What is a Pack Rat?
The definition of a pack rat depends largely on one’s point of view. In the wild, a pack rat is a small rodent that lives communally, in large nests called middens, and collects any found objects to assist in building the nest. Among humans, a pack rat is one who keeps everything and has a hard time throwing anything away. This writer is a proud pack rat. Most people who consider themselves to be pack rats hate to throw things away because “you never know when you might need it.” Some self-help gurus consider the pack rat syndrome to be some sort of dysfunctional disease, but it is simply the other side of the neat-freak coin. A neat-freak throws everything away and has the home organized to the utmost degree. As a result, people feel strange about sitting on any of the furniture, lest they soil it. A pack rat may or may not be a decent housekeeper, but guests will feel perfectly at home putting their feet on the coffee table. Every yin has a yang. The main problem for a pack rat is wh
