Collecting versus Hoarding Research reveals that 1 in 4 people involve themselves in collecting some sort of item of interest. This isn’t surprising as we often tend to engage ourselves in collecting items such as stamps, coins, figurines, curios and other items. Consider this situation. You have several shelves in your personal library stacked with video game CDs. Additionally; you have some unsorted and age-old CDs lying in several boxes in the storeroom. Is it hoarding? The answer is no. Then, where to draw the line between a collection and a hoard? Both involve buying lots of stuff and storing them. Upon careful comparison of both situations,
we
realise
that
the
difference has to do much of what is going
inside
individuals.
the
mind
of
the
Collecting
Hoarding
When a person collects items of a When a person hoards items of a particular sort, s/he finds immense particular sort, there is momentary satisfaction from doing so, due to a sense satisfaction of not stashing items that of pride it brings. For example, a stamp or needs to be stashed. However, the hoarder a coin collection is a matter of pride for its cannot take a sense of pride in this owners as it is an unique hobby, because collecting habit, as the items are of different types of stamps or coins are hard relatively insignificant value and only adds up to the clutter. to find in an e-commerce age. Collections do not impede person’s ability Hoarding impedes a person’s ability to to function successfully in life. The function successfully in life. A hoarder is collector is self-assured, entertains social not confident of him/her, resists social connections and organised in dealing with connections due to embarrassing clutter items.
and is obviously less organised in dealing with items. The clutter often takes over
functional living space. Collectors like to display or flaunt their Hoarders do not like to flaunt their collections due to the sense of pride they collections as it is basically clutter, which take in the time and energy they have nobody invested in collecting unique items.
is
fond
of. The
clutter
is
unsanitary and is not a pretty sight to look or even exist with, for the non-
hoarder. Like a hoarder, a collector would not be Hoarders cannot part with the items due able to part with items due to the deep to the failure of discarding the items they psychological attachment he has towards are obsessed with. They just cannot bring the item or the energy and time he themselves to make a resolute decision to invested in collecting. trash the items. Collections can be auctioned off for a Clutter has less or no value. It is trash. handsome price.
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