LogFAQs > #941199573

ParanoidObsessive posted...

My philosophy is this:

If you have something you don't immediately need, but can either think of a use for it "relatively soon", or it's something that you use commonly enough that you'll almost certainly need it again soon, then it's worth keeping.

If you have something you have no current use for, and feel like you should keep it on the off-chance that you might think of some use for it eventually, you're better off getting rid of it. Especially if it's something that isn't all that expensive in the first place. If you feel bad about "wasting" it; just find someone else who could potentially use it now and give it to them, or sell it/donated it to a thrift shop/charity shop/Goodwill/charity that does home pick-up (this doesn't really apply to mattresses - you probably should just throw those out).

Basically, if your house seems like it's filled with tons of odds and ends that you're keeping on the chance that you might need it someday, and 20 years can pass with that day never coming, then you're leaning into the wrong side of hoarding.

In her case, I wonder if she actually grew up with parents who were hoarders (either full-scale or just partially). Because from what I've seen people who grow up in that "OMG WE'VE GOT TOO MUCH CRAP!" sort of home tend to boomerang in the opposite direction and throw away as much as they can to keep things clean and spacious... or become the exact same sort of hoarder themselves (because they've had that "WE CAN'T WASTE ANYTHING WE MIGHT BE ABLE TO USE SOMEDAY!" mentality burned into their brain).

Economics can also play a role. People who grow up poor tend to be more inclined to try and keep everything to save future money, while people who grew up never really having to worry about money don't necessarily see the point of living in a packed warehouse to save a few dollars.

The psychology of that has always fascinated me, possibly because my immediate family had such different viewpoints regarding possessions. Then again, my folks grew up in households where the kids wound up having wildly different viewpoints regarding possessions as well (the only consistency is that the teachers & professors in the family tended to be hoarders). I had considered going into detail, but the result would be multiple super-long posts.

Otherwise there are different types/forms of hoarding. While the keeping potentially useful items could be derived from a poverty-mindset, clearly the motivation is different when it comes to needless items (and it's not always mental illness, although some forms of compulsive hoarding can have a mental illness component)

And personally I'd just throw out an old mattress. If I needed something for a guest room, I'd rather buy a new one. I wouldn't ask or expect a guest to sleep on a mattress I'd used. That said, I also don't believe in having a guest room since it invites people to stay for extended periods. If somebody is crashing for a few days, there's also the couch. I don't want them getting too comfortable.

ChaosAzeroth posted...

I found this doesn't work with video games for me.

Physical games get hard to find, and I get sudden urges to play a game years later. And when I actually really want to play a game, that's all I want to do to the point it impedes everything else. Especially if I can't, because I can't get the initial 'I gotta' over with.

Also this. Even when money isn't a factor, availability can be an issue. A lot of games, books, movies, etc, can become exceedingly hard to find/procure even in the digital age. And a lot of the things that are hard to get don't necessarily even wind up being expensive, they're just things that aren't being sold.

As a side note, I should mention that there are a lot of books I want to either re-read or finish reading where I'm *still* unable to even figure out their name, whether it's something I glanced at in a bookstore, had briefly borrowed, etc. In the case of some anthologies, I figure the rest of the stories are likely lousy anyway, but it's not much consolation.

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There are precious few at ease / With moral ambiguities / So we act as though they don't exist.