5 ms·

As someone who has a bunch of projects and knows a couple people who have borderline hoarding problems the line is thicker than you make it out to be.

flir 5y ago
It's all just personal experience, but it's quite easy to move from "having hobbies" to "collecting hobbies". Speaking from experience here, the difference between me and my father (who do this) and my brother (who doesn't) is stark.
pengaru 5y ago
Perhaps, but I'm constantly reminded how trivially my personal situation can become indistinguishable from that of any other hoarder should my discipline to finish what I've started wane. I think anyone who takes on large costly DIY projects taking months to years for completion can relate. Sometimes I feel the only thing driving me to finish some projects is the fear of falling into a hoarding pattern while I tell myself the project is just on the backburner. If I became comfortable with letting outstanding projects enter a backburner mode indefinitely, it'd just be mental gymnastics enabling hoarding IMNSHO. Edit: I'm reminded of an interaction I had recently with customer service @ Home Depot, while I was returning some unused tools and materials for a project I changed directions on and no longer needed. I'd mentioned to her how close I'd come to just keeping it all instead of returning, despite not needing any of it now, since it wasn't a large sum of money. But that a fear of becoming comfortable with such a rationalization to not return things would just enable a form of hoarding. It apparently struck a nerve as she entered into some kind of confession mode. She enumerated a bunch of projects she has bought everything needed to do from tools to materials, sitting collecting dust for years, and never finds the time to actually start, let alone complete.
- jld 5y ago
  I found this video by Zach Freedman about finishing projects to be enlightening, especially the idea that "deciding to not finish a project" is a way to finish a project. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1j93RnIxEo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1j93RnIxEo
- pa7ch 5y ago
  I've hauled around custom pcbs and torroidal transformers through like 15 different apartments. It was for an old audio amplifier project ('dx blame' i think). Someone on a forum sent me his 'favorite' mosfets and the pcbs from germany. Seeing them when moving reminds me avoid physical DIY projects unless simple stuff for outdoor rec.
fknorangesite 5y ago
Eh. I'm a scale-model builder, and that community is full of people who build amazing models...but even more full of people who just collect kits. Kits that they'll build "someday."
Talanes 5y ago
The existence of dissimilar extremes doesn't prove that the line in the middle isn't thin.

flir 5y ago

It's all just personal experience, but it's quite easy to move from "having hobbies" to "collecting hobbies". Speaking from experience here, the difference between me and my father (who do this) and my brother (who doesn't) is stark.

pengaru 5y ago

Perhaps, but I'm constantly reminded how trivially my personal situation can become indistinguishable from that of any other hoarder should my discipline to finish what I've started wane. I think anyone who takes on large costly DIY projects taking months to years for completion can relate. Sometimes I feel the only thing driving me to finish some projects is the fear of falling into a hoarding pattern while I tell myself the project is just on the backburner. If I became comfortable with letting outstanding projects enter a backburner mode indefinitely, it'd just be mental gymnastics enabling hoarding IMNSHO. Edit: I'm reminded of an interaction I had recently with customer service @ Home Depot, while I was returning some unused tools and materials for a project I changed directions on and no longer needed. I'd mentioned to her how close I'd come to just keeping it all instead of returning, despite not needing any of it now, since it wasn't a large sum of money. But that a fear of becoming comfortable with such a rationalization to not return things would just enable a form of hoarding. It apparently struck a nerve as she entered into some kind of confession mode. She enumerated a bunch of projects she has bought everything needed to do from tools to materials, sitting collecting dust for years, and never finds the time to actually start, let alone complete.

jld 5y ago
I found this video by Zach Freedman about finishing projects to be enlightening, especially the idea that "deciding to not finish a project" is a way to finish a project. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1j93RnIxEo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1j93RnIxEo
pa7ch 5y ago
I've hauled around custom pcbs and torroidal transformers through like 15 different apartments. It was for an old audio amplifier project ('dx blame' i think). Someone on a forum sent me his 'favorite' mosfets and the pcbs from germany. Seeing them when moving reminds me avoid physical DIY projects unless simple stuff for outdoor rec.

fknorangesite 5y ago

Eh. I'm a scale-model builder, and that community is full of people who build amazing models...but even more full of people who just collect kits. Kits that they'll build "someday."

Talanes 5y ago

The existence of dissimilar extremes doesn't prove that the line in the middle isn't thin.