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I have a hoarding problem. I do not know the psychology of this, or what causes it...but I know it runs in my family. A family member on my dads side and a few more on my moms side all have hoarding problems. My hoarding problem is contained in my room only, because im living at home with my parents. The whole house could look neat and spotless while within my room a hurricane/jungle has formed.
It used to be just normal clothes everywhere, but overtime for me it has escalated to not just clothes, but random crap (like my makeup, books, jewelry, knick knacks, etc.) and cups and plates in my room too. I only see the floor in my room when i pick up stuff off it it, put it back in its place and then vacuum. Sometimes I get too lazy to even go down stairs and put the dishes in the sink. Then my problem scales back to where it's just clothes everywhere. (yes i can see my floor now and i can open my door if anyone is wondering). I feel like **** about this lol, I really do. I am one of those people who can 'live with clutter', however...I am tired of being a slob. Lately I have been thinking that it would be nice to have some order in my room, as well as the rest of my life, including towards myself. I know a good amount of my stuff that I have can be donated or maybe sold at a yard sale. I don't want to just meaninglessly throw away stuff that I care about......grrr! I hate the whole "I wanna keep it, no I wanna junk it" dynamic, it is insane! I'm tired of not caring about anything, i'm tired of being stuck, i'm tired of being in funks. I want a new leash on life. Are there different hoarding levels? Like 1 is leaving clothes on the floor, 3 is leaving food and junk everywhere...10 is when you can't even open the door to leave! *gasp*
I think another part of this is how I associate cleaning with being a chore...well it is a chore and something we ALL have to do, but I see it as boring, I don't know how to make cleaning fun? I don't like the backbreaking work that goes into it when it could be made so easy and smarter. The reason I have a negative view of cleaning is, growing up my mom would make me clean, not just my room but the rest of the house when i did not want to (big shocker i know ), we would do this 4 times a week, but if I complained or based on if she got tired she would expand it to 6 days a week. Anyway, what i absolutely hated was how she was such a neat freak and overly critical about it. She is very 'it is her way or the high way' about things. Her being the way she is about it actually deters me from wanting to clean.
If I did something wrong she would lecture me about it, and have me do it all over again. And it doesn't stop there, she is picky about the types of cleaning products she uses, and she never upgrades to new cleaning equipment, instead she sticks to what still works because it hasn't broken yet even though it is still half-way functional!!!! She is still this way to this very day. For example, instead of using a swifter or a dirt devil vacuum, she will use a plain old mop and bucket, and an 80s electrolux vacuum that is falling apart on itself (she uses duck tape to keep it together)! IT DRIVES ME CRAZY!!!!!!!! Is there any way I can look at clearing up my hoarding problem (pun intended) and go about having a different view on cleaning and staying on top of things so clutter doesn't build up? (i joke that i am a good "speed cleaner" however my room just ends up cluttered within a few days ) Thanks in advance people!
My wife's sister is a hoarder, and her father (in his older, dementia inclined mind) became one.
Wife says sister had hoarding tendencies as a child. She watched her father slowly become one. BTW, my wife is complete opposite.
Maybe you could take a cue from her. Wife will admire a knick-knack when we are out. She has a weakness for glassware and crystal. But she stops there. She admires it, tells me what she thinks is so nice about said piece...but then she sits it back down and walks on. She already knows she'd have to find a space for it, dust around it, and take up more space in what she likes to be an open, airy feel.
Perhaps you should think about what you are picking up in the marketplace before you place it in your cart and pay good money for it, only to have it buried underneath a wall of other such 'prized' possessions later. I mean, if they are so prized, why is that that hoarders have potentially not seen that 'prized possession' in years? It's only when it's rediscovered, it becomes of importance once again.
I'd go nuts if I had to live in a crowded space where I had to walk on tiptoe to get down a hallway--or what was once a hallway.
Change your mindset. Now. While you still can. My Sister in Law has junk stacked to the ceiling. If there's ever a fire, she'll perish in it.
Oh, wife's golden rule. Every 6 months she goes through all the drawers, and if she hasn't used the items she picks up within the last 6 months, it hits a garbage can she has brought with her. This place is spotless. Less can be more, when you think of piece of mind. If we ever wanted to move, it would be a cake walk. And at our age, that's an accomplishment in itself. Moving is hard when you get to be an old fart like me.
I don't have a hoarding issue ... I just don't have a big enough house or the means to get the hired professional organizers I desire..... wait maybe I have a denial problem too :P! I am a fashion hoarder .... I am in purge mode right now (or storage improvement ... it flips a bit from day to day). I have been using there re-sale sight to sell stuff and I got some stuff heading to donation centres because I am starting to accept I might not be able to do all the things I though I was going to do with the stuff I bought in this life time.
If my house accidently exploded my street would look like a piñata filled with shoes, clothes, bags, make up, body products, perfume and jewelry got wacked open.
If you're getting worse about hoarding OP, now is the time to change. It's easy to get sloppy, now that our house is on the market, I clean before every showing. Even if it's just a day between cleanings, the house still gets messy. Makes me wonder how the house survived with only once a week cleaning.
You're still living at home, so now is the easiest time to change your habits. Get some boxes, and decide what you want to keep and donate. How about a large hamper for your clothes? There are tons of make up organizers on Amazon, get some. No one likes cleaning, maybe loading your iPod with favorite tunes will make it easier.
As for cleaning products, you don't say if you're in school or working, but if you are getting a paycheck, invest in trying some cleaning products of your choice. At some point, you'll be in your own apartment, so this is good practice.
Only you can decide to be neater, but gradually doing things differently should bring results. I'm not going to sugar coat it, cleaning is not a lot of fun, but you can learn to do it quickly and be done with it. You mom does things her way, but you can also develop your own cleaning style.
well, I am by no means a hoarder- but I can certainly see how people become one. I sell stuff on Ebay and my problem is I can't list the stuff as fast as I can accumulate it. If I had a basement for storage all my problems would be solved. Thank GOD I buy used stuff for around a dollar or so - if it was new stuff I'd have bigger problems than lack of storage. I really have to get my act together and unload some stuff- as we are nearing retirement age and want to move out of this ridiculously high property tax state. It doesn't bother me at all to donate as I have made plenty off what I have sold but I work best under pressure. Like you OP all my stuff is in one room-but well organized and neatly stacked in labeled bins and the rest of the house is spotless- I would never impose my compulsion on the rest of the family. OP this is a great time of year to get your new lease (it's lease- not leash on life because right after Christmas tons of storage containers will be on sale. For your little stuff go to a Michael's craft store and buy some of those decorated cardboard boxes that are for storing photos- they are always on sale this time of year for less then 2 dollars, they hold a ton of little crappy stuff and are pretty to look at. I'm rooting for you OP- good luck!
well, I am by no means a hoarder- but I can certainly see how people become one. I sell stuff on Ebay and my problem is I can't list the stuff as fast as I can accumulate it. If I had a basement for storage all my problems would be solved. Thank GOD I buy used stuff for around a dollar or so - if it was new stuff I'd have bigger problems than lack of storage. I really have to get my act together and unload some stuff- as we are nearing retirement age and want to move out of this ridiculously high property tax state. It doesn't bother me at all to donate as I have made plenty off what I have sold but I work best under pressure. Like you OP all my stuff is in one room-but well organized and neatly stacked in labeled bins and the rest of the house is spotless- I would never impose my compulsion on the rest of the family. OP this is a great time of year to get your new lease (it's lease- not leash on life because right after Christmas tons of storage containers will be on sale. For your little stuff go to a Michael's craft store and buy some of those decorated cardboard boxes that are for storing photos- they are always on sale this time of year for less then 2 dollars, they hold a ton of little crappy stuff and are pretty to look at. I'm rooting for you OP- good luck!
My boyfriend is trying to sell things on eBay that he got for free or next to nothing. The difference between you and him is that it doesn't sound like you have an attachment to the stuff you accumulate. He gets something and is really reluctant to part with it because it has sentimental value or because he thinks it's cool. I don't know how something that he just acquired can have sentimental value, but whatever. He just keeps on accumulating things and not selling them, because he will see a listing on eBay that someone is offering a Buy It Now for a certain price and he will not accept anything but top dollar, even though some of the stuff that he has isn't in the best condition. I wonder sometimes if he is serious about making money by selling this stuff or if he is just hoarding. It's gotten to the point where his basement is full of stuff and he even has some of it taking over his kitchen. We've talked about him moving in, but it gives me pause because I do not want my house filled to the gills with crap. He is paying for an apartment that he rarely stays in just because he wants to store this stuff. I have tried to get him to put the stuff in a storage unit that would cost significantly less, but he doesn't want to do that. He thinks that his stuff is going to get water damage. There is storage insurance for that. People use storage units all the time and nothing happens to it. That way he still has his stuff and he's not paying rent for an entire apartment. He is struggling with his finances, but he pays $20 here, $20 there for stuff that he thinks is going to sell for way more, but it doesn't get sold. It adds up quickly. I don't know what to say to him.
True hoarding is a mental illness. If you really are one, you need therapy. There is a reason why hoarders hoard, and unless you get to the root, it will only get worse.
I dated a guy once that was a hoarder. Four foot piles of new with tag clothing, boxes, newspapers, soda cans for recycling. He literally had a narrow pathway to get through the house. He almost froze one winter when his heater went out because he was too embarrassed to let a repairman in the house.
His ceiling was so leaky that there was collected water in his light fixtures, his cable would go out and he would let the repair guy fix it but not let him in the house.
I offered to help him take care of it, you go to Mexico for vacation for a week and I'll bag and box stuff up and clean the place up. No way would he do it.
At night you could hear mice scurrying around. The place smelled horrible.
I have no idea what became of him, but I believe he still lives in the house.
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...grrr! I hate the whole "I wanna keep it, no I wanna junk it" dynamic, it is insane! I'm tired of not caring about anything, i'm tired of being stuck, i'm tired of being in funks. I want a new leash on life. Are there different hoarding levels? Like 1 is leaving clothes on the floor, 3 is leaving food and junk everywhere...10 is when you can't even open the door to leave! *gasp* 
), we would do this 4 times a week, but if I complained or based on if she got tired she would expand it to 6 days a week. Anyway, what i absolutely hated was how she was such a neat freak and overly critical about it. She is very 'it is her way or the high way' about things. Her being the way she is about it actually deters me from wanting to clean.
on life because right after Christmas tons of storage containers will be on sale. For your little stuff go to a Michael's craft store and buy some of those decorated cardboard boxes that are for storing photos- they are always on sale this time of year for less then 2 dollars, they hold a ton of little crappy stuff and are pretty to look at. I'm rooting for you OP- good luck!
