{"id":29085,"date":"2015-05-20T11:18:53","date_gmt":"2015-05-20T18:18:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsider.com\/?p=29085"},"modified":"2016-02-03T12:02:53","modified_gmt":"2016-02-03T19:02:53","slug":"7-signs-you-are-a-pack-rat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uhaul.com\/blog\/2015\/05\/20\/7-signs-you-are-a-pack-rat\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Signs You are a Pack Rat"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Signs<\/a>Definition<\/h3>\n

Pack rat (noun)<\/i>:\u00a0a person who saves unnecessary objects or hoards things<\/p>\n

Above is the definition of a pack rat. \u00a0For minimalists or people that have no problem getting rid of items, “unnecessary objects” are obvious and eliminated from the household. \u00a0For a pack rat or hoarder it becomes very difficult to identify what items are unnecessary. \u00a0Many people consider hoarding and a pack rat lifestyle the same thing, but that is not accurate. \u00a0According to Web MD<\/a>, hoarding can be identified\u00a0when a person loses the ability to function normally in one’s home. \u00a0A pack rat saves a lot of items that most would not keep based on an emotional attachment or the idea that you may want to re-use in the future and do not want to spend the money again. \u00a0If you think you may have a problem keeping things, read the signs below from Charles and Hudson<\/a>,\u00a0a web based magazine for home and DIY tips, to\u00a0see if you fit in the pack rat category. (flickr:\u00a0joeshlabotnik<\/a>\/via cc)<\/p>\n

7 Signs You are a Pack Rat<\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. Keeping old magazines or newspapers<\/li>\n
  2. Keeping clothes you don’t wear anymore<\/li>\n
  3. Storing broken electronics and appliances<\/li>\n
  4. Storing free swag<\/li>\n
  5. Every room becomes storage<\/li>\n
  6. Your car becomes storage<\/li>\n
  7. Your daily life is impacted<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Acceptance and Change<\/h3>\n

    \"Photo_2463\"If you believe you fit four or more of these signs or find yourself justifying every action (as I did), you may be a pack rat. \u00a0One of the best times to change your pack rat behavior is before and during a move. \u00a0Clearing clutter and unnecessary items can give you a fresh start with your move and clear the mind at the same time. \u00a0Having a friend help you decide what items to get rid of can help you identify what is most important to you. \u00a0You can also take pictures of important items like ticket stubs from first dates, newspaper articles and recipes you want to try. \u00a0Save them electronically and feel free of the papers taking up space in your life. \u00a0For other good tips on how to clear the clutter from your life visit, money.usnews.com<\/a> and read “How to Stop Being a Pack Rat and Save Money in the Process<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

    If you have really small closet space, would like to trade out your seasonal items or just can’t part with enough to make your space livable, check out self storage<\/a>. \u00a0With storage units<\/a> in several sizes, you can find the perfect solution to your living\u00a0and moving needs. \u00a0U-Box\u00ae Portable Containers<\/a>\u00a0are also great options to store items and they allow you to store your items away from your home or at your home.<\/p>\n

    Do you have any tips on to stop pack rat tendencies? Share them with us in the comment section below!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Definition Pack rat (noun):\u00a0a person who saves unnecessary objects or hoards things Above is the definition of a pack rat. \u00a0For minimalists or people that have no problem getting rid of items, “unnecessary objects” are obvious and eliminated from the household. \u00a0For a pack rat or hoarder it becomes very difficult to identify what items […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":198,"featured_media":29096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11,212],"tags":[39,40,353,143,174],"class_list":["post-29085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-organization-tips","category-storage-2","tag-cleaning","tag-clutter","tag-hoarding","tag-planning-move","tag-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uhaul.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uhaul.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uhaul.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uhaul.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/198"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uhaul.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uhaul.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uhaul.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uhaul.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uhaul.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uhaul.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}