I grew up with hoarders too. When my mother had to go into care home, we had to clean up a lot of stuff...mostly over her loud protesting about this or that having to be saved for when she needed it. I kept the things I wanted, her old floor model stereo and record collection, my father's boxing gloves and boxes upon boxes of photos. Other stuff, my brother and my boys claimed.

Interestingly, I note that your mom and my parents would have both had young lives during the depression. I wonder if that time period, and the conditions of scarcity, etc. had anything to do with the need to hang onto stuff later in life?