My grandmother was a horder, a very sever horder. She grew up poor in the depression and it effected her whole life. In turn, my mom was a horder but not quite as bad. For example, my grandmother stockpiled enough boxes of chocoloate under her bed that it didn't even need legs to hold the bedframe up, she had pantries full of canned food going back to the 1950s. She had over 1000 bolts of brand new cloth to make clothes. 16 boxes of brand new china, (full sets,) but she only used her old broken dishes to eat on... She had brand new silk stockings with the seam still in the original tissue, etc.

My mom on the other hand horded paper. Holiday cards, school work, empty cereal boxes, wrapping paper, etc. So, then there's me. I don't want to be that way, but I can't get organized to save my life, and I fight what I call "tendancies." I try. But the house is a mess, and I get this huge anxiety about throwing certain things out. My husband is a little messy but not bad. He will clean up "his" mess. And sometimes he'll help in other areas, but if he helped a bit more often the house wouldn't be quite so bad. My mother-in-law is also messy, but when she goes manic she does that whole house clean thing, which I don't ever seem to get there. Then there's my 6 year old, tazmanian devil... who fights cleaning like it's going to kill him. -.-

It isn't just my house that's a mess, so am I. A few of you have said because the inside of your head is such a mess you keep the outside in order. I think it's not true for me. Because the inside of my head is such a mess I can't keep my outside in order, either. I even look a bit crazy. I'm never "put together." I used to be, but now I can't seem to get it together.