My GF calls me hoarder sometimes when I don't want to throw away extra speaker wires, ethernet cables, TV cables,, speaker magnets, adapters, old cars magazines etc...
I tell her that I may use those sometimes and she says,"You have not used them for 5 years".
Anywho, last weekend, 5 boxes of what she calls junk and what I call parts went to trash.
Wow, why not have donated to local Goodwill? Could still be usable (that's why we collect this stuff) to someone else, at the least you could have gotten the tax write off, even the magazines.
That can be part of the motivation to unload and de-clutter.
I've got the same problem, have collected a lot of computer parts and stuff from days in the 90's and early 2000's when me and my two sons were building computers about every 18 months. What to do with 10 internal audio cables, IDE drive cables, old video cards, Pentium CPU's, heatsinks, fans, not to mention ton's of network and coax video cables. Oh, did I mention the 8 computer CPU boxes not in service, 3 of which need recap repair, all the rest too old to use? But wait, I want to set up those old Pentium III's for a Mechwarrior network lan party like we had, like 10 years ago! Right!
The hoarder says, no I can keep it, because I'll need it someday or has a vague idea of using it or wanting it around (an emotional need to have it). The potential collector says there is inherent or perceived value so there is a reason for it to be kept - but, and a big but, can and does cull and bleed off parts of collected items (truly collected or eventually amassed) when the right motivation or decision is achieved. Usually that decision and subsequent action is eventually emotionally satisfying and positive.
For the hoarder, amassing things is some type of substitute or answer to an emotional need. It starts innocently, usually, but then becomes a powerful motivator, an addiction for some if you will, and almost becomes uncontrollable. Also, like an addiction, the stopping or clearing out of amassed items is painful, emotional, and for some, downright impossible, unthinkable, and a direct attack on the person. As mentioned above, some hoarders have projected themselves, personalities, or other emotional content into their possessions - then when family or outside interventions try to interact, the hoarder takes it very personally.
Perhaps one way of looking at collecting/hoarding behaviors is that one uses some level of common sense and reasonable thinking when making the decision to get something. Somewhere along the line, the common sense is replaced with an altered perspective of what is ok or commonly believed to be sensible. Rationalization is one way the collector and hoarder slide almost along the same continuum.
Part of our hobby is being able to get stuff we wanted when we were young but couldn't afford it. That's part nostalgia, lust, and justified partly by the value equation. Also its an expression of financial power for some, good hunting behavior for others, and sometimes some altruism (keeping out of landfills, passing on, etc). It just is.
I'm Bart. I am a collector. And a hoarder. Never sure which at any time.
:nono:
