Does Spender equal Hoarder?

I tend to think of hoarding as a disgusting, filled-to-the-rafters mess, with goat trails through piles and boxes showing dirty carpet. But really, hoarding is very American. We've been groomed to be consumers. The average home has perhaps millions of ridiculous little items (items of all shapes and sizes) and a correlative amount of either debt or very little savings. Most likely both. (For the sake of this, let's leave your virtual money 401Ks out of this. The practicality of whether you may or may not ever see that money, I'll approach another day. Obviously, it is a wealth builder for some.) 

Savings - whether it be an emergency fund to cover life's little emergencies or a healthy wad in your bank used for things you might want or need - is actually something I never really had in my life until I got older and wiser. And still, it's something I currently desire more than any one thing. This year's main focus will be to save money. Literally. 

Not to WORSHIP money. That's a whole other topic. Just to have a healthy relationship with it. I feel we've begun a healthier approach to our finances in the last decade or two. We have paid off our home. My grown daughter's family lives with us and pays our utilities. So aside from a few bills, and those annoyingly always-larger-than-I-think credit card balances, Bill and I have acquired a pretty easy financial life. Maybe so easy as to put us in a state called 'flabby'. Yes, that's a good word. My spending, rather than lean and mean, is flabby. Unconscious. Indulgent. Careless. Reckless even.

Ergo, a No Buy Year sounded like just the ticket to become more conscious, more careful and hopefully, a tad wealthier. Bill and I will be married for 25 years in 2025 and it would be very nice to take a lovely vacation for that anniversary. While also starting to work again in a new office sheshed. Or at least planning one out.

So, where does hoarding come in? Well, let's start with all the money spent on all those things, just to be confrontational. 

I think one of the reasons we freeze when delving into our extra things is simply to not face the healthy shame of realizing that we've wasted so much time and money on all of this stuff.

So yes. In a lot of ways, spender equals hoarder.

I've been holding off decluttering my kitchen. So for awareness sake, this helps me turn over a new leaf. I will repeat. I have enough. I have enough. 

I have enough.