ARE YOU A ‘CLOSET’ HOARDER?

Actually, I fight those compulsions daily.  Do you have that tendency to keep everything you think you might possibly need at any point in the next millineum?  If you said no, you are not being honest with yourself or you would not have ended up at this post.  Me, I’m guilty. I don’t like admitting it.   Just the word sounds so negative.  Especially since those television shows have turned up that display for all the world to see what an honest to God hoarder lives with.

YOU’VE SEEN THE HOARDERS ON TV

Their houses and living spaces are disgusting.  Reading about this problem, one finds that it is recognized as a mental disorder, often seen in OCD individuals.  If you have some of these tendencies-you know what I mean:

  • Difficulty parting with anything
  • If you have one, might as well have two (or more)
  • If you make the decision to clean up and de-clutter, just deciding what to do with all that stuff is overwhelming
  • You pass piles of discarded items on the side of the road and want some of the stuff- even though you have no use for it
  • You have clutter everywhere.  And you keep adding more
  • You covet a de-cluttered space but don’t have the will to make it happen

These things I just listed are mental thoughts I deal with constantly.  For many years I gave into them.  Only with great effort and will was I able to curb the hoarding urge.  If you do not fall in to the group who are really unable to help themselves, but are like me and able to get control of your life, try to remember the following things to keep your ‘hoarding self’ under control:

  • When you have an ample supply of something, throw away the rest.  I reuse plastic bags of every size and shape.  When the container in which I keep them is overflowing, the rest go in the re-cycling bin.  Yeah, that’s a big step for me.
  • Once you throw something away, don’t look back.  DON’T LOSE YOUR RESOLVE!!
  • If you feel better among clutter, keep an area/room/closet, cluttered.  Sometimes that honestly feels good.  You are in control of the de-cluttered spaces, but you have control of your ‘hoarding self’, also.
  • BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF.  Recognize YOU ARE  A HOARDER.  One of the sources I read said that many people don’t realize what they are doing.  They see the clutter but don’t admit to themselves they are hoarders.

Not all clutterers are hoarders, but if you are holding on to things and let this get out of control, recognizing who you are will be a big help.  You must get control of you if you want to get control of your life.

See you again soon,

FDL