My father had collected them since the 60s and I remember as a child walking into the unfinished master bathroom that was filled with stacks of yellow magazines taller than I was. When they moved, my mother persuaded him to finish up the bathroom to bump up the house value and donate all of the NG magazines to the library.

I think he still misses having the paper versions, but the CDs are amazing.

Well, this comment doesn’t seem to have much sense. I just wanted to say thank you for this tip. One new thing learned by reading a blog.

Also, from what I have read, they won’t be updated further and they won’t be available on DVD. One of the reviewers (posted in 2002) made the comment:

“…case of copyright infringement that National Geographic lost and then was required to pay a freelance photographer for re-use of his pictures in this CD-ROM product. The economics of intellectual property involved in creating such a product may be cost-prohibitive for National Geographic in the future.”

Since I scanned all that stuff I have never once looked at any of it but that is beside the point. Its as if scanning it gave me ‘permission’ to throw it away because I knew if I ever really needed it(which of course I never will) it would be available. This I think is the fundamental hoarder’s mindset, someday-I-might-need-it syndrome. Thats why I sometimes confuse trash for treasure.

In one way I traded one collecting obsession for another because I still scan things in frequently but the repercussions for digital hoarding aren’t nearly as severe as the alternative. I’d rather fill up my hard drive with crap than my house.

I trumped his little organization system in 30 seconds by signing up for Consumer Reports online, which gives me full access to their database and every report published in the past several years. No clutter, no dusty fire hazards…

As an old Marvel fan, I really need to get my hands on the DVD set. Definitely better than buying the hefty graphic novels or keeping long boxes of comics.

It had become this giant “stew” of pop culture / sci-fi clutter — as if Comic Con had exploded inside my parents’ house. He went into $16,000 of credit card debt acquiring this material over the course of about ten years.

One thing we had some luck with (my parents and other adult siblings) was with Goodwill. We went through his stuff with him and let him pick out things to put in boxes and give to Goodwill.

Goodwill took it all with no questions — they just gave us a receipt. They weren’t picky whether it was books, CDs, magazines, etc. I imagine they resell it to help the charity out.

So if anyone reading this is desperate to help a hoarding loved one, getting them to pick out stuff for charity and tossing it in boxes and giving it to Goodwill might be an answer. My brother seemed relieved it was “going to good use” at Goodwill.

He doesn’t even have them sorted in any sane manner — they are just stored in the boxes.

He buys this ridiculous magazine called Wizard which contains a “price guide” to comics, as if they are rare gems. Again, maybe there are a few comics out there worth something, but since the rise of Ebay I really think that’s few and far between.

He hoards the Wizards as well.

One thought though: Although the scanning idea works for your average people, who might save a couple magazines for an article here or there, or people trying to toss old instruction manuals and paper, it’s not feasible for your classic “periodical hoarder”

I think hoarding of periodical publications is a HUGE problem among hoarders, and the scanning idea is of course not really for them.

The guy with 50 six foot long boxes of comics that are “worth something.” the dad with the garage full of TV Guides, or National Geographic, or Life magazine. I even knew of a friend’s parent who hoarded the NEWSPAPER in giant piles.

There is something about magazines and comics that triggers something for a hoarder. It’s the idea of having “a complete collection” or something. It’s got very little to do with the content.

My brother hoards comics. He buys them, reads them, and stuffs them into those six foot long white boxes that are filling up my parents’ house.

My sense is that they are worthless, and I also suspect the comic industry fosters this myth of “comics have resale value” to pump up sales.

Sure, a superman comic from 1935 is worth something because they were tossed out like junk and are now extremely rare! But if hundreds of people hoard a Spiderman comic from 1990, it’s not worth anything except as a fire hazard.

Anyone have any tips on helping a loved one who hoards periodical publications?

Although your local library may not be interested in your old books or magazines, a “friends of the library” group may have a different view. . .

Also that particular National Geographic set had terrible reviews from real fans of the magazine (from what I recall). I think most of the complaints were about the poor quality of the scans - they were scanned as image files (even the text of entire articles) rather than .pdfs, which meant awful legibility and no ability to search the collection or print favorite photos or articles.

That being said, I’ve gotten rid of all but my most precious/rare magazines and books. Anything I can get from the library, I don’t want in my house. Anything we’re not actively reading is organized and stored in waterproof bins in the garage (I’m down to 7 from a lifetime high of 22!). I also stopped subscribing to the “throwaway” types mags and use zinio instead:

http://www.zinio.com/

We still get a ton of enjoyment out of our lps though, so they’re not going anywhere. Luckily we found a nice rack to hold them, otherwise I wouldn’t be so sanguine about it.

Here is an interesting site:

http://earth911.org/