Celebrate Pack Rat Day Every May 17

• By NSC
• 2 Comments.

 

 

On May 17 people who keep stuff that might be useful some day unite to celebrate their quirks on Pack Rat Day.

Most people probably have at least some pack rat tendencies. Even you!

Now don’t deny it. You’ve really never kept something because you thought it could be useful in the future? Not even something related to a favorite hobby (current or planned)?

Thought so! ;)

We don’t know who created this day or when. But we’ll bet it was a pack rat who was proud of it.

 

Is Pack Rat Day Celebrating Mental Illness?

Umm. No, we don’t think so.

Experts do believe extreme hoarding involves mental illness. But extreme hoarders seem to think everything might be useful some day. That includes broken appliances, outdated electronics and decades worth of newspapers piled high everywhere.

Extreme hoarders’ homes eventually become unsafe, with barely enough room to move. We agree we shouldn’t celebrate that.

But your average pack rat? Now, we’re not psychiatrists or psychologists, but we don’t think most pack rats have a mental illness. More like too many plans and not enough time to do them all (or even half of them!).

At least, lots of plans & little time is our excuse for pack-rattiness.

Yep, the mind behind NonStop Celebrations is a pack rat mind!

We store too many potential craft supplies. Also clippings from newspapers, magazines etc.We want to have the information in them handy for planned websites (HA! Like those’ll ever happen).

We’re digital pack rats, too: Notes & bookmarks, also for research for those planned websites.

(Hey! They might happen!)

But we’ve also thrown out plenty of old and/or broken appliances and electronics without a single regret. And we only save newspaper clippings. Not entire newspapers.

We even purge occasionally.

Can pack rats turn into hoarders? Maybe. We’re not sure.

But as long as we’re limiting our pack rat behavior to a few categories of stuff—and it’s not taking over our homes—we’re not going to worry.

Scroll down for some ideas on celebrating this unofficial and cluttered holiday.

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Ideas For Celebrating Pack Rat Day

Ok, assuming you and your loved ones are just garden variety pack rats, there’s no reason you can’t have fun with this day.

The way we see it, you can go one of two ways with Pack Rat Day.

Embrace the stuff or toss the stuff.

 

Embrace The Stuff

Before throwing anything away today, try to think of at least three potential uses for it. The wackier the better!

That empty toilet paper roll could be:

• A cat toy (not really too crazy; lots of cats like playing with this kind of thing)
• A cord organizer (actually kind of useful; either wrap the cord around the outside or through the center to keep it tangle-free)
• Wall art (sounds wacky, but check out these amazing art projects made with toilet paper rolls!)

 

If you come up with something you’ll actually do soon, keep the item. Not “someday,” but really and truly soon. Set a deadline!

Otherwise laugh at your ideas & toss the item.

For more ideas on how to use everyday things in creative ways, check out these books from Reader’s Digest:

• Extraordinary Uses for Ordinary Things: 2,317 Ways to Save Money and Time
• More Extraordinary Uses for Ordinary Things: 1,715 All-New Uses for Everyday Things

 

Toss The Stuff

Another option is to use the day to recognize your pack-ratiness and the need to purge occasionally. This day can be your annual purge!

Go through your collection of “stuff to use someday” and get rid of anything that’s more than a couple years’ old or that you now recognize you’re never really going to use. Be honest!

Then organize what you have left. Because face it, you’re more likely to actually use some of that stuff if you can find it easily later.

If you need ideas for how to purge and organize, you’ll find plenty of books on decluttering and organizing.

Then you need some organizers to keep your stuff neat. The kind you need will depend on what you’re storing. So always do the purge first and then evaluate what you have left before buying storage!

Ok, now you have some ideas for how to celebrate Pack Rat Day. So get to it!

 

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