one primary reason i have such an interest in possessions and decluttering probably has a lot to do with my mom whom passed away a year ago.  Over the past 20 years she became what i called "chronically disorganized", she would call herself "your hoarder mother".  I don't think she had a hard core hoarding issue, she wasn't storing old pizza boxes on her floor or had rodents in her home.  Her house was drastically cluttered but very sanitary.  she had a several piles of magazines, newspapers, mail.  Her dining room table wasn't able to be dined upon because it would be piled up with bags of snacks, candy, papers, dishes and kitchen gadgets that she thought looked fun but used once and had no place to go.  she would shop sales all the time and buy stuff she thought was a good deal or could be a gift for a random someone.  

she had a hard time letting stuff go because she would still see the item in the same light as she had bought it.  she didn't see that she wasn't using it or it had no place to go.  Example being she had a kitchen appliance that it's only job was to make tea.  it had a glass pitcher with an interesting shape.   every time i would visit it would get brought up and she would tell me about the great tea it made but i could see that it was covered in dust and the pitcher was full of receipts and etc. tiny pieces of paper. she had other stuff piled in front of it making it hard to get to even if she did want to use it. I think she may have used it a few times when she first got it.  and even though she wasn't using it any more she still saw herself as using it again maybe one day.  thinking on it now, i believe she was trying to talk it up so she could send it home with me.  if she could off load something on to someone else that was really the only way for her to declutter.  she felt like she was helping them out and it was going to a good home.  

a lot of conversations she and i would have had to do with decluttering.  i would recommend books i had read to her.  while going through her things this past year i came across at least 4 books on the subject.  

she didn't always have a clutter/possession issue as i was growing up.  this has been something that happen when she moved up north, had extra income but no family or friends where she lived.  i watch and read alot of shows/books on hoarding and there is always a trigger where the over collecting gets abundant.  and now looking back i see that for her it was being lonely.  she bought stuff to feel better, have something to do, but didn't care enough to do something with the items when she got them home.  she was always looking for these items to solve a "problem" on the surface.  To be a quick fix solution to something that wasn't all that important.  Like buying an appliance just to make tea.  But the problem had nothing to do with tea.