<p>Have you watched the show “Hoarders”?</p>
<p>I watched Hoarders once - Yikes! But if I moved out, that could become my husband…okay, maybe he wouldn’t fill the showers up with stuff, but I recognize the traits. All the stuff is such a psychological burden to me…nowhere to put things because every drawer and cabinet is filled with things that could be gotten rid of.</p>
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<p>That’s me. I think it comes from not having enough food growing up. I have this vague sense that leaving food on one’s plate is a grave injustice. I have recently started to realize that if I’m no longer hungry, then putting it in my stomach is no better than putting it in the garbage. It’s a struggle.</p>
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<p>Most of our grandparents raised their children during the Great Depression, so many went without. The thing is that both of my parents were very poor during the depression and they are NOT weird about food. My husband’s parents were not poor and did not do without food during the depression, but they’re the ones with compulsions to finish food. However, my FIL’s parents were food hoarders - when they moved into the home, their house was loaded with canned and boxed food.</p>
<p>My point is that many people carry a lot of psychologial baggage relating to food.</p>
<p>I did not read through all posts, but I would like you all to know what I tell people: “If I were thin, I’d be perfect, and everyone would hate me.” I think I will go have a cookie.</p>
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<p>You bet. My wife used to be a food hoarder. Our pantry was loaded with canned goods and boxed dry items. She would buy anything that was on sale “just in case”. Moving from a house with a basement to a two-bedroom apartment broke that habit; there’s just no place to put it anymore.</p>
<p>I admit I used to be that way about plants- I couldn’t toss plant if it was sick-wrong place, wrong plant.
( like I wouldn’t toss out leftovers, just stick them in the fridge until they spoiled, then I could throw them out)
Now I am more heartless.
When I was growing up, I was often hungry because I thought if I took less than I wanted or the smallest piece it would be noticed and my family/people would like me for my self sacrifice. :rolleyes:
Nobody noticed.
The plus side is, I never felt comfortable feeling stuffed, so am I satisfied with less food than some, I am just kinda picky about what it tastes like.</p>
<p>If somebody hates to throw food away (like my H and I), just pack lefover into container and stick it into freezer for lunches. We never have to buy food for lunch and we never eat sandwiches either, our freezer is full of leftovers for breakfast, lunch, snacks, all individually packed. Frozen bananas taste much better than popsicles at least according to my grandkids. Right before they go bad, I peel them and put each in individual container, yummm!</p>
<p>That’s true about folks raised in the depression hanging onto things because of the frugality aspect. My parents have tons & tons of stuff in their house & shed—you never know when you might need that unusable lawn mower, rusted hedge-clipper, etc. </p>
<p>I’m sure our generation will have our own set of quirks that our kids will laugh about (wait…I think we do…my son laughs over my techno-slowness regularly…and I’m not really even that bad…!).</p>
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<p>Or that wobby ladder that the neighbors threw away because it is too wobbly for safety…</p>
<p>Or a failed septic pump :rolleyes:</p>
<p>Or the paint-peeling window that I trash-picked from a neighbor in third grade…still propped behind the family shed when I graduated college.</p>
<p>After a while you just have to laugh . . .and tell yourself we’ve all got something going on!</p>
<p>The thing is, I think certain of the guys of past generations could actually* do *something with the failed septic pump - use the spare parts when they repaired the current pump, for example. My FIL really did collect old windows and doors and wood left when neighbors remodeled and used them to build a room. But my husband has the collecting things gene, but not the fixing/building things gene, so there it all exists, never to be used. (Oh, yeah, and the tomato cages. In 2001 we built a room where the garden used to be; in 2006 we put in a pool, so the entire yard is either pool or patio or landscaping…there will never be a garden again, but heaven forbid we get rid of the tomato cages…)</p>
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<p>^^ that’s my dad. 
It bugs my brother (“Why can’t he just throw it out??”) but I think, at 85, there’s not much you can do & you just better take it along w/the good qualities & remember that he put up w/us when we were young & irritating! LOL. Harder when it’s a hub, though!</p>
<p>My inlaws live on a farm where they have a warehouse. They don’t farm the land themselves, so the warehouse is chock full of the junk my FIL has collected over his lifetime. There’s even an ancient Lincoln Continential in there. Between the warehouse and the basement, it’s kind of fun to explore - but you never know if you’re going to find a wedding present that hasn’t been touched since 1954 or a dead mouse.</p>
<p>^^ too funny. My mom is a saint & role model to me in so many important ways. But, she kept (in labeled packages) every Christmas card she received for years & years. When I went to clean her house a few years ago, I kept find more & more packages (how far back does it all go??). It finally stopped…w/a package labeled 1959. Kind of cute, in a way.</p>
<p>The Lincoln Continental has them beat, though (it could just be space constraints that prevented something like that, though…).</p>
<p>Husband has saved every Christmas card we’ve received in our 20 years of marriage - even the ones with a preprinted signature, even the ones from our insurance guy. What makes someone do that?</p>
<p>The reality is that most fat people aren’t fat because they have thyroid problems. Most fat people are fat because they are addicted to food. Smokers, pill-poppers are all criticized too. It is also a problem. I am a smoker – if my throat hurts in the morning, it’s because I smoked the day before. It isn’t because of peer pressure, it isn’t because I’m secure, it is because I SMOKED. Fat people aren’t fat for many reasons beyond high caloric intake, and lack of exercise. It can be changed. My aunt has thyroid problems – she puts herself on a strict diet, eats raw, vegan, easily metabolized foods, and is normal weight. If you don’t want to be fat, watch what you put into your body. Stop making excuses. Diet. Exercise. Eat more vegetables, and stop eating so much heavily processed meat and dairy products.</p>
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<p>I am a huge fan of leftovers. And I’ve found that no matter how mushy and mixed-up they get, you can always make them palatable with a big slug of cayenne pepper.</p>
<p>Mantori, you and my H would get along great. If you lived near me, you could come over every two weeks ago and eat the contents of the fridge with him. But I don’t get the need to make leftovers “palatable” - we aren’t rich, but we aren’t starving. The body is the temple of God. Why put that three week old meatloaf in your mouth, even if you shake some cayenne pepper on it? It really is a deep seeded feeling that food is not to be wasted. Righteous in a way, but gross when it causes overeating or eating food on the verge of being spoiled.</p>