If you walk into a room and ask for a hoarder, that would be me. The only reason I stopped hoarding badly was that I stumbled on a blog post a few years ago and I learned hoarding is bad for us. So I had to learn to let go of certain things even though I felt as though I am going to need them.
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If this topic came right before I moved into my new apartment then it would have had lots of pictures to share. Although, I did try to do away with some things in my last apartment, they say, old habits die hard, so I did have a few things that I dreaded throwing out.
This year, I wanted to start afresh and pick up the pieces of my life so I had no choice but to throw some of those things I hoarded last year away.
But... There is still one thing I don't throw and my friend keeps telling me the letters will wipe off after a while and I don't want to listen. That's my receipts.
I keep track of all of my spending so I have a receipt bag where I keep all of my receipts. Throughout last year, I was always paranoid about carrying cash around so I had my debit card and I bought things in places that accepted payment through the point of sale (PoS).
I hoard receipts and I keep telling myself it's because I want to be able to track where my money goes which is a good thing. The only thing is that I barely find the time to track these things until when I want to buy a certain thing again, and I needed to plan for it. To determine the exact amount of money I need to either save or take out of my account for that item, I'll ransack my receipt bag for the last purchase and I'll have my answer.
But there was this one time when my receipt-hoarding habit paid off. I walked into my regular Pharmacy to buy my Margraine drugs and I found a new face on the counter. On this day, I had cash, so I decided to use it. Once I handed him my money and he brought out my balance, I hesitated to collect it. When he asked why, I told him he was overcharging me for that particular purchase and that I recently made a purchase.
He argued that the price had gone up and I questioned how it was possible to be an increment in price within 48 hours of buying that same drug. Before I knew it he started arguing and became aggressive. That was when I remembered I still had the receipt for my last purchase and I was carrying the same bag. I dipped my hands into my bag and brought out the receipt to prove to this guy that he is about to swindle me.
When he saw the receipt and confirmed the name of the pharmacy and the price, he started fidgeting and began to tell me it was an old price but that he will run it through the system to confirm. I stood in awe as I watched him boot the system to confirm the price of my drug. I wondered why he did not do that before until I provided my proof. By the time the system was done loading, he placed the stamped part of the drug on the sensor, which read the price and revealed it on the screen. It turns out I was right. My receipt saved me a couple of changes that I used for other useful things.
So at this point, my hoarding habit did save me money and once I got home, I quickly told my friend. The image of my receipts above is stacked up so you wouldn't feel the weight of those papers but if I did decide to sit down one day and add them up, I'll be able to tell with accuracy how much I spend in the last 1 and half years. But then I still have my bank statements as a backup for any cent I might miss.
However, I have a different way of keeping memories of things without hoarding them the way I do with my receipt. As you already know the reason I leave receipts flying around is so I can reference them when I want. So, for the rest of the things I would love to figure out how some details, and take a photo.
For instance, when I wanted to throw away my perfume bottles and deodorants while packing, I decided to snap them so that I can always find the exact one in the store when I need to replace them.
Secondly, when I visited a doctor to talk about my headaches and migraine and he recommended a drug. I took a picture so I can always show it to the pharmacist every time I finished the packs. This helped me not struggle to remember the name because the images will always come to my rescue.
When my friend gave me money to buy a new shoe, I didn't know why I took a picture but today I am grateful I did because right now, one of the Burberry logos is gone. But I still have the picture so I can always remember what the shoe looked like when I first got it.
There was this one time I got really sick and all my medications weren't working. The night my friend brought the drugs for me I took a picture of one of the tablets. The memory stayed with me and it helped when I complained to a different doctor. He asked what medication I was on, and all I did was sent the picture to him.
I wanted to keep track of the carbonated drinks I took within a certain period. I took a picture. Then I sent the bottles away to a neighbor of mine who had great use for them.
I never threw those bottles away, I hoarded them even though I had no use for them. Until, when she told me she had use for them, I started saving the bottles for her. But to keep track of them, I take pictures right before I send them off.
When my dad showed me a vitamin that was so tasty and nice and I thought this would help curb my intake of carbonated drinks or even replace them. I took a photo.
To keep track of the difference between mackerel products and prices difference, I took a picture.
There are so many pictures and memories that I can't even share them all in one post. Those pictures are the reasons I do not have enough space on my phone anymore. I have lots of them. And there are always times I will race back to them and reference whatever it was I wanted to.
The good thing about all of these pictures is that I not only get to save space, but I am also able to create memories too. Looking back at those pictures I'll always remember the circumstances around them and why I had the pictures taken. So I'll throw away whatever I snapped knowing that it's saved on my phone. This way I had fewer things or clutter in my house and if you visit, you'll always be welcomed to a neat, warm, and cozy house whenever you visit.
Ps: all images are mine except the ones that are sourced.