My two cents worth on......

Hoarding.... As in collecting items which other people might view as useless or junk but which you regard as useful and necessary and can't bear to part with.

I have been watching a tv programme on satellite tv which is on every day and find it absolutely amazing and surreal how people get trapped in this cycle of collecting material items and burying themselves in these items. Even the messiest and untidiest of us would feel a lot better about our homes and our lives after watching a few of these episodes.

However, each and every one of us has a couple of boxes of clutter and disorganisation which we don't need and can't get rid of. This is a common human condition which some people have taken to the extreme, almost associating inanimate objects with human status.

I am prepared to admit that I have a little bit of the hoarder which wars with the organiser in me that has no problem throwing things away. I will hold onto items in the hope that they will be used and eventually will get the heck in with keeping that particular item or a lot of items and chuck, chuck, chuck. I usually take advantage of the chucking mood and clean out a few different areas. I am sometimes sorry afterwards but once it is fait accompli there's no bringing an item back.

Okay so here are my collecting areas. I have a LARGE box of baby clothes including receiving blankets (which are like gold to me). These are being kept for my grandchildren. I will not give those away. Then there are Brad's last toys before he stopped playing with them. I cant just give them away because they are still good and there are still children in the family. My linen cupboard. I have a lot of little cloths and items which my mother has thrown out. I have been keeping these for a long time in case they become useful. Ditto my crockery cupboard. Ditto my clothes cupboard. I had quite a bit of paper stationery, book covers and the like, before my cat took the decision out of my hands and pee'd on everything, necessitating the big chuck out of that. Now by no means do I have anything like the problem you would see on the programme Hoarders but We All Do It. I think if we are honest with ourselves, we are afraid that once we thin out everything we don't use we will be afraid at how little of our many items we actually use regularly!

Just remember, material clutter makes our minds cluttered and the new years resolution of many of us is to thin out our collected clutter. And maybe our lives will be able to function in a more organised and calm manner too.

So be honest, what have you been collecting or holding on to for many years that is of no use to you and not used by you at all. You just feel that it is or could be useful in the future.