"You knew the farm with the smelly cows and the frequent large family get-togethers with all the kids on go-karts every Sunday, or the rifle range, or the airport runway was there when you bought the pretty McMansion in the new McMansion development, named after the Century-old oaks they bulldozed to build it, was there when you toured the open house. Caveat emptor."

I have a hoarding tendency (also a messing tendancy), and part of it is that I feel that the actual things have meaning- so both memorabilia, but also used things from the thrift store. I just had to stop buying old dishes that I felt sorry for! I mean, the set was getting broken up, they were lovely (I did only buy mid modern), and I thought about the people who gave them up and how they served that family. It is almost like the things themselves have feelings and I can take care of them.

If you feel like that about every single item, and not just midcentury pyrex and mikasa I can see where it would get really out of control and also impossible to help with.

I've had to combat my "I can fix this! I can totally make it work again!" gene. I can't stand looking at those photo colletions of abandoned and decayed places--I can't see the beauty there, I only see the waste. And my very strong compulsion to roll up my sleeves and wade in to rescue the gorgeous old house, or the frescoes on the crumbling wall, or the plasterwork on the peeling ceiling is difficult to resist, even in the miniature of "I can totally mend that chair leg!"

Circling back to another conversation, I think my laziness saves me from what might otherwise be a tendency of "I can fix this."

I basically had to convince myself that I could not provide the best home for the items, and that I was keeping other midcentury modern lovers from buying them. But the thought they would be thrown own is sort of sick making to me.

My DH's family is close to hoarding. They "collect." If they like something, they want ALL of it. His mom likes framed old group photos and ended up with hundreds and no room to hang them. They own three complete sets of china, and only use one. His dad collects globes and flashlights and, for some mysterious reason, Breyer horses and it's no longer possible to see out the window of his study with all the globes piled in front of it. They live in a small cottage and are always broke. When the kids suggest getting rid of some stuff, they say "This is your inheritance--you can sell all this on eBay someday." They keep a storage space, so the house (except for the study) is not scarily cluttered, which I think allows them to say that they don't have a problem.

When we are packing for our move, I am the one who has to say to my spouse stuff like "Yes, it's good to have a circular saw, but we don't need THREE circular saws." It's hard for him, but he also doesn't want to live like his parents, in thrall to stuff.

Oh yeah, Sophia, I know those feels.

I have a friend whose parents live in rural IN and have a barn, which they need for her father's collections. One of the things he collects is vintage apple cider presses.

My DH's family is close to hoarding. They "collect." If they like something, they want ALL of it.

DH has an aunt and uncle who are similar - they travel a lot and collect art, antiques, furniture, books, knick-knacks. Mostly very high quality stuff, but their apartment is so overstuffed that you can barely walk around in it.

It's heartbreaking to realize the things people keep because "they'll be valuable someday" are objectively worthless. I have trouble getting rid of wood things because a tree died for that thingie. I wanted to have a giant bonfire of stuff, but city zoning frowns on such things.

I don't want to go to the thrift store where I donated so much stuff, because I don't want to see the things that were loved sitting there unwanted.