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Friday 24 September 2010

What do you think of clutter? Are you a hoarder?

I was having a lovely chat over a coffee and pain au chocolat in French Living with my friend yesterday and besides talking about the subject of food we got onto the subject of clutter. I like a reasonably tidy and organised house to live in and whilst not fanatical about where things lay in the habitat of my choice I feel happier when the place looks tidy and clean. That need for clean clear spaces also counts in my kitchen and although the room is allowed to look a creative mess whilst I'm cooking I usually get the washing up done reasonably quickly after the meal. Occasionally I will wash up the next morning. Occasionally. In fact there are some dishes on the side right now if anyone fancies popping round to do them for me.

Some folk are happy to live with varying degrees of clutter in their homes and work place and some folk love to hoard things and won't throw anything away because it might come in useful one day. My dear departed Dad was a big hoarder and he had a garden shed chock full of odds and ends - like scrap lengths of wood and balls of wire and old plastic sheeting and jars and jars of rusty nails and screws. You could actually hear the shed walls groaning in the early hours with the effort of containing all the junk.

He wouldn't throw anything away because 'you never know when it might come in useful'. He even stored a giant box of fish food for years after he had given up the hobby of keeping tropical fish because 'it might come in useful'. Eventually the knackered old box fell apart, cascading a dried rainbow of smelly guppy food all over the shed floor. Well actually that is not quite true because there was no actual floor space for the stuff to land on. It was all full of clutter! How one family could cram five push bikes, a large chest of drawers and a lathe and all manner of useless crap in one average garden shed is beyond me.

Storage heaven or hell.

So, dear reader are you living in a clutter free world or do you know people who love to hoard things for no rational reason?

7 comments:

Janette said...

Ha, ha, well you know my feelings about clutter! I think it feels worse now I'm at home all day and have to look at it. Took a bag full of stuff to the charity shop yesterday and have a load of stuff to put onto Ebay for this weekend (free listing weekend!). I'm quite strict with the ebay stuff, if it doesn't sell with a week then it goes straight to the charity shop. I will get this house tidy, I will, I will...

Phil Lowe said...

Janette: You WILL have a tidy house. Repeat the mantra. I WILL have a tidy house. lol. Good for you. :0)

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness see my mother is a severe hoarder so much so that it has become a bit of an ilness for her and caused many an argument with my father. So I am not so much of a hoarder now, Doo makes sure of that. But Doo is a tad OCD clean and tidy obsessed which drives me crazy. I need that happy balance especially with a toddler! It's tireing lol.

Take care KC xx

www.katecollings.blogspot.com - Always welcoming new followers, guests and comments xx

Jean said...

This rings so true !!

Our house is so unbelievably cluttered. Even worse now that all our belongings are STILL upstairs waiting for our living room floor to be repaired. Which won't be for another 4 weeks. Which means we will still be climbing over our crockery and curtains to get into bed until the beginning of November. Aaaarghhhh...

Karenjane said...

I am, for my sins, a neatness freak (you should see my pantry..all food labels facing the front, everything has an exact position, it's all very pathetic really). But, I am also a hoarder. So in our study are lots of neatly positioned boxes stuffed with, well, stuff which I haven't used for years. But it looks neat. And as for the loft...that's a hoarders paradise, & not really neat. One day, soon we hope, Steve & I will empty the loft & dispose of 90% of the junk which hasn't seen the light of day for years & years. Some has been there since we moved in 26 years ago. I even have a Victorian baby's rocking cradle with a heavy cast iron stand, saved simply because my Mum & her sisters & the generation before slept in it. Why do I keep it? I wish I knew.

Unknown said...

Alas I am a bit of a collector, sorry hoarder. Books, magazines, videos and records. Gail tells me off, then I point out her book collection, handbags and tons of make-up.

We really need to do a garage sale or car boot sometime.

Any luck with the house move?

Phil Lowe said...

Gosh so many people have a cluttered house and are so passionate about it. :0)