Mmm, kneading boards.

I'm not even going to start on my hoarding-esque issues. It is too much. I will say that clutter and crowded rooms do not bother me. I find them obscurely comforting, tbh. Any advice that tells me how much better I will feel if I'm in a tidy environment gets big old eyerolls.

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

This, sadly, is Pete and me. But starting this weekend, I am decluttering one area at a time each weekend. I'm starting small (the corner of the library that is now a graveyard of unfinished projects), but my goal is that by the end of summer, everything of mine has been sorted and culled.

(And you guys, I have been SO good about not adding to my stacks and stacks of vintage gothic romances. There have been so many great covers I've seen from my favorite used bookseller. But no, I have restrained myself.)

Sadly, I have a storage shed in my back yard but don't really use it. Anything stored in there but metal or plastic would quickly mold and mildew here in east Texas. I suppose I could raise roaches. I think my predecessors used it for gardening stuff, but I use a mowing service.

If anyone wants to come to Bryan, Texas, disassemble it and haul it away, that would be fine by me.

I keep too many clothes. And electronically I hoard books and photos and music. But otherwise no. Partly I think so much travel (knowing I'll be fine with laptop and suitcase and hotel room) and partly parental overconsumption. But I do like to be the one who doesn't run out of batteries or toilet paper or whatever. So it's a bit of overbuying. But I would be fine getting rid of most of it, I just don't bother?

It took having my own costume shop for me to stop hanging on to clothes-but when I was an amateur costume designer, I usually regretted getting rid of things. There is one red wool LL bean sweater that I had in high school that I could have used 100 times and I got rid of, and I still regret it. Now I take things like that to the costume shop, and when we run low on storage I have so much more experience in getting rid of things that will never be used and getting rid of things that are easily and cheaply replaceable. So I don't hang onto tones of white dress shirts that were cheap to begin with and get yellow with age, but a vintage shirt with an interesting pattern or color gets kept. Before I had the costume shop, I had a whole second bedroom full of potential costumes. I wish I could leave the job and still have access to the storage and the work facilities because I would like to do independent things again.

Mom has too much stuff. I don't have much stuff. I don't have room for it. And I have some stuff in Florida in storage. Things I'm hoping I can get up here so o can go through it all.

I have collecting tendencies but between the moving , limited space and money it's been curtailed on some ways.

Also I really like Tiny houses. I think I want to live in one someday.

Hoardish family members are good warning systems for me. Cleaning out my parents' place multiple times was definitely inspirational. Now I'm down to one smallish box of my mother's stuff, and a photo album of Dad's photos.

In a total change of subject: Here is a marvelous political filk set to The Room Where it Happens: [link]

Timelies all!

The only thing I tend to hold on to in significant quantities is books. Of course, I'm small potatoes compared to many of my friends.(One of whom quipped that he was saving for his retirement.)

I will say that clutter and crowded rooms do not bother me. I find them obscurely comforting, tbh.

I understand this. It's like having a big hug from your history.

I saw a story a while back that showed memory-impaired people suddenly telling detailed stories about their pasts when they had their mementos handy. I didn't argue about Hubby hanging on to things because seeing them would trigger his memory, which had taken some damage over the years.

This conversation is killing me.