Are you a hoarder or a minimalist?

[TickTock]

Is your home like a burrow where you have hoarded this and that or do you tend to have regular or mass clearouts? Only two options in the poll, best fit if you are indecisive.

Personally Im a bit of a hoarder but I am trying to be a bit more minimalist. The worst offender is paper. I write things down and can't seem to throw them out, even though I often don't go back to it unless Im having a clearout, at which point I decide it's too good to throw away.

 

[BlackCat]

Minimalist.

 

[Lux]

I do keep a few very special items, but over all I tend to only keep what I need.

 

[cascadeco]

I used to hold onto more things, mostly because I was raised in a very knick-knacky/hoarding environment, and I therefore had a guilt-response whenever I thought of getting rid of things. What if I might need it down the line? Or, 'Oh, my mom gave that to me 18 years ago, and even though I don't really like it anymore, or want it, I feel bad about getting rid of it.....' It's like I was raised to be a person who would want to accumulate, and keep accumulate random things, but it wasn't really in my nature.

A few moves/relocations really brought things into context, though, and for several years random clutter/stuff has really **annoyed** me. So I went through a couple of little purges over the years, and since then I've kept things stable. I don't want anything more, and if I feel the desire to buy something new, I then want to discard something older - just give it up for donation. I don't want any net increase in stuff.

 

[poppy]

I used to hold onto more things, mostly because I was raised in a very knick-knacky/hoarding environment, and I therefore had a guilt-response whenever I thought of getting rid of things. What if I might need it down the line? Or, 'Oh, my mom gave that to me 18 years ago, and even though I don't really like it anymore, or want it, I feel bad about getting rid of it.....' It's like I was raised to be a person who would want to accumulate, and keep accumulate random things, but it wasn't really in my nature.

A few moves/relocations really brought things into context, though, and for several years random clutter/stuff has really **annoyed** me. So I went through a couple of little purges over the years, and since then I've kept things stable. I don't want anything more, and if I feel the desire to buy something new, I then want to discard something older - just give it up for donation. I don't want any net increase in stuff.

Thanks for writing this, it's exactly my story as well!

 

[JTG1984]

Everytime I move or get something new I normally give away or throw away my old stuff. This happens very frequently, so I normally dont accumulate a lot of junk. I watch that show Hoarders every once in awhile and after that show I end up throwing out more of my stuff. So to answer your question yes I am a minimalist.

 

[Phantonym]

I'm going to vote hoarder. I have loads of useful stuff stored/buried in my humongous kitchen cabinets and in my wardrobe because I like to buy things in bulk. But only the things I know I need and I have no problems with getting rid of stuff. So, everything is stuffed away but my interior design is minimalistic. No need for burrowing.

 

[tinkerbell]

I'm actually a bit of both....

I keep hold of things, then maybe 2-3 time a year I go on a mad chuck out. I've also done a few get shot of it if you've not used it for a year type things.

I find I really hoard clothes, which is fine if they can be worn at a later point, but sometimes I keep them all the same...

That said, I also tend to buy new cloths but wear the old ones, and then about a year later wear the new ones, it's almost like I have a delay button with some new stuff.

 

[Thalassa]

I chose hoarder simply because I have this "pack rat" problem of not wanting to throw away old notebooks and papers from previous school semesters. I have serious issues with throwing things away, and when I finally do get around to going through old clothes and such I like to try to donate them somewhere instead of just getting rid of them.

The thing is, though, I need a lot of open space in my apartment so in that regard I may seem more "minimalist." I'm not someone who has a great deal of furniture or equipment, etc.

 

[Charmed Justice]

I'm a minimalist when it comes to material things. Used to hoard "things" that I neither wanted nor needed, but I would keep items to avoid hurting the giver. I've moved a lot in the past 10 years, so I've slowly shed things along the way. I seriously downsized the Summer after moving into the house that I really wanted. So, I think I've always been a material minimalist at heart, just too guilt stricken to throw things away people would give me.

On the other hand, I'm extremely sentimental. I've happily and intentionally kept every letter or little whatever given to me by friends of mine throughout my life. I've got the promise string that a friend of mine tied around my finger in 2nd grade. I've got a little bag of SweetHearts given to me by my 8th grade crush. Little doodles that friends of mine used to pass around when we were bored in classes, I've still got. Necklaces and friendship bracelets that are about 20 years old, I've still got.:yim_rolling_on_the_And letters. Boxes and boxes of letters from the time my friends and I could write to each other. Printed emails from the years when the word "email" was just entering common vocabulary, got em. All of my books and notebooks from school, dating from kindergarten and going through college are in my garage. I hoard things that tie my emotional life together. I keep things that remind me of my life's journey.

 

[Kyrielle]

I'm somewhere in the middle, leaning towards a hoarder. I hang on to things, but whenever I have to move or feel like reorganizing my room (rare though that is), I usually feel really good about tossing out a lot of the crap I don't use anymore.

I definitely don't mind clutter to some degree, and a location doesn't feel right without a little bit of clutter. So, I don't think I could ever be a minimalist. But I DO like to have some particular surfaces and area completely clear of debris. And I do like it when I organize "stuff I don't use often".

And also, some rooms cause me to take a more minimalist approach than other rooms:

Kitchen: Minimalist
Bathroom: Minimalist
Bedroom: Hoarder
Living Area: Hoarder

 

[Quinlan]

I'm a minimalist but have a strange compulsive habit of keeping shoeboxes under my bed (luckily I don't buy a lot of shoes).

I never use them for anything but have this irrational need to keep them and when I do a big move I then regretfully throw them out.

 

[sLiPpY]

I routinely move things on I haven't used in six months, and about once every three months go through everything to decide if it's something I want and/or need.

I read somewhere that most ISTP's love to throw stuff away. That's definately true of me...but items I consider still of use and benefit to someone I give away and/or donate.

 

[Southern Kross]

I have a serious hoarding problem. I have trouble throwing anything out. And its not like I'm buying lots of crap, it just somehow accumulates. I have this little voice in the back of my head that says, "you might need this one day", and I tend to listen to it.

 

[Nonsensical]

I'm a clutter King. I have so much stuff strewn about it's not funny.

I wish I was a Minimalist...life would be so much easier.

 

[Halla74]

I'm a very well organized hoarder.
Nothing I own is less than $10 in value.
I know where everything is.
I put all my stuff to use as time moves forward.
I am not emotionally attached to any of my stuff and donate it as I need to make space.
I also am very liberal in sharing my hoarded items of value with others, to spare them time and expense.

 

[Kingfisher]

i used to be an extreme minimalist. for most of my life everything i owned easily fit into a duffel bag, or into saddlebags on my motorcycle. i mean, i would have a bed in my apartment and other furniture, but when i moved i always left it behind if i couldn't carry it.

now i aquire. i have tons of stuff. my house has stuff everywhere. it is literaly covering the walls and hanging from the ceiling.
i have a very laissez-faire attitude towards my stuff though, i lend things and give things away right and left. material things have a way of slipping through my fingers - i have a knack for aquiring things very cheaply and easily, and let them go just as easily. the stuff in my house is in constant flux - i get new stuff, give stuff away. what's mine is yours.

i also love to get things for other people. i am good at it, if someone i know needs a certain something, i am good at finding it.
but i enjoy the thrill of finding things. i dislike buying things.

Nothing I own is less than $10 in value.

this got me to thinking... i realized i have lots of stuff that i found - things i picked up off the street, etc.

 

[Southern Kross]

I'm a clutter King. I have so much stuff strewn about it's not funny.

I wish I was a Minimalist...life would be so much easier.

Hell yes. Its too stressful to have a house full of crap.

 

[King sns]

I'm a minimalist at heart.
Usually I get pretty messy because i'm too lazy to drop things off at the dump or goodwill. Though, I have absolutely no qualms about getting rid of things.
In college usually before I moved home every summer I'd throw half my junk in the hallway and go with a lighter load.

 

[Ingrid in grids]

Total minimalist here. I always get brought along as the voice of reason when shopping...