The Hoard

I've probably mentioned that I watch the show Hoarders on occasion to jumpstart a cleaning frenzy. I'm not a hoarder, but some of my rooms are messy. Because my house has an open floor plan, I tend to keep the main areas neater than the bedrooms. Especially when I'm the only one who lives here, it's really easy to shove stuff into the bedrooms -- kind of an out of sight, out of mind kind of thing. In a way, watching the show puts me at ease a bit. My floors are not covered by junk, even in the messiest rooms and the garage. Mostly, though, I see it as a cautionary tale. My mother and my grandmother had hoarding tendencies, and I don't doubt that I could easily fall into the same trap.

It's been nearly three years since my mother died, and equally long since I said I wouldn't leave the kind of mess behind for my kids that she left. And still, after all that time, I haven't completely purged my house of the unnecessary (by which I mean both non-functional and non-pleasing) items. For the most part, I feel like if there's something my kids want that doesn't mean much to me -- which would be most of it -- they can have it now. There are some things I would keep for myself, but not much. I saw a commercial today for a clothing rental service; you pay a monthly charge and can switch outfits out as much as you want. If you particularly like an outfit, you can buy it at a discount. And the first month is free. I think this is a great idea, especially if you are (like I am) changing sizes on a regular basis. I bring this up in the current context because I think if I were to join a service like that, I'd feel a lot better about getting rid of more clothes. So the timing is good on that.

Now that I'm not working an insane schedule (in fact, I don't have much of a schedule at all right now), I don't know what to do with myself. I'm trying hard to plan out my time so it is productive. Tomorrow is "excavation day". I'll box up a ton of stuff and donate it. Thanks, Hoarders!