Hoarding: How Easily Can You Part With Things?
I wonder if you struggle to part with things or if you have a problem with hoarding? The article highlighted today offers help for anyone who is a hoarder and also offers support for their loved ones. It looks at why people hoard and what treatments are available to help those suffering from this anxiety disorder. If you are looking for self-help then the excellent book I highlight in my article by Robin Zasio entitled The Hoarder In You: How To Live A Happier, Healthier Uncluttered Life, could be really useful to you. If you’d like to read my full article, please click below:
Nowadays it seems that rarely a week goes by when we don’t see a programme on hoarding on the television. We watch in horror and fascination at uninhabitable rooms crammed full of stuff, stairs overflowing, blocked passageways and unusable, dangerous, kitchens and bathrooms. In the midst of this chaos is the hoarder – an individual who doesn’t always know and accept how bad things have become. They seem blind and deaf to their families’ distress……continued…..Help For Hoarders – Self-Help, CBT, Psychotherapy & Family Therapy
Do you struggle to part with things? I’d love to hear from you and your thoughts on hoarding.
Great post, Ruth.
Although neither I nor anyone I know is struggling with the issue of actual “hoarding,” I do know a little about having an excessive amount of belongings. In moving back in with my mom after my dad passed away, I have been involved in the task of helping her remodel a bit, as well as get other things in order in her house. My mom has a basement overflowing with collectables that she has accumulated over the years, and we are looking into what is the best possible way to get rid of them and try to recoup a bit of the thousands of dollars she spent on them, it’s a huge undertaking and we are just at the start of it right now. These are cherished collectables that were once displayed proudly in various curio cabinets throughout her home, so it isn’t a hoarding type of situation, but there’s soooooo many of them that it sort of feels like it (and she readily admits it was an addiction of sorts).
I lost (gave up) nearly all of my own belongings in my divorce 4 years ago, and although it was very difficult to go through at the time, it has been the most freeing experience for me to just let go of it all. Less truly = more in the way of having peace of mind. I hope to bring a little of that to my mom now as she parts with some of her own treasured possessions.
But I can’t imagine how hard it must be for those struggling with a hoarding situation, my heart goes out to them.
Hope your week is off to a good start, and that you’re doing alright. We’re having lovely weather here and you know how thankful I am for that after enduring such a long winter. Hugs to you Ruth! xx
Hi Julie, I can imagine that losing all of your belongings was both hugely traumatic and yet freeing. Sometimes things can feel like a burden – it seems strange to say it, but they can overwhelm you. The poor person who hoards is wholly overwhelmed by all these things they have kept. Glad you enjoyed the post and I wish you luck with your own sorting. Collecting is rather different, although, you can gather huge quantities and drift towards hoarding and keeping things for emotional reasons and becoming too attached. I hope that you can, slowly, sort out those collections. I’m sure ebay and the like will give some guidance as to the worth of things. I agree that less really can be more. Better to enjoy some of those treasured possessions and actually be able to see them, than have them all packed away and inaccessible – it’s just sad when things are like that. Sending good thoughts your way – the sun is out here!! xx 🙂
Interesting topic for the spring. As we all do our spring cleaning and look at what we’ve accumulated and what we want to part with. I was married to a man for 23 years whose first wife was a certifiable hoarder. She lost custody of her children because of it. Little did I realize he was the next step down. We called him a pack rat. I didn’t realize it when we married, but it’s a contagious problem in some respects. If I enjoyed something, he wanted to get more of it. When I left we had 7 sewing machines, tons of fabric and craft materials. I sold all the machines but one. Donated or sold a great deal of the fabric and have been paring down ever since our divorce. It still overwhelms me at times even though as the weather warms and I have more stamina, I am making more trips to the thrift store to donate. I pushed a recliner onto my front porch with a free sign to whoever could get it down the apartment stairs and left flyers by the mailboxes. Each day, I feel more free of that life. I am keeping only what I know I can use and love. Cleaning out a hoarders house took months, masks and gloves. Never want to do that again.
Hi Marlene, That certainly sounds like a huge job as you’ve experienced first-hand the difficulties of being with a hoarder. Good luck with it all. Every piece gone is one less, so I know you’ll get there eventually. It must have seemed never ending at various points. Keeping what you can use and/or love is a perfect sorting guide. All the best with it, Ruth 🙂
Now there is Hoarding and then there is HOARDING! LOL.. I watched a few of those TV programmes on how some have become addicted to hoarding things.. filling entire homes so full one can hardly move..
I guess I have a slight hoarding problem, in that I love to save old birthday cards, Christmas Cards etc… When the recycle paper cards came in I donated them.. But I still have last years xmas cards.. But I now use them in craft sticky days with my granddaughter.. She loves to cut and stick.. and make pictures for her Mum out of them.. 🙂
Clothes I have no problem putting into charity bags.. and I was never a shoe hoarder.. 🙂 Just personal cards that I have now in a big shoe box… I guess it may be as I still have some of my very one aged 2 Birthday cards with envelopes and stamps in tact.. which may well be worth something as they over half a century old now LOL… that started me off.. Things have sure changed since those days Ruth..
Loved reading your article and sorry its taken me ages to get around to visit..
Love Sue xox
HI Sue, Great to read your experiences of holding on to things and lovely to have you pop in to visit! Enjoy your painting and the sun. 🙂 Much love xx