How I Became a Hoarder
I thought it was the pandemic, but I’ve discovered it’s much more complicated than that…
Don’t ask me how many cans of beans I have in the pantry. No, this isn’t a joke about how disorganized I am. No, I’m not going to answer by throwing my hands up and admitting that I can’t find anything in there because it’s such a mess.
Please. I’m a Cancer-Virgo-Virgo. My artistic nature might have me leaving little messes in every available corner, but underneath the surface, I have nearly impeccable organizational systems.
In other words, I know exactly how many cans of beans I have in the pantry.
The problem is: I have more cans of beans than one person could ever eat during the course of their shelf life.
How did this happen, you ask? Just the nightmare of living through the first seven months of the pandemic, in which every grocery store in town was nothing but aisle after aisle of empty shelves.
I have no doubt that the pandemic was traumatic for all of us. But I think it was particularly hard for certain demographics — for instance, single women who live alone.
I remember going into that first pandemic winter fixated on the goal of “being prepared.” I was certain we were going to go into another…
