In our neighborhood (and perhaps in the country at large), a custom has developed whereby when you no longer want an item, you simply put it out on your parking strip and it’s gone within a few hours. You don’t even need to put up a “free” sign, it’s understood that it’s up for grabs. […]
Entries Tagged as 'The Packrat Mind'
Grandma: not so crazy after all
May 29th, 2013 · No Comments · Excess of Possessions, Hoarding, Re-using, The Packrat Mind
In the Depression years, our grandparents saw need all around them, and probably found constant satisfaction in having saved just the right thing. In the last few years of my grandmother’s life, we sent for the items she pined for in the storage unit in New Mexico so that she could at last be reunited […]
Tags:ancestors·inheriting junk·packrat mentality·re-using·reusing·saving stuff
Collectivitis combined with the ecological mindset
March 18th, 2013 · 1 Comment · Collecting, Consumer Issues, Disposability, Philosophy, The Packrat Mind, Trash Disposal
You might think it’s dumb that I write about things like pen caps and sock hangers — but that would mean you were missing my larger purpose. My assignment (call it a compulsion if you must) is to scrutinize each and every little item and ask the big questions — go all the way back […]
Tags:cheaply made goods·collecting·collectivitis·disposability·garbage problem·landfill·packrat mentality·throwing stuff out·too much stuff·waste·waste disposal
From whence the drive to collect?
March 14th, 2013 · No Comments · Collecting, Excess of Possessions, Hoarding, Packratting, Philosophy, The Packrat Mind
I admit i have a bit of a “thing” about collecting. There’s a-whole-nother category that lies somewhere between packratness and hoarderliness, and I’m in it. The people in this category are called “collectors” instead of packrats or hoarders because they collect things in a systematic, purposeful and orderly way, display their collections in a proud […]
Tags:collecting·hoarding·packrat mentality·saving stuff·too much stuff
Packrat motives
December 22nd, 2012 · 6 Comments · Excess of Possessions, Multiple use, The Packrat Mind
Here’s a perfect example of the kind of thing I save. I mean look at this! It snaps apart and back together. It came on a carrot peeler, holding the merchandise tag onto the product. Does it not look like the most useful thing in the world? It could easily be made into a little […]
Tags:animal testing labs·drugs·hoarding·mice·packrat mentality·packratting·saving stuff
Inside the Mind of a Packrat
December 14th, 2012 · 1 Comment · Packratting, Re-using, The Packrat Mind
That thing you see on my finger? It’s a twisty tie, which just turned up in the Miscellaneous drawer. Why had I saved it? For its beauty. Obviously. For one thing, it’s gold. For another, unlike ordinary twisty ties, it’s wide and flat instead of narrow and twisted. As if that were not fantastic […]
Casting Stones in a Glass House
December 13th, 2012 · No Comments · Philosophy, The Packrat Mind
As for the rest of us, the ordinary, run-of-the-mill Packrats, we should refrain from pointing and staring at the Hoarders (e.g., watching that show), and recognize that when we do that, we are indulging in one of the lowest forms of human entertainment, namely, seeking out people “worse” than we are, so that by gawking […]
Back to the Caves?
December 5th, 2012 · No Comments · Consumer Issues, The Packrat Mind, Trash Disposal
The global garbage problem disturbs me horribly. The whole world is filling up with stuff just like our homes are. I don’t think going back to being cave people is the answer. My hope is that if we start from the microcosm of our own dwellings, word of our efforts, of our refusals to participate, […]
Tags:cave people·cheaply made goods·excessive packaging·garbage problem·packaging·planned obsolescence·start at home·wasteful packaging