So I don't know what started it, but I love shopping... especially for deals. The high of coming home, unloading your stuff, and looking at what you got for such a low amount of money is just awesome! Unfortunately, I used to be bad about sticking to just what I needed...
About 5 years ago, I started compulsively shopping for bargains. "DVDs for $4! I'll get 15!" Seriously. I'm not happy getting one book for $1... I have to pick up 65 (yes, that has actually happened). You don't even know how overboard I went when a local used book store shut down and sold its' wares for .50 each. And then there was the craigslist posting for 1,000 FREE books.... my book collection is seriously out of control. In my dream home, complete with the two story library, it would work well... in my 1,000 square foot home, not so much. The worst purchases, though, were the ones that we haven't even used yet!
Two years ago we moved from our tiny, 500-600 square foot apartment to our new house... we barely had any furniture at the time. It took us less than a year to fill it up! No, we aren't made of money, which is why this was a problem.
Since late last year I've really made an effort to curb these tendencies. I still try to save as much as possible... nothing like the thrill of a good bargain... but I try to keep myself in check. Will I ever use this? Is this something that I have the space to store until I will need it? Is this something I can re-sell if I determine that I don't need it?
My only problem right now is sorting the stuff that I've already accumulated. Last month, we had a series of three yard sales and we were able to get rid of a lot of stuff that we weren't using. I still have things left over from the yard sales that I'm in the process of listing on craigslist... and we have a pile of stuff for donation. Slow, baby steps are my solution for managing the stuff.
I've been participating in a thread in the Amazon Gold Box Forum called "hoarding, disorganized, OCD -- HELP!" and it's been really insightful to read about other people's struggles with clutter. If anyone else is having trouble managing stuff, I'd highly recommend the thread here. It's great to have a support group for shop-a-holics, hoarders, and accumulators.
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