I May Be A Hoarder
First of all, I don’t mean the kind of hoarder that you see on A&E. My house is sparsly decorated, and I despise clutter. I’m hoarder in the sense of people buying too many of the same things. The kind that has a hard time walking away from a good deal, never have enough; the kind where you become addicted to the experiences and things and want to go on vacation 8 times a year, and are tempted to attend every conference in your neck of the woods even though it has nothing to do with what you do for a living. I’m not quite how far away I am from actually being one, but I like THINGS in general. And I tend to buy multiples of the same thing all the time. These things range from watches to sunglasses, to purses, and shoes. Oh, the shoes. I’m afraid to actually sit down and count how many pairs I actually have. I have boxes upon boxes of them in my garage. Shoes for every season, in every colour, and every style. Shoes that hurt to walk in, but they look pretty.
Why am I sharing this with you right now? Well, because I’ve recently entered into the world of fashion and beauty blogging. And while I really enjoy the side of things, I’m finding it hard to justify having 15 different shades of red lipstick, or 100 different nail polishes. Luckily I have a team that helps us produce amazing content and I get to give them most/all of the goodies that come to my door.
The Why:
I do this, not because I don’t like to try new products, or services, but because I know that I have an addictive personality. And that personality trait is most apparent when I look at my clothes. I have 14 of the same tank-top in 4 different colours.Yes, you read that right. And that wasn’t an issue that I paid attention to back in my “money stupid” days, it hurts to look at it now. What hurts most is that its not even a nice tank top.
How I’m Adapting:
Its funny how our priorities change over the years. These days I am willing to spend hours online trying to compare bank accounts and mutual funds, while 3 years ago, I would spend the same amount of time looking and buying tech toys. I don’t even want to get started on my cell phone addiction. Knowing that I’ve spent close to $5,000 on just the hardware over the last few years actually makes me ill.
Its not all bad now, I’m learning how to balance the two extremes. Just as my love for quality over quantity is gaining traction, my house is being decorated in a minimalist style, and my clothing stockpile is slowly being donated. I know apply for a bank account online when I want to save something special and a bit more expensive. The sad truth about being a consultant is that you lack employment security. That is a major contributing factor to having several different bank accounts, and saving stashes. If it comes down to buying a something shiny, or paying into my RRSPs, I know which one wins.
This brings me back to my hoarding fears, and making sure that I don’t end up on a TV show over the next 4 years. I’m torn between doing a blog sale for things that I don’t wear anymore, or donate things to charity.
I definitely have a lot of stuff and W calls me a hoarder. It’s just so hard to get rid of things!
I agree, but sometimes its easier to get someone else to do it for you.
maybe we should team up and do a Toronto clothing swap/sale thing.
I’m in!!!
I am weird in the way that I keep the boxes and packaging that stuff comes in. I always have it because if I have to return it, I want it to be easy. My wife hates it and just throws it out when I leave. I have become better over the years, but I think it is really strange that I do it.
i used to be like that. Thankfully grew out of that phase.
bf has a really hard time giving away things, it makes me nuts. I try to be understanding, but how many T-shits does one man need? His clothes take up the majority of our closet.
Right? Guys have weird attachments to T-shirts
I can totally relate. I haven’t bought toothpaste or floss in a few years because I got a ton of it free. And I didn’t buy toilet paper for over a year. I just had to start buying it again a few months ago =/
That is smart shopping , tho. Not stupid spending.
If I find a pair of shoes that I love, typically I will buy it in two different colors. I have a pair of MIA wooden sandals with leather straps in black and in tan. Love. I think most of us are a little guilty of making duplicate purchases for things that rock our world. As for things that are hard to get rid of I have a problem with books. I love them and have a great collection of classics and contemporary works of literature that will become classics. I also buy tons of toilet paper/product/toothpaste because you just never know!
Books is also my guilty pleasure. I just can’t give them away even if I don’t plan on reading them again.
While I don’t think I’ll ever enter the world of fashion blogging, I completely understand where you are coming from. I also like “things” in general – I feel like there is so many things I don’t have that I could use, and it has gotten worse with having a house. But I also consume information, books, DVDs, etc. to somewhat an extreme, and also have an addictive personality. Heck, just look at all the giveaways I listed on today’s post! 20 more than last week and I foresee the number rising. I’m not sure what my point is, but essentially I agree that sometimes ‘hoarding’ takes different shapes and is not always keeping newspapers from the last 20 years in stacks in your living room 😉
Exactly. I think there is a fine line between collecting and hoarding.
I am like Grayson in that I keep the packaging things come in because I think about what if I have to return it or something. My wife is on the other end of the extreme and always throwing stuff away. It makes things interesting at least. 🙂
I used to do that too, and still have a hard time throwing out boxes for electronics.
The first step is admitting you have a problem. The second step is to SELL EVERYTHING!
Hah, j/k. But seriously. 😉
I’m trying!
Oh man my husband is the exact same way. I’m the total opposite and it drives him nuts, I throw everything out. Sometimes I feel bad but how to I tell my mother in law I’m almost 30, I don’t need a Christmas stocking jam packed full of a bunch of nik nak crap and makeup I’ll never use…90% of it gets tossed (donated). I’m a closet tosser too, only doing it when my husband is at work and when he notices X item missing I play dumb. 11 years and he hasn’t caught on.
Do you want to come over and clean out my closet?
I don’t think you should tip over into that kind of A&E hoarder status because you sound like you know what you are doing. Spending $5000 on cell hardware over the years is alot of money so you must love your cell considering all that research you used to do. Funny how we can go overboard on some things and then want to balance it out in the end. My wife used to save lots of things, but not anymore we get rid of it… it took her time to say goodbye to some things though.
My biggest fear that not knowing where the line is. Thus I’m keeping everything in check.
I have a bit of a hoarder in me too! I hate it. If I see something I like then I feel like I should get other colors especially if it’s a good deal so I have to stop myself. If I find a great pair of shoes in beige then I want to get the similar pair in black so I can wear it with ALL outfits. Yes, it’s a problem!!
I do that too! ALL THE TIME.
I like nice things but I can’t stand clutter. I saw that I was throwing away a lot of stuff every few months (closets have lives of their own) and so I’ve been a lot more choosy about what I spend money on. But I still sometimes find myself hoarding the girly things- it’s hard to say no to a sweet pair of wedges.
Thats what I’m shifting towards. Quality vs quantity.
Oh good. I though I was the only one who can relate to this. lol I’m a sentimental kind of person but I realize that I need to let some of my things go. Others are basically called trash already.
See the problem with that is that I have NICE things that shouldn’t be thrown out.
See my latest blog post. Guilty as charged!
Great minds 😉
I have a tendency to buy duplicates of clothes in fear that something will happen to the original and I will not be able to buy them later.
I’ve known a lot of people who are a hoarder and seem not contented with just a few pairs of everything. Glad I am not like that. I do buy expensive things at times as a reward for myself for working too hard, but I don’t go extreme with spending on things.
I used to buy things for the sake of buying them because they were on sale. I also thought I needed to buy things in bulk because it would make things easier. When I moved to my apartment in Manhattan I stopped buying things in bulked and realized I was able to lower my monthly expenses. I realized I was the type of person that had to go through items simply because I had them (usually quicker than I should).
When I moved to Palo Alto, CA I got rid of most things and moved into a 700 sq ft apartment with a walk in closet. I ended up needing to fill that closet. When I moved 3 years later I realized I had clothes and shoes I never used. The tags were still on them.
Suffice it to say I’ve changed my habits.