I think hoarding is a form of OCD. I know people who hoard stuff that they got mostly “free” or nearly “free” from taking stuff someone else sat on the curb and “marked” free on, taking stuff for free (or buying from a garage sale) items other people wanted to get off their own property. Obviously, the hoarders are never going to do anything with these items and only took them because they were offered to them for free. I even know someone who has purchased every single vehicle he ever owned (and was “totaled”) back from the insurance co for salvage (for hundreds), even though he had neither the skills nor the resources to fix them to be roadworthy. And he’s in his 60’s …. Needless to say, these people’s houses, garages and lots look like a junkyard and are very difficult to navigate.
I could never live with a junk hoarder and the ones whom I know have lost all credibility with me over the years. I personally think they’re wacky.
Hoarding food is another story and is fairly common with the 80+ yo set (who may have experienced deprivation during the great recession). The problem is that most of it gets severe freezer burn or expires long before they can possibly use it. I feel sorry for their heirs who will eventually have to take a month off work and rent a 32 ft+ rollaway to clean out their homes after they pass away.
Hoarding has gotten a lot more common in the past 30 years or so since so many goods sold in the US are imported from Asia cheaply and sold in the US cheaply, causing Joe and Suzy 6P to completely fill up their garages with junk within just 3 years of buying their first home. Easy come … easy go. Most people don’t keep many things anymore …they just dump them and buy all new stuff at the new destination if they move long distance due to the high cost of storing it and moving it … that is, unless the military or DOD is moving them … and even then the member/employee has a strict weight limit according to rank.