My parents are like that. Over time they just get more and more stuff. Now they have every closet in their house filled to capacity (mostly with stacked boxes), one junk room full, a covered patio (room-sized) full, and a two-car garage that not only can't be used to put a car in, but it is stacked to the ceiling with boxes and you can't walk through it. To get stuff from one end they go in the door from the house, and to get stuff from the other end they have to open up the garage door. They can't find anything when they want it - it's all in a box underneath a huge pile of other boxes. Many of those boxes have been moved from house to house, even to Spain and back, without ever being opened.

No, they don't see a problem with this. Someday they think maybe they will need something that is in one of those boxes. Of course they will never find it or know which box it is in... And there is no way for anyone to help them declutter either, since my mother has her system, and if anyone tried to help, they would almost certainly not do it right, so she will not consider letting anyone help. They would probably be offended if anyone tried to tell them that they had a problem.

I don't know what you can do. Yeah, there are mental and emotional issues involved - perfectionism, fear of having to do without something, compensating for something that is missing from their lives. Depression and anxiety are very common in people who do this. Or maybe they don't know any other way because that's the way they have always lived. I've told my mother about flylady.net which is the best solution to conquering clutter I have seen, but it isn't something that she wants to work on. Just love them anyway, I guess. Or if it is someone you are considering getting involved with, heed the warning signs. There are people who overcome it, but just like with anything else, they have to want to.

<font color=red>"Striving for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection is demoralizing." -Harriet Braiker</font color=red>