Saturday, March 5, 2011

I'm going to be on Hoarders.

Have you ever seen the tv show Hoarders? I think it's on TLC. I am going to be on Hoarders. Not because I am a hoarder and not anytime soon. I am going to be on Hoarders because my daughter (I'm afraid) is going to be a hoarder. She wants to keep E*VER*Y*thing. I'm not talking about sentimental items. I'm not talking about toys. I'm not talking about things she's made. She does want to keep all those things but I think she's going to be a hoarder because she wants to keep a styrofoam cup one of her friends tore up and turned into a "cup monster." She wants to keep some pieces of paper a different friend tore up and called a hat. I'm trying to explain that what she wants to keep is those friends or those memories and that getting rid of the items (I was thinking trash) doesn't take away the memories or the friends. I convinced her to part with the cup monster. Now I have to work on the hat.

I know she gets this from both me and my husband.

Currently, in our laundry/storage room (which isn't very big) we have years worth of a professional magazine my husband gets. He will NEVER go back to them. If he needs some kind of information he will search on the internet. He's not going to take time to find the magazines and then look through them. He also has almost every note or card a student ever gave him. He's been teaching 19 years. That's a lot of paper. I'm sure he wouldn't even remember some of the students names.

I, on the other hand, know I have hoarder tendencies. I'm just one tragedy away from being a hoarder. On the show, the people often begin their hoarding after an event where they lost someone or something significant. I know that could be me. I can barely get rid of junk as it is. I am working on it though. In the last year I've done some significant decluttering. I'm still a work in progress. Hopefully I can help my girl overcome genetics.

1 comment:

  1. I always say I come by my clutter because my mom keeps everything, and because her mom kept everything. While I do think that the enviroment can play a roll in it, I think alot of it is a mental thing.

    Good news is that I am working on beating my clutter so while it may be something you think you may be passing on, it is also something that the cycle can be broken.

    I know you said you are a work in progress, I totally feel the same way myself. I think while your daughter is young, one of the best things you can do is show her that you can get rid of things and the world doesn't come crashing down around you. Teach her by example.

    As for as wanting to keep something because of memories, I've read in many places, the suggestion of taking pictures of the items, writing a note about them, and then putting them in a photo album or a scrapbook. Maybe something like that would work with her?

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