As a kid, there were always things I could never find in our house. Pencils and pens come to mind, along with notebooks. Also, fingernail clippers. I'm noticing these patterns right now as I pack things up to move. I mean, we have 8 sets of fingernail and toenail clippers. How many do I really need? (I settled on 3 sets - 1 for each person). Pens and pencils are too many to admit. But since each has it's own category, you know, the erasable ones, the school ones, the fun sticker coloring pens, the journaling pens....Yes, it's a problem. (And yes, I packed all that are working. Because - pretty!) So, after reading Kayla's thread about missing things, I thought I'd ask: What do you personally hoard/collect/have an abundance of? Is it due to a lack at one point? Or just cuz you love it? I hoard notebooks and pencils because so often I couldn't find one as a kid. Same with fingernail clippers. But pens? I just love them!
I hoard footwear because I can't say no to an expensive pair from my MIL that I might wear, even though I wear the same pair of flip flops every single day.
I have enough stationery to sink a battleship pretty much which is 100% my own doing. The other thing I can safely say I own a tonne of is bath products.....now this one isn’t 100% exclusive to me, my mum has a tonne too cause we would end up getting it every Christmas from some family members
I hoard pens, pencils, and TN's. I have way too many of them and they're all the nice leather ones that you can put the inserts in. I go in spurts using them and seem to use them the most for my December Daily pictures and TN layouts. I also have scissors everywhere. I have trouble opening anything, so I buy the Betty Crocker $1 kitchen shears at The Dollar Store. I just used a pair - I was trying to get that plastic wrapper off a new sponge mop - couldn't get it off, so I reached in the closest drawer and there was a pair. I'm not sure that's hoarding - it's kind of a necessity for me. I get lots of laughs from others because I have them literally everywhere. I even have a pair in my car.
I still have a few dozen pencils left from my hoard from when I was a teacher in the late 1990's. They have things printed on them like "Second Graders are #1," Happy Birthday," and presidents up through Clinton. I kept them when I left teaching because I thought my kids would use them. They use computers instead. I can't think of anything else. At least not non-digital. I do have a hoard of digiscrap supplies and photos!
I do love great pens and HB pencils too. They seem to dislike me though, as they actively walk out of my studio and find homes in my children's bedrooms and the kitchen counter etc.
I have a Sterlite Sweater box full of never opened pens and pencils. I have a Sterlite Underbed box full of paper I found during the purge of the house, some of it is quite old since some notebooks had pages written by my mom in them! I go shopping in those boxes when I need something. As for nail clippers... I have 3 just for me. One in my purse, one in a bathroom drawer and one in a small basket on my desk. The last one comes in handy quite often. It is actually my favorite as it is older and doesn't take as much pressure to actually clip a nail! I still have an unopened box of Creative Memories scissors from what I was a consultant (2000-2002). I have several pair of those scissors at various locations in the house as well... one on a shelf near the washer in the basement, one in a drawer in the kitchen, one in a basket (with pens/pencils/rulers) on my desk and one with my traditional scrapping supplies.
Are we counting digital scrapbooking supplies? Because that's probably the #1 thing I hoard! Other than that I'd say purses. One of my favorite brands (Baggallini) is inexpensive when you buy it at a place like Marshalls, plus you can get great deals during their clearance sales and on Amazon. So I own more purses than I should, in a variety of sizes. Just when I thought I was set and hadn't bought a new bag in more than a year, the pandemic came along with this huge change of habits. So I added 1 more to my collection, a smaller bag for running just 1 errand. In my defense, I use them all and paid about $20 for each one! Maybe fabric...a few years ago we had some water damage in the basement and I had to throw out all my fabric. That was okay because I wasn't sewing much anymore. But I've started sewing again to make masks. Since I buy it on Etsy these days (to avoid unnecessary store trips) I tend to buy more than I need right then. I *think* I'll make most of the projects I bought fabric for, but I'm sure there will be a few that I change my mind about.
I’m a hoarder - fact. I fight it because I see what it has done to my mother. I have tons of rubber stamps, cardstock, scrapbook paper, punches, etc. etc. etc. plus I love all things kitchen, like dishes and serving bowls and dessert plates, measuring cups, mixing bowls. Did I say I was a hoarder?
@bestcee - Same here with the pencil thing. I have so many now...I never want my kids to say they can't find a pencil. LOL @HavaDrPepper - I have a basket of Creative Memories scissors too! I never use them though. I hoard children's books - picture books, chapter books, easy readers, etc... Every year my hubby has to build me a new bookshelf.
I'm still hoarding all my paper scrapbooking supplies! Its been ten years since I paper scrapped and I still can't bear to part with them! I used to hoard books but I've been getting better at parting with them over the past few years. My daughter thinks I hoard shoes but is it still hoarding if you wear them all?
I’m a hoarder too but I’m trying to clean out. I have bins of fabric but I cleared out several bins by donating the fabric to the Ronald McDonald House here in Seattle. They give every patient, and their siblings, a handmade quilt when they stay there. How cool is that. I also gave them a sewing machine. I have an entire craft room of paper scrapping supplies. I have given a lot of supplies to local schools but really need to donate again. De-hoarding is a slow process.
I don't know if it counts but my husband said to me a long time ago that I better not bring home one more board game/card game...of course I still did
A good way to cure hoarding is to move to a house that is half the size of the one you move out off, and it has very little storage space.
Some may say that I'm a book hoarder; I say that I have a well-stocked personal library and I do read my books. I do have lots of paper scrapping supplies but I also am scrapping still the 2 large containers full of printed photos. I have a large supply of pens from attending events with giveaways. I now say no to pens until I have used and disposed of most of my current supply.
Scrapbook/Card making supplies lol but that doesn’t count..... according to my husband I have enough plates on the wall, that one more plate will peel the drywall off the studs lol of course he is just joking but I collect Arabia of Finland dishes also Iittala. Antique malls or Etsy the hunt is part of the fun! The thrill you feel when you see one!
i think 'hoarding' is in the eye of the beholder - i have a collection of fiction paperbooks, all that i've bought with full intent on reading, although DH would say i hoard them given i had an ereader full of digital books; He, on the other hand, 'collects' cookbooks, and i'm like 'you have 5 books all solely about making bread and you can find recipes all over the internet so that's more an example of hoarding because each of my 'story books' are unique' (well kinda even if there's similar plots and tropes within genres among them) I think DD hoards wool/yarn since she started knitting a crocheting a few years back, like it has taken over her room and there's several 'wool storage tubs' in there but she doesn't think she could ever have enough wool, like it's all different colours and all for diferent purposes and 'thicknesses or ply' or whatever. My paperbacks did c0me in handy for me though when local libraries shut and went to online only this year because i ended up giving my ereader to DS so that he could still borrow books & always had something to read, and i still felt like i had a library and went back to reading paper books; but then DH's bread books also got a workout (the heavy 'bread bible' seems to be used to hold down DD's art paper to flatten it out more than for it's intended use though as they still googled recipes but technically it was still used
For me it would be stickers . I started collecting stickers since primary school years (around age 10-11). Sometimes I would exchange stickers with my friends so we could expand our collections. I stopped collecting for a while during early adulthood, but has recently resumed this hobby after enrolling in a uni. I use stickers to embellish study notes, journals, etc. I also love buying washi tapes online coz they're cheap and cute. For washi tapes, I organize them on a tape organizer. For stickers, I keep them in a book (that I've had since primary school) & a big purse.
As we continue to progress through purging with the intent to move and downsize, I knew we had a ton of books, the thing that surprised me most was light bulbs. I have a small bin in the laundry room, but while working in the garage, I kept finding more stuck in odd places, I have two boxes and a bin in the garage now too. At least now they are all together and I can sort through to see what should be kept or donated. I tell you, going through 23 years of our own collection has been work, but we are now getting into some of of the "inherited" tools, parts and books and such that have been occupying our garage for about 15 years.
@elseepe We have way too many lightbulbs and the new ones jus don't seem to burn out. That's good but bad for my large stock of light bulbs.