The art of simplifying your life (by getting rid of stuff)

[susanna]

21. One of my late in-laws was a hoarder.

Things I have learned:

- They will re-fill the space if you clean it. Always.
- These objects brings some sort of deep psychological comfort to them (see above).
- There is an order to their chaos; often they are visual people with sharp memories, and can spot it if you removed a pizza joint flyer from halfway down a stack (nope, not kidding).
- They often have patterns on the types of things they hoard (or the number). In my in-law's case, dominoes, ukeleles and clocks/watches. I kid you not. We also found things in multiples of four (one for the in-law, one each for their three kids - who never actually received them).
- When they pass, your job will be overwhelming. There is no time to process grief when you are cleaning out the accumulation of a hoarder's lifetime.
- When you are clearing things out, some things will make you terribly sad. We found a graduation photo of my husband's mother that he had never, ever seen before - and he's 55. It was just packed away in a box and never saw the light of day. We display it happily now, in our own home.
- My house is going to be essentially empty within the next few years if I have anything to say about it. I would never put anyone through what my husband and I went through trying to respectfully take care of all of the 'things.'

My truthful admission of my own "hard to get rid of it" items: books and cookbooks (I make that distinction as I am both a avid "regular" reader and a chef), pretty soaps (I have no idea where this comes from), bed linens (I love them), movie posters and music.

I've made strides on fiction books by getting more for my e-reader, as well as on the soaps. Still working on the others. On the bright side - it does get easier, as someone else said in the thread.