Yes, I also personally have what I call superstitions. Since I'm religious in an extremely (I believe) sensible way, it's very ridiculous when I catch myself at it.
I mean, I cannot really make it rain and screw up our weekly hike by washing all the dirty dishes on Tuesday. You can't believe how I rationalize just leaving them. Just until evening though.
Hoarding, big yupperooni on that one. My aunt Jo (grandmother's sister) had boxes of personal supplies and various small food staples when we cleaned out her house. I mean, seriously. My mom did not have to purchase toiletries or spices for five YEARS.
And my mom, herself, will not throw away any scrap of schoolwork, or artwork, or baby stuff, or Halloween costumes, or any tiny bit of cloth she's amassed over fifty years as a semi-professional seamstress. I believe there's about 200 boxes of textile scraps stashed here and there, alone.
In the old house, the kids rooms were starting to get used for "temporary storage." this house is four times as large and there's boxes in the hallway.
It's not cats though. And mom cleans this house pretty well. :O
And I'm not free of the family curse either. I have to check carefully on a regular basis with an inventory app I keep, to ensure that perception that we need something, checks with reality!! Every now and then hubby will say, "No more toothbrushes! We have PLENTY!" Oops.
For a while I did struggle with the animal hoarding syndrome. I was right on the edge. The key to that, I believe, for most people I know, is the idea that the animal couldn't be happy anywhere else.
Like other OCD issues, it's a control thing. Once I saw that, I started reining in the activities that were tempting me to be a hero just once more, and work on my control issues.
I'm down 45 sheep, 30 ducks, and 5 dogs. What's here will be here until natural attrition takes over, at this point. I still look like a crazy dog lady with 11 dogs, but everything's clean and no one's eating anybody else, like you see in those Animal Cops cases. Eww.
