Published on 12, July, 2020
I was wondering today if this is an autistic thing.
I've spent several decades collecting objects and the last decade+ trying to rid myself of the majority.
However, I have given up on the idea of ever being minimalist.
I notice that I remember where everything came from, even, when purchased, which shop in which town.
I try not to be sentimental about things, but sometimes I can't help it.
My mother, who I believe was autistic, was a hoarder in quite an extreme sense.
My autistic friend finds it very hard to part with belongings.
Everything has an association.
Are others like this and are there contributors here who are genuinely minimalistic and don't have an attachment to things?
I like that these old threads from before my time are being bumped.
I have got less like this over the years, but I really had it strongly to start off with.
I would keep travel ticket stubs, flyers, museum programmes and all sorts of holiday reminders. You would be surprised how much space these paper things take up. They are stored in year numbered envelopes under the bed (It's funny how I have just realised another obvious example of my autism that I have never thought of before - thanks Debbie (formerly Debbie) ) I stopped collecting these in such an obsessive way in the past few years, but can't face throwing away what I have.
To spin this in a positive way, on me and my wife's tenth anniversary of getting together, I actually made a big scrapbook of those ten years, and it was super romantic and was really appreciated much more than any metal trinket. We still get it out every so often.
I have some really strange stuff, like shop catalogues from Japan which I can't actually read and wouldn't be interesting anyway. Japan is probably the biggest space taker for this stuff.
The things that I would never be able to get rid of would be my vinyl, CDs and DVDs.
You describe so much of me in your posts.
I keep things and could say I am a hoarder. It is more of I will keep this 'just in case' or I have a plan to do something with but never do. I find it difficult to get rid of anything and when I do I always feel a sense of loss or dread that I have made a mistake.
I am not neat and tidy but have piles of stuff everywhere but I somehow know where to find stuff as if I have a picture in my mind of the exact pile I can find it. Massive stress if I struggle to find something though.
Before I moved into my current property 23 years ago, I found out from talking to older people in my block that they were originally armed forces accommodation and as part of the agreement that the MoD made with the Council as part of the transfer of ownership, they had to do weekly property inspections when collecting rent to ensure that certain standards were being maintained by all tenants - in those days, council officials and police would check every room for any signs of clutter and would issue directives for more close supervision of “problem” tenants as they took a zero tolerance and zero patience approach to hoarding in line with Milltary discipline