In my personal experience, the minimalist life with a hoarder is quite dysfunctional. I posted a better introduction into our current lifestyle here if you wanted extra context. I am also a big fan of the MindBeautySimplicity site – as I find her blog to be one of the best inspirational sites for minimalism out there. Definitely take a look and see if you agree. π
This current post is just a description of a typical day for us…
Minimalist Life with a Hoarder – The TWO Printers
We have a household printer. That’s normal. Nothing weird there.
Last March however, my husband had to start working from home full-time. Due to his work, he *needs* the printer during his entire working hours and he goes through ink like crazy. I don’t believe he actually *needs* the printer that much. He prints everything because 20+ years ago when we started working that’s how we documented and saved everything. And he just never adapted to saving everything online instead, like I have.
So when he started working from home around this time last year, he took over the household printer, and moved it into his personal office space. And I never go into that space ever, because it is ridiculously cluttered and that makes me crazy.
Since then, whenever I need to print something (maybe once every 2-3 weeks or so, nothing obnoxious), then I email it to him and ask him to print it. It’s never anything urgent either so it doesn’t interrupt his work and he can do it after-hours.
But I just spent this past weekend working on our taxes. Well, there were some documents that I sent to him to print out, maybe 6 pages maximum.
And he went out and freakin’ BOUGHT me a brand-new printer so I could start printing everything I needed myself, and not have to ask him anymore. I was irked about this because I thought it was a legit waste of money. I don’t ask him very often to print anything for me. I was also irked because I had to completely set it up myself just to get those 6 pages I needed for taxes. And then I placed it in the exact same location where the original household printer used to be. I posted a photo of it.
But get this – he’s about to have to go back to his real office in May. So in just a few more weeks, he won’t need the original household printer anymore that he’s been using this whole time. And he just NOW told me that he wants to move it out of his personal office space because he wants to re-do that space to be more man-cavish and he doesn’t want a printer in there anymore. So now I legit have TWO household printers. And THAT irks me most of all – redundancy makes me lose my mind.
I told him I was going to get rid of the original printer then, and now he’s upset. He says we need to keep it because he might have to work from home again in the future, and he’ll want it back. But if that happens, there’s a perfectly good brand-new household computer I just set up that works very well for those needs. And I reminded him that I won’t need it that much – maybe only once every 2-3 weeks, and during taxes once a year.
And this is seriously what we’re fighting about today, which is pretty typical for us in this minimalist life with a hoarder.
Minimalist Life with a Hoarder – The TWO Keurigs
And I didn’t even know he had this bc I never go into this room, but apparently he had also bought his very own Keurig for this “office space”. Not a problem in itself. But now that he’s started moving things out of that room so he can start prepping it to be his man-cave, he has moved it into the kitchen, right next to the Keurig that’s BEEN in the kitchen this whole entire time.
Now there are TWO Keurig’s in the kitchen.
This might be the best time to also tell you – that’s he’s the only family member in this whole entire house that even uses a Keurig. He could’ve moved the original kitchen one into his “office space” instead of buying another one, and nobody else would have been affected. But no, that didn’t happen.
Also, his “office space” has no water supply, so he has to go into the kitchen (where the original Keurig is) to get water in order to use the new Keurig in this room every time anyway. Such a waste.
C’mon folks, tell me… Which one of us is the crazy one? I don’t think it’s me, but maybe it is?!
Iβm with you on this one but I rarely use a printer at all, so I barely need one.
Ok, I feel much better now that I know you’re on my side. π
Iβm going to say heβs trying to make you the crazy one. If he believes that your household needs 2 printers, then he needs to find space in his office for the printer he thinks he needs.
I couldn’t agree with you more. Thank you. π
I see both of your points, but I think I’d be with you on this.
Ah good, I’m glad you’re on my side. π
Iβm SO on your side.
Printing is a waste of paper and ink. It hurts the environment too. π
My folks used to need to have a printout of everything even their boarding pass even though now they just scan it off your phone. Itβs taken me a while to get them to stop printing everything but they have. I think you have hope!
PS: sell the old printer and buy something nice for your hubby, that should appease him and make him forget about the printer. π
Lol oh gosh – he still prints his boarding passes and concert tickets too! (At least, prior to covid, he did). I just use the app – so much easier! And I agree it’s so wasteful. He spends like, $120 on INK every month! It’s ridiculous!
Having two printers in a household is definitely excessive. We have on printer shared between the five of us and, even with me working from home, it’s more than adequate.
You definitely said it best – 2 printers in a household is excessive. I completely agree with you.
Iβm with you there, Pepper. Although my husband is a money saver like me, he is a hoarder. There have been times Iβve gotten rid of things while he was at work- things that no longer worked and were nothing but garbage. He hasnβt noticed yet.
Living among a bunch of mess just really dogs your mood. At the time I was sneakily cleaning out all the junk, I felt a bit guilty- like I was doing something behind his back. However, Iβm glad I got rid of what we could no longer use. And the best part is that it freed up so much space!
Lol, whatever space I’m able to free up, just gets filled with clutter as soon as I do so! It’s a useless endeavor for me so I just suffer in the constant mess. π
Hahaha! I hear you. π
Lol I’m going to take some pics…
Awesome! Can’t wait to see them!
Yikes! You definitely didn’t need that new/extra printer.
Thank you! I don’t feel crazy about it anymore because most people are on my side! π
Oh my goodness, thank you for this! You had me laughing and I havenβt even had my coffee yet this morning! I can so relate!
Lol, I wish that one day I’ll be able to laugh at this too! π
Iβm old fashioned and still print things, but only when I need to print something. Surprisingly, my husband is the tech guru and usually scans stuff from his phone, despite being a maximalist (aka hoarder). Iβm an essentialist and only keep what I use; I still use a printer so I havenβt been able to let that one go yet.
Oh I’m so ready to get rid of my own printer, but right now I use it for my daughter’s school ALOT. But once she’s done with school, it’s gone! For myself, I print so rarely that I can do without and will gladly make the occasional run to a printing service instead. I can’t wait! π