I realised that I am a hoarder of something - do you hoard anything?

[NotYou]

So yesterday, I realised I hoard something very specific.
Nothing weird, in fact, I think many people (in England at least) hoard this very thing because it's very handy. I am unsure about other countries and if you also do it with this item but...

Plastic Bags for grocery shopping.

I have always saved them mostly to use them in bins around my house, so the garbage can go in. Now I also use them because they are so expensive in England to buy each time, so it's a win-win for me.

But yesterday I opened the cupboard where they were and I knew they were a bit messy, I kept throwing them in instead of doing it neatly.
Well, It was like some magicians hat, I kept pulling more and more and more out, it felt endless haha.

I also realised I had even MORE somewhere else, tucked away. In fact, I had 3 more bags full of them all squished in.
In total, I think there must have been a few hundred. hahaha


I am curious if you have anything that you have hoarded without "fully" realising.
(I got rid of the majority and I have kept only about 18 so it's not an addiction lol)

 

[MarieElise]

So yesterday, I realised I hoard something very specific.
Nothing weird, in fact, I think many people (in England at least) hoard this very thing because it's very handy. I am unsure about other countries and if you also do it with this item but...

Plastic Bags for grocery shopping.

I have always saved them mostly to use them in bins around my house, so the garbage can go in. Now I also use them because they are so expensive in England to buy each time, so it's a win-win for me.

But yesterday I opened the cupboard where they were and I knew they were a bit messy, I kept throwing them in instead of doing it neatly.
Well, It was like some magicians hat, I kept pulling more and more and more out, it felt endless haha.

I also realised I had even MORE somewhere else, tucked away. In fact, I had 3 more bags full of them all squished in.
In total, I think there must have been a few hundred. hahaha


I am curious if you have anything that you have hoarded without "fully" realising.
(I got rid of the majority and I have kept only about 18 so it's not an addiction lol)

Yep, I'm a huge hoarder of chopsticks. Don't ask why, I just don't know. It's not just from takeouts either, I bought a bunch at one point too. When I moved I had roughly 600 chopsticks and it was so difficult to part with them, but I knew it was ridiculous. Some were nice, smooth wooden ones and others were these cheaper plastic ones. Makes no sense.

(Your sentence about getting down to "only about 18" made me laugh).
I think I'm down to about 10 pairs, unless I'm lying to myself. The newest obsession is Kebab sticks

 

[NotYou]

Yep, I'm a huge hoarder of chopsticks. Don't ask why, I just don't know. It's not just from takeouts either, I bought a bunch at one point too. When I moved I had roughly 600 chopsticks and it was so difficult to part with them, but I knew it was ridiculous. Some were nice, smooth wooden ones and others were these cheaper plastic ones. Makes no sense.

(Your sentence about getting down to "only about 18" made me laugh).
I think I'm down to about 10 pairs, unless I'm lying to myself. The newest obsession is Kebab sticks

Do you use any of them? Or are they kept somewhere?

For me 18 is fair because I use 3 bins in my house, so that's like 6 - 12 weeks worth before needing to worry about getting more lol.

Here are the ones that were in my cupboard. Less than half of my overall haha

 

[MarieElise]

Do you use any of them? Or are they kept somewhere?

Not really, I try to remember to but always forget. I had them in boxes and also drawers with regular cutlery (they call it silverware here).

For me 18 is fair because I use 3 bins in my house, so that's like 6 - 12 weeks worth before needing to worry about getting more lol.

Ok, so at least in your case you actually do have a somewhat regular practical use for them.

I don't know why but I find your bag collection hilarious. I probably need to go to bed haha. My Granny always used to hoard those too, she'd love you

 

[Smoothie]

I am curious if you have anything that you have hoarded without "fully" realising.
(I got rid of the majority and I have kept only about 18 so it's not an addiction lol)

Yes. For me, it’s obsolete/outdated forms of physical media.

I still own VHS cassettes, a VCR, a TiVo, Video CDs, DVDs and Blu Rays. I still have some music cassette tapes, vinyl and CDs from when those things were still the dominant media formats. I even own some micro cassettes, for anyone that remembers those.

I have multiple old school computer disks (floppy disks, zip discs and CD-ROMs). I have old magazines, books and a few newspapers. All of these things are neatly stored away, so it’s not intrusive to my living space. But I have always had a hard time discarding old physical media. So I consider it “hoarding” on a small, manageable level.

Also - I’m making a distinction here between hoarding and collecting. I collect some other things on purpose, because they interest me. Those are things I use often or display in my home.

I wouldn’t put the obsolete media in that category though. I just… have it.

 

[Ozzie_]

Strap yourselves in, this is going to be long

I don't "unknowingly" hoard anything, but I have a tendency to hoarding / "collecting" storage containers; good brands like Tupperware etc, but also at times I will collect the plastic ice-cream containers (2 & 4 litre capacity) that ice-cream come in here (don't know how other countries package their ice-cream) oh and cardboard boxes. And cleaning products (if only I actually USED the cleaning products more!!! -- Housework is not my favourite pastime ) .

I also have a lot of OLD computer components from the mid to late 90s - early 2000s when I worked as a computer tech.

I have a lot of odds and ends of DIY materials, I have far more than I need, even though I do have an old house so DIY is an almost constant activity.

oh!!! there was one thing that was a surprise (oops ok two!): during one of my many attempts to actually organise my <cough> collection <cough> of DIY materials and tools, I discovered that I am the owner of 3 electric circular saws (far more than any non-carpenter needs, but what was a real surprise was that I own 4 routers (not the computer item, the power tool) Again, *far* more than any one man needs!

I blame my genes. Both my parents were children during the "Great Depression" in the 1920s and whilst neither of them or their families suffered badly, they saw those who did, so reuse, re-purposing, and frugality was something I grew up with.

To the point that, about 6 or so years ago, before my mother succumbed to her cancer I went to visit and start sorting through her possessions (and give my sisters some respite as they had been looking after her -- I lived in another town a 6 hour drive away) preempting her moving in with one of my sisters for round the clock care.

On clearing out one cupboard I found many boxes full of the plastic lids of those aforementioned ice-cream containers. NO containers!!!!! JUST lids!!! . Like many I suppose (myself included, damn my genetics!) she had a small collection of cardboard boxes, but the one that caught my eye was the box that my Doc Martens had come in. The boots that I had bought on a visit back "home" about 10 years earlier! A box that I am still certain that I threw away before returning to my town of residence !

Me: "Why do you still have this?"
My mum: "Well it's a good box. Good to put things in."
Me: "Hmm, yeah, it must be a real good box, 10 years and you've never used it!"
(In her defense it *was* a very well made box )

Ahh, I love and miss her, but at times I do curse the hoarding gene that she gave me

 

[yummybrownfox]

So yesterday, I realised I hoard something very specific.
Nothing weird, in fact, I think many people (in England at least) hoard this very thing because it's very handy. I am unsure about other countries and if you also do it with this item but...

Plastic Bags for grocery shopping.

I have always saved them mostly to use them in bins around my house, so the garbage can go in. Now I also use them because they are so expensive in England to buy each time, so it's a win-win for me.

But yesterday I opened the cupboard where they were and I knew they were a bit messy, I kept throwing them in instead of doing it neatly.
Well, It was like some magicians hat, I kept pulling more and more and more out, it felt endless haha.

I also realised I had even MORE somewhere else, tucked away. In fact, I had 3 more bags full of them all squished in.
In total, I think there must have been a few hundred. hahaha


I am curious if you have anything that you have hoarded without "fully" realising.
(I got rid of the majority and I have kept only about 18 so it's not an addiction lol)

I started saving them to use for my small bathroom trash can upstairs. I used to buy small trash bags for it, but lately I've been like screw it...I'll just save myself some money and use these plastic bags from Dollar Tree, etc. I'm already paying for large trash bags for my tall kitchen trash can. Wegmans (my favorite grocery store) has recently done away with plastic bags, though, so now customers have to either bring their own reusable shopping bag, or pay 5 cents to use a brown paper bag for their groceries. My grandmom has this fancy little doll thingy, and underneath its dress is an area where she stores all of her plastic bags.

My granddad hoards Scott toilet paper, and he'd give a lot of it to my mom...who'd then give some to me. So then it's one less thing I'd have to worry about buying at the store.

I'm trying to think if I hoard anything. I think I used to hoard pens. Lol. I love it when places give out free pens. Also I have a pink storage bin with LOTS of pictures (Wallet-sized, 3x5, 4x6, 5x7, 8x10) from when my son was little, and I was on that "I wanna get his picture taken at Sears Portrait Studio and The Picture People!" kick. I really should put them into a photo album or something.

 

[IsabelaHarlow]

Perfume samples. I have like 100+ samples from Sephora, Douglas, and everything. I always ask if they have some perfume samples when I go and buy something from a store that has fragrances too.

 

[inertvolcano]

Also plastic bags. It is restricted for businesses to use them where I live, but they are the perfect size for the little bins in my home like in the bathroom so when I get them I hang onto them.

 

[Miss_Lollipop]

nail glue bottles. They're all fucking dried up too.

My mum is still traumatized from the marmite crisis when the marmite factory in nz was damaged in an earthquake and there was a great marmite shortage. She was running a motel at the time and would literally advertise that they had marmite for guests when she found some.

There's a shelf in the garage now even tho she's retired that has a line of marmite jars. Just in case.

 

[Miss_Lollipop]

My granddad hoards Scott toilet paper, and he'd give a lot of it to my mom...who'd then give some to me. So then it's one less thing I'd have to worry about buying at the store.

During the beginning of the pandemic I bet your grandad felt like saying "SEE! I was right!!" lol.

I remember going to 3 different grocery stores looking for *ANY* toilet paper then driving it an hour to my then father in law. He was suffering with cancer and using the bathroom a lot and running out was a real issue.

 

[yummybrownfox]

During the beginning of the pandemic I bet your grandad felt like saying "SEE! I was right!!" lol.

I asked Mom if he'd always been a toilet paper hoarder, or if it's something he started doing in 2020 during the pandemic. She said that he's always done that (even prior to 2020), and she's pretty sure he's got some OCD...especially regarding numbers.

 

[Just_A_Guy]

"Hoarding" gives me the idea of an impulse you cannot quite control. I don't have such a thing. Can't say whether it could be considered as "hoarding", but I have I believe more than one hundred shirts and ties. Probably more, I have never counted them.

As you can imagine, the worst ties I have are those that my exes bought for me. Nobody knows I am here, so I can talk freely. To be honest only few of them are nice.

Can't see anything wrong with having plastic bags for your grocery shopping. It's a way of recycling and re-using. Personally, I rarely do the shopping. Lots of bags are used here, in my place, for grocery shopping, though. That said, buying a plastic bag each time you go grocery shopping is not a common thing in the Continent at all.

 

[Diana_Devil]

As you can imagine, the worst ties I have are those that my exes bought for me. Nobody knows I am here, so I can talk freely. To be honest only few of them are nice.

after this line this is how i imagine you when you recived a new tie gift

 

[Lou_King_]

I keep getting more and more pens with printed logos from different events, they're all now stuffed inside a BIG pencil bag, but I think I can't cram even one pen inside. It's gonna explode!

 

[Lexi_Summers]

Towels... especially those nice soft fluffy ones that no one is allowed to touch and use... lighters, I probably have over 100 of them all over my flat. I keep losing them and they reappear after I buy 10 more..

 

[rockin_rod]

2 stories:

Mine - I'm not so much a hoarder as a 'sparer' - I seem to lose so many damn things that now I tend to buy 2 of everything, so I have a spare. Although then I lose both items just as fast as the single one.

Family - we had to clear out the home of an elderly relative when they moved into a nursing home. They had liveed in the UK through the WW2 rationing era. We found food items hidden absolutely everywhere, including 428 packets of biscuits (cookies) and 137 tins of spam cunningly hidden inside the attic, in secret compartments within walls, under furniture etc. I think the only reason that the place wasn't overrun with rats and mice was just because there was nowhere remaining for them to live in, it was so full of food.

 

[Lintilla]

Perfume samples. I have like 100+ samples from Sephora, Douglas, and everything. I always ask if they have some perfume samples when I go and buy something from a store that has fragrances too.

I have close to 200 perfume samples at the moment. I'm currently going through them one by one and reviewing them, as well as sneakily writing down any comments my boyfriend makes. Actually, I have altogether too many beauty samples in general. Hell, not just samples, but full-sizes of crap I could never in my life use up. I had a bit of a beauty box problem for awhile there. I need to be selling some of this stuff off. I have an entire dresser full of tiny little bottles and such, and that's after I ditched a ton of it before I moved in January.

 

[sophiapierce1]

Towels... especially those nice soft fluffy ones that no one is allowed to touch and use... lighters, I probably have over 100 of them all over my flat. I keep losing them and they reappear after I buy 10 more..

I was thinking the same thing about my lighter problem

 

[Omne35]

Yes. For me, it’s obsolete/outdated forms of physical media.

I still own VHS cassettes, a VCR, a TiVo, Video CDs, DVDs and Blu Rays. I still have some music cassette tapes, vinyl and CDs from when those things were still the dominant media formats. I even own some micro cassettes, for anyone that remembers those.

I have multiple old school computer disks (floppy disks, zip discs and CD-ROMs). I have old magazines, books and a few newspapers. All of these things are neatly stored away, so it’s not intrusive to my living space. But I have always had a hard time discarding old physical media. So I consider it “hoarding” on a small, manageable level.

Also - I’m making a distinction here between hoarding and collecting. I collect some other things on purpose, because they interest me. Those are things I use often or display in my home.

I wouldn’t put the obsolete media in that category though. I just… have it.

I wouldn't call all that obsolete. I have DVDs that are not available for streaming anywhere, out of print basically. I have some VHS tapes too that never were moved to DVD by the distributor. Same with vinyl LPs and some CDs, they're just not available anymore. One of my favorite Blues albums isn't on any of the streaming sites. I ripped it to a file but I like to have the backup. Since Ultraviolet went belly up I don't really trust online movie storage either.

 

[Lexi_Summers]

I was thinking the same thing about my lighter problem

I don't understand where they go? Like, how do you lose 10 brand new lighters in 2 days and then find them 2 hrs after buying another set? I throw them in my purse and 3 seconds later I can't find not even one! That's some dark lighter magic there, i swear

 

[andrecampos87]

car and motocycle parts

 

[rockin_rod]

car and motocycle parts

that's actually something else (in addition to my ability to lose stuff) that led me to become a 'sparer' as noted in my earlier reply to this thread.
I own a classic car, and since spare parts are becoming much harder to source - as well as hideously expensive - I have a storage unit now packed tight with spares that I've gathered over the years.

 

[Smoothie]

I wouldn't call all that obsolete. I have DVDs that are not available for streaming anywhere, out of print basically. I have some VHS tapes too that never were moved to DVD by the distributor. Same with vinyl LPs and some CDs, they're just not available anymore. One of my favorite Blues albums isn't on any of the streaming sites. I ripped it to a file but I like to have the backup. Since Ultraviolet went belly up I don't really trust online movie storage either.

Some of the old media I’ve kept is for that same reason - a movie or album I enjoy that isn’t available on newer formats. And I definitely agree with you on not trusting online storage or streaming services. They could pull any movie or album (or the whole service) offline at any time, if they chose. When I buy a movie, I like to know that I own my copy of it for as long as I choose to keep it.

But a lot of what I keep is hard to explain. Especially since I don’t own the hardware to use half of these formats anymore. I just never feel compelled to throw those things out and never find the motivation to sell them either.

 

[sophiapierce1]

I don't understand where they go? Like, how do you lose 10 brand new lighters in 2 days and then find them 2 hrs after buying another set? I throw them in my purse and 3 seconds later I can't find not even one! That's some dark lighter magic there, i swear

I literally bought 5 more today we will see how long it lasts lmao

 

[Lou_King_]

I have an issue with throwing different things away so, for example... I actually darn my socks . The thing is, I have a mother that loves to give me new socks and underwear when we meet on Christmas and birthdays. So my socks drawer just keeps on getting tighter and tighter, and I have to come up with news ways to fold and organize them all! It's kinda like playing tetris

I think I actually have a pair or two I haven't ever worn! I tend to prefer the older ones, and I actually have a thing for mended objects.

Sharing too much?

 

[rockin_rod]

I have an issue with throwing different things away so, for example... I actually darn my socks .

That is a skill that is sadly becoming lost. I have very strong early childhood memories from the long winter months, of lying in front of an open fire watching my granny and mother darning socks and sewing on elbow patches while they chatted away. Now, everything seems to be disposable. And due to the fickle nature of fashion trends, textiles are being ditched in huge volume well before they wear out. I try and use my local charity shop rather than buy new.
Another example - my washing machine had an issue last year where it stopped heating the water. Repair guy told me it was uneconomical to fix, and to just go buy a new one (roughly $1000 for equivalent model).
So I took it apart, found the heating element part number, ordered a new one on eBay, fitted it myself, and back up and running for $30 and an hour of my time. Still working fine 15 months later.

 

[Just_A_Guy]

a skill that is sadly becoming lost.

Not only do I totally agree with you, but there are so many others skills that seem to be completely lost nowadays. Like the basic survival skill to know how to operate a fu*king washing machine when it is the housemaid's day off. Granted, I am not a washing maching expert myself, but, I mean, look there's a button there, it says "Start", something tells me you just need to f*king press it. Boy, I got stories for you. Totally possible I hang around with the wrong kind of women.

 

[CheeseMoon]

and back up and running for $30 and an hour of my time.

I have repaired all of my appliances over the last 15+ years; washing machine, my 20 year old fridge (twice), freezer and tumble dryer. The most expensive part was roughly US$ 100 and took me the better part of a Sunday to replace on the dryer. It's not like I *need* to fix them, but it's nice to tinker and satisfying to get it working again. There's probably more than enough fixable stuff in the world's landfills

Ad for hoarding I was always taught to "travel light", and it stuck with me into adult- and then geezerhood. The only things that tend to pile up here is (copious amounts of) scrap hardwood from my woodworking projects and books, but I'm not sure that qualifies as hoarding. Maybe it does and I'm in denial Who the hell throws away a perfectly nice block of beech or maple anyway? Haha ... *cough*

 

[zippypinhead]

Paper. Mostly, it extends from my hobbies, like drawing, and gaming, and collecting books, but boy do I have just piles of paper I likely will never get to use. I'm trying, though. I'm trying not to buy every sketchbook I find interesting, and every ream of paper I see, just to have. And I'm trying to use what I do have. But I have at least a lifetime's worth all stockpiled, and I went and bought more paper from the school supply section of the store this weekend. How can I resist a pad of graph paper? Or a fun sketchbook with a skateboarding t-rex on the cover? I can't. And so the hoard grows.