Anyone's SO a packrat??

[bluecandi]

Im an aspiring minimalist and Im married to a packrat!! I didnt used to be minimal but I am now (well......its a work in progress ) and his clutter drives me bananas!!! Just wondering if anyone else is in the same boat as me? What do you do to manage the different lifestyle choices? lol How can you peacefully coexist?

A year ago, I turned ALL of DH's clothes hangers backwards. I told him tonight that alllllll the things still turned backwards have been sitting there untouched for a year, and that he should consider getting rid of them. He said ok....so we will see if he follows through. I hope so.....he has more clothes than I do. lol

[Talia01]

Yep! My DH has a very hard time getting rid of anything that might be useful down the road...1day -50years down the road lol.
Earlier this year I took all of his clothing out and threw it on our bed. He realized that he had way more than needed including a lot of worn out, outdated stuff. Six black garbage bags later!
I now just donate things and don't even mention it. He has commented that he likes all the extra space noe and that it feels better in our house. He would rather I do the purging so that he doesn't have the guilt of getting rid of something potentially useful etc

[Skatha89]

My SO loves how minimalist homes look, loves that minimalist space clears my depression, but won't get rid of anything because we "might" need it one day and he doesn't want to replace it if we do.

[bluecandi]

Dh went through all his backwards hangers and got rid of 2 trashbags worth. Yaaaaaaaay!!!

[qsefthuko]

My husband has the packrat tendency. I bought 32 new glasses. They were being clearances for like 90% off the original price and were stackable. Since space is an issue in my kitchen I got rid of all the mismatched unstackable cups and glasses. I figured 32 glasses was more than sufficient for a family of five(I am factoring a lot extra to account for breakage.) my husband got upset when he found out I had gotten rid of the old cups. I did keep some large glass mugs because they are his favorite. One had a crack so I pitched it. He once again got mad and told me I need to ask permission before throwing out anything else. Not happening. I grew up with a genuine packrat. I refuse to live that way again. I get rid of things if they have not been used in the last 6 months and do not have a definite will be used on date like say snow shovels. I will keep those because though not used for 8 months they have a definite will be used by date.

[The3LittleBerkhs]

Yes I think it is hereditary: both my MIL and FIL are hoarders in denial!

My DH is understanding of my need to declutter our home and keep it that way, he just gets funny about his personal stuff, especially clothes.

We compromise though

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[rileykidmama]

If I had my way, we wouldn't even have furniture. My dh had hundreds of baseball cards, hundreds of books, and a lot of things that he hasn't used in years. I purge twice a year at least and only had to replace one thing I gave away of his. I do it when he's at work; he doesn't seem to miss what he doesn't know is gone.

[Bexo]

I wouldn't call my DH a "pack rat," but he definitely holds onto stuff and has a hard time getting rid of things...

After 8 years of marriage, I've found that allowing him to have his "man cave" in the house is a help...that is his space...I don't go in there and touch things, purge things, etc...and it's a relatively small room, so I figure it can't get too packed.

But he's pretty good throughout the rest of the house...

[BNC]

Originally Posted by Bexo I wouldn't call my DH a "pack rat," but he definitely holds onto stuff and has a hard time getting rid of things... After 8 years of marriage, I've found that allowing him to have his "man cave" in the house is a help...that is his space...I don't go in there and touch things, purge things, etc...and it's a relatively small room, so I figure it can't get too packed. But he's pretty good throughout the rest of the house...

We do this. He has an odd shaped storage space (an angled wall created it) that is about 4ft wide, 4ft deep but only 2ft tall. I wont touch anything he places in there. The rest of the house is fair game.