There's No Garbage, Only Resources

Some hoarders report seeing material objects, no matter how lowly, in a different way than most people. An 'adjusted' person can toss an empty paper coffee cup aside without a thought, while the hoarder would agonize over this same simple act. The hoarder knows the cup is still useful, so can't throw it away. I fall somewhere in between these two extremes.

Where I fall, though, is more toward the hoarders way of seeing things. I cringe when people throw away perfectly good items. Where most people see garbage, waste, and refuse, I see gifts, wonder, and resources. I am an excellent candidate for hoarderism.

In truth, though, I could never be a hoarder because I ruthlessly limit what enters my home. Last week a neighbour stopped by to say she was moving out soon. She invited me over to see if there was any furniture or household items that she could give me. Free.

"No", I said almost immediately, "there is nothing that I need, but thank you very much for the offer."

Not only am I not buying anything, but you can't even GIVE me anything any more. I don't want it, I don't need it. I am achieving a steady state where I am satisfied with my quality of life, and my quantity of stuff. Steady as she goes.

But stuff still manages to get into my house, mostly as packaging in my groceries. Plastic mesh bags for example. My inner hoarder will not let me throw them away - they are resources. I enjoy challenging myself to see what kind of creative uses I can come up with for such items.

I found several uses for the mesh bags:

• suet feeders for the birds
• bottle washer made from a short, straight stick with the plastic mesh on one end
  
• hangers to get onions, bananas, and tomatoes off my small counter tops - I hang them from under my upper cupboards
• folded into dish and/or vegetable scrubbers
• soap holder to reduce soap slime in the dish
• you can pull them over your head and face without suffocating
• and, you can use a mesh bag to hold all your mesh bags

Now if I could just figure out what to do with all that belly button lint.