Comments on: Your Junk is My Treasure! The Psychology of Compulsive Hoarding https://www.PsychologyLounge.com/your-junk-is-my-treasure-the-psychology-of-compulsive-hoarding/ by Dr. Andrew Gottlieb (650) 324-2666 Mon, 05 Nov 2007 20:50:09 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.5 By: Lounge Wizard https://www.PsychologyLounge.com/your-junk-is-my-treasure-the-psychology-of-compulsive-hoarding/#comment-52 Mon, 30 Apr 2007 21:51:22 +0000 http://www.psychologylounge.com/?p=19#comment-52 Thanks for the comments. I like the suggestions for de-cluttering.

In thinking more about hoarding and accumulation, I’m of two minds about it. Half of me thinks it’s vitally important, and is key to flowing through life smoothly. But the other half thinks it’s a false target. The New York Times often runs photos of famous successful people in their offices. These offices usually are incredibly messy and cluttered. These folks are too busy doing interesting things to straighten up.

So maybe it’s both things. But I think the key thing is to figure out: Is my life working the way things are? If there is stress and strain on me or my significant others due to the clutter and stuff, then it’s worth targeting. If not, then maybe it doesn’t matter so much.

Probably better to figure out how to make life work better and have more meaning. To paraphrase the rock star Warren Zevon’s biography “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead,” maybe the attitude we should take towards some decluttering and organization is “I’ll Straighten Up When I’m Dead.”

]]> By: An anti hoarder https://www.PsychologyLounge.com/your-junk-is-my-treasure-the-psychology-of-compulsive-hoarding/#comment-51 Fri, 20 Apr 2007 06:40:10 +0000 http://www.psychologylounge.com/?p=19#comment-51 Hallelujah!
“Maybe this is really a metaphor for our psychological baggage. Travel light, and leave the junk behind. Throw out old stuff, and organize what you keep. Let go of things, and make room for new things.”

One of the best lectures I attended was about this exact concept: traveling through life with a lighter backpack. I say, throw out the old stuff, file the sentiments in boxes, be realistic about what you keep, and get rid of old reference material and outdated, worn clothing. I believe that clutter also clutters the mind so start tossing away. Plus it’s dust collecters. It’s also most rewarding giving to others who don’t have much.

]]> By: Brother Dan https://www.PsychologyLounge.com/your-junk-is-my-treasure-the-psychology-of-compulsive-hoarding/#comment-50 Thu, 19 Apr 2007 19:42:50 +0000 http://www.psychologylounge.com/?p=19#comment-50 As the hoarding brother of a famous blogger, I heartily concur with your hoarding article. Some tricks I use are:
1) taking long trips and using other people’s guest rooms, invariably less cluttered than my apartment.
2) Moratorium on purchasing certain items. No books. I hoard 10-20 library books (few of which I actually get around to reading) and then return them and get new ones (few of which…)
3) Donate generously to Goodwill! If you haven’t used it in a year or two, it goes in the donation box.
4) Trial separation. Put a bunch of books, clothes, junk, whatever into boxes, close them up, date them and then leave them in a corner for a year. If you haven’t missed what’s in them, just bring them to Goodwill and get rid of them sight unseen as the psychology guy would have you do, or open them up and see what you haven’t been missing, then get rid of them.
5) Pretend you are about to move a long way away and that it would cost big bucks to store or move junk, then toss accordingly.
6) Pretend you died. What’s really important is not stuff, but is memories and people connections. Toss accordingly.

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