I am somewhat of a hoarder.

I don't even like pronouncing that word:

Hoarder...HoOoOOrRrrRrRDoOoOOORrrrrr...xd

And while it may not be to the extent of the people on the show "Hoarders,"

it still poses a problem for my storage space.

It may have stemmed from my upbringing of making sure not to waste anything.

Why?

Because you've saved money that way.

Mmhm.

Yeah, genius.

My parents always told me to finish my food.

If there was one or two pieces left of that longanisa,

"Someone better be finishing that either now or tomorrow when you pack it for lunch when you go to school.

I don't care if the kids make fun of you just 'cause you're not eating some lame-ass lunchables."

And that was the mindset I grew up with:

if you have something you don't need at the moment,

you'll probably need it later.

Better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.

I used to have a bunch of plushies that I've accumulated throughout my childhood

I had them all on display on my headboard shelf

But once I hit university I thought,

"Maybe it's time to retire these"

Except this one... I like this one

But I also thought, "These hold a special place in my heart"

"Maybe I'll save them until I get married and have kids and then I'll just give it to them!"

Therefore I'll save money by not having to buy new toys,

and assume that my unpredictable kids want my old ones.

Maybe one or two years pass and I find out my parents donated them without my acknowledgment.

I was a *little* sad,

but then I remembered that a lot of them were gifts from exes, so...

I got over it eventually.

Ok hold on, question for you guys:

Do you keep gifts from exes?

I know a lot of people like to purge everything they owned that reminded them of a preceding partner,

but I found myself keeping a lot of the things I got,

more so if they were functional.

But even if they were aesthetic like a ring or a bracelet,

I kept them too.

I didn't keep them to honor the gifter,

but simply because I thought it looked nice on me.

Is...is that weird?

Some people find that weird, but here is my opinion:

if you gave me something,

you've relinquished your ownership

and have transfered it to me.

It is now my possession.

And whether or not it means something deeper or more sentimental, is up to me alone

and no one else.

There was one time I got out of a relationship

of which I obtained a certain accessory.

I eventually met another girl whom I was getting to know

And during that time I've already moved on from my ex.

Like one hUNDEHRED PURR-SCENT.

Anyway, I often wore this Tungsten ring that was given to me by the aforementioned ex.

And the girl brought it up and asked where I got it.

Before I answered I already predicted the kind of response I would get.

So I tried to explain how it didn't mean anything and I just simply liked the ring.

Well she proceeded to deny my claim and tried to convince me I still had underlying feelings for my ex.

Bitch. You. Don't. Know. Me!

She was very upset.

And I understood why she would assume that and I was willing to stop wearing the ring if I knew it upset her,

but she just wouldn't trust my feelings

I didn't know how else to convince her otherwise.

Partially bad move of my end, I admit,

but the ring was technically mine, I just happened to obtain it from an ex

If she'd prefer I'd wear something that honored her, then she was welcome to get me something.

For me sentiment overrides aesthetic.

We weren't exactly dating but if a new partner got me a new ring

even if they didn't get the right size,

I'll still wear it over the old one

Anyway back to hoarding,

I'd say it was much worse when I was younger.

I used to find random crap on the ground that I thought could be purposed for something else.

I may not know that purpose at the moment, but I believed I would later

Do you guys remember...

Beyblades?

I mean they're still around, but when they were the new fad at every school

I used to find little metal pieces on the floor

*because I looked at the ground a lot when I walked around as a kid*

but I would always try and modify my Beyblades with these pieces

Granted, they may have made my tops a little more dangerous than they already were,

but I had a lot of fun customizing it with the trash that I found,

which I turned into my treasure.

But even after the Beyblade hype I still kept all those metal pieces in a box...

...that's probably still somewhere in my parent's basement.

The same goes for cosplay,

which is odd for me, because I don't even cosplay that often.

But I'd find random things where I think:

"Hmm this might be useful for a future cosplay >;)"

For example my sister would walk into my room and would be like,

"Hey I found Velcro, do you need Velcro?"

And I'd be like, "No not at the moment, but I'll take it."

But the thing is, by the time I did need that Velcro *years* later,

I've already misplaced it--

and I would have to dig through boxes and bags of other hoarded objects

And if I needed that Velcro in a rush, I'd probably just buy new Velcro.

And then I'm just left with that lone-wolf Velcro that's somewhere in the house,

probably met up with the Beyblade pieces and became friends, because they had a common abandon-er

*Sigh*

♪ I've got T-shirts and posters a-plenty ♪

♪ I've got headphones and coupons galore ♪

♪ You want charging cables that don't work anymore? ♪

♪ I've got twenty ♪

♪ But who cares? ♪

♪ No big deal ♪

♪ I want MOREEEEEEE ♪

♪ But I probably shouldn't, because my condo has limited space ♪

The way I got around this was simple:

clean up every now and then.

"Oh my goodness Dom, you're a freaking genius"

"We're in 2017 while you in 3017"

I tend to keep a lot of the original boxing or packaging of products I bought,

thinking I might sell them on Craigslist someday

but really I know I'd be too lazy to do that, so I should just recycle them.

If there are clothes at the end of the closet or at the bottom of the pile in my drawers that I haven't worn in a year,

then it was probably time to retire them.

Donate them, something, just give them up.

I know it sounds easy on paper, but personally

if I don't use an item on a regular basis, then it's probably better that someone else does.

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