SOME people are hoarders but not all are the floor to ceiling clutter type seen on television shows.

I am 54 and had a large spare bedroom I used to store my ‘pack rat findings’.

Yes, past tense … had.

My eldest son is moving back home, he turns 30 next year and in his final years of a Doctor of Medicine degree.

I had to move everything out of that bedroom and into a much smaller one.

I discovered my husband was right and I am a hoarder.

Not one that lets vermin and food pile up because the room has always been clean, it was just very crowded.

I’d scurry through charity shops and craft stores picking out things to make this or that.

I put them into a cupboard, draw or tub and go about my day.

My hobbies are Lego, resin craft, making weird polymer clay creatures, painting, sketching and making miniature dioramas.

On one op shop visit I found an eight kilogram bag filled with tubes of good quality acrylic paint.

I already had a tub full of acrylic paint but I did not have this one so I bought it and pushed it into the cupboard in my room.

Yes, I pushed it ... the wardrobe was running out of space fast.

My husband brought home a large white tarp tip bag and put it on the deck.

It took three weeks to go through everything and I discovered a lot of it would never be used.

Seven huge tarp bags were taken to the tip and two carloads of donations were dropped off at the local charity shop.

I was astounded by the amount of unusable or unused items I’d been hanging on to.

I filled bag after bag and my husband did multiple tip runs.

“I can’t believe all that came from one room”, I exclaimed, and my husband said, “I can and it’s because you are a hoarder.”

Downsizing can be difficult when you are older and don’t want to see something you ‘could one day use’ discarded.

I saw it with my parents who shipped their possessions to the UK when they migrated from South Africa.

I saw it when they moved from their UK bungalow to a small annex at my sister and brother in-laws house.

To this day there are tubs and boxes full of their precious things stored in the stables at my sister’s house.

It is hard to let go but when you do and clutter is cleared, clarity and purpose return.

My diorama hobby’s bits and pieces are in labelled tubs.

My Lego collection is stored neatly again and I know where the silicone moulds are.

My plan is to avoid charity shops and craft stores (for now), and like my husband says, “if something comes in, something else has to go out”.