Unhealthy Attachments

[sweetnpetite]

I have such a hard time letting go- even my free yahoo email is full. Does anyone else have this problem? Or a solution????

 

[minsue]

I have moved 3 times in the past 5-6 years. Each time I have lugged the same big boxes. I have no idea what is in them. I have yet to unpack them. Even though I obviously don't need anything in them, I can't part with them.

I have always been a packrat. I can empathize with you for not being able to let go, but I definitely don't have a solution!

- Mindy

 

[minsue]

I forgot to add my solution for e-mail: I have 1 free Yahoo e-mail, 1 free Netscape e-mail, & 2 free Lycos e-mails. Probably not exactly what you were looking for, though!

- Mindy

 

[sweetnpetite]

I have moved 3 times in the past 5-6 years. Each time I have lugged the same big boxes. I have no idea what is in them. I have yet to unpack them. Even though I obviously don't need anything in them, I can't part with them.

I have always been a packrat. I can empathize with you for not being able to let go, but I definitely don't have a solution!

- Mindy

Well I love you for posting anyway!

I was afraid that my first reply would be: If its such a problem, just get rid of it!

Maybe we should form a support group or something. Maybe we should seek counciling

I know I have too much stuff, it's overtaking my house and my life. But still it's so hard to part with anything. You look at the mountain and say, "I can't need all of that" but as you go through bit by bit you say, "I need that because..." or whatever.

I really know I have a problem becuase I dream about my stuff. I dream that I'm moving or something and I've forgotten so much stuff, or I left my stuff behind on a bus and when I go to get it, it just seems to multiply. As if my stuff is infinite. And it really seems like it is.

 

[McKenna]

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[minsue]

Well I love you for posting anyway!

I was afraid that my first reply would be: If its such a problem, just get rid of it!

Maybe we should form a support group or something. Maybe we should seek counciling

I know I have too much stuff, it's overtaking my house and my life. But still it's so hard to part with anything. You look at the mountain and say, "I can't need all of that" but as you go through bit by bit you say, "I need that because..." or whatever.

I really know I have a problem becuase I dream about my stuff. I dream that I'm moving or something and I've forgotten so much stuff, or I left my stuff behind on a bus and when I go to get it, it just seems to multiply. As if my stuff is infinite. And it really seems like it is.

Wow I don't have those dreams, but I do regularly have dreams about the house burning down & neither my husband nor my dog can get out because of all of the stuff in the house. (no latent guilt there or anything )

I don't know about you, but I don't think a support group would help me much. People would talk about how they need help to get rid of useless things & I'd just be there saying, "You know, if you don't want it I could really use that *insert misc. item here* because I only have 3 right now."

- Mindy

 

[sweetnpetite]

Wow I don't have those dreams, but I do regularly have dreams about the house burning down & neither my husband nor my dog can get out because of all of the stuff in the house. (no latent guilt there or anything )

I don't know about you, but I don't think a support group would help me much. People would talk about how they need help to get rid of useless things & I'd just be there saying, "You know, if you don't want it I could really use that *insert misc. item here* because I only have 3 right now."

- Mindy

That is so funny!

We could all trade our stuff, so we'd have just as much, but it'd be new and different. (so that's what swap meets are all about!)

At least we could convince each other that being packrats somehow actually makes us *better* people, and help us to get over our gilt and so forth

I'd say our dreams arent' that much different. I wonder if our support group would also help us sleep better? Could be worth a try

 

[Boxlicker101]

I have such a hard time letting go- even my free yahoo email is full. Does anyone else have this problem? Or a solution????

You can buy more space. I think it costs $45.00 for 100 KB, or something like that. You can buy less, and pay less. Another thing is to clean out the spam.

 

[shereads]

I love getting rid of old clothes, old furniture, etc., but I can't bear to empty out my yahoo mail. You never know when you might need some of those messages from early November.

 

[The_old_man]

No answer for the houshold clutter, but E-mail can be shunted to CD storage.

 

[Guest]

I haven't moved homes in 12 years (this is the longest I've stayed put) but I still have anxiety-ridden dreams about packing to move, always the same - sorting through stuff and knowing I don't have time to do a good job and that I'll lose things but maybe not find out for years until I'm looking for them. There are a few things (a photo of tulips, some clothing items, drawings, books, a purse from 1968) I still ache for losing; I fantasize I will come upon them at a yard sale one day.

No advice, though, just commiserating.

Perdita

 

[sweetnpetite]

I haven't moved homes in 12 years (this is the longest I've stayed put) but I still have anxiety-ridden dreams about packing to move, always the same - sorting through stuff and knowing I don't have time to do a good job and that I'll lose things but maybe not find out for years until I'm looking for them. There are a few things (a photo of tulips, some clothing items, drawings, books, a purse from 1968) I still ache for losing; I fantasize I will come upon them at a yard sale one day.

No advice, though, just commiserating.

Perdita

We both are the same
Commiserating is good
I do feel your pain

--Sweet, suffering from haiku holdover

 

[Boxlicker101]

I love getting rid of old clothes, old furniture, etc., but I can't bear to empty out my yahoo mail. You never know when you might need some of those messages from early November.

If you don't want to buy more storage, you can open another yahoo address and forward some of the old messages to it then delete the originals. If not yahoo, then hotmail, which allows less free space.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

I'm a complete pack rat, still have boxes down in the basement that were packed when i moved out of my college dorm room. No idea what's in them, but I'd fight tooth and nail to keep someone from throwing one away.

Only solution I can offer is win the lottery, then buy a big house with spare rooms where you can hide it

As to email, I save most all of mine that isn't spam to my hard drive. Jut n case I ever need to look at it again. I would say it was a mild obsessive compulsive behavior in my case. No solutions for ya though SnP.

-Colly

 

[dr_mabeuse]

There's that show on cable now where professional organizers come to people's houses to get rid of the clutter. They make the people put everything in the house outside on the lawn and then go through things one by one and make them make a conscious choice about what they're going to keep.

It's terrifying to think of doing that: like some Nazi nightmare.

There's a law I've discovered: whenever you get rid of something, no matter how goofy or useless it is, within a month you'll find that you need it for something.

That's why I have such a happy basement.

---dr.M.

 

[English Lady]

I've seen that programme..or an english version of it...and wow..some of the stuff people kept..i remember one lady who had so many clothes and shoes...and in one of her boots they found a dead mouse!!!!eeek!


I am naturally a hoarder but i am learning to let go of more and more things....its not easy and i don't think i could tell others how to do it but i think that you need a point of realisation. For me it was when my old house was burgled as we were moving and several boxes of my stuff was taken. I've nevr really missed it. That taught me a lesson I think.

 

[McKenna]

.

 

[Boxlicker101]

We are going to be moving next month and are going to have to discard a lot of stuff that has been just taking up space for years. I hate to do it because as soon as we throw something out, we will need it and will have to buy a replacement.

English Lady, I love your AV and I think it has inspired a new story which should be out later this month.

Mack, sometimes I click onto threads just to see your AV.

 

[McKenna]

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[English Lady]

Aww Boxlicker..thankyou so much that is a great compliment!

 

[Svenskaflicka]

I recommend a great book; "Clear the clutter" by Karen Kingston.






Just don't blame me if it makes you throw out half your home.

 

[lewdandlicentious]

Yep!

Re the initial Q by sweetnpetite, yep I have just the solution, but it will be time and file storage size consuming.

Cut and paste messages to a word doc, then colour the text differently for each writer, or, just everyone that isn't you.

I create a different file for everyone I converse regularly with.

It'll empty your inbox, but you'll still have the messages to draw on, when you want to remember that little fact that somebody told you once.

I did it when I first got onto "Friends reunited" the influx of info from so many people at once was overwhelming, I couldn't remember who said what, so I filed it this way.

Eventually you can go back and whittle out the chit-chat if you want to, leaving only the major relevant facts. Or you can download them to floppy or CD when they get too space consuming.

 

[Guest]

When I saw the thread title I thought it was going to be a thread about worms and viruses.

As for other kinds of unhealthy attachments, I've experienced those, too.

Lou

 

[lewdandlicentious]

I wont ask!!!!

 

[shereads]

I haven't moved homes in 12 years (this is the longest I've stayed put) but I still have anxiety-ridden dreams about packing to move, always the same - sorting through stuff and knowing I don't have time to do a good job and that I'll lose things but maybe not find out for years until I'm looking for them. There are a few things (a photo of tulips, some clothing items, drawings, books, a purse from 1968) I still ache for losing; I fantasize I will come upon them at a yard sale one day.

I've moved often, so I tend to get carried away with preparing to travel light. I'm constantly getting rid of extra stuff, and it's backfired once or twice. I had a weekend to help my mom get rid of some things in her basement before she moved, tons of toys and dolls that had been mine and my sister's, and it was such an emotional time coming as it did a few months after my dad's death that I didn't have the presence of mind to keep any of my childhood things. Didn't want or need any more sentiment, or so I thought....Not that it's a bad thing to party with your Betsy McCall dolls, but don't watch Antique Roadshow on TV and learn that the two of them were each worth upwards of $2,000.

I learned too late that all those stuffed animals and beloved dolls that I donated to the Salvation Army would end up in the hands of collectors, who will pay for even broken parts of certain toys. The Kewpie doll. The Mickey Mouse rubber squeaky doll.

Actually, if you have ever thrown away anything old, it's a good idea to stay away from Antique Roadshow.

We have a Roy Rogers Ranch set with tin ranch house that belonged to my sister and me when we were kids, and my nephew loved it when he was little. He chewed the legs off of some of the cowboys and horses, and I thought that was cute until I found out what the set would have been worth intact.

MG: You won't be officially old until your childhood toys show up on Antiques Roadshow.