Happy Pack Rat Day!

May 17th...  Who would have thought that the perfect "holiday" for me would be today?  The "holiday" that I am speaking of is "National Pack Rat Day."  I am an admitted pack rat.  I don't know how I became a pack rat but I suspect that growing up with a grandmother who lived through the depression and kept everything contributed a bit to that.  I remember one year for Halloween, she made a costume out of "recycled" material and called herself the "garbage queen."

I think that a part of being a pack rat is my "obsession" with recycling.  I always seem to think that something can be reused or repurposed another way.  I hate waste and my recycling bin is always overflowing with things.  Oftentimes, my recycling bin is overflowing while my trash bin has barely anything in it.  I also compost a lot of things rather than have it go to the garbage can.

I am also obsessed with taking pictures.  I'll take pictures of everything and anything as a way to "keep" the memory.  Heck, I think I started this blog just so I can keep track of all of my favorite links and thoughts.  You never know when this stuff will come in handy...

I know that I am a "compulsive hoarder" and freely admit it.  I can't watch the show "Hoarders" because I can easily see myself heading down that road if it weren't for my husband.  My husband is the complete opposite of me.  He throws everything away and is a real minimalist.  I think I had to marry someone like that or I could have easily ended up being featured on that television show.  I take solace knowing that even celebrities like Delta Burke and others suffer from compulsive hoarding.

My only fear about my hoarding is that my children will end up being hoarders.  I think most compulsive hoarders had a family member that was a hoarder.  My husband is determined to not let that happen.  He keeps me in check by cleaning and "purging" frequently.  He purged a bunch of stuff this weekend to make room for the new baby.  I couldn't have done it.  Luckily, today I have an excuse to not throw anything away in honor of this "holiday."