OMGosh! MY HUSBAND THE PACKRAT

[itsbygrace]

   Those of you who read my post months ago about my husband being a packrat know what this is about. This is basicly a countinuation of the that post. To brief those of you who didn't read that post. My husband is a huge pack rat. Awhile back I was wanting him to clean out his side of the closet, and go through all the junk on the floor under where his clothes hang. Of course he thinks he needs to save everything.

     Well now to update that post. Since then my dh has went through his clothes but he still kept a lot of it that we should have gotten rid of. He kept some shirts that he had from  when he worked at the hardware store 6 or 7 years ago. He had like at least 10 of those shirts. He still kept some other junk that I thought he should have gotten rid of. Well that part of the closet he did finally a few months ago. Finally last week he went through some of the junk that was on the floor under where his clothes hang, he didn't get rid of much. He kept things like computer games that he never plays anymore, and I haven't even seen him play in the year we've been married, let along bring them downstairs to make it look like he might be playing them. Then of course he stuffed all that junk that he decided to keep back on the floor in our closet right where it was. I had asked him orignally to put what he wanted to keep in a box and put it in the attic with the rest of the junk that he refused to get rid of when I tried to clean out the attic. In that area he has some pink piggy slippers that he had when he was like 10 or so. A bunch of old photo frames that we'll never use. And who knows what else is in there.  Yesterday I was looking for some stuff on an inssurance claim that I need to dispute. DH has this drawer in his dresser that he uses for paid bills. Well, I thought that he had enough sense to shred them when after a year. Well of course not! I found old bill copies from 1996 and pay stubbs from 1995. Today I broke out the shredder that was dh's before we got married that he has probably had since the portable shredder was invented! This thing is an antique almost! But I do have to admit it does work pretty good for being as old as it is. I spent hours this morning sorting through bill copies to keep and to shred. I even found old reciepts and bank statements from 1995-97. I don't know what on earth possesed him to keep all that forever. I am still not done. I started at 5:30 am stopped at 7:30 am and started again an hour later and stopped after an hour and a half and started again for 30 an hour ago, and I am still not finished! Then once I tackle that job I will be investing in a file box or something of the sort to keep everything organized and up to date. I don't know how anyone lives like that. I mean it's not just himself he keeps everything for. He does it with the kids. He thinks he needs to save all the kids school work. Yeah I could see doing it for kindgarten and cute things in preschool and other grades or something really hard on that they did really good on. But he saves everything. Finally I had to put my foot down, and tell him we can't save everything the kids do. So about half way through the school year he stopped having my stepson whom is in 1st grade save all his work. It was so bad with my step kids clothes that I don't think he had gone through the kids drawers since they were wearing a size 3T because in both drawers I found clothes that small and a few even smaller and neither of them are even remotely close to that size! Of course DH was more than willing to let me go through the kids clothes and get rid of stuff that didn't fit. That 's because it didn't belong to him! I don't even think that's the case though becasue when it came time to get rid of some of the toys they don't play with anymore he was worse than the kids themselves! I am having a Yard sale the first weekend in June Dh will be at work I think I might just get rid of some of his stuff that really needs to go then! Heck I don't think he'll ever know anyway!
 

[JessecaLynn]

May. 19, 2007 at 2:46 PM Our hubbys are very similar.  It is such a chore to have hime get rid of things.  I got rid of some of his old clothes for a yard sale and during the sale he was out there saying, when did I get rid of that?  So silly.  It runs in his family, irritating.

[smiley_netta]

May. 19, 2007 at 6:35 PM Wow. That, sadly, sounds a lot like me...I'm the packrat in our marriage...DH moved a lot as a kid, so his mom had it down to a science....she set out three boxes. One was junk/trash/stuff to get rid of, a box for memorablia, and a box for everything in between....once that was all sorted, you went through the 2 non-junk boxes again...if there was stuff that hadn't been used or worn in a month or more, it was gone. End of story. Unless it was something for collection's sake. (Unopened toys to accrue interest down the road, etc.) I had to get rid of SO much stuff when we moved in together, even more when we had our first baby (had to clean out the room full of boxes for the baby's room!) and again when we moved, and while I was unpacking, I got rid of even MORE stuff, and now that I'm re-packing to move again....you guessed it. Getting rid of even more. It's crazy how much random STUFF, junk really, we end up with, and not even just me! I've gone through my boys' toys multiple times....