I come from a long line of "fat house" people. I think that one reason people like us hold on to things and collect things is so we have some measure of control in our lives. Our culture also contributes to this by marking one's value based on possessions.
Speaking strictly for myself and my family since I know them, we have, for the most part, been unable to control certain facets of our lives and so we cleave to those things we can control. The amount of items we place in our homes being one example. Even over eating is a form of control.
It starts out simple enough. A few purchases here and there of an item we like and before long there is an over abundance. Sometimes it is things we purchase our selves other times it is things given to us. My grandmother is especially bad at this as well as my aunt who has lived with her her entire life (she is now 58 years old). You cannot move in their house. There are literally trails between boxes and furniture that you have to follow to get from room to room. There is one room in their house that is supposed to be my aunts bedroom but it is so full of boxes and unused furniture that she is forced to sleep in the living room in a reclining chair. The show clean sweep would need a whole week to get through the mountain of stuff in just 2 of their rooms.
I attribute a lot of this hording to the fact that my grandmother is a child of the depression and also had to, later in life, endure losing the family farm, then losing the family restaurant, and eventually losing the family cattle business. So everything was kept to be "recycled" and "reused" in an effort to conserve and save money. She has held on to every little trinket as if it were the last link to what once was. They are her touchstones to remember her family history by. She can tell you exactly what was given, and by whom, on what day and why, for every item in her house. But she can't remember which of the 8 grandchildren I am sometimes
The family has grown up and moved on and times have gotten better. It is only my aunt and my grandmother left in that house. Is there really a need to keep 40 empty butter tubs for just the 2 of them? Obviously no, but the habit is there and they can't be broken of it. They don't want to be broken of it. Believe me we have tried. When they had to move 5 years ago I went there to help them pack. I took advantage of the situation and while my aunt was at work, and my grandmother asleep, I got busy throwing out all the butter tubs, magazines from 1972 etc. Nothing that I knew possessed a great deal of sentimental or historical value. I was very respectful and mindful of that.
Since then, and as a result of seeing them live this way, we have implemented a 6 month rule at my house. If it hasn't been touched in the last 6 months and wont be used in the next 6 months, out it goes. We do this cleaning at least twice a year, sometimes more. I still have a hard time giving up things like books (I, like my grandmother, am the family historian and have a huge resource library). Not so much because it is a prideful thing of wanting people to see how well read I am, but simply because I read those books over and over again. They bring back memories every time I look at them. They are life stage markers. Especially in this day and age when computers are so prevalent. There is something romantic and nostalgic to the written word. It is, in my opinion, mans greatest achievement. There is nothing better, to me, than to sit down and open a new book for the first time. The size and shape of the book, its weight, the type of paper it is printed on, how it is bound, it's particular smell and the crack and crinkle noise of turning that first page with all the excitement of the journey about to be taken just waiting for you. I guess deep down I am just a nerd
Fat house confession
No that wasn't a hot flash...I'm blushing. There's something about sitting in a rocking chair w/a nice cup of tea (iced in this heatwave thank you) reading a good book, (my favorite is the bible...THE good book...LOL, with your dog as a footstool.... 
Sometimes just us, sometimes with friends. A pot that holds less than a cup of liquid can easily serve 4-5 people. Problem is the tea snacks... one wasabi pea and I am lost so we tend to save those for when we have company for tea.
OH NO Rain shield your eyes, run the other way, take that shelf down...... here come the tea pots!!! 
(Better yet, send them to us!!!! We'll protect you!!!) 
Don't worry overmuch about inflicting harm on whoever ends up with them. They make their own nutritional choices and probably made them long before you showed up.
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