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I'm clearly a hoarder. As a child, I collected WWII stuff. Some, I found myself in battlefields. And some, I got through trade with other kids. And a lot of it

I'm clearly a hoarder. As a child, I collected WWII stuff. Some, I found myself in battlefields. And some, I got through trade with other kids. And a lot of it got disassembled. Both out of curiosity, and for parts. So I had quite the collection. Basically, weapons, ordinance, hardware and electronics. And now, I just keep broken stuff, or parts of it. Just about every display, for example, comes with a power cord (or now, brick) and data cable. Ditto with computers and keyboards. So I keep the best ~five of each that aren't in use, and donate the rest to a reuse center. I also have quite the fan collection. But I no longer save RAM, because it so rarely matches. I also have lots of hardware. Metal stock, fasteners, etc. And scrap wood, left over from projects. Sure, it takes up space. But I have a closet for that, and it's reasonably well organized. And if something breaks, or if I need to hack something, there's a pretty good chance that I'll have what I need.

StefanKarpinski 8y ago
Does not sound like you meet the DSM criteria for hoarding mentioned in the article. It sounds more like you are someone who likes hardware hacking and hangs on to a lot of hardware bits and pieces for that reason.
- mirimir 8y ago
  Maybe so. But my wife would disagree ;) What did sound familiar was the sense of overwhelm. And the pattern of "don't touch my piles, because I know where everything is". Some years ago, when we were living in an ancient farmhouse, I had a basement full of stuff. Bits and pieces of all the stuff that you need to keep an old farmhouse working. I also maintained collections of books and documents used in research, for reference in case anyone asked. Now, at least that stuff is all on disk.
DanBC 8y ago
> and donate the rest to a reuse center. > But I no longer save RAM, because it so rarely matches Then it's not hoarding. Hoarding isn't "I have a lot of stuff, and it's poorly organised". Hoarding is "I have too much stuff, and it's overwhelming, and I am unable to throw it away because I experience distress at the thought of getting rid of things".
ocdtrekkie 8y ago
You have a closet. I have a room. There's a difference between storage and hoarding. ;)

StefanKarpinski 8y ago

Does not sound like you meet the DSM criteria for hoarding mentioned in the article. It sounds more like you are someone who likes hardware hacking and hangs on to a lot of hardware bits and pieces for that reason.

mirimir 8y ago
Maybe so. But my wife would disagree ;) What did sound familiar was the sense of overwhelm. And the pattern of "don't touch my piles, because I know where everything is". Some years ago, when we were living in an ancient farmhouse, I had a basement full of stuff. Bits and pieces of all the stuff that you need to keep an old farmhouse working. I also maintained collections of books and documents used in research, for reference in case anyone asked. Now, at least that stuff is all on disk.

DanBC 8y ago

> and donate the rest to a reuse center. > But I no longer save RAM, because it so rarely matches Then it's not hoarding. Hoarding isn't "I have a lot of stuff, and it's poorly organised". Hoarding is "I have too much stuff, and it's overwhelming, and I am unable to throw it away because I experience distress at the thought of getting rid of things".

ocdtrekkie 8y ago

You have a closet. I have a room. There's a difference between storage and hoarding. ;)