Hoarder Reasons

I'm not really that much of a hoarder any more, but I used to be.

Don't worry, I'm not even close to needing the inspection police to be called on me NOR to be showcased on the tv show, Hoarders.  lol

But I do tend to over-buy on certain things.

I have a tone of the same hair cream/mousse, a small army of those small bottles of baby powder, a whole drawer filled with the same style socks, a whole row of the same hair clips, several of the same types of slippers, numerous styles of a certain sweater (just dif colors), boatloads of my favorite flavor of tictacs, half dozen boxes of the same chili mix, etc.

I wondered the other day, WHY?  Why am I like this?

It all bowls down to three instances in my life.

When I was a child (yep, a child story), I recall vividly going to the BX (that was the grocery store for people of military families), and my Mom put about 20 boxes of Kraft mac and cheese into the cart.

I asked her in my child, loud, inquisitive voice, "Mom, what are you doing, why are we getting so many?"  And she grabbed my arm and told me to "SHHHHhhhh!"  I embarrassed her.  I didn't realize at the time because of the impending divorce, we would never be able to buy cheap mac and cheese again.  She looked around the aisle at the other wives/mothers and was so embarrassed I asked such a question.

Then in my lower 20s, I had these pair of sandals that I loved.  One of the few pairs of sandals that didn't give me blisters.  And they were cute too!  People I didn't know would literally stop me in stores to talk about my sandals.

Well, after a couple of years the strap broke and I went to buy another pair of the same sandals at the same store.

WHAT?  I had no idea that eventually the brand would stop making them.  I was very naive.  I was also very shocked.  I LOVED those sandals.

And I have yet, to this day, found a pair of sandals that do not give my blisters or fit perfect or look as adorable.

The third effect on my hoarding has to do with kitty litter.

One day while at Sam'sClub (bulk store), they ran out of my normal cat litter and so I grabbed a different that was only available.  It was made by Sam'sClub/Walmart actually, Members Mark.  Well shit (pardon the pun) if it didn't turn out to be THE best cat litter I had ever bought in my life!  You couldn't smell the litter or the cat droppings.  It clumped well and had a decent smell to it, all the while you could not even smell/tell I had a cat in the house.  It was truly the best cat litter I had ever bought and I had tried many dif kinds.

So one day Sam's is out of the litter.  Being the person I am, I go to another Sam's.  They have it; I bought 2.

A few months later, go to that Sam's.  They are out now.  WTF...

You can see where this is going....  THEY DISCONTINUED MAKING IT.

OMG... I called other Sam's stores to see who had any left in stock (none anymore).  I also called and wrote emails to Sam's to beg them to bring it back.  No such luck.

So, those instances have led me to actually be very afraid of things going away, discontinued, no longer available... so it makes me hoard things I adore and/or think I could never live without again. Tough habit to break, actually, lol.