When does being frugal/thrifty turn into hoarding?

I would say it is a bad thing as soon as it turns obsessive, and that it takes too much of your time, or you feel bad as soon as you throw something out. If being thrifty gets in the way of your life in general, you have a problem. It should really be a part of your life, not your general way or life or purpose in life!

Hi speakeasy - an interesting discussion. I think being frugal is alright. It makes sense to be a hoarder sa well in your country I suppose. Out here, it doesnt. We have everything available at walking distances. Out there it would be difficult to do it. So may be some people turn into hoarders as it would require them to search a lot for same thing, or be expensive. It depends upon personal requirements, where the person stays, income of the person, etc. In my case, keeping somethings even for a six months may amount to hoarding. :) (I hoard soaps - they are given free with toilet cleaners, I cant use up as many). :)

Frugality becomes hoarding when it interferes with the functioning of your day to day life. If you cannot sit on the sofa, or walk through the house for the stuff that is there, it is hoarding, even if it happens to be "good" stuff. I have to fight this battle with myself, to some degree, and with every member of my family. I am ready to turn loose of some stuff, and organize the rest, but sometimes I cannot get any cooperation.

It's a matter of what your holding on to. The dirty paper plate with leftovers from last weeks lasagna dinner that's been sitting on the counter does not need to be saved. The half eaten apple stuffed between the sofa cushions doesn't need to be kept either. Hoarders tend to form some weird emotional attachment to their junk. They literally bury themselves under litter because they can't let go of anything.

there is a difference between hoarding and being thrifty i think. the difference is being thrifty is saving money, looking for the best deals etc but hoarding is just keeping anything and everything.

I agree that holding on to filthy things such as plates and things is bad. But there are some people who hold on to things that eventually get dirty and they can't afford to clean them. Yet, the things are worth something. I collect coins, stamps, books, and other things. Most of my stuff is in storage. I also have some collectibles and am afraid that because of all the stuff I've saved, the "money" things might be thrown away when I die. I also have a habit of saving all paper trails such as bills. One reason I do it is because some folks have a tendency to approach you years later and say you haven't paid for this or that. I hate having a lot of junk in my place. But some things must be done. As for hoarding, I know if they do right, my loved ones will be able to cash in on what I've saved.

I think collections are OK and I think they can be great hobbies. I think it really starts to become a problem when you're constantly going out and looking for things to buy. It becomes a 'need' instead of a want to go out and add to your collection or to save a little bit of money. I like saving money but I don't go and buy something simply because it's on sale and I have a coupon. I use coupons for the things that I need and use. Nothing more.

when your on that tv show.

I know this topic all too well. My grandfather was a huge hoarder. Everything from chicken wires, to old cars (that do not run, rusted out buckets), to paint that is years old. My mother also has the same disease. It is a mental illness that has affected my entire family. It got so bad at one point that we gave her a set date she had to get rid of it. She saved alot of things over the years and some things she didnt know she had. Being thrifty/frugal is that same thing. But some people who are being frugal/thrifty aren't so bad. It's the ones who are hanging onto clothing that they haven't worn in 6+ months. They even say that you should clean your dressers and closets every 6 months and get rid/donate the stuff that you are not using. There are people who will save napkins, ketchup, mustard, relish packets etc, newspapers etc and it just keeps piling up. That is just too excessive for me. Yeah I would save a few things but not it all. Newspapers do add up pretty fast as well as fast food condiments as well if you eat out enough. Thankfully my mom is slowly turning around and we have actually watched what she buys and we give her an allowance. There has been lots of wasted money through the years as she has clearly seen while cleaning this stuff up.

It is good to be frugal and thrifty at the same time. Some people are just tired of having old and used things around them. But personally, i am fond of saving useful or recyclable things. Those boxes, cans etc that can be use for anything else were save but i use them . I do not just put them in the corner.

Being frugal or thrifty is not really the same thing as hoarding I don't think. Hoarders have a lot of things they don't need while someone who is thrifty might not throw away some old clothes but they don't continue to buy clothes too. I believe that some people who collect things are would be hoarders, too.

LOL...I still have to insist that frugality saves money, hoarding saves stuff. When I think of hoarding, I think of the old woman in "Labyrinth". If you've seen that movie, you'll know what I mean. This woman carried all sorts of stuff strapped to her back, so much that she was bent over like an old crone. She was handing the girl things, "Oh, you need your teddy bear!" "Oh, you can't go without this pretty little mirror." That sort of thing. Finally the girl stopped her and said, "This is all just stuff!" When we collect stuff it clutters our lives and we get devastated when we lose our "stuff"...such as in a fire or earthquake. Amassing stuff weighs us down and diminishes our freedom. Being frugal, on the other hand frees us and makes it possible to enjoy life to its fullest because we have to evaluate our own priorities in order to know what we can do without. I am extremely frugal but have never saved anything that I don't use on a regular or at least semi-regular basis. My resources are extremely limited so I don't spend money on things that many do regularly, such as cable TV or a new car. Being frugal is finding stuff that you can make do with and throwing out stuff that has no value. Frugality helps the savings account grow. Hoarding crowds your home with things that you never use. I recycle all the time. In fact, if I'm out on a walk and find cans or bottles that I know I can turn in at the store for cash, I collect them...but then I turn them in for the cash. I don't save newspapers because there is nowhere nearby to turn them in to recycle. The bottom line is, do the things you are saving get used or not? Do they help you live without spending your money or do they suck your savings dry? Frugality carried to the extreme is not hoarding, but being miserly. The two words, Frugal and Hoard are not even synonyms.

lol... God this reminds me so much of my mom! She didn't threw away/donate all of our used clothing, and other random things. They just stay in the mini garbage pool in our house, aka the attic. :( I guess it becomes so bad when you begin to hoard lots of irrelevant things. Instead of recycling, it just makes more garbage inside the house. I really hate it when that happens.

think it is a personal thing. In my opinon, when someone is being frugal/thrifty , his actions do not affect you. But when the same person is said to be hoarding, his actions can affect you directly/indirectly