You could control your hoarding, even though there is no easy fix. Living with it can be difficult but there are things that you can do. Not everything you hear or read about will work. Experiment, experiment, experiment with a close friend by your side.
Contents of This Article
Start Controlling Your Hoarding Right Away
Then Make a Plan So You Keep Moving
Have Fun While Controlling Your Hoarding
Consider If You Might Need More Help
Control Your Hoarding With a Trusted Friend
Takeaways to Help You De-Clutter
Don’t put things off for tomorrow that you can do today. Begin right away with a quick de-clutter, so you can see open spaces on the floor again. This proves what is possible if you try. Then find someone to take the stuff away.
If you found that task overwhelming – and that’s not unusual – try taking baby steps instead. Find yourself a hoarding buddy who’s already a close friend. Set yourselves the goal of throwing at least one thing away every day.
Then Make a Plan So You Keep Moving
You have to conquer your clutter if you want to make real progress. Draw up a plan you can stick to, like spending an hour a week sorting things out. Later you can shift to one hour a day. Don’t work yourself or your hoarding buddy too hard, or you may drain your energy away.
You could control your hoarding quite easily, if you find useful things you can do with your clutter:
- Ask your local charity shop to collect useful stuff, that they can sell to raise funds.
- Donate unwanted clothes to a night shelter where homeless people sleep.
- Donate your old newspapers to your local RSPCA, so they can lay them on kennel floors.
- Put clean rubbish in recycling bags on the pavement, so the contractor knows what to do.
Have Fun While Controlling Your Hoarding
We are far more likely to do the things we enjoy, than the things we prefer to put off. Behavioral scientists call this tendency the pleasure principle. By all means set yourself a few rules. You also need to celebrate when you prove you can control your hoarding, once you put your mind to it.
Your motivation is also something to keep your eye on. Reach out to your ‘hoarding buddy’ who is also your close friend, when you feel blue. A problem shared is a problem halved, you know. Ask them to help you streamline your decluttering plan:
- Take before and after photos of areas in your home before you tackle them.
- Work around large objects. There are people who specialise in removing furniture.
- If you find stooping or bending down difficult, then shop around for a litter-picking tool.
Consider If You Might Need More Help
Don’t be shy to ask for help, if clearing your home of unwanted items is too tough to do on your own. We already touched on ‘hoarding buddies’ and close friends. There are several hoarding charities in England who are also keen to help.
You can control your hoarding easier when you share your challenges with people in the same position. Join a virtual or actual support group. Laugh together. Learn from each others’ experience.
Control Hoarding With a Trusted Friend
If you are not happy discussing your hoarding with strangers, then consider confiding in a hoarding buddy, close friend, or family member. They could help you unravel your beliefs behind your hoarding, so you are happy to let go of the stuff.
That person could also help you clear your clutter ‘layer by layer’. That term means thinning things out first, so you get used to having more open space around you. It also means you can leave the more difficult things until later:
- Some of us part with possessions easily. Others have emotional attachments which are more difficult to deal with.
- You can control your hoarding faster, if you work through your doubts with a close friend you can trust.
- That interaction adds an additional level of comfort. You made the right decision before you let go of your clutter.
Takeaways to Help You De-Clutter
Here are your most important takeaways from this article. They could help you clear your clutter sooner, while avoiding most of the emotional pain:
- Clearing a cluttered home layer-by-layer, helps us understand our reasons for collecting it.
- Hoarders may develop emotional relationships with their things. Learn to view them objectively.
- Understand how and why you feel pain when clearing away hoarded stuff. Conquer your emotion.
- Never try to de-clutter faster than your comfort zone allows. Pace yourself so you cope with the pressure.
Above all, be forward-thinking. Imagine your home without stuff lying everywhere. Think how great you will feel when you can welcome guests again, even if they arrive unexpectedly.
Remember Avery Associates when you have made your plans, and face a mountain of clutter to get rid of. They have their own removal team. Call them on Freephone 0800 567 7769. They know what to do.
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Great service from Jeff. He was fair with pricing, and did an amazing job with the clearance of my great uncles flat. Will definitely use again in the future. Nathan
