To Keep, Or Not To Keep?

Hoarders have a very different way of looking at items that they see on a daily basis. For example, the average person will empty a basket of strawberries into a colander to rinse them off, and throw the basket away. A hoarder will do the same, but will not throw the basket away. Instead, the basket will get washed, and set aside. A million different reasons for this can be going through a hoarder's mind, but no matter what, that basket will not get thrown away. The question that runs through the hoarder's mind is, 'Do I keep this for myself, someone else, or perhaps someone I don't know yet will need this at some point?'.

While most people can fully and completely understand the reasoning behind keeping certain items, for recycling or craft purposes, we often do not understand the logic behind keeping every single one of the same item that comes into our home. To understand this type of logic, we need to dive deep into the mind set of a hoarder. Now, I'm not talking about the type of hoarder that also saves garbage that will rot in bags all over the house and make the home an absolute health hazard. I'm talking about the 'typical hoarder' that saves non-food items.

In general, a hoarder will look at something and see one of several things. They might see part of a collection they've got going. They might see an item that can be recycled into having use for another purpose. They might see something 'pretty' or 'beautiful' that they would like to keep just for the heck of it. They might see a future use for the item. They might have the thought that the item would be good to keep in case they run out of already purchased items. They also might see historical purpose, or documentation purpose. Whatever it is they see, to them, it is logical and above all, smart.

Items that are often saved by hoarders are:

• Wrapping paper
• Empty boxes
• Newspapers
• Magazines
• Plastic containers
• Empty egg cartons
• Empty tissue boxes
• Packing materials (foam peanuts, bubble wrap, etc.)
• Carry out food containers
• Plastic eating utensils
• Inner cardboard tubes from wrapping paper, paper towels and toilet paper rolls.
• Plastic plates and cups
• Paper place mats
• Clothing and shoes (even if they're old and worn out)
• Jars and other glass containers
• Ribbons, bows and yarn
• Nails, pegs and hooks (even if they're rusted)
• Books
• Maps
• Undeveloped film (no matter how old it is)
• Broken appliances and other small items (cameras, sewing machines, radios, etc.)
• Tin and cardboard containers that look decorative
• String, twine, rubber bands, thumb tacks, etc. (in mass quantity)
  
• Flower pots and drainage plates

Remember, this is just a small list of some of the items hoarders will keep. There are many others, and literally anything and everything ever made is 'fair game' for a hoarder to keep until the day they take their last breath. The main objective of a hoarder is to never be in need of anything. This fear might also include things like medications, dry food products, frozen food products and even bottles of water, juice or soda. Dry baking and cooking supplies might also be kept in mass quantities.

The hoarder will never see a health hazard. The hoarder will see 'wealth'. The hoarder will not have an over whelming urge to clean and organize the home. The hoarder will see 'a vault of plenty' that is best kept piled.

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