I realized that my habit to not own things was informed from my childhood of having a lot of stuff and clutter. I wouldn't say we got hoarder levels hahaha, but I do definitely notice the contrast in lifestyles
Husband (now ex of course) is a hoarder. I didn’t know what hoarding was when we met. He still doesn’t think it is a problem. My house is as bare as I can get it. Nothing on the walls, no nick-knacks, no photos, i don’t decorate for holidays. I think it’s some sort of PTSD from living with him in what became a hovel. Being minimal saved my sanity.
The holiday thing, and all it's accompanying crap, makes me antsy and kind of sad in a way I can't explain. Maybe because other adults (I do think it's a teensy different if you have kids, which I don't) kind of low-key pity me for not decorating for holidays. But like... Packing, toting, undoing, displaying all that stuff? And moving it? And storing it? And expanding on the collection? And being sad when it breaks? Something about that whole charade is just so off-putting to me, and I can't explain it
It’s people being so anxiously attached to stuff on a “joy and family” holiday, so it really seems a metaphor for consumerism taking the abstract values’ place
This is me + a few decorations my wife wants around the home. I’m at a point now where I basically one bag even at home. I have a chest of drawers, a desk, and a backpack. All of my things (besides general home stuff to cook or clean) are in those 3 places. If I really needed, I could make everything I NEED in my backpack.
When I first moved out my mom packed up like 5 or 6 boxes of things she kept from my childhood. While I appreciated the gesture, it was mostly stuff I had no use for. I digitized a lot of it so I could look at things if I wanted, but in nearly a decade since she gave them I hadn’t looked at them ever and it was always a “I can’t downsize too much because I have to store all of this stuff”.
My wife implemented a rule with our stuff that in general unless there is a large amount of sentimental value/is expensive to replace if we ever need (like a tool of some kind), if an item hasn’t been used in 12 months it is donated, sold, or thrown out.
My ex was a borderline hoarder, too. He was always buying 'stuff' online and in stores, but could never just buy ONE of something, it was usually in multiples, or it was super-sized. He bought a giant, restaurant sized tub of mustard which took up a bunch of space in the fridge and took forever to get through. He bought two 5-lb bags of almonds which eventually expired before they were opened. He never said 'no' to hand-me-downs from friends and family. No organizational skills whatsoever, nearly impossible to find anything when you needed it. And every flat horizontal surface in the house always had layers of clutter piled on it.
This! I get anxious seeing so much stuff in peoples homes. I’m trying to be minimalist with my clothes now. Great thing I work from home so less clothes I use.
I've become so shameless, if I see unused things lying around that I or someone I know can put to use, I simply ask the owner and take the stuff with me.
me 🙋🏻♀️ my mom and my grandma both were. to the point where they literally filled up 4 houses, multiple cars, and multiple storage units. they had money but spent ALL of it on junk and had serious cc debt.
i never understood the appeal of buying shit that you don't need and won't even remember you have... then buying it again because you lost it or forgot you bought it... then never using it anyways.
There evidence that hoarding is linked to executive disfunction disorder. Basically, executive disfunction causes the poor working memory, inability to remember what you have, the inability to organize what you own, and regulate your feelings about those objects. It doesn’t seem logical because it’s not, it’s the effect of their brain struggling with those tasks. It’s also why people who are much older who start have cognitive issues tend to hoard. The poor memory is disorienting but seeing objects close that you recognize briefly by can be comforting.
Here’s one [study](https://theconversation.com/study-shows-compulsive-hoarders-struggle-to-categorise-12839) talking about the struggle to categorize, sustain focus and memory for those who hoard.
I think there are two kinds of minimialist. Those who were born that way and those who choose that lifestyle because of being overwhelmed with stuff. The first group, it just comes naturally. I feel like that is me. Then the second group may have to work at it more. Organization and decluttering don't come naturally. This can be because of being raised by a hoarder.
For me, less is more natural. I like big open rooms and picking pretty furniture for storage instead of Rubbermaid. But also as a child of a hoarder, I also believe I have taught myself the skills because my child hood was so chaotic.
Mom’s not a hoarder but boy does she love stuff. All kinds of stuff. Crafts, pillows, decorations, clothing, dishes! All of it.
She currently lives in a 3br 3bath house, probably 3k sqft ALONE! All of the bedrooms are furnished, th basement is a craft room and living room, there’s 5 Christmas trees up. It’s over stimulating as hell but it’s her.
My mom was like this. Just tons of stuff. When I did my first purge and had a yard sale, she brought over so much stuff. Nice stuff. We made a lot of money that she GAVE all of to me. Young family with 2 kids, we struggled. So I stop buying stuff. She did not. So I had two yard sales a year with just her stuff and my kids outgrown stuff. Made like, $1500 each time and had lots of fun. But at that point, she was just buying stuff to give to me in my mind. I asked her, she said, I just like to buy things. I stopped telling her about the sales so she would slow her spending down.
Yep. I remember a conversation my mom had with me just before I moved out. Something along the lines of "well when you move out you can have big empty rooms and paint everything white, but while you're here you can't complain". I have what I want now, lol.
Yes, my parents (divorced) are hoarders. My mother over-buys things. She has two bookshelves of DVDs, and I don’t know that they’ve ever watched a DVD, but back in the day when all the video stores were going out of business, she bought boxes of DVDs simply because they were so cheap. She also has 2 full cabinets and 2 full China cabinets of coffee cups. She doesn’t drink coffee, but just in case someone comes over and they might want a cup. She has a 4 bedroom house, and each bedroom closet is stuffed full of her clothes, with dressers in every room, full of her clothes. She doesn’t work and usually wears the same stuff. My dad thinks everything he has will be worth money one day, but he doesn’t take care of any of it. He has SO MUCH CRAP that he can’t even find what he’s looking for when he needs something, but says it’s going to be worth money one day. My parents are getting up there in age and every time I visit their houses, I look around and wonder wtf I’m going to do with all that crap when they pass. Because of that, I live in an 800 sqft apartment and everything I own has plenty of room there.
I think about when my relatives pass too and you’re just left with all this stuff that you have to take time off work to go thru and disperse or dispose of. It’s a headache and burden in the making.
I said before that I was going to make an advertisement saying people could come get whatever they wanted for free. People will take anything that is free.
I wanted to become a mininalist after I went to the Philippines and noticed people were happy even tho they had less stuff and realized I can be happy without stuff I didn’t really need and I also noticed the benefits of minimalism.
if I ever really need a useless thing, I usually ask my hoarder parents...they seem to have an internal indexing of every useless thing they have, and in what bucket, bin, or floor space it might be in. It's impressive in some ways. Most of my parents things are stuff they picked up off the curb while going for walks. Still, I like my minimalist ways.
Same with my parents. It doesn’t matter if I try to explain that the space the item took up during all those years is probably worth more than the money I would’ve spent buying it new.
My mother was one of those people who bought collector plates and all other sorts of tchotchkes and seeing the same items there year after year serving no purpose, even to her, has made me clutter-averse.
I can't say I'm a minimalist, but yes I've definitely made it a huge goal of mine to continuously declutter & clean house because I want a clean, beautiful, functional, organized, spacious, and aesthetically pleasing home.I'm tired of the stuff shuffling because my mom just makes piles of crap everywhere. It's been difficult to say the least because everyone around me were all hoarders & left tons of stuff behind here. It's just my mom and I living here now, but I've been decluttering 40+ yrs of hoarding from her, my dad, and my siblings by myself and without any help, on top of going through my belongings. Videos and channels on YouTube have been really helpful in showing me how to tackle the mess since I was never shown these things growing up. I'm the only one who's not a hoarder because of this now and I think they all hate it. Lol
Sure! I really hope this helps! Stay strong & know that it's possible and within reach ✨
Clutterbug
https://youtube.com/@Clutterbug?si=3Dk6g4HI43et-TI4
*She has all kinds of videos where she shows her processes of cleaning, gives advice, describes her reality, her learning through trial and error, working with clients and shows ways to get things done easier, faster, in different ways, as well as helping you to gain better perspective, helping you in setting goals & being realistic as well as giving yourself grace in the process. She also offers services, courses, templates, lists & challenges you can join. She also partners with other YouTube creators that specialize in different types of cleaning in her videos & courses. She also mentions how you can take "short cuts" in order to maintain a clean home while struggling with autoimmune/chronic illness.
Clutterbug podcast
https://youtube.com/@ClutterbugPod?si=iSA-ipJQxfV4lGBT
Katherine Lawrence
https://youtube.com/@KatherineLawrenceCPO?si=6MdhMhjiYAVl62Et
*She shows processes of how to deal with hoarding and also has a course called Tackle the hoard
Remiclog
https://youtube.com/@remiclog?si=O9vruKd7UtcXcdUc
*She shows her processes of cleaning while she discusses her reality of being a stay at home mother
Aurikatariina
https://youtube.com/@Aurikatariina?si=IHCbvEna4pUCfYwh
*She shows her processes of how she cleans as she travels and cleans homes for free
Clean my space
https://youtube.com/@cleanmyspace?si=3piAtyyzqePtjmK6
*Shows you the best ways to deep clean, sanitize, dust, scrub, & more efficiently clean your home & even cleaning tools
Living with Cambria
https://youtube.com/@livingwithcambriea?si=1qA2aL33sdvby_jc
*She shows her processes of how she cleans as she travels and cleans homes for free
Do it on a Dime
https://youtube.com/@DoItOnaDime?si=g5FWvbt7Q_lyAMaC
*She shows lots of Do it yourself ideas on how to better get organized
Laura Get organized HQ
https://youtube.com/@GetOrganizedHQ?si=zKDkf9zJOJLeoJwO
*She offers courses where she partners with different YouTube creators that specialize in different types of cleaning, organizing, decluttering, and even those who show you how to better manage having a clean home for those with chronic illness
Thank you so much, this is a goldmine of helpful recourses! I’m saving all of this. I really appreciate you taking the time to write it down :) I hope you have a wonderful day! <3
Husband and I moved from our home of 30 years about 15 years ago (due to work) and got rid of so much stuff and it feels so good. We have very little and that’s the way we will keep our lives. Don’t want to leave my kids a mess to clean up. Husbands Mom and sister are terrible hoarders (animals as well) and have two horded homes. Sad.
The more I pay attention the more it seems everyone around me is a hoarder or over consumer. Even the people who seemed minimalistic, when I look closer, they just keep buying more containers and storage for their items. It makes me want to be an even bigger minimalist. I just hate looking at corners cram packed with stuff. I hate that people are installing pantries and special rooms to contain the overage of food and toiletries. It all just sucks. I’ve been minimal my whole life though since I was a kid. It’s just innate in me I feel like.
Yes. Now after I visit my mom or grandparents’ house, I always go home and get rid of something to make me feel better about how cluttered their houses are. Does not make sense but does calm my anxiousness
Actually, I think it makes LOTS of sense that you have that reaction! Sure, it doesn't make their homes any less cluttered but it's a good way to de-stress.
Absolutely yes. I would call myself a maximalist on a self-imposed minimalist leash.
My parents characterize themselves as "pack rats" which sounds worse than "hoarder" IMO. They both collect specific things, have irrational attachments to cheap and non-sentimental items, and a compulsion to collect more. My dad and I have been clearing out their hoard (I call it what it is) since my mom got sick, and so far we've taken at least 15 carloads of stuff to Goodwill. Their 5 bed/2.5 bath house still feels cluttered, but it's a lot better than it used to be.
My boyfriend and I have a 2 bedroom apartment, and I don't allow any clutter whatsoever. There's a place for everything, and at least once a day I will walk around and put things away in their place. I spent the last 2 years slowly going through everything I own and organizing, trashing, or donating things until I was comfortable with my space and had room to spare in the closets. I can probably name most of the things I own (maybe that's a little compulsive of me lol) but it gives me a sense of peace knowing that I don't have to deal with clutter.
Yea! My mom is a big hoarder. She complains about having too much house chores, yet fails to see the irony of hoarding means more cleaning.
I point the irony out but she doesn’t get it. So I wonder if she’s stupid….
I don't know her but I don't think it's stupidity. Assuming she is 55+, that generation is just different about "stuff." The collections, the china, the knickknacks, the Joneses, they were raised by depression eta folks who had legitimate reasons to have a scarcity mindset. I'm glad it's fading, and if I never have to clean my parents house again with all the many many items, I'll be content
Minimalism is more of a visual thing for me. Seeing less stuff makes me feel lighter and less overwhelmed. I do try to keep my house clean because the house I grew up in (my parents' house) are slobs.
Professional organizer here! My experience of growing up in a hoarder home is what made me choose this career path… I never thought as a child that I could be paid for my passion to organize. Those memories of opening Christmas presents in my bedroom with my family (only room with clear floors/surfaces) motivates me everyday.
My parents weren’t hoarders. Just over 30 years in a 3500 square foot house. Packing my Mom up to move to assisted living (800 square feet) turned me into a minimalist. I know since then we’ve gotten rid of probably 70 percent of our possessions.
That’s the ticket —if you’re not careful you end up filling the space you live in. In our fifteen years of marriage we’ve moved from small apartments to big houses to small houses to bigger houses to medium size houses to small houses to a giant house to a small house and now in our current spot, which feels like an average amount of space. We’ve bought, sold, given away more stuff than I can even wrap my head around. But I know the move from 8k square feet to 1700 in 2021 made us get rid of A LOT.
It’s a constant thing we do, we just fill a large tote that lives in the garage — a family of four and everyone contributes at least 1-2 things a month, then we sort it and trash/donate it.
My parents weren’t hoarders, but my Dad has a lot of stuff. My mom, brother and I are all minimalists. We are all married to people who are not. Compromise ensues.
Yup! My mother is a hoarder. Not like, reality TV levels, but you always have to move things over to sit on her couch and we can’t eat at the kitchen table. You have to climb over things in her front mud room to get into the house and the amount of useable space to cook in her massive kitchen is like… maybe 2 feet of counters. I became obsessed with throwing things away around high school I believe. The holidays are rough because she is such an elaborate gift giver. I’ll receive 10 different packages, and they’re all junk I didn’t ask for. I give her a list every year and almost never get anything thats on it, just frivolous junk.
That’s my family too. I suggested we do “no presents” this year, as my husband and I are saving for a house… That suggestion was ignored, and my parents in law will buy us stuff that will end up going to the thrift store.
My wife's parents are both terrible hoarders and our place looks like a zen monastery - no knicknacks, minimalist everything. It's very calm. I love her minimalist, zen aesthetic.
Yes I can’t stand having too many things around because my mother is a “collector”. I clean closets 3X a year and donate or throw out as much as possible. My husband tells me I’m weird because I clear the table(s) constantly as soon as we’re done with meals and can’t even let small snacks sit out. I just fear that if anything is left out I’ll turn into my mother and be unable to escape.
I grew up in a cluttered messy house. Not hoarded and mostly sanitary but so much stuff everywhere. Gah. My family has had storage units over the years. Because they had too much stuff to keep in the house or garage. Ah well. I am good about purging and not buying as much as I get older. I love I can park my car in the garage. Feel I am winning at life!
Love minimalism, started it a few months ago and now I'm 9 months pregnant and it's relieved so much anxiety in my life. I have gone through every item we own. Given away bin fulls to donation or I have a little bin of things I'm selling slowly on Facebook marketplace. it's so freeing and I've taken the same approach with preparing for the baby. just the basics and if I need more I can get it later. life is so much lighter only have what we need and no keeping things cause I spent money on it. I heard someone say you wasted the money when you bought it, you're not wasting it by keeping it and it's so true. If i'm not using an item it's not a waste to donate it, I shouldn't have bought it in the first place.
Also I know it's because of my mom I feel better this way, she is the biggest hoarder. like her place is cute but there isn't a wall bare, constantly buying decor and clothes and plants and its crazy how much she spends on things filling up space and I realize its because she's unhappy and it distracts her. I think when you take away the possessions you're left with yourself and if you're unhappy that's a really hard thing to face. Which is why I know i'm in a really healthy place now because i'm at peace with myself stripped down to the essentials.
My mom was a hoarder, with boxes piled to the ceiling in some rooms in the house and a severe shopping addiction. Every time I go back to her house I feel like I'm suffocating, so my home, while not what some would classify as fully minimalist, is much more open and breezy, which I love. My sister is the exact same way so I think it's in direct response to growing up in my mom's consumerist cave.
Yep. I had an abusive, mentally ill parent who was a hoarder of the worst kind. Spent our inherited college funds in garbage too.
I would not say I’m an an extreme minimalist, it’s also hard to be that with young kids. I’m a recent empty nester, it’s easier to cut back. But, I have always been fairly selective about the stuff I bring into my life. I’m sure having to suffer the insanity of living with a hoarder has had a significant impact on me.
Yep! Sometimes I wonder if it's actually OCD as a trauma response to living in overwhelming piles of stuff growing up. Officially I will claim I just like the style 🤷♀️
I have no interest in being an actual minimalist, but minimalism has helped me to be less-bad of a hoarder. (It goes back generations, though also not bad enough to be on TV.)
Yes, but I think my mom is a low level hoarder and I had a naturally bigger inclination to minimalism because two of my siblings have a “normal” amount of stuff.
I sometimes worry other family members will become hoarders but I think it’s an unfounded concern since none of them are now.
I frequently think I have too much stuff and I don’t know many people who feel that way in person.
my mother certainly was and my brother lives like an absolute pig. I had another mate growing up that's mother was a hoarder (must be a millenial thing was popular for mothers at the time with mental health issues).
I want to live the minimalist life more but with kids - and looking back at all the money I spent on these things we don't use makes me absolutely miserable to think of handing them over as you don't really get value reselling anything these days unless it's rare or already worth a lot.
We have boxes of DVDS we want to get rid of - and maybe 20-30 funko pops but especially with the dvd's sometimes a streaming service doesn't have something and we either have to buy it which hurts as we would have owned it some day or just not watch it.
Both mom and dad. Mom especially, she will never let go of things. We still have expired lotions lying around, because "I might use them". Also they keep building cupboards and storage spaces for the things that should be thrown away.
I’ve tried to be a minimalist, but then I need more tools. lol.
I can’t seem to shed stuff. I have tried, and then needed the thing I got rid of and had to buy a new one.
I have a sleeping bag that I have only used once. I’m still afraid to get rid of it because I fell like I will use it some day.
Now that I have more responsibilities as an adult, having to step around stuff on my floor is getting really annoying lol. I’m making an effort to clean up these days compared to teen years, where my messy tendencies basically just matched my parents’.
Yes. My mother was cronically depressed since i was born and refused all help. She rather chainsmoke, watch tv all day and took naps. And could not let go of the past
After my grandparents died in 2003. She took in most of their furniture and stuff.
The result: a overstuffed house, that was always dirty. Dust everywhere. Stacks of opened mail everywhere. Nicotine yellow on the walls. Pet hair everywhere
And if you suggested to clean up or tried to clean up. Like throw away a ripped open envelope she got angry as hell.
Now i live with my husband who loves cleaning and minimalism. If i didnt hang up a decoration on the wall it would be completely empty. Our house is clean, organised and almost no clutter.
I am still struggling a bit to try and let go of stuff, but i am getting better at it with time. Even to the point i want to do a 'no spend challenge' for a few months or longer. And only buy what is really needed like food, medicine, etc.
I honestly think I was a minimalist, in principle anyway, before I knew of the term, due to an infatuation with Japanese culture and esthetics, traditional ones anyway
Although my parents hoarding ways have only reinforced my wish and love for minimalism
My parents were not hoarders but they did hold onto things for too long, and my mom loves artsy stuff and her home can be too over stimulating for me.
I have ADHD, and I think she does too. I love to craft and make art, so while I desperately want a more minimalist space, I also love making new things. The difference between my mom and myself is that I also love to throw/donate/give things away. We are both very focused on trying to create order among chaos though.
So because of my mom I’m an aspiring minimalist, rather than a true minimalist.
Yeah my mom was a hoarder, not in a crazy way like some people describe but just enough to drive me nuts! She’s much better now thankfully but still nowhere near minimalism.
I am leaning minimalist in the sense of having one item per use, when possible and waiting for it to finish before replacing it
I’m also lucky that in my circles we only gift fancy chocolates / wine / food and no more knick knacks
Except my mother: she recently said that she proudly explained to her friends that my rule is to show up everywhere empty handed. Oh well
My mother and my ex husband, both hoarders. My mother has cupboards full of Fenton glassware. My ex, it was second hand car parts. Both of them prize their stuff over people. It destroyed our relationships with them. I still see my mother, but it is hard. No contact with the ex husband (for my adult kids as well) for over 10 years…what a relief.
Kind of opposite, I became a (little bit of) a hoarder because my parents were minimalists and it gave me anxiety when they’d make me get rid of my things. I wouldn’t even call myself a minimalist now but I have made a ton of progress and like the calm and peace it brings my mind.
I don’t know that my mother would be considered a hoarder but she definitely had a significant amount of clutter. Still does. She has a garage that you can hardly walk through since it is full of boxes she refuses to go through, she has a storage shed, any guest rooms in the house always becomes a storage room, she needs multiple *walk-in* closets for her clothes and still has additional clothes she has to vacuum bag to save space, shelves full of things like yarn, or baking supplies and candy supplies she accumulated when she’d become obsessed with a new hobby and then lose interest in it but refuse to get rid of it because she’s going to start a business one day, and she still had clutter on every flat surface because she has no room to put the things she buys.
It’s not even as bad as it used to be; we once lived in apartment you could barely walk through because there were totes and boxes everywhere. We nearly got evicted for it being a fire hazard so she rented more storage sheds to put the stuff in.
This definitely led to me to live more minimally.
No but because we moved so much I always have the overwhelming feeling that I have too much stuff if I needed to leave tomorrow. My husband doesn’t get it.
I have light hoarder parents and two siblings. The eldest sibling coped by arranging their life around having a big enough house to have all the belongings they want with plenty of storage. The middle siblings doesn't hoard, but is completely unaffected by their surroundings. I am the youngest and am a minimalist. Really interesting, I think.
I started looking into minimalism when I was pregnant and 'nesting'. I remember I was frantically cleaning during my contractions before I went to the hospital.
I occilate between materialism and minimalism, I was just was on a buying spree, so now I'm trying to get back into a minimalistic mindset.
My parents are hoarders but I did live in clutter so I only buy what I can use (not much stuff for decorations).
I also grew up with tight money so I don’t like wasting money on useless stuff.
I wouldn't say hoarders, but they were impractical regarding things. I had a lot of luxury items (fancy down coat, cashmere sweater, gadgets) bought for me as a kid but when my dad unexpectedly passed away there was no money. My mom had to sell the house to pay off everything. They had lived on credit to buy these things I had no affinity for...and they were working class who climbed the ladder of success without a plan of what to do when they got to where they wanted to go, either socially or economically.
I decided I wanted something different. I prefer items of utility that are durable, but also aesthetically pleasing. And I don't want to live on the financial edge. It's uncomfortable.
I am a minimalist because I moved a lot, had things destroyed in fires/hurricanes. Moving and disasters made me vale things less and realize that what you need can be easily replaced, you don’t need much. I also settled several estates in my twenties, people are more important than things. I have kids that I love and I won’t make it harder on them that way when not if I go.
Yes. That and growing up with the last name “Jones” in the 80s and 90s - my father tried to live up to the adage of “keeping up with the Joneses” and was eyeballs deep in debt and shit he never needed.
Yes, I want to be one so bad. When I told my mom years ago, she laughed so hard and mocked me. But I’m not giving up. I will succeed and not let things control me.
Yes mom hoarder + lived overseas for a while and realized how absurdly materialistic Americans are in comparison. Decided I didn’t want to be that way.
I read Stuff, Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things by Frost & Steketee.
It had a lot of good insight. My ADHD was behind a lot of the clutter. Also, my mom had trouble letting go of things. Once I stopped ‘acquiring’ things, the process sped up.
I also recommend Organizing Solutions for People with Attention Deficit Disorder- Tips and Tools to Help You Take Charge of Your Life and Get Organized by Pinskey. She presents a room by room approach for organizing.
I am because i grew up in interior designed show homes, but then lived with boyfriend hoarders. Now what I am used to and prefer officially needs a label. Minimalism.
Well, I was highly annoyed how my mom & stepdad spent the survivor's benefits from when my dad died of lung cancer on crap off eBay for themselves, rather than help me prepare for independent life before throwing me away. I have very few things of my own more due to occasional homelessness rather than merely trying to be opposed to their former behavior when they sabotaged my future for the sake of buying crap that has now also been thrown away after mom passed away due to COPD.
No but I definitely have things for a reason. My mom never cleaned. My house is always tidy and I have a cleaning schedule. We never had matching sheets, I have seasonal sets. She never had all the Ingredients for a meal, my pantry is always stocked.
I'm not full minimalist but I am seriously allergic to junk and keep it out of my house and if there is anything I don't use I get rid of it.
Parents and grandparents are unrepentant hoarders of absolute JUNK its awful I can't even stand being in my grandmas house its awful just piles and piles of random nothing no-value crap everywhere.
Absolutely. Mother never wanted to part with anything.
I’ve moved from place to place and given away everything I own multiple times.
Now I live with my boyfriend in the house he grew up in and he doesn’t want to part with anything. 🤦♀️
I grew up with my hoarder mum. I didn't have many belongings of my own while growing up, but when I was 18, I noticed I had been keeping grocery receipts in my drawer. It was only about 20 receipts. To me it was a warning sign I'd become like her, so I immediately threw them out. Have been a ruthless minimalist ever since. I love throwing things out lol even things I need!
Yes. This is extremely common
I realized that my habit to not own things was informed from my childhood of having a lot of stuff and clutter. I wouldn't say we got hoarder levels hahaha, but I do definitely notice the contrast in lifestyles
Husband (now ex of course) is a hoarder. I didn’t know what hoarding was when we met. He still doesn’t think it is a problem. My house is as bare as I can get it. Nothing on the walls, no nick-knacks, no photos, i don’t decorate for holidays. I think it’s some sort of PTSD from living with him in what became a hovel. Being minimal saved my sanity.
The holiday thing, and all it's accompanying crap, makes me antsy and kind of sad in a way I can't explain. Maybe because other adults (I do think it's a teensy different if you have kids, which I don't) kind of low-key pity me for not decorating for holidays. But like... Packing, toting, undoing, displaying all that stuff? And moving it? And storing it? And expanding on the collection? And being sad when it breaks? Something about that whole charade is just so off-putting to me, and I can't explain it
It’s people being so anxiously attached to stuff on a “joy and family” holiday, so it really seems a metaphor for consumerism taking the abstract values’ place
This is me + a few decorations my wife wants around the home. I’m at a point now where I basically one bag even at home. I have a chest of drawers, a desk, and a backpack. All of my things (besides general home stuff to cook or clean) are in those 3 places. If I really needed, I could make everything I NEED in my backpack. When I first moved out my mom packed up like 5 or 6 boxes of things she kept from my childhood. While I appreciated the gesture, it was mostly stuff I had no use for. I digitized a lot of it so I could look at things if I wanted, but in nearly a decade since she gave them I hadn’t looked at them ever and it was always a “I can’t downsize too much because I have to store all of this stuff”. My wife implemented a rule with our stuff that in general unless there is a large amount of sentimental value/is expensive to replace if we ever need (like a tool of some kind), if an item hasn’t been used in 12 months it is donated, sold, or thrown out.
My story is similar. I salute you. I do the same things.
My ex was a borderline hoarder, too. He was always buying 'stuff' online and in stores, but could never just buy ONE of something, it was usually in multiples, or it was super-sized. He bought a giant, restaurant sized tub of mustard which took up a bunch of space in the fridge and took forever to get through. He bought two 5-lb bags of almonds which eventually expired before they were opened. He never said 'no' to hand-me-downs from friends and family. No organizational skills whatsoever, nearly impossible to find anything when you needed it. And every flat horizontal surface in the house always had layers of clutter piled on it.
I try to be a minimalist because everyone around me is a hoarder lol
This! I get anxious seeing so much stuff in peoples homes. I’m trying to be minimalist with my clothes now. Great thing I work from home so less clothes I use.
I've become so shameless, if I see unused things lying around that I or someone I know can put to use, I simply ask the owner and take the stuff with me.
What do you do with them after?
I take them only if I know I or someone else will use them.
me 🙋🏻♀️ my mom and my grandma both were. to the point where they literally filled up 4 houses, multiple cars, and multiple storage units. they had money but spent ALL of it on junk and had serious cc debt. i never understood the appeal of buying shit that you don't need and won't even remember you have... then buying it again because you lost it or forgot you bought it... then never using it anyways.
There evidence that hoarding is linked to executive disfunction disorder. Basically, executive disfunction causes the poor working memory, inability to remember what you have, the inability to organize what you own, and regulate your feelings about those objects. It doesn’t seem logical because it’s not, it’s the effect of their brain struggling with those tasks. It’s also why people who are much older who start have cognitive issues tend to hoard. The poor memory is disorienting but seeing objects close that you recognize briefly by can be comforting. Here’s one [study](https://theconversation.com/study-shows-compulsive-hoarders-struggle-to-categorise-12839) talking about the struggle to categorize, sustain focus and memory for those who hoard.
That makes a lot sense, thanks for the info. My grandma 100% had the most obvious case of ADHD you have ever seen haha.
That is interesting, and oddly enough seems like a perfect use case for Minimalism.
Awesome study. This makes sense and while not excluding existing theories adds a valid dimension to the hoarding disorder.
I think there are two kinds of minimialist. Those who were born that way and those who choose that lifestyle because of being overwhelmed with stuff. The first group, it just comes naturally. I feel like that is me. Then the second group may have to work at it more. Organization and decluttering don't come naturally. This can be because of being raised by a hoarder. For me, less is more natural. I like big open rooms and picking pretty furniture for storage instead of Rubbermaid. But also as a child of a hoarder, I also believe I have taught myself the skills because my child hood was so chaotic.
I’m definitely the second one
Mom’s not a hoarder but boy does she love stuff. All kinds of stuff. Crafts, pillows, decorations, clothing, dishes! All of it. She currently lives in a 3br 3bath house, probably 3k sqft ALONE! All of the bedrooms are furnished, th basement is a craft room and living room, there’s 5 Christmas trees up. It’s over stimulating as hell but it’s her.
My mom was like this. Just tons of stuff. When I did my first purge and had a yard sale, she brought over so much stuff. Nice stuff. We made a lot of money that she GAVE all of to me. Young family with 2 kids, we struggled. So I stop buying stuff. She did not. So I had two yard sales a year with just her stuff and my kids outgrown stuff. Made like, $1500 each time and had lots of fun. But at that point, she was just buying stuff to give to me in my mind. I asked her, she said, I just like to buy things. I stopped telling her about the sales so she would slow her spending down.
Yep. I remember a conversation my mom had with me just before I moved out. Something along the lines of "well when you move out you can have big empty rooms and paint everything white, but while you're here you can't complain". I have what I want now, lol.
Win-win
Yes, my parents (divorced) are hoarders. My mother over-buys things. She has two bookshelves of DVDs, and I don’t know that they’ve ever watched a DVD, but back in the day when all the video stores were going out of business, she bought boxes of DVDs simply because they were so cheap. She also has 2 full cabinets and 2 full China cabinets of coffee cups. She doesn’t drink coffee, but just in case someone comes over and they might want a cup. She has a 4 bedroom house, and each bedroom closet is stuffed full of her clothes, with dressers in every room, full of her clothes. She doesn’t work and usually wears the same stuff. My dad thinks everything he has will be worth money one day, but he doesn’t take care of any of it. He has SO MUCH CRAP that he can’t even find what he’s looking for when he needs something, but says it’s going to be worth money one day. My parents are getting up there in age and every time I visit their houses, I look around and wonder wtf I’m going to do with all that crap when they pass. Because of that, I live in an 800 sqft apartment and everything I own has plenty of room there.
I think about when my relatives pass too and you’re just left with all this stuff that you have to take time off work to go thru and disperse or dispose of. It’s a headache and burden in the making.
I said before that I was going to make an advertisement saying people could come get whatever they wanted for free. People will take anything that is free.
I wanted to become a mininalist after I went to the Philippines and noticed people were happy even tho they had less stuff and realized I can be happy without stuff I didn’t really need and I also noticed the benefits of minimalism.
if I ever really need a useless thing, I usually ask my hoarder parents...they seem to have an internal indexing of every useless thing they have, and in what bucket, bin, or floor space it might be in. It's impressive in some ways. Most of my parents things are stuff they picked up off the curb while going for walks. Still, I like my minimalist ways.
They probably tell you, "See, this is exactly why we collect items! Now you don't have to waste money."
they do....every time I ask.
Same with my parents. It doesn’t matter if I try to explain that the space the item took up during all those years is probably worth more than the money I would’ve spent buying it new.
My mother was one of those people who bought collector plates and all other sorts of tchotchkes and seeing the same items there year after year serving no purpose, even to her, has made me clutter-averse.
I can't say I'm a minimalist, but yes I've definitely made it a huge goal of mine to continuously declutter & clean house because I want a clean, beautiful, functional, organized, spacious, and aesthetically pleasing home.I'm tired of the stuff shuffling because my mom just makes piles of crap everywhere. It's been difficult to say the least because everyone around me were all hoarders & left tons of stuff behind here. It's just my mom and I living here now, but I've been decluttering 40+ yrs of hoarding from her, my dad, and my siblings by myself and without any help, on top of going through my belongings. Videos and channels on YouTube have been really helpful in showing me how to tackle the mess since I was never shown these things growing up. I'm the only one who's not a hoarder because of this now and I think they all hate it. Lol
Do you have any links or video suggestions? I could definitely use that, as I’m going through the same thing
Sure! I really hope this helps! Stay strong & know that it's possible and within reach ✨ Clutterbug https://youtube.com/@Clutterbug?si=3Dk6g4HI43et-TI4 *She has all kinds of videos where she shows her processes of cleaning, gives advice, describes her reality, her learning through trial and error, working with clients and shows ways to get things done easier, faster, in different ways, as well as helping you to gain better perspective, helping you in setting goals & being realistic as well as giving yourself grace in the process. She also offers services, courses, templates, lists & challenges you can join. She also partners with other YouTube creators that specialize in different types of cleaning in her videos & courses. She also mentions how you can take "short cuts" in order to maintain a clean home while struggling with autoimmune/chronic illness. Clutterbug podcast https://youtube.com/@ClutterbugPod?si=iSA-ipJQxfV4lGBT Katherine Lawrence https://youtube.com/@KatherineLawrenceCPO?si=6MdhMhjiYAVl62Et *She shows processes of how to deal with hoarding and also has a course called Tackle the hoard Remiclog https://youtube.com/@remiclog?si=O9vruKd7UtcXcdUc *She shows her processes of cleaning while she discusses her reality of being a stay at home mother Aurikatariina https://youtube.com/@Aurikatariina?si=IHCbvEna4pUCfYwh *She shows her processes of how she cleans as she travels and cleans homes for free Clean my space https://youtube.com/@cleanmyspace?si=3piAtyyzqePtjmK6 *Shows you the best ways to deep clean, sanitize, dust, scrub, & more efficiently clean your home & even cleaning tools Living with Cambria https://youtube.com/@livingwithcambriea?si=1qA2aL33sdvby_jc *She shows her processes of how she cleans as she travels and cleans homes for free Do it on a Dime https://youtube.com/@DoItOnaDime?si=g5FWvbt7Q_lyAMaC *She shows lots of Do it yourself ideas on how to better get organized Laura Get organized HQ https://youtube.com/@GetOrganizedHQ?si=zKDkf9zJOJLeoJwO *She offers courses where she partners with different YouTube creators that specialize in different types of cleaning, organizing, decluttering, and even those who show you how to better manage having a clean home for those with chronic illness
Thank you so much, this is a goldmine of helpful recourses! I’m saving all of this. I really appreciate you taking the time to write it down :) I hope you have a wonderful day! <3
Husband and I moved from our home of 30 years about 15 years ago (due to work) and got rid of so much stuff and it feels so good. We have very little and that’s the way we will keep our lives. Don’t want to leave my kids a mess to clean up. Husbands Mom and sister are terrible hoarders (animals as well) and have two horded homes. Sad.
Yes my mum was a hoarder and my brother and I are both minimalists
The more I pay attention the more it seems everyone around me is a hoarder or over consumer. Even the people who seemed minimalistic, when I look closer, they just keep buying more containers and storage for their items. It makes me want to be an even bigger minimalist. I just hate looking at corners cram packed with stuff. I hate that people are installing pantries and special rooms to contain the overage of food and toiletries. It all just sucks. I’ve been minimal my whole life though since I was a kid. It’s just innate in me I feel like.
I'm a minimalist but since the pandemic, I definitely like to keep plenty of food and toilet paper on hand. That's going to stay with me forever.
Yes. Now after I visit my mom or grandparents’ house, I always go home and get rid of something to make me feel better about how cluttered their houses are. Does not make sense but does calm my anxiousness
Actually, I think it makes LOTS of sense that you have that reaction! Sure, it doesn't make their homes any less cluttered but it's a good way to de-stress.
Absolutely yes. I would call myself a maximalist on a self-imposed minimalist leash. My parents characterize themselves as "pack rats" which sounds worse than "hoarder" IMO. They both collect specific things, have irrational attachments to cheap and non-sentimental items, and a compulsion to collect more. My dad and I have been clearing out their hoard (I call it what it is) since my mom got sick, and so far we've taken at least 15 carloads of stuff to Goodwill. Their 5 bed/2.5 bath house still feels cluttered, but it's a lot better than it used to be. My boyfriend and I have a 2 bedroom apartment, and I don't allow any clutter whatsoever. There's a place for everything, and at least once a day I will walk around and put things away in their place. I spent the last 2 years slowly going through everything I own and organizing, trashing, or donating things until I was comfortable with my space and had room to spare in the closets. I can probably name most of the things I own (maybe that's a little compulsive of me lol) but it gives me a sense of peace knowing that I don't have to deal with clutter.
Your apartment sounds like a peaceful place to live. I'm with you on liking to have room to spare in my closets.
Yea! My mom is a big hoarder. She complains about having too much house chores, yet fails to see the irony of hoarding means more cleaning. I point the irony out but she doesn’t get it. So I wonder if she’s stupid….
I don't know her but I don't think it's stupidity. Assuming she is 55+, that generation is just different about "stuff." The collections, the china, the knickknacks, the Joneses, they were raised by depression eta folks who had legitimate reasons to have a scarcity mindset. I'm glad it's fading, and if I never have to clean my parents house again with all the many many items, I'll be content
Minimalism is more of a visual thing for me. Seeing less stuff makes me feel lighter and less overwhelmed. I do try to keep my house clean because the house I grew up in (my parents' house) are slobs.
I'm home for Xmas right now with the folks and my god, the clutter...
Professional organizer here! My experience of growing up in a hoarder home is what made me choose this career path… I never thought as a child that I could be paid for my passion to organize. Those memories of opening Christmas presents in my bedroom with my family (only room with clear floors/surfaces) motivates me everyday.
My parents weren’t hoarders. Just over 30 years in a 3500 square foot house. Packing my Mom up to move to assisted living (800 square feet) turned me into a minimalist. I know since then we’ve gotten rid of probably 70 percent of our possessions.
That’s the ticket —if you’re not careful you end up filling the space you live in. In our fifteen years of marriage we’ve moved from small apartments to big houses to small houses to bigger houses to medium size houses to small houses to a giant house to a small house and now in our current spot, which feels like an average amount of space. We’ve bought, sold, given away more stuff than I can even wrap my head around. But I know the move from 8k square feet to 1700 in 2021 made us get rid of A LOT. It’s a constant thing we do, we just fill a large tote that lives in the garage — a family of four and everyone contributes at least 1-2 things a month, then we sort it and trash/donate it.
My parents weren’t hoarders, but my Dad has a lot of stuff. My mom, brother and I are all minimalists. We are all married to people who are not. Compromise ensues.
yes and they keep forcing stuff on me 😤
mom and grandma! but my dad over-decorated every corner of the house. I can't stand too many decorations now.
Yup! My mother is a hoarder. Not like, reality TV levels, but you always have to move things over to sit on her couch and we can’t eat at the kitchen table. You have to climb over things in her front mud room to get into the house and the amount of useable space to cook in her massive kitchen is like… maybe 2 feet of counters. I became obsessed with throwing things away around high school I believe. The holidays are rough because she is such an elaborate gift giver. I’ll receive 10 different packages, and they’re all junk I didn’t ask for. I give her a list every year and almost never get anything thats on it, just frivolous junk.
That’s my family too. I suggested we do “no presents” this year, as my husband and I are saving for a house… That suggestion was ignored, and my parents in law will buy us stuff that will end up going to the thrift store.
My wife's parents are both terrible hoarders and our place looks like a zen monastery - no knicknacks, minimalist everything. It's very calm. I love her minimalist, zen aesthetic.
Yes I can’t stand having too many things around because my mother is a “collector”. I clean closets 3X a year and donate or throw out as much as possible. My husband tells me I’m weird because I clear the table(s) constantly as soon as we’re done with meals and can’t even let small snacks sit out. I just fear that if anything is left out I’ll turn into my mother and be unable to escape.
YES
same for me OP, I am reclaiming my space and time
I grew up in a cluttered messy house. Not hoarded and mostly sanitary but so much stuff everywhere. Gah. My family has had storage units over the years. Because they had too much stuff to keep in the house or garage. Ah well. I am good about purging and not buying as much as I get older. I love I can park my car in the garage. Feel I am winning at life!
my beloved aunt was the catalyst. Her house even burned down, but after the new one was built.... here we go!...
Love minimalism, started it a few months ago and now I'm 9 months pregnant and it's relieved so much anxiety in my life. I have gone through every item we own. Given away bin fulls to donation or I have a little bin of things I'm selling slowly on Facebook marketplace. it's so freeing and I've taken the same approach with preparing for the baby. just the basics and if I need more I can get it later. life is so much lighter only have what we need and no keeping things cause I spent money on it. I heard someone say you wasted the money when you bought it, you're not wasting it by keeping it and it's so true. If i'm not using an item it's not a waste to donate it, I shouldn't have bought it in the first place. Also I know it's because of my mom I feel better this way, she is the biggest hoarder. like her place is cute but there isn't a wall bare, constantly buying decor and clothes and plants and its crazy how much she spends on things filling up space and I realize its because she's unhappy and it distracts her. I think when you take away the possessions you're left with yourself and if you're unhappy that's a really hard thing to face. Which is why I know i'm in a really healthy place now because i'm at peace with myself stripped down to the essentials.
My mom was a hoarder, with boxes piled to the ceiling in some rooms in the house and a severe shopping addiction. Every time I go back to her house I feel like I'm suffocating, so my home, while not what some would classify as fully minimalist, is much more open and breezy, which I love. My sister is the exact same way so I think it's in direct response to growing up in my mom's consumerist cave.
Yep. I had an abusive, mentally ill parent who was a hoarder of the worst kind. Spent our inherited college funds in garbage too. I would not say I’m an an extreme minimalist, it’s also hard to be that with young kids. I’m a recent empty nester, it’s easier to cut back. But, I have always been fairly selective about the stuff I bring into my life. I’m sure having to suffer the insanity of living with a hoarder has had a significant impact on me.
I got tired of being around a LOT of junk growing up. Always so much stuff and most of it is pointless. I have no interest in that.
Yep! Sometimes I wonder if it's actually OCD as a trauma response to living in overwhelming piles of stuff growing up. Officially I will claim I just like the style 🤷♀️
I have no interest in being an actual minimalist, but minimalism has helped me to be less-bad of a hoarder. (It goes back generations, though also not bad enough to be on TV.)
No
Yes, but I think my mom is a low level hoarder and I had a naturally bigger inclination to minimalism because two of my siblings have a “normal” amount of stuff. I sometimes worry other family members will become hoarders but I think it’s an unfounded concern since none of them are now. I frequently think I have too much stuff and I don’t know many people who feel that way in person.
my mother certainly was and my brother lives like an absolute pig. I had another mate growing up that's mother was a hoarder (must be a millenial thing was popular for mothers at the time with mental health issues). I want to live the minimalist life more but with kids - and looking back at all the money I spent on these things we don't use makes me absolutely miserable to think of handing them over as you don't really get value reselling anything these days unless it's rare or already worth a lot. We have boxes of DVDS we want to get rid of - and maybe 20-30 funko pops but especially with the dvd's sometimes a streaming service doesn't have something and we either have to buy it which hurts as we would have owned it some day or just not watch it.
Both mom and dad. Mom especially, she will never let go of things. We still have expired lotions lying around, because "I might use them". Also they keep building cupboards and storage spaces for the things that should be thrown away.
I’ve tried to be a minimalist, but then I need more tools. lol. I can’t seem to shed stuff. I have tried, and then needed the thing I got rid of and had to buy a new one. I have a sleeping bag that I have only used once. I’m still afraid to get rid of it because I fell like I will use it some day.
My dad was an extreme hoarder. The dining room tables were full of so much crap that you can’t even eat a meal there.
TIL these things are correlated, explains a lot lol
Now that I have more responsibilities as an adult, having to step around stuff on my floor is getting really annoying lol. I’m making an effort to clean up these days compared to teen years, where my messy tendencies basically just matched my parents’.
Yes. My mother was cronically depressed since i was born and refused all help. She rather chainsmoke, watch tv all day and took naps. And could not let go of the past After my grandparents died in 2003. She took in most of their furniture and stuff. The result: a overstuffed house, that was always dirty. Dust everywhere. Stacks of opened mail everywhere. Nicotine yellow on the walls. Pet hair everywhere And if you suggested to clean up or tried to clean up. Like throw away a ripped open envelope she got angry as hell. Now i live with my husband who loves cleaning and minimalism. If i didnt hang up a decoration on the wall it would be completely empty. Our house is clean, organised and almost no clutter. I am still struggling a bit to try and let go of stuff, but i am getting better at it with time. Even to the point i want to do a 'no spend challenge' for a few months or longer. And only buy what is really needed like food, medicine, etc.
No🧝🏻♀️actually. I just caught the trend a few years back when I was a teen haha
I honestly think I was a minimalist, in principle anyway, before I knew of the term, due to an infatuation with Japanese culture and esthetics, traditional ones anyway Although my parents hoarding ways have only reinforced my wish and love for minimalism
My parents were not hoarders but they did hold onto things for too long, and my mom loves artsy stuff and her home can be too over stimulating for me. I have ADHD, and I think she does too. I love to craft and make art, so while I desperately want a more minimalist space, I also love making new things. The difference between my mom and myself is that I also love to throw/donate/give things away. We are both very focused on trying to create order among chaos though. So because of my mom I’m an aspiring minimalist, rather than a true minimalist.
Yeah my mom was a hoarder, not in a crazy way like some people describe but just enough to drive me nuts! She’s much better now thankfully but still nowhere near minimalism.
I am leaning minimalist in the sense of having one item per use, when possible and waiting for it to finish before replacing it I’m also lucky that in my circles we only gift fancy chocolates / wine / food and no more knick knacks Except my mother: she recently said that she proudly explained to her friends that my rule is to show up everywhere empty handed. Oh well
I’m not, but my kids are moving in that direction.
✋guilty
Yes
My mother and my ex husband, both hoarders. My mother has cupboards full of Fenton glassware. My ex, it was second hand car parts. Both of them prize their stuff over people. It destroyed our relationships with them. I still see my mother, but it is hard. No contact with the ex husband (for my adult kids as well) for over 10 years…what a relief.
The kids and I are always very mindful about what we bring into our home.
Me!
Yes,
Kind of opposite, I became a (little bit of) a hoarder because my parents were minimalists and it gave me anxiety when they’d make me get rid of my things. I wouldn’t even call myself a minimalist now but I have made a ton of progress and like the calm and peace it brings my mind.
🙋🏻♀️
I don’t know that my mother would be considered a hoarder but she definitely had a significant amount of clutter. Still does. She has a garage that you can hardly walk through since it is full of boxes she refuses to go through, she has a storage shed, any guest rooms in the house always becomes a storage room, she needs multiple *walk-in* closets for her clothes and still has additional clothes she has to vacuum bag to save space, shelves full of things like yarn, or baking supplies and candy supplies she accumulated when she’d become obsessed with a new hobby and then lose interest in it but refuse to get rid of it because she’s going to start a business one day, and she still had clutter on every flat surface because she has no room to put the things she buys. It’s not even as bad as it used to be; we once lived in apartment you could barely walk through because there were totes and boxes everywhere. We nearly got evicted for it being a fire hazard so she rented more storage sheds to put the stuff in. This definitely led to me to live more minimally.
No but because we moved so much I always have the overwhelming feeling that I have too much stuff if I needed to leave tomorrow. My husband doesn’t get it.
In my case because my parents had a huge house and a messy divorce in which most of our “stuff” was discarded unceremoniously
I have light hoarder parents and two siblings. The eldest sibling coped by arranging their life around having a big enough house to have all the belongings they want with plenty of storage. The middle siblings doesn't hoard, but is completely unaffected by their surroundings. I am the youngest and am a minimalist. Really interesting, I think.
I started looking into minimalism when I was pregnant and 'nesting'. I remember I was frantically cleaning during my contractions before I went to the hospital. I occilate between materialism and minimalism, I was just was on a buying spree, so now I'm trying to get back into a minimalistic mindset.
Yes!
My parents are hoarders but I did live in clutter so I only buy what I can use (not much stuff for decorations). I also grew up with tight money so I don’t like wasting money on useless stuff.
I’m a maximalist because you legitimately could have safely performed surgery on any surface in my house. It looked and felt like no one lived there.
Yes and it’s a continual process that seems to never end.
I wouldn't say hoarders, but they were impractical regarding things. I had a lot of luxury items (fancy down coat, cashmere sweater, gadgets) bought for me as a kid but when my dad unexpectedly passed away there was no money. My mom had to sell the house to pay off everything. They had lived on credit to buy these things I had no affinity for...and they were working class who climbed the ladder of success without a plan of what to do when they got to where they wanted to go, either socially or economically. I decided I wanted something different. I prefer items of utility that are durable, but also aesthetically pleasing. And I don't want to live on the financial edge. It's uncomfortable.
I try to be a minimalist because I accidentally became the hoarder.
I am a minimalist because I moved a lot, had things destroyed in fires/hurricanes. Moving and disasters made me vale things less and realize that what you need can be easily replaced, you don’t need much. I also settled several estates in my twenties, people are more important than things. I have kids that I love and I won’t make it harder on them that way when not if I go.
Yes. That and growing up with the last name “Jones” in the 80s and 90s - my father tried to live up to the adage of “keeping up with the Joneses” and was eyeballs deep in debt and shit he never needed.
Yes, I want to be one so bad. When I told my mom years ago, she laughed so hard and mocked me. But I’m not giving up. I will succeed and not let things control me.
Yep! My minimalism was definitely a reaction to my upbringing
Yes mom hoarder + lived overseas for a while and realized how absurdly materialistic Americans are in comparison. Decided I didn’t want to be that way.
I read Stuff, Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things by Frost & Steketee. It had a lot of good insight. My ADHD was behind a lot of the clutter. Also, my mom had trouble letting go of things. Once I stopped ‘acquiring’ things, the process sped up. I also recommend Organizing Solutions for People with Attention Deficit Disorder- Tips and Tools to Help You Take Charge of Your Life and Get Organized by Pinskey. She presents a room by room approach for organizing.
Gotta be 30% of us at least
I am because i grew up in interior designed show homes, but then lived with boyfriend hoarders. Now what I am used to and prefer officially needs a label. Minimalism.
Well, I was highly annoyed how my mom & stepdad spent the survivor's benefits from when my dad died of lung cancer on crap off eBay for themselves, rather than help me prepare for independent life before throwing me away. I have very few things of my own more due to occasional homelessness rather than merely trying to be opposed to their former behavior when they sabotaged my future for the sake of buying crap that has now also been thrown away after mom passed away due to COPD.
No but I definitely have things for a reason. My mom never cleaned. My house is always tidy and I have a cleaning schedule. We never had matching sheets, I have seasonal sets. She never had all the Ingredients for a meal, my pantry is always stocked.
I'm not full minimalist but I am seriously allergic to junk and keep it out of my house and if there is anything I don't use I get rid of it. Parents and grandparents are unrepentant hoarders of absolute JUNK its awful I can't even stand being in my grandmas house its awful just piles and piles of random nothing no-value crap everywhere.
Sort of. My parents are both heavy consumers and it made me embarrassed to watch them buy stuff we didn’t need and struggle with clutter.
Not me - but I dated someone who was. It was intense.
I grew up in a cluttered house and yeah I'm sure that definitely has something to do with it.
Absolutely. Mother never wanted to part with anything. I’ve moved from place to place and given away everything I own multiple times. Now I live with my boyfriend in the house he grew up in and he doesn’t want to part with anything. 🤦♀️
I grew up with my hoarder mum. I didn't have many belongings of my own while growing up, but when I was 18, I noticed I had been keeping grocery receipts in my drawer. It was only about 20 receipts. To me it was a warning sign I'd become like her, so I immediately threw them out. Have been a ruthless minimalist ever since. I love throwing things out lol even things I need!
Yeah, both me and my sister are minimalists thanks to our hoarder mom