why do we hoard?

Why do we have this hoarding mentality? Old clothes be it shirts, trousers, skirts, woollens or even sarees carefully wrapped up in tissues and mothballs. The old clothes might ill fit you or have faded but still they are kept for later on alterations. Even shoes, watches, lamps, cordless phones, crockery are all stored in the hope of some appropriate action after which they can be used. We keep the books, journals & magazines nicely arranged in shelves gathering dust and silverfish. Newspapers are kept for the "raddiwala". Over the years lots of stuff is kept in the hope that one day the propitious time will come when it will be of use and we can feel proud of ourselves for having preserved it for so long and having made the judicious choice.

But the trend shows otherwise since the fortunate moment never comes and we simply generate clutter in an organized manner probably to be passed as heirs to the rightful next generation. No wonder during Diwali cleaning we find the house half submerged in decades of clutter.

What's the wisdom in hanging on to old stuff? And why do we keep clutter nicely packed for years on?

Lavanya...did you had to clean all the things this week?? Were you upset about it? 😆 😛

Ok, on serious note, I remember my grandmother trying to preserve everything and using the minimal things. I used to ask her then and obseve and I come to a conclusion that she was broughtup with such minimal things that she wanted to preserve all utensils, clothes, jewerly etc. for time when family is in trouble and they need money. Like how we have bank right now in old days people who need emergency money used to sell their silver or other utensils or sometimes jewerly to take out that expense. Clothes were passed on to daughter in law or daughter in marriage as there were not much money to buy new one. The whole mentality was very different than what you or me live. My mother observed her MIL and her mother and accepted some of these things and save for some reason that might be not helpful today. But I think most of the time it is just a habit for newer generation. Like I have my sarees from wedding that I keep in cloth and keep it aside as I don't want the "zari" to be black or they are petty expensive sarees which I only use during some occasion so better to keep it safe and wrapped.
Examples you gave for radiwala show about "saving" mentality in our culture. To be frank when i came to US i consider them as "spenders" where as in India till now the whole culture has been of "savers"...
I think it's like peny saved is peny earned kind of belief.

btw, my daughter has got some genes from my grandma and mom may be...😆 She gets all scribbled drawings from her preschool (atelast 10 each day), stones, leaves, dirt etc. and they are her treasures ..if she is around and i try to clean that and throw away there would be big hungama in the house 😆... so sometimes it also depends upon individual.

Originally posted by: abhijit shukla

Our crap is 'stuff'; other people's stuff is 'crap'

😆 👏 I like this one.

Haah!!

It depends on the person,all will not save their old articles.I save somany things thinking that they will be useful one fine day.I saved my notes,I saved my geometry boxes,First dress bought to me by brothers.....What is important to me is crap to my brothers so I hide my things from them.

My mom saves all old things and if my brothers want to dump them ,she will emotionally blackmail them by saying "You people will dump us also after we become old" then again my brothers replace the things to bring things to normal.

OLD IS GOLD

Cheers,

Mythili

Why we hoard...hmmmm I think it is because we are attached to stuff and the memories...

When I moved to my new house 2 years ago, I was appalled at the stuff I had accumulated!!!! I was so nauseus looking at things, way too much kitchen stuff, too many clothes , shoes, books to pack that I vowed I will not buy ANYTHING for at least a year. That lasted 6 months!!!
I consider myself minimalist and not too materialstic so will not buy something unless I really need to but do I really need that 6th pair of black shoes or pants!!!! Sure I have used retail therapy now and then and that is the main problem.. We have too much stuff then we need. 😕

Good topic... Reminder to self to clean out whatever I haven't used in a year.

very true!! we tend to save a lot of things!! I have notes and poems from fifth grade...let me just tell you, i am well past fifth grade right now 😉

the thing for me is i know they're not useful...i save them because of the sweet memories...wouldn't it be nice to look back at the old notebooks and see the scribbles written when we're falling asleep in class...notes passed from one friend to another...that's my reason for books!

now clothes there's absolutely no reason in saving them..so i don't...we give them to teh salvation army 😛

Originally posted by: abhijit shukla

I have hoarded 57 books that preach non-possession (aparigraha).

That's a classic !!!!! 😆😆😆

Originally posted by: abhijit shukla

I have hoarded 57 books that preach non-possession (aparigraha).

Wahah Janab, Lajawab hai Aap! 👏 😆 😆 .
Thats so funny!Nowadays your remarks are pretty funny. Seems your funny bone is very active 😉 .

Originally posted by: sowmyaa

Lavanya...did you had to clean all the things this week?? Were you upset about it? 😆 😛

Arre nahi it wasn't the work but the hesitation by My Mom and Dad who have hoarded so much stuff and are unwilling to separate from them.

Your views were wonderful 😛

We hoard because we feel that the things are too good to throw away...Last year when we moved from Mumbai to Abu Dhabi I managed to clear my house of things that had been accumulated for a decade...and I could do it easily coz luckily for me my work place was having a yearly donation drive for some old age homes and foster homes...
I felt so nice to give away toys..books, clothes...knowing very well that they would be put to good use..