Only 25 percent of garages could be used to store cars because they were so packed with household overflow. Family members said they were parking their stuff while deciding what to do with it. Plans to recoup the cost of unused items by selling them on eBay or Craigslist or at a garage sale rarely materialized.

 

"I don't think Americans intend to collect so much," said co-author Anthony Graesch, an assistant professor of anthropology at Connecticut College. "But we're really bad at ridding our homes of old possessions before buying new stuff."