When does a large collection become hoarding?

Well, this isn't hoarding, but I see it as meaning you have sort of a doll problem; and I didn't see a thread for "I've got a doll problem".
And that is: You feel kind of sick of dolls and yet you buy anyway.
"Nope, Can't take a break. That one will get away."

Please point out the better thread if you know one.

BTW, this is happening to me right now! Seems to usually happen right after the holidays.

 

No... just because you have "But It's On Sale" Syndrome doesn't mean you're a hoarder, either. If it weren't for sudden deep-discount sales, which make us suddenly crave items we didn't really plan on owning before, on a deep molecular level of longing, the economy would be in even worse tatters than it is now. I can't even count how many times I've bought 2 of something because there was a Two-Fer price emblazoned on the tag, or how many ho-hum things that suddenly looked attractive when marked 50% off. Call it a crime of opportunity ("It was on sale! I couldn't NOT buy it!").

Of course compulsive shopping can lead to hoarding, natch. But having But It's On Sale Syndrome also doesn't make you a compulsive shopper. Impulsive, maybe (big difference).

Totally-- large living spaces are totally wasted on minimalists. And why does it always seem like everybody I know who has a fine big luscious enviable house/apartment, always turns out to be a minimalist? Half my family is into like Danish Modern, which is cute in magazine photos, but in life sets my teeth on edge. Blond wood, white everything, blank surfaces, echoes. "Jesus god, the SHELF SPACE you're wasting here," I yell at them, frantically waving my arms at the virginal walls, and they just wrinkle their noses.

People who love clutter never seem to have big giant spaces to clutter up. I would go into some deep theory about the alpha-type personality vs. the disorganized-type re financial success rates, but that would only depress me so I won't.

 

Because they dont spend any money on books, magazines, trinkets and collectables.

 

No, I mean why do the biggest places always seem to belong to minimalists in the first place? They blow all this money on a McMansion with a hundred-foot lawyer-foyer & cathedral ceilings & a living room you could host a roller-derby in-- then leave it empty and echoing. I hardly ever see a big place that's owned by a clutter-person who'd fill it up with something interesting.

 

OK, I understand now. My house looked pretty big when we bought it and it was all white and empty. We filled it up with fun.

 

I have "it's on sale" syndrome for shoes, not dolls. I would never buy a pair of $400 shoes but when it's a pair of $700 shoes on sale for that much, suddenly it's okay in my mind. horrible >.<;

 

This is more of not a "home" type of house. Those drive me crazy too, I feel like it's just kind of for show. Like they don't actually live there as much as they just wander around not touching anything. Show homes sometimes give me that vibe too. It's weird.

 

I think the only time a doll collection would be hoarding would be if someone had so many dolls and doll items that it was terribly cluttered. Like, if they bought multiple dolls often, then didn't really like them enough to play with them and couldn't allow themselves to get rid of them.

 

I don't have money to 'hoard' BJDs. I admit I've been tempted to go after a bargain. If I see a beautiful doll on ebay I do get an itchy bidding finger, but I'm usually the kind of person who builds a character and bases a doll on that character after much planning and consideration. I've otherwise picked up a couple dolls that were just so unique and special to me. I only impulsively bought one doll. I regret that a little only because he didn't turn out the way I expected him to, but he's growing on me and he's special in his own way.

I don't think I'd want to have money to buy every single doll that caught my eye. For one thing, I like them tall and they take up a lot of space. And besides that, the more dolls I'd have, the less individual attention I'd be able to give them. I like having special dolls that mean something to me more than grabbing a bunch of good-looking dolls for eye candy.

 

They showed a doll-hoarder on one of those shows, but really, she had dolls and toys and plushies that she'd rescued from thrift shops... many of them were in in parts and she wanted to fix them or put them back together or use them for pieces. And they were in huge heaps and piles.

I think it would be difficult to accumulate piles of bjds and bjd items.

I come close to being a doll-hoarder, I have to admit!

I don't like selling my dolls. I've sold heads, and will continue to do so, so I'm not totally stuck in the "everything comes in and nothing goes out" mode... but I know I have the tendency.

However... I would never buy several dolls and keep them in boxes, or get to the point where I'm not taking care of my dolls so that they are heaped up in piles!!! (I could make a small pile of them... but I won't!!!)

I guess... the point where you must have the dolls just to have them and not do anything with them... that gets hoardery... Or if the dolls are impinging on your life or something like that... Right? It has to be the point where it gets bad or negative or dangerous. Like the difference between a cluttery house and a house that becomes dangerous or unhealthy or unusable. Or the difference between having a lot of healthy pets and having pets that are over-crowded and poorly cared for...

 

Hmmm. I'm really not sure. I think it doesn't even depend on the amount of dolls someone owns, but like you said, if they can't remember that they even had a certain doll.
I always worry about being a hoarder... Not really in the doll aspect, but everyday life. When I was little my mom would always give away my toys and stuffed animals without telling me, so I think nowadays whenever I get something new I can't get rid of it. I always think about how she got rid of my favorite stuffed animals, of ALL of my Barbie collection... Which may even be one of the reasons I began with dolls in the first place.

So, to get to the point, hoarding is a psychological thing right? So, I don't think it really depends on the amount. Just the ability to get rid of some if you really had to.

 

Every time I watch Hoarding: Buried Alive, I want to to throw everything I have out, clean, scrub and bring in exterminators. O_O
I realize that this show makes people quite paranoid that they or someone the love is a hoard, has hoarding tendencies and will end up on the show, crying about having to throw away the tissue that came with BJD's wig, in a bug infested space. That show also brought this condition into the mainstream and that means that the term will be misused and people will diagnose anyone with "to many" of one thing or things as a hoarder, and causes a disservice to those that do suffer from this disorder.

I have to agree with many people on this thread having 100 BJD collection or have many doll accessories (clothes, wigs, does not automatically a hoarder make.

As I see to have any one person be considered a doll hoarders, the condition has to get to the extreme where the doll collections is literally make basic life necessities impossible,and when finances and safety are completely disregarded. There is no set number of dolls that can be automatically considered doll hoarding.

 

A big thing with hoarders is that they're perceiving the objects they've acquired as having great value, even though they most likely do not.

Dolls do have value though, even secondhand ones. Even ones with some damage. They are not something we are projecting value onto. They have it already. In some cases, some collectors may be tacking on extra value for sentimental reasons but that's a different story.

I think a doll collection could get to the point where it is unrealistic and unmanageable but I don't think having the collection would be enough to mark it's owner as a hoarder. There would have to be other factors in play for that. Like maybe saving every single piece of packing the dolls came in including the dirty, stained outer shipping boxes and shredded packing tissue. That, for instance, would probably be a big red flag for me.

Basically, having a huge collection doesn't a hoarder make. Psychological problems met with compulsive gathering make a hoarder.

Speaking of which, I had an Anthropology professor a few quarters back who was explaining that hoarding comes from the basic human urge to gather and collect. It's basically a survival thing. However, in some individuals it gets out of hand and becomes more harmful than it is beneficial. So there's nothing wrong with some stashing away of goodies... We just need to keep that urge in check.

 

To me I think hoarding is when you have so many that they are in storage units or kept in boxes and closets and they are not being enjoyed.

 

(sorry for the long answer, but I have quite a bit of hoarding experience that may help you)

Hoarding isn't necessarily as unorganized or broad as some posters here have mentioned. My great aunt was a hoarder of sorts, and she was your stereotypical hoarder with 30 something cats and loads of birds and some dogs in the back. Her house was filled to the top with everything you can imagine.

Yet another relative was a hoarder of the more organized type. She only hoarded dolls, and could NOT part with any. I'd say THAT is what defined her as a hoarder, is the fact that she was emotionally incapable of letting any of them go. Just collecting one thing doesn't mean you're not a hoarder. Your house doesn't have to be a mess, and you don't have to have everything in bins as the last post.

Hoarding is defined by your emotional dependency on an unmanageable number of items. Not necessarily how you keep them

Not to say their house can look all pristine... but my relative that collected dolls since she was a child had countless dolls. All on display, and countless shelves placed throughout the house to show them off. None were in storage and the house wasn't a mess but I don't doubt her dolls easily outnumbered a doll museum. They were also on all tables, night tables, dressers, etc. Only the kitchen counters and coffee table were spared. She would get VERY upset if you mentioned trying to lessen the number of dolls, and it's her extreme emotional attachment to them that made her a hoarder.

I have a friend where I used to live abroad that collects anything and everything (even has his own internet show about it) He is an extreme collector, but if he had to get rid of stuff (he has had to in the past) it's nothing devastating or too difficult for him. That is different.

I'd say you're hoarding when, not only do you have too many dolls to display without over-running your house, but you actually find it emotionally traumatizing to thin out your collection. If someone is hoarding though, they would never say ''yeah, I hoard'' they would be offended by the very idea that someone would call them that. They tend to push people away that might otherwise want to help them.

(I've done a lot of research on hoarding as I was starting to show tendencies of it myself and I wanted to help myself before I got carried away)

 

TheJadeAngel, I agree with the majority of your post. I do have to say, though, that there are collectors, who are not hoarders, that would find the prospect of thinning their collection to be "emotionally traumatizing". It doesn't necessarily mean that they are hoarders, it just means that they are very attached to their collection, which is a perfectly normal emotion.

We have a family friend who collects Swarovski Crystal figurines. To most of our non-collecting friends, her collection seems excessive, and I constantly hear our mutual friends making statements such as "she should really get rid of some of it", for no other reason than that they find the sheer number of the figurines offensive. Her figurines are very organized, have not overtaken her home, are beautifully displayed and she would be absolutely traumatized if she had to let some of them go. Is she a hoarder? I don't think she is. She's simply a very dedicated collector.

 

When does a BJD owner become a BJD Hoarder?
A while ago I was watching some hoarding show and the lady in question hoarded animals as well. There were so many that she did not name all of them. I think the hoarding problem is when you have so many of one particular object that you will not notice when it goes missing. If you have fourteen dolls it is not hoarding. If you have so many that you have run out of names, and are no longer sure what you have then you have too many. My other thought, if someone took something, would you notice if it disappears? If you would then your collection is not hoarding. You see, when animal hoarders have say 70 cats, it is impossible to notice if one disappears. When you have too much of something it stops being special.

Have you been accused of being a doll hoarder, or possibly even thought you may be? and on what grounds?
My father accused me of being a general hoarder. I collect comic books, art books, regular books, DVDs, stickers, figures and dolls. My collection is small by most standards. However, I have it on an elaborate display because I enjoy visual noise. It's difficult to explain but my collection looks similar to this. Anyway, he accused me of being a hoarder because he is a little bit on the OCD side of things. I have OCD too, but I have a different kind of OCD, I sometimes pull my hair out. His house is sterile. My collection is organized chaos. We do not see eye to eye in decor, or art, or most other things.

 

i have the opposite of whatever problem hoarding is. i cannot stand to have stuff that i don't use or enjoy regularly. the problem with dolls for me, is that there are so many beautiful ones to choose from, that it's hard for me to just have one or two. i'm always feeling nagged by the fact that i have too many. even though i only have 3 bjds and about 5 other dolls, it feels like too much. right now i'm planning on 2 bjds more, so because of that, i am selling off at least 2 of my other dolls. i am too easily overwhelmed by stuff to ever be a hoarder.

but honestly, as long as you are enjoying your life, can afford it, and aren't bothering anyone else with your collection, then i don't think it's hoarding even if you had 100.

 

I don't think your mother has any reason to worry about you being ahoarder I know plenty of people including friends, family, and myself who have whole rooms dedicated to a hobby (star wars, anime, etc) and the main difference with you I think is everything's organized and not just scattered and left alone.

For others, I agree with you in seeing the collecting turn into hoarding when someone can't remember all their dolls. As far as I've seen in the BJD community there are plenty of people with 20-40+ dolls and love every single one of them! As long as you enjoy them, care for them, and care for yourself (like not going into debt for them) I think it's completely fine and it's fun to see large groups of dolls together. And if someone has 100 some dolls, I'd be amazed and then wonder at how on earth you manage that many, because that would definintely be crossing the line

 

Although now I've read a few more posts, I would have to agree that just because you're organized doens't mean you're not a hoarder if you feel your life depends on your dolls. It may be a thin line, but I think it's recognizable. Others may feel different, especially if you do have a lot and have been accused.