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My husband is on his way to becoming a full blown hoarder.  The combination of an empty nest freeing up space and our reaching a point where we have more disposable income for shopping is making our home cluttered and for me, claustrophobic.  We have a car that has not run since 2003, but we still license and insure it because it is parked in the driveway.  A junked version of the same model sits in the garage as a parts car.  We have 16 racing slicks from a car that we sold 3 years ago.  He used to work in a body shop and brought home parts taken off wrecked cars that he thinks are still usable.  These take up an entire section of the basement.   He has replaced engines and transmissions in several of our vehicles over the past 30 years yet keeps broken ones saying he wants to tear them down to see what failed and if there are usable parts.  We also have a motorcycle that hasn't run since 1987.   He hangs onto old catalogs, brochures, magazines, personal papers, etc., yet doesn't see a problem because our house isn't as bad as those seen on the TV shows.  I see us headed in that direction if we don't get a handle on things. We can't eat at the dining room table.  The floor of our home office is completely covered with stuff.  Stuff is piled in the living room. Our daughter has stated that when our infant grandson becomes mobile, it won't be safe for him to be at our house.   I want to address it, but as a spouse, it is hard. Coming home to clutter is overwhelming.  I either avoid going home or just shut down, unable to do anything.  Any push to get organized will require a huge proportion of the effort from me, because he doesn't see the severity of the problem or he will be resistant to my efforts.   I'm trying to get him to think about why he keeps this stuff...writing in chalk on the tires "why are we keeping these" or on the parts car "you can't work on our other cars when it rains because this car takes up the garage."   Will I be able to sustain the effort?   I've seen where this can lead.  His uncle's house did get as bad as those on TV...I can't live like that. 

posted 2 years, 9 months ago
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