guess" that''s what was in them but I don''t know why I save them, lol! That''s the attic...the basement, wow, I don''t even know what''s down there, but I do know it''s a fire hazard, we have a ton of stuff stored around the furnace area and it''s not easy to get through the workshop area. A few months ago we had a situation in the neighborhood and our circuit breakers blew (snap crackle pop but no sparks) and i had to have some firefighters come in and inspect while they were on the block and one of them kindly gave me a lecture about the issue.

 

[strmrdr]

way kewl im not the only one :}
Both my parents where pack rats I think it genetic lol
They were both born during the great depression and learned at a young age to reuse/save everything.

 

[monarch64]

Date: 9/7/2007 1:13:56 AM
Author: strmrdr
way kewl im not the only one :}
Both my parents where pack rats I think it genetic lol
They were both born during the great depression and learned at a young age to reuse/save everything.

think of it this way: you''re also being "green" by reusing and reducing the amount of new items you buy because of it, so you''re not really a pack rat, you''re PC and environmentally friendly, LOL!

 

[TravelingGal]

My father was a pack rat...to the point it could be classified as a disease. When our house was foreclosed in 1995, we had a junk dealer come and clear several truckfuls out of our garage. Me and my brother used to crack up because everytime we''d open the garage door, something would fall on us...and it took two of us to close it (it is an old school door that swings open) because one of us had to close it, and the other had to hold stuff back until the last second, then jump out. We always had to kick one or two things back in until we could finally get the door closed.

In 2003, my parents moved out of our apartment and moved into a senior residence. While moving some of my dad''s stuff, my brother and I decided to open some plastic bags to see what we were actually spending energy moving. There were old bottles of my nail polish, old peppermint candies, and mcdonald''s coffee cups and packets of equal. Yes, I realize that I actually come from this stock and may have crazy blood in me. But living with my dad gave me and my brother a wicked sense of humor. Otherwise we would have gone koo koo.

My mother, who is devoutly religious and a wonderful, dutiful wife, said she looked up into the heavens and begged God to forgive her when she had gone years ago to sign up for the senior residence...because she signed up for TWO apartments. He must have listened, because two became available at the same time, one right above the other. She lives in a nice clean place now, and loves it. Sadly, now that my dad is sick, he seems to want to get rid of his stuff, or not care if it gets thrown out because he doesn''t think he''s long for this world.

My brother is the opposite. He goes through his house like a tornado every six months and if he hasn''t touched it in 6 months, it gets tossed. I''m a little more like my dad (but obviously nowhere near as close or mentally off), and I do have a few boxes with some old, sentimental stuff that I can''t get myself to throw out. But for the most part, I can throw things out fine...albeit it may take a little while.

 

[TravelingGal]

One more kind of funny story...

My mother is a pack rat in the sense that she''ll reuse paper bags, cheap tuperware, etc. When I traveled Europe, I had a gallon ziploc bag that all my dirty underwear went into. I had "dirty laundry" written on the bag to keep track of things.

When I came back, I tossed everything out. A few hours later, I came down to the kitchen and spied a bag of walnuts in the freezer...and you guessed it...it was labeled "dirty laundry."

"MOM!" I exclaimed, "THIS bag carried my DIRTY UNDERWEAR FOR FOUR MONTHS!!!"

She looked horribly perplexed. Having grown up during the Korean war, she''s a penny pincher. She LOVES nuts, but they are pricey and she just had bought a big bag of them as a treat for us since I just came home.

She looked at me, looked at the bag, and chucked the whole thing into the trash. I guess a mother''s love isn''t unconditional after all.

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 9/6/2007 11:27:56 PM
Author:strmrdr
fess up so I dont feel strange

Anyone else have boxes and boxes of stored stuff they have no idea whats in them?
I cant be the only one!
lol

Yes.

 

[strmrdr]

Date: 9/7/2007 4:32:11 AM
Author: Lorelei

Date: 9/6/2007 11:27:56 PM
Author:strmrdr
fess up so I dont feel strange

Anyone else have boxes and boxes of stored stuff they have no idea whats in them?
I cant be the only one!
lol

Yes.

kewl!
Im in good company!!!

 

[strmrdr]

Date: 9/7/2007 2:07:32 AM
Author: TravelingGal
One more kind of funny story...

My mother is a pack rat in the sense that she''ll reuse paper bags, cheap tuperware, etc. When I traveled Europe, I had a gallon ziploc bag that all my dirty underwear went into. I had ''dirty laundry'' written on the bag to keep track of things.

When I came back, I tossed everything out. A few hours later, I came down to the kitchen and spied a bag of walnuts in the freezer...and you guessed it...it was labeled ''dirty laundry.''

''MOM!'' I exclaimed, ''THIS bag carried my DIRTY UNDERWEAR FOR FOUR MONTHS!!!''

She looked horribly perplexed. Having grown up during the Korean war, she''s a penny pincher. She LOVES nuts, but they are pricey and she just had bought a big bag of them as a treat for us since I just came home.

She looked at me, looked at the bag, and chucked the whole thing into the trash. I guess a mother''s love isn''t unconditional after all.

that cracked me up LOL
thanks for sharing!

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 9/7/2007 5:33:32 AM
Author: strmrdr

Date: 9/7/2007 4:32:11 AM
Author: Lorelei

Date: 9/6/2007 11:27:56 PM
Author:strmrdr
fess up so I dont feel strange

Anyone else have boxes and boxes of stored stuff they have no idea whats in them?
I cant be the only one!
lol

Yes.

kewl!
Im in good company!!!

Hehehe....thanks Storm and I say the same!!! I hate throwing things away and avoid it where possible, I could fill Buckingham Palace with junk probably!

 

[diamondsrock]

this is an ongoing issue for me! My parents are both packrats (mom more than dad), and I have inherited the gene I guess. I struggle all the time with getting rid of stuff. I have to be in the mood to go through things, and then I feel good donating it to charity or tossing it. Problem is, I''m not in the mood very often to do that!
I''ve got boxes upstairs to go through and I keep putting it off because, let''s face it, I''d rather be doing something fun. It is always on my to do list!

 

[iheartscience]

I am very guilty of having boxes of stuff and I don''t even know what''s in them! I''m not as much of a pack rat as I once was, but the remnants of my pack rat life are still following me around. In my storage room I have probably 4 or 5 boxes of stuff. I don''t remember what''s in them and I haven''t unpacked them in at least 3 years. Sometimes I think "I should just throw them away-I won''t miss them!" but I just can''t do it!

I also have several shoe boxes of little mementos/random stuff from when I was around 6 or 7 on up to college. I''ve always called them my "Sentimental Value" boxes. I could never get rid of them!

 

[sumbride]

I''m the child of packrats and so is my FI. And we live in a wee tiny house.

I go through rampages of thowing stuff out. I just did it this past weekend... went through the "linen closet" and tossed all the cosmetics and such that had been in there, untouched, since we moved in 2 years ago. Then I stacked up old towels we don''t use for donation. Then I hit my bathroom and did the same thing. Now I have to get to the bedroom, the office, the kitchen and the basement before it all builds back up again. FI has "collector''s item" syndrome... determined that something is "worth something" he''ll hold onto it forever. Honestly, if you don''t put newspapers in archival containers, they aren''t going to be worth anything! I keep telling him that about the Pope papers but no, they''re still in the closet of the office. I think I''m going to send him on a trip and clean the house while he''s gone.

And, of course, it''s a lot easier to throw out somebody else''s stuff than it is your own. I almost have to pretend the house is on fire to throw out MY stuff.

 

[DivaDiamond007]

Date: 9/7/2007 9:39:46 AM
Author: sumbride
I''m the child of packrats and so is my FI. And we live in a wee tiny house.

I go through rampages of thowing stuff out. I just did it this past weekend... went through the ''linen closet'' and tossed all the cosmetics and such that had been in there, untouched, since we moved in 2 years ago. Then I stacked up old towels we don''t use for donation. Then I hit my bathroom and did the same thing. Now I have to get to the bedroom, the office, the kitchen and the basement before it all builds back up again. FI has ''collector''s item'' syndrome... determined that something is ''worth something'' he''ll hold onto it forever. Honestly, if you don''t put newspapers in archival containers, they aren''t going to be worth anything! I keep telling him that about the Pope papers but no, they''re still in the closet of the office. I think I''m going to send him on a trip and clean the house while he''s gone.

And, of course, it''s a lot easier to throw out somebody else''s stuff than it is your own. I almost have to pretend the house is on fire to throw out MY stuff.

My DH has the same thing! He has about a hundred (or two) of those stupid Star Wars "action figures" (aka DOLLS) and he refuses to get rid of them because "they might be worth some money". Ugh. Give me a break! I don''t know anyone who, in their right mind, would pay any more than the retail price for those. I always tell him that if they are worth so much then he should sell them so we can buy a house. He also has boxes and boxes of comic books. It drives me nuts! Lucky for me, however, he keeps all of that "junk" at his mom and dad''s house because they have room for it and we do not.

Personally, I am not a pack rat. I get rid of stuff regularly. I go through the mail daily and toss/shred the junk. I go through my closet at least 2x per year and donate stuff I no longer wear and I have only ONE shoe box of keepsakes. I guess I just don''t get too emotionally attached to things??

DH gets his madness from his father, no doubt. The in laws have a 3 car garage on their property that is full of stuff. Tools, bikes, sports equipment, wood, metal, old furniture (that''s falling apart), you name it and it''s in there. They''ve never been able to park their cars in the garage, which is too bad because it''s a nice garage. His dad saves the newspaper, magazines, junk mail, clothing, cookware, EVERYTHING because "you might need it someday". I sometimes think my dear FIL needs to get some help! I refuse to let my DH get that way because I see how disrupting it can be in his parents'' marriage. I can''t imagine living like that but they do.

Jess

 

[FireGoddess]

My parents are. But they''ve lived in the same house for 30 years, and there''s something to be said for moving around and not wanting to cart crap around. I''ve moved so often in the last 10 years that while I still have boxes of clothes I haven''t worn in years, I don''t have a gargantuan pile of needless junk....with each move I seem to weed down some of it. But I''d be lying if I said I didn''t have my fair share!!

 

[Ellen]

Date: 9/7/2007 2:07:32 AM
Author: TravelingGal
One more kind of funny story...

My mother is a pack rat in the sense that she''ll reuse paper bags, cheap tuperware, etc. When I traveled Europe, I had a gallon ziploc bag that all my dirty underwear went into. I had ''dirty laundry'' written on the bag to keep track of things.

When I came back, I tossed everything out. A few hours later, I came down to the kitchen and spied a bag of walnuts in the freezer...and you guessed it...it was labeled ''dirty laundry.''

''MOM!'' I exclaimed, ''THIS bag carried my DIRTY UNDERWEAR FOR FOUR MONTHS!!!''

She looked horribly perplexed. Having grown up during the Korean war, she''s a penny pincher. She LOVES nuts, but they are pricey and she just had bought a big bag of them as a treat for us since I just came home.

She looked at me, looked at the bag, and chucked the whole thing into the trash. I guess a mother''s love isn''t unconditional after all.

Nice.


My dad was a pack rat too, not quite to the level yours was though...But, when he passed away, and left the house to me, which also meant I had to empty it, I was honestly less than thrilled. Thirty years of stuff. I would say we pitched at least 75 % of what was in it. The basement work room had shelves full of boxes...with BROKEN pieces of things in it. There''s no way he was ever gonna use this stuff.

But, the best was, plastic bags from the grocery store. He always had one with him, he was ever prepared for anything. They were rolled up into balls, and stuffed in every imaginable place, in every room. I''m not sure WHY he needed all those. I mean yeah, they''re handy to have, but not THAT many, lol...I almost buried him with one in his pocket. I decided at the last minute not to, now I wish I would have, with a Werthers ( he always had a couple of those too). He would have gotten a kick out of that.

I''m not too bad, but could be better.

 

[poshpepper]

Date: 9/7/2007 2:07:32 AM
Author: TravelingGal
One more kind of funny story...

OMG, that was hilarious... I was just imagining the look on your faces!

My Dad is a pack-rat but I''m not sure if it is to the point to be classified as a disorder... but he has ALOT OF JUNK!!! Of course he wouldn''t call it junk... LOL!

I have a hard time throwing away mail... or half empty bottles of body products that I know I wont use again (but for some reason I just cant throw it away

) Mail is by far the worst... I am too paranoid someone is going to go through my trash or something... to many identity theft horror stories I guess...

 

[decodelighted]

I go through stages ... having grown up in Pack Rat Village. A friend helped me out a lot & encouraged me to trash a bunch of stuff one time (garage sale, giving stuff away & trashing it) It's built up a bit again now that I'm spread out all over a house. And a Pack Rat moved in a couple of years ago. Oy.

One thing that made a big impression on me was a special I saw about Charity ... turns out even sick kids in third world countries don't want stained t-shirts, or things with teeny holes or armpit stains! If you "donate" stuff like that it gets incinerated. So I stopped thinking I was "wasting" perfectly good clothing & just got rid of it. If THEY don't want it why am *I* hanging onto it?? Ditto anything chipped or inoperable or too far out of date. Sofas & rugs etc ... same thing. Seriously ... if people who have very, very little don't want your stuff ... do YOU really want it? I know that's a weird way of thinking about it but somehow it released me a bit from "trash guilt". **shrug**


PS -- I do donate $$$ or work clothes or electronics in good working order. Stuff people can really USE & will better lives.

 

[Odilia]

Boy oh boy strmrdr, you are not the only one!!!! I seem to be surrounded by them. I am one myself (although I will defend myself by saying that I am at least an organized pack-rat; I generally know what's where etc. and use the stuff I have, except for a few boxes that say "to be sorted" that I can't seem to get around to). Like FireGoddess said, "there's something to be said for moving around and not wanting to cart crap around. I've moved so often in the last [20] years that while I still have boxes of ['to be sorted'], I don't have a gargantuan pile of needless junk....with each move I seem to weed down some of it. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't have my fair share!!"

I married a much worse pack-rat than myself, and one reason I can never get time to work on my setting project is elderly pack-rat relatives. I am currently taking care of my DH's 85-year old aunt, who needs to go into assisted living, so our big project this month for which we are using DH's precious vacation time is to sort through her lifetime of pack-rattedness (exacerbated by deteriorating mental capacity). From what I hear from DH & his siblings, his 88-year young Dad is "[85-year old aunt] x 10", and he's lived in his house for about 40 years.

Then there are my parents, who've lived in their house also about 43 years, and they are pack-rats too. So it seems to me my future is a bleak vision of nothing but sorting and purging the "boxes and boxes of stored stuff they have no idea whats in them" of 4 elderly relatives and DH & me forever and ever. Sigh.....................

 

[Ellen]

Date: 9/7/2007 1:56:54 PM
Author: poshpepper


OMG, that was hilarious... I was just imagining the look on your faces!

My Dad is a pack-rat but I'm not sure if it is to the point to be classified as a disorder... but he has ALOT OF JUNK!!! Of course he wouldn't call it junk... LOL!

I have a hard time throwing away mail... or half empty bottles of body products that I know I wont use again (but for some reason I just cant throw it away

) Mail is by far the worst... I am too paranoid someone is going to go through my trash or something... to many identity theft horror stories I guess...

Two words.

Paper shredder.

 

[jcrow]

my mom and her parents are pack rats. and i started out becomming that way too. until i got into the antique/consignment business in college. i would scope out garage sales and such. eventually i decided to have a g-sale myself. and i was hooked. i figured a way to purge my stuff AND make money off of it. win win for me. not to mention seeing someone else light up at their find. it''s become my way out. and it''s so freeing.

i have a g-sale about once a year or so. usually there''s always someone else wanting to get rid of stuff too, so we''ll go into together and throw a sale.

 

[poshpepper]

Date: 9/7/2007 2:47:34 PM
Author: Ellen
Two words.

Paper shredder.

Haaa LOL!! Yes, that is on my list of things to buy! I guess I should do it before my mail pile swallows me up! hee hee

 

[zoebartlett]

I''m a pack rat and I think my FI is as well. Most of the stuff in our condo is mine I think though, so I try to make a point to go through my things once in a while and donate it or throw it out. I just did this not too long ago and it felt SOOO good! I''m a teacher and I have a ton of books here that are older and I''ve never used, so I should probably get rid of them. I''m fooling myself if I say that I''ll use them someday but I can''t get myself to do that. My classroom is worse though! If I emptied my room at school and stored everything here, it would easily take up most of our house and we''d have to move.

 

[sumbride]

We have a place here in Baltimore called The Book Thing that takes all book donations and gives the books away to anyone who wants them FOR FREE. So I drop off bags of books every few months and try not to come home with more than a few new free books. It helps with the book pack ratting.

 

[scarleta]

I try not to keep anything that I don''t use for about 2 -3 years.I feel that someone else can use it if I don''t.It works for me fine most of the time.There are few things that for some reason I have not parted with.I tend to give it to people I know will use it, or sometimes they know someone who can use it.Some of my friends send stuff overseas for charity.So no excuse for me.I have never really been one to surround myslelf with things I don''t need.Having said this ,now is time to do a clean up, because I have not done it for quite a while..
ps: my dh does like to collect things, so from time to time we try ( really hard) to get rid of things that he does not need/use.If you ask him he always says " one day I will need it" So it stays there...until we get to it again and again..
So you definitely have company Strm...

 

[diamondfan]

I know what is in them but just cannot part with it, fear I will toss it and then want it or need it!

 

[Regular Guy]

Date: 9/7/2007 1:44:23 AM
Author: monarch64

Date: 9/7/2007 1:13:56 AM
Author: strmrdr
way kewl im not the only one :}
Both my parents where pack rats I think it genetic lol
They were both born during the great depression and learned at a young age to reuse/save everything.

think of it this way: you''re also being ''green'' by reusing and reducing the amount of new items you buy because of it, so you''re not really a pack rat, you''re PC and environmentally friendly, LOL!

Monarch...the sentiment is there...but it is not functional...when you don''t know what''s in the boxes!

Storm...I...too...am packrat.

Since moving last summer...only my wife has been unpacking us. It''s not fair...and I''m a baaaaaad man.

 

[monarch64]

Date: 9/8/2007 12:15:38 AM
Author: Regular Guy

Date: 9/7/2007 1:44:23 AM
Author: monarch64

Date: 9/7/2007 1:13:56 AM
Author: strmrdr
way kewl im not the only one :}
Both my parents where pack rats I think it genetic lol
They were both born during the great depression and learned at a young age to reuse/save everything.

think of it this way: you''re also being ''green'' by reusing and reducing the amount of new items you buy because of it, so you''re not really a pack rat, you''re PC and environmentally friendly, LOL!

Monarch...the sentiment is there...but it is not functional...when you don''t know what''s in the boxes!

Storm...I...too...am packrat.

Since moving last summer...only my wife has been unpacking us. It''s not fair...and I''m a baaaaaad man.

You''re right, Ira! I guess I was trying to put my positive spin on the issue at hand again, lol!

TG, love your stories, I was laughing over them! My FIL is a total packrat and DH has turned into one of those I-used-it-once-didn''t-like-it, let''s throw it out types...I get ticked about that sometimes but then I realize we could have an attic full of useless belongings if he had taken after his dad so I let it go...

Did I mention the words "fire hazard?" LOL! Too many things, too little space, too many things around electrical appliances...well you get the idea, hope everyone is being safer than we are. I read this thread last night and commented to DH on it this morning (not the first time I''ve brought it up since the firefighter''s lecture) and we''ve agreed to modify the basement environment this weekend. Thanks Storm for making us get safer!

 

[strmrdr]

Glad too see im not the only one.
I dread moving which is one reason iv stayed in this apartment so long LOL