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 'packrat mentality'
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 […]
Hoarder, Packrat, what’s the difference?
December 11th, 2012 · 1 Comment · Hoarding, Packratting
Have you ever watched the TV reality show called Hoarder? I haven’t, but I don’t really need to, because I’ve seen hoardiness in person. During the Broke Era of my life, i.e. my twenties and thirties, I lived for a year in a sort of …. rind of a boarding house … where I shared […]
Just Say NO to STUFF
December 10th, 2012 · No Comments · Consumer Issues, Decluttering, Trash Disposal
I used to blame myself for being a packrat, but I’ve noticed that every living person I know has this same clutter problem. A lot of dead people I’ve known have this problem too, and the living people around them aren’t at all happy about it. Wait. Maybe I shouldn’t blame myself. At least not […]
Tags:decluttering·excessive packaging·garbage problem·packrat mentality