Previously sent in to the helpinghoarders.com site to help others understand, via an anonymous feedback form.

Quote:

1. I hold on to things because someone else in the family always seems to need something, so if they come to me, I will have it for them. Also, I plan to use all my things someday and want to keep them until I'm ready to use them. 2. My mother, who went through the Depression, never got rid of anything and I feel like I think the same way she did, I don't want to be wasteful and I want to be prepared for an emergency. 3. I don't keep trash or garbage or anything that isn't clean-I just like to save things that could be used for something else and are too good to get rid of. I am very creative and can find a lot of uses for things that others can't. I feel like I am being resourceful, but the truth is that I have so many things I can see realistically, I will not be able to get around to using all of them. I do know this, it's just hard to let go of the things that are still good and can be used for something else. I often think that I still might get around to using them, so I better keep things, "just in case." 4. I had a mom who was always after me to clean and throw things away. She gave many of my things away without my knowledge. Now, I hold on to materials to help me make my lessons more interesting at school. I taught gifted ed for years with a very low budget and learned to use other teacher's dicarded items as curriculum. Now I have many containers filled with files and there is no way I will ever use them all, but I have no way of prioritizing how to get rid of stuff and little time to attack such a massive job. I live alone and would love to have help, but no one is studpid enough to give me the enormous amount of time it would take to get through all of this great learning material. I I think I feel guilty about throwing it away without giving it a chance to make a lesson more interesting. Is it guilt.

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The reasons I save(d):

-- overlyprotective/perfectionist parents who were overly focused on stewardship of "things", for example I had a lot of toys that I never played with because they were "too good to use": nurture/training

-- parents were raised during the Depression with very little, everything was used until it either fell apart or was used up, mom still uses threadbare towels when she has a whole cabinet full of brand new nice towels..she is close to 80 and one would think she should enjoy her new towels while she still can: nurture/training

-- fear of needing something "someday", fear of making a mistake and throwing something out, not being able to make a decision: perfectionism

-- to pad myself with belongings so that I was protected from the world: low self confidence

-- diversion from a traumatic life event, if I had the things to focus on it kept me busy and I didn't have to deal with other problems: avoidance, "retail therapy"

-- rebelling against controlled upbringing, now that I am an adult, I can do what I want: demand resistance

-- lack of routines, skills because mom did almost everything growing up or if I did do something it frequently was not good enough so I gave up trying: nurture