11 Answers

I'm a sentimental saver.  I save stuff for the sentiment until I'm forced to move and have to pack it all, it suddenly loses it's importance.....

I am not one, but i have seen the television shows that go into peoples places and try to get them to throw out all the junk they have hoarded , apparently it is an illness, they can't bare to throw anything away, even garbage.I have a place for everything, and everything in it's place.

I'm not necessarily a pack rat, but I certainly have a lot of stuff that is basically useless but I can't bring myself to toss it or take it to a secondhand store...plus I love going to thrift stores and adding to the mountain. I kept pretty much everything my kids did in school for the first 7 years and have them in boxes and labeled.  I still have stuffed animals from when I was a kid and just found a box of school papers belonging to my sister and me (she is 59 and I am 60).  I have toys from when I was a baby, including what is probably the original "mobile" for a crib...my hair brush when I was a baby...a sweatshirt from the 60's, when I was in high school...the dress I wore to 8th grade graduation.  How about EVERY piece of piano music I ever had, and that goes back to when I started lessons at age 7.  

BUT, to my credit, it's all neatly packed and labeled.  :D

I purge on a regular basis... this does me not one spit of good.  I continually inherit items.  I have a gigantic Pez collection because of this... and now, I receive Pez as gifts.  One Pez is cute... 10 is a collection but 1000 takes up a lot of room.  ... and, they stare at you.

Plastic heads with eyeballs!

Yes indeed my sister in law "thereasa"..even the tv show "hoarders" would not want to take her on..I wish i had a picture of her living room you can see her first diet coke can from 1968..

I have many things that I no longer need. I get rid of it a little at a time. There is so much more to go. and it gets overwhelming. I tried to have a yard sale, but never got around to it this year. Next year I will definately have one.

I'm a binge packrat-- means I collect stuff and then one day I give it all away or throw it away, I sell some-- Then I start a new collection of junk.   My last collection was music gear, I had stuff going back to the 60's, I sold most of it, still have some really rare pieces.

My latest collection is R/C helicopters, I started this one about a year ago, I now have 12.  And have my eyes on 3 more.

My wife keeps me in check though.

Oh yes!!  I have a friend who is one.He spends his Saturdays visiting garage sales collecting junk.Everything from cars to nuts & bolts clutters his home. He has 15 cars.9 of them are actually running & registered.But he's not a miser with it.If he has something I want he is only too happy to hand it over. Whenever I am looking for an obscure part or a tool that may be hard to get,I go to him first.Most times he will have it.

I do tend to keeps things incase they come in handy, my wife on the otherhand is the total opposite if I havn't used something for a while and leavw it out somewhere it will suddenly go missing, when I ask if she's seen it she will say oh' I gave that to the jumble it wasn't being used. So I have to make sure I put things where I can find them later, and out of her site.

I am not so much, but my husband is a shocker, when I first moved here he had a garden shed stuffed with all sorts of "stuff", including boxes full of tea pots (?) . I built a double garage and carports, which he has also filled up with more "stuff" I can hardly get my car parked. He relishes garage sales, auctions and in fact anything he thinks is a good buy, including a butchers band saw, "just in case I buy a big roast, and need it cut"! just another of his essential items.

I used to collect Souvenir Dolls, but space have beaten me to it.Had to give up.