The line about the closet rod bending in the middle got me because that's how it always starts, one spot that can't take the weight anymore. I've noticed this same thing with phone chargers, kitchen gadgets, even shoe boxes, where we keep buying the thing we already own because the old one is buried somewhere we forgot to look. The pile isn't the problem, it's that nothing has a home, so every new buy is really just a replacement for something lost in the mess. My rule now is if it doesn't have a spot, it doesn't come in the house, and that alone cut my extras almost in half.