What's the Number One Hoarding Mistake

It’s when you don’t admit you are a hoarder…

So here it goes: I am a HOARDER…

You wouldn’t think I had a hoarding issue if you came for coffee…I’m not surrounded by towering cliffs of random stuff connected by goat trails… I’m more subtle about my hoarding.

My test is ‘how do I feel when I think about that stuff’?’
Is there a twinge of anxiety?
Hmmm, maybe, and there’s the red flag that somethings are more about stress and less about joy so it’s time to let them go!

Now I know the Marie Kondo ‘method’ has turned many lives around but I’m an old hand at this and don’t feel the need to roll my t-shirts in a special way or give thanks to the old ones I’m tearing into cleaning cloths…frankly I’m a little busy to spend time thanking inanimate objects.
In fact I’m a bit of a natural when it comes to decluttering (and folding t-shirts but I’ll resist the urge to share that). Years ago, before there was a special category for it on Amazon, I was chatting with my husband and semi-seriously suggested I should write a ‘how to’ book about decluttering. ‘Who’d buy that!’ he snorted and I quickly dumped the idea and went back to sorting the kids rooms ahead of yet another interstate move following his career.

To be fair the ‘move often’ fix is a reasonable solution as it prevents most hoarding issues arising in the first place… perhaps ‘move often and pretend you’ll be living in Japan’ is better as it adds the motivation of having limited space for all the things that seemed important yesterday. These days I’m thinking about building my next home and planning for the joy of a small (perfect) space so I’ve been honing my ‘do I really use, need, love’ rule to hunt out lurking hoarded items that gobble space and don’t love me back…

BUT then there are BOOKS, and they remain in ever growing piles…
and with books, I am a hoarder…

Friends tell me ‘just go down the digital path’ and you’re right of course, kinda…
For me digital books are great when I want to chew through the latest Janet Evanovich or Michael Connelly or a quick read for on planes and trains… but there are other times when I just like to turn paper pages. Sometimes the local library is the best solution…until the latest Margaret Atwood or Barbara Kingsolver needs to join her sisters on the shelves, then I’m lost.

Another delight that’s lean on ‘real world’ space are audio books. They tap the joy of being read to long after ‘storytime’ age has passed. I can walk or drive or edit video (learning atm and it’s a little on the repetitive side) while a new friend tells me a story, perfect.

So I hear you…digital is great…for some things, but it doesn’t dodge the issue of ‘books as art’ …those books continue to wave at me from bookshop shelves, whispering ‘save me, take me home, I’ll be yours forever…’ and I know they do it to everyone who passes, but I always believe I’m special to them, take them home and nudge others aside to make room on the shelves or beside my bed.

Actually it’s books and well, magazines… and although I have always culled and clipped and tossed..there are always a few I hold onto…

so even in these days of ‘e-hoarding’ on my tablet those back copies of Architectural Digest and the visual treats from France ..Cote -Ouest, Est and Sud- they remain and make the perfect companions for my last coffee of the day.

There’s also a growing collection of pure ‘house porn’ that’s been filling my shelves for decades…

Here I play favourites of course;
Ellen’s genius includes her ability to make the impossibly fabulous look effortless…

and maybe I’m a little embarrassed to admit that John Saladino’s masterpiece would be rescued from a house fire a little after my cat but maybe before the baby photos of my sons… and yes, I know…that’s serious.

So now I’m going to be ruthless and clear out my wardrobe ready for the new season, no hoarding for me… but the books?

Are you serious, the books??

Everyone know books aren’t hoarding,
books are special-
they’re a COLLECTION!

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