From a comment I made elsewhere...

[moominmuppet]

I'm a proud packrat. I keep it as a community resource -- stuff gets added and removed from the collection constantly.

My favorite story of the unexpected benefits of my hoarding? In college, Alan came into the dorm room freaking out about an art project he'd procrastinated 'til the afternoon it was due. And he needed a foot or so diameter round of wood for it. Where the fuck was he going to find that?

Oh. In my basement. Because a few years ago, someone had done an installation piece with slices of tree trunk, and I'd ended up collecting one of them after it was disassembled.

And I knew I had it, and where to find it, too.

Go, packrats!

Comments

[redbird]

It's the willingness to say "here, I have this, enjoy" that sets you apart from hoarders, I think.

[moominmuppet.livejournal.com]

I love being able to do that, and I also love the experience of sorting through boxes every few years, and being deluged with memories. Tangible items are huge memory triggers for me.

[calialleykat.livejournal.com]

I have a box of photographs/yearbooks and baby stuff that I haul out and go through periodically and I love that sort of melancholy lavender feeling I get looking back through the years.