Who else is a Packrat?

Confessed Packrat here, currently in a need to get organized mode, hence link below.

now... who else is a Packrat?
hint: who's got more lights then they could ever begin to use?

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Pack Ratting

A pack rat is a person who has the irresistible urge to buy and store more than they need or can expect to use. One can be a little eccentric or a full-blown obsessive compulsive. If you keep old newspapers until they are a fire hazard because you want an article, that is dysfunctional. The best therapy is to confront your demons with the help of a friend or professional.

Ever notice how easy it is to save everything but money? Some rules:

Never acquire anything that you can't find a home for and that place should not be the floor.

If you do acquire something, something that takes up an equal or greater amount of space must be discarded.

If you haven't used or touched an object is one year, it's necessity is questionable.

Nostalgia and love of things are the 2 usual excuses pack ratters give for their obsession.

Nostalgia is the greatest enemy to enjoying the present and anticipating the future, which is where the richness of life really is.

Remember, also, that the love of things can overshadow the love of people and life today. Too many things, rather than bringing pleasure end up being a burden to maintain instead.

http://www.get-organized.com/pr.html

Cy, words to live by man.

Do we own our stuff or does our stuff own us? Is our primary purpose in life to upgrade the gadgets and refill the oil? Slavery.

Sometimes the latest tool really will save you time/money. Sometimes, but not always. Sometimes keeping an old tool will cost you time and money. Sometimes, but not always.

When buying something we ask the question, "Is this something I am going to use each week? Is the increase in efficiency worth the higher cost? In the grand scheme of things, will it save me time and money?"

Often, we help ourselves when we help others. People are the most valuable things we will invest in.

Peter

i throw every thing away i mean everything cluter just confuses me and makes me kinda nervess but the bad thing is sometimes i throw stuff away i needed .

I have the tendency but I manage to keep most of my things semi-organized. My late dad definitely was as this picture of the basement where he lived shows:

Guilty as charged, Sir!

Man, I have piles of knives, lights, guns, etc...

Most of them are simply laying around, until I decide to pick one up and look at and lovingly fondle it.

Charter member of Packrats Anonymous here. It's really tough to throw stuff out that might have the smallest value, real or percieved, even if it's been just sitting around for years. I probably still have 98% of all the radios, cameras, knives, watches, and flashlights I've ever owned.

Geoff

I'm on the verge. I reliazed this when I noticed I have a small 2 bedroom duplex full of crap, and I live alone with a dog. I'm in the process of cutting back. Ebay time.

Guilty as charged, Your Honor.

That picture just gave me the shivers, jtr! I'm definalty a packrat, but a well organised one. Everything is in some container or holder, with like things of it's kind, in a place where I know exactly where it is when/if I need it. Clutter really makes my teeth grind.
When moving out of my parents, I had to really condense my crap.

I"m very guilty. I just counted and I have 59 Bic lighters!!! Why? I don't know I just keep buying them

I'm a packrat, but not of newspapers or trash. I just end up with a lot of valuable stuff, and then don't have time to sell the stuff I don't end up using. Probably have a few thousand's worth of stereo equipment on the floor in one room that I just haven't gotten around to moving. Ditto with computers and machinery.

Guilty. I have quite a few knives and lights I don't really use, but couldn't bear to sell...

Semi Guilty. I'm a neat freak but due to several things going on in my life things have gotten beyond the point where it's easy to keep them at bay/in check.

Then it's really hard to get back to clean, because you dred even looking at the mess!! And if you don't have much time to go through it, then it seems like you'll never beat it!

I'm getting some things done and out of the way (projects) that then leave me with stuff I don't need or can pitch. Yesterday I was working on a project, and pulled apart some stuff I had saved for salvage, got the parts I needed, and junked the rest!

Getting behind and then getting it back to clean can take tons more time than if you are able to just keep it bay... Ugh!!

I'm doing winter cleaning! Forget spring cleaning, as when spring rolls around you wanna go outside! Put that cabin fever to good use and clean!

I raise my hand.

I just don't know what I'd do without my stacks of Rubbermaid Carb-X clear polycarbonate boxes.. next, I plan to put shelves hanging from the ceiling..

Guilty !

I cant seem to throw anything away, Hey, I might need that !
I dont even throw away the boxes most stuff comes in.

My place is always a mess, but, its an organized mess, to me anyway.

~John

I saw a documentary about this subject and one of the two or three pack rats they interviewed and visited must have had hundreds and hundreds of golf clubs in his shed, which looked more like a barn. He could not pass up any kind of club, new, used, old or rusty. Whether he bought them at garage sales or found in garbage cans, he could not walk by a club without acquiring it. IIRC, he also hoarded cardboard, but the amount of clubs he had was un-freakin-real...probably well over a thousand. They helped him clean up and discard, which was very difficult for him to do. He just could not part with them. A few months later they revisited him and unfortunately had fallen back into the habit of the golf clubs.

i am sortof one but not that bad but i can honestly say my dad is a big packrat he will have stuff that he will never use so i tell him to throw it away and he says but i might need it one day and i say dad you will never need this .EVER

Guilty! 30 X 30 shop full, 2 45' shipping containers full, 1 old railroad boxcar full.

And no time to use any of it.

Thurmond

Guilty!