I mentioned to Daughter last week that I planned to attack the house before it attacks me.
"I want to sort and box up my collections," I began, but didn't get far.
"Mom, you aren't a collector. You're a hoarder."
Uh, well, no I'm not. I can still walk from one room to the next without falling over stacks of stuff, and the things I 'collect' are useful and used. Plus, there are no dead bodies under piles of clothes (unless you count spiders, maybe), and I don't collect cats or dogs or any other animal (unless you count spiders and crickets, which come in uninvited; I do not collect or hoard them.)
I have almost 300 books, on various subjects and lots of fiction, but they are neatly put away on bookshelves or in boxes in the attic. (Where there are many, too many silverfish, but I don't collect them, either.)
Many of my belongings, that are not in boxes, collect dust, but that's on them. I don't collect dust. For one thing, I don't sit still in one place long enough to collect dust.
I do have a plastic bin for junk mail, although I wouldn't call that a collection, either. When the junk reaches the top, I put it out in the trash. The bin might be a little overdue for dumping - okay, maybe a LOT overdue - but I'll take care of that this evening.
When I cleaned the downstairs powder room (where do we get the names for these things?), I discovered I own five hairbrushes, so one could argue they are a collection. Maybe that many brushes, when I haven't much hair to brush right now, constitutes a hoard, but I threw three of them out. Besides, I didn't know I had that many brushes, so that didn't count.
One thing I do collect - not hoard, mind you, just collect - is rocks and odd shells and other natural objects. I have a few jars and boxes of them, enough to fill an overnight bag, perhaps. Not a Pullman case, though.
When I tried to tell Daughter that my various collections do not mean I'm a hoarder, she asked me if I thought I would have all my beads, buttons and other jewelry making supplies off the dining room table in time for Thanksgiving, or were we going to have to use TV trays?
We can't use the TV trays, I said.
"Why not?"
All my paints, brushes and canvases are on them right now.
(Pic above is a small representation of my natural objects collections, found under all the other stuff when I cleared off my desk this afternoon. I found the container under the kitchen sink. Rather, it found my foot when I opened the cabinet door and it fell out, followed by a landslide of cleaning supplies...which I also do not collect. Or use all that frequently, either, it would seem. )
8 comments:
There is a fine line between collecting and hoarding, but a lot of people in houses are simply procrastinating.
I wish you continued progress blowing out the dust and various hangers-on.
Tell you what, what you do hoard is your posts. I'll swear I checked your site 24 hours ago and there was nothing new. Now there's an avalanche. Books in boxes? Nah! In effect, if you can't read the spines you haven't got them. But there is an upside. You're unlikely to suffer the true book hoarder's death when the overloaded shelves break and you're crushed to jelly (Heh, heh; if you were a Brit it would be jam) by your love children. I mean it's OK being done down by a George Eliot, less so if it were a Hank Jansen. Remember him?
Try a used book seller when you cull the books -- and I agree with BB, if they're in boxes you might as well not have them. The last time I culled and went to a used book seller even in this economy I ended up going home with $90.
I never miss the books I cull. The ones I miss are those I lend out to friends and forget who I lent them too.
I prefer the less judgmental word "completist" to "hoarder" and the like.
Say, having read that you like shells,
I would like to send you a small one I picked up on the seashore at the end of walking the Camino de Santiago--the scallop shell is a symbol of pilgrimage-- but I wonder if you'd rather NOT receive new things?
Say the word and I'll pop it in the mail.
With me it's rucksacks. I daren't say how many I have. The last two have proved surprisingly satisfactory, one for heavy backpacking, and one as a day sack, and I thought these may finalise my collection (or hoard) for a while, but within the last week I bought a Deuter Kid Comfort 2 which is a kind of rucksack designed for carrying infants - this is for Katie my three week old, first granddaughter; it is by far the most expensive rucksack I ever bought.
In my opinion, you can never have too many rocks.
This season, I'm on a mission to increase the number of flat surfaces on which I can pile my valuable stuff. Wait. A stack of books makes a flat surface. This could be useful.
All: thank you for your comments.
Z: I am a first-rate procrastinator, to be sure.
BB: I would have all my books out if I had enough bookshelf space for them. I never heard of Hank Jansen, or is that the point?
Anne: I did cull my books. The 300-plus are the ones I could not part with.
Fresca: I would be thrilled and honored to have your shell. Would you write your name and the location you found it inside?
Sir Hugh: your rucksack collection will only increase, because you will have to acquire different ones as Katie grows. Possibly one for her baby stuff, too.
Maria: I agree wholeheartedly with that opinion!
Jim: if arranged just so, one could use stacks of books as a bed frame. With built-in storage compartments and scads of flat surfaces, even.
Post a Comment