Irrational panic!!!

I feel I have an excuse for hoarding. I live in the country and the last time we had heavy snow (how many years ago was that!!!) I was snowed in for 10 days - so just in case it happens again I keep stocks of things (yes I know it is almost June but you never know with UK weather!)

Born in 1948, I collect odd elastic bands, bits of strings, jam jars - always thought it was from watching and absorbing what mum did. the question is will the next generation copy us?

ps DH informs me that there could be a shortage of olive oil soon as there has been a bad harvest

Panic, rush to the shops .....

No biscuits, no sweets!
I would just eat them.

Always have a couple of spare tins of kitchen stuff and cleaning ( self and house ) products. What I really love is going to BM's or pound stretchers once a month ( not on a shop day ) and buying lots of different kinds of above, just to have in , just in case - hee hee - live on own and I'm a 49er

I'm a 48er so I wonder what it is? I have a cupboard FULL of biscuits, another of crisps, another of sugar, tea etc. But the tins! I'm too embarrassed to count the tins of tomatoes and baked beans etc. I must have 30 tins of tomatoes, and when I went shopping yesterday, I popped another four pack in! I had to completely reorganise the cupboard and I'm worried the shelf will collapse. As for cleaning products, shampoo and conditioner....... I remember my mums cupboards with hundreds of bags of sugar and packs of tea, she wasn't happy unless it was stuffed with 50 bags!

I've just thought, my DGD calls my sweet cupboard the "double cupboard" for some reason, it too is stuffed to the gunnels with sweets, chocolate, lollies, mints etc. I cleared that out last night before I'd even read this thread and I've given three full old Celebrations tins away. I also sorted the dog's cupboard (!) out and there's another Celebrations tin full of dog treats ready for my son's dog! I'm hopeless.

I'm exactly the same with the Sky box, it seems to never get more than 41% free no matter how much I delete, but a lot of it is football games that must not be deleted!

When I was working, my husband phoned me one day and told me there was a world shortage of rice.
Thinking, I must shoot out in my lunch hour to stock up on it, he then proceeded to tell me it was all stored in our garage!

Does anyone else remember the toilet roll shortage? It was impossible to find toilet rolls in the shops - yet my sister assured me that they were being stockpiled (she worked for a transport firm at the time) and when they came back on the shelves the price had gone up quite dramatically.

It was a long time ago but I well remember it!

I am a 1944er but am so glad that so many of you who also keep well stocked cupboards like me. My daughter thinks I am very odd but I do know I can always feed any surprise guests. It doesn't stop at food and toilet rolls but to stationery too. Selotape, envelopes, pens, you name it and I have it. I have a huge stock of mechanical pencils as I am a giant sudoku addict which also means have plenty of paper and printer ink in stock.

I'm a 1947 er. Nice to know there are others out there who have the post war habit of buying when it's available and never going short. Somehow we must have learned this at our mothers knee, don't you think? Like others, we live a couple of minutes walk from an Asda Local which hardly ever closes - in waking hours anyway.

My mil when she died had half a garage full of bio tex which she bought whilst on offer. I think though that she was allergic to the stuff....

Thank goodness for you, travelsafar. I was beginning to think I was out on a limb here by no longer being a hoarder. The thread also makes me aware of what a success I've had in offloading. Stockpiling is such hard work and just money lying on shelves. My laziness seems to win over everything. Almost nervous to admit this but I don't even know how to record from TV. I just do I-player. Dearie me...........

Glad I am not alone having "extras", I "collect" kitchen rolls it seems, must be a 1940,s thing.Keep on collecting ladies, it might come in useful one day!

My garage is full of non perishables I bought on special offer. I save a fortune.

I am a hoarder too!
When I was growing up there was no such thing as a freezer and we didn't have a fridge until I was about 12 - so the larder was filled with such things as bottled plums and bottled damsons, various jams, chutneys all produced by DM - and home-grown runner beans laid down in salt in jars for the winter (didn't like those very much!).

We all kept a store cupboard going back to my grandmother, her thing was blocks of salt, sugar, dried fruit and flour. I have a small store cupboard and I hate running out of the basics especially in the winter.
The sky well its funny I also hate getting low on space so I delete as I go and have been known to delete DH programs if he doesn't watch them within the month and convince him that he's watched them

ajanela - yes I remember those newspaper squares! Horrible (just had a count up - I have 14 toilet rolls - I live alone!!)

Yes surely it is reaction to ration book mentality we were reared with? I remember my grans dresser loaded with tins, she called her iron rations. Date stamps on things embarrass me into chucking out stuff .... many items have lurked there since kids lived in house. A ten year old tin of best baked beans had corroded.... and blew up when sat in sunny garden awaiting disposal!

Gran's not grand - it was far from that.

The family tell me I have a thing about buying toilet rolls. Well they don't go off and it must be fear of those squares of newspaper hanging in my grand toilet.

grannypiper - if you want to send some of those mince pies this way I will be happy to take them off your hands - just to be helpful of course (there goes the diet!!)

I was born 1940 so remember Mum buying things when she saw them - she had those large glass sweet jars with the ground glass lids full of dried fruit - once they were all full - currants, raisins and sultanas she had enough fruit for the puddings, cakes and a few spares!
I have three cupboards over 7 foot high in my kitchen with shelves and drawers - and there us not room to add another tin. Then in the barn - attached to the house - I have a double wardrobe sized cupboard all shelved out full of tins, jars of home made jam and preserves and packets of things in lidded plastic boxes. DD always says if war is declared they are all coming to live with me!
I am the same with the Humax box and space left - I gad a massive clean up operation before we left to come to UK fir three weeks - when I get home I will no doubt go into panic mode as only 29-30% will be left!
I use the excuse that we live in the country so any shop us a car ride away!

I try to be good but last month our local co-op had jars of mincemeat reduced to 24p so 8 of them jumped into my basket now have to make loads of mince pies, what a fool i am, i must learn to think things through

Oh, I feel left out because I was born in 1948 .
I am definitely not a hoarder because I am always getting rid of clothes (so I can buy more!) and having a sort out of other stuff to go to the charity shop. It's just household supplies that I like to have spares of. As someone has already said you never know when there might be a shortage of something and, hopefully, I will have a stash of it!

I was born in 1949 too, we also had empty cupboards and I remember being hungry especially after school and searching for something to eat, it would usually be a biscuit. They came in a paper bag from the market, mum would ask for a bag of plain biscuits, they didn't last all week of course. My biscuit tin is always full and I keep a spare packet. I love them but ration myself and savour every bit. Nigel Slater did a good TV programme about memories of biscuits eaten in childhood.
I keep a spare of most things, thought everyone did.

I have large stocks of everything.
Because I work shifts, I like to make sure I don't end up having to find somewhere to buy toothpaste or toilet rolls after 10pm, and end up having to pay extra into the bargain.