Am I a hoarder? We have lost count of the times our clients have asked us this question. Shows like Hoarders and Hoarders: Buried Alive have shined a light on hoarding conditions. Hoarding has even been recognized as a mental disorder by researchers recently. With these developments, we have noticed a change in the societal attitude and awareness of hoarding. All of a sudden being a hoarder is not a hidden secret and that is great news. This recognition is the first step toward healing for many. Although the word hoarder has been introduced to the urban dictionary it has not really has been explained.
We always educate our clients about the most common trades of hoarding. And tell most of them that they are far from being a hoarder. Although it has been said that somewhere between 3-6 million people in the United States suffer from hoarding, you being a little disorganized, messy or collective doesn’t necessarily make you a hoarder. If however you are guilty of hoarding and would like a compassionate cleanup service to take care of your belongings, you may want to consider something like Chicago ServiceMaster.
Many times order falls apart in our homes because we may be too busy to keep up with our system, we lack a system, to begin with, or our system is not really customized to our life. To us it’s always interesting when we get a call from panicked people, claiming that they are hoarders only to find their space is just cluttered and disorganized. Yes, we have to confess most times there is some hidden clutter in closets or some problem with over shopping. Some of us do have a tendency to collect more of certain things like shoes, ties or handbags. Sometimes these things do become issues in smaller spaces. For some people, being a hoarder can get out of hand. You see on TV shows where they try to help people clean up their home, at times, it reaches the point where the assistance of pest control companies like terminix hawaii need to be called as pest infestation has been found. This is not something that anyone wants to have to live with. But it is never too late to sort out your home if you do like to keep a lot of items.
However, as long as you are willing to let go of what you don’t need anymore you won’t be falling on the category of hoarding. Here are a few things you might want to consider next time you are calling yourself or someone else a hoarder.
- Lack the ability to discard possessions
- Feeling anxious when asked to get rid of any belongings
- Inability or difficulty categorizing or organizing items
- Indecisiveness about items and plans
- Distress, feeling overwhelmed or even sometimes ashamed of clutter
- Excessive amounts of clutter
- Mistrust of others touching or dealing with their belongings
- Over obsessive behavior such as thoughts of fear of losing an item they might need later. Or keeping so much of a thing just because they are afraid they might run out of it.
- Clutter is affecting the quality of their life and others mentally, physically, emotionally and in most cases financially
- Moving around their place is hard due to amount of clutter.
- Living condition is becoming dangerous & unsafe because of all the possessions blocking the way and also making the house dysfunctional.
Hoarding can be triggered by a trauma in life or can manifest alongside of another disorder. It can start showing signs from as early in life as 12 years old. No matter the reason for it, it’s a challenge that takes lots of courage to overcome. Make sure you always ask for professional help similar to a hoarder cleaning service so the person who is affected by hoarding can get the best care and help possible.
