Where did we get so much stuff?

There is a young woman down the street who is going on a trip to Tanzania with her church in a month. She put out a flyer saying she was looking to make some money doing whatever tasks somebody needed done. We put her to work today with a massive job - cleaning out the garage.

We don't quite know how this happened but our garage is not a haven for cars. It is a haven for everything else from old records to birdseed to actual tools to empty boxes. There are war zones that are less cluttered.

We are deeply grateful to her for tacking this job. We do this every year -- clean and sweep the garage out and then placing things back nice and neatly. In about two weeks, it returns to looking like a war zone.

My question today is simple: how in the world did we get so much stuff? And are we the only people who go through this routine every year?