Have you ever seen the TV show called “Hoarders”? Now in its third season, it appears on the A & E channel and was nominated for an Emmy in 2011. The show has chronicled the lifestyles and homes of dozens of people whose accumulation of stuff morphed into serious packrat problems and then morphed some more into full-scale hoarding. Don’t watch the show if you don’t have a strong stomach. Junk is piled so high that people can no longer get to their stoves or sinks.

Have you ever seen the home of a hoarder? I have been in two, plus a couple sad places inhabited by cat ladies. Several times I have helped relatives clean out homes where a sudden death left that massive chore to survivors. I am still amazed at how much stuff can be crammed even into a little place.

I am not proud to admit that I have hoarding streaks in me, at very least serious packrat issues. I own thousands of books, more than I could ever read. Why? Why do I still have my childhood stamp collection, even though I was told long ago that philately as an investment has collapsed and the stamps are worth not a penny more than the face value? I don’t even know if I can use those plate blocks for postage any more—there isn’t enough space even on a business-size envelope to get enough of those commemoratives on the front to get the postal service to move it.

Why do people clutter their houses with too much stuff? I have some guesses:

• They live in an old fear of scarcity. They are afraid that if they waste what little they have, they will suffer want. Their lives seem like a zero sum game;
• They are fearful of the future and take excessive comfort in old magazines, old newspapers, old pictures, and old keepsakes;
• They can’t stop grieving the loss of a parent or spouse and take great pains to preserve all of the material possessions of the departed loved one;
• They have trouble feeling loved by people and find a return for their affection by their pets, especially cats. More cats, more love.

I know I need to travel lighter. It’s a new year—time for a new attitude.

How about you? Are you a pitcher or a packrat?