Tag: hoarder

When to ask for help with clutter and hoarders?

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8 signs of when to ask for help for clutter and hoarders who live in a hoarder home.

What’s the difference between a cluttered house and a hoarder house?

A hoarder house typically has –

  • Clutter on all floors, sometimes pathways from points A to B
  • Junk on all surfaces including tables, counters, chairs, couches, etc.
  • Piles on piles of stuff with an assortment of items

How does hoarding impact daily life and routines?

  • Difficult to do basic tasks such as cooking and cleaning
  • Limits social interaction such as inviting friends and family over
  • Constant loss of time and stuff by having to search and look for items
  • Spending more money on stuff the person already has causing duplicates and more clutter

Can the hoarder meet their basic needs?

A hoarder can have a low threshold for living standards. It’s important to be aware if the hoarder can still meet their basic needs in the home.

  • Can they wash their hands and take a shower?
  • Do they have access to laundry and warm water?
  • Are they able to cook beyond a microwave?
  • Where do they sleep? Is the bed or couch accessible?

How long have they been living this way?

  • Has it been a year or more?
  • Is it getting visibly worse each time you visit?
  • Is it difficult for them to downsize and declutter?

If you answered yes to the above questions, I recommend asking the person(s) if they want help.

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Is the house unsafe and unhealthy to live in?

  • How high are the piles?
  • Is there access to exit and entry doors?
  • What contents are in the home? (There is usually a pattern.)
  • Are there signs of mold, infestations, or asbestos?
  • Are there pets, feces, or any hazardous materials?

If health and safety is in question then now is the time to help.

hoarder shed with clutter on all floors and surfaces making it a dysfunctional space

What kind of stuff is being collected and hoarded?

One of the key signs of hoarding is when the person(s) keep items of little to no monetary value:

  • Napkins
  • Pieces of paper
  • Broken items
  • Paper boxes
  • Plastic bags

What are signs and symptoms of hoarding?

  • Unable to get rid of items and declutter
  • Inability to let go
  • Anxiety about the potential future use of items
  • No designated home or organizational structure for things
  • Keeping distance between the home and friends, family, and social events
Before & After Photos

What causes hoarding?

People with hoarding disorder may or may not recognize that their habits and behaviors are negative. It’s important to acknowledge that the onset of hoarding usually starts from a stressful or traumatic event.

The exact cause of hoarding is unknown but it can be associated with ADHD and OCD.

Do you know someone who is hoarder and needs help?
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Organizing Book Recommendations

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Check out these book recommendations to help you start organizing!

Marie Kondo Book Recommendations

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying up: This is such a great book to inspire you! After reading this I just knew I had to hire Marie to help my parents with their hoarder home. Soon after I signed up for her Organizing Consultant Program to start organizing on my own! This is where my professional organizing journey began. In this book she describes the deep impact of how organizing can enhance our lives. After all, don’t we all want to live our best lives?!

Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up: Such an amazing detailed guide on how to organize in each category. Marie includes pictures of how to fold items with TONS of tips and tricks. Take your organizing game to the NEXT LEVEL with this book!

Joy at Work: Organizing Your Professional Life: What I love most about this book is how she explains how to organize your digital life. I swear before I read this I had soooo many old photos, documents spread all over my desktop, and absolutely no order to all my files. She also goes into detail about how to maintain a tidy workspace.

Organizing Book Recommendations

The Home Edit: A Guide to Organizing and Realizing Your House Goals: Clea and Joanna transform spaces to be practical and aesthetically beautiful. They tidy for clients instead of with clients. They love purchasing organizing containers to display everything beautifully and in rainbow color.

The Personal Organizing Workbook: Solutions for a Simpler, Easier Life: This in amazing guide that really helps clients organize and learn how to maintain organized spaces. I really enjoyed this one!

Real Life Organizing: (Clutterbug Book)

Martha Stewart’s Organizing: The Manual for Bringing Order to Your Life, Home & Routines

Need more suggestions?

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How to Maintain AFTER Tidying!

Free Tips & Tricks about how to maintain a Tidy Lifestyle after Tidying!

Kitchen

Spices & Herbs

  • Always return seasonings back to their designated home
  • Preserve flavor and quality by storing all spices and herbs away from light and heat
  • Replace after six months
  • When you run out of a spice: discard container and write down the item on your shopping list

Pantry

  • Always place items where you found them
  • Keep a writing pad handy in the kitchen so you can write down foods to replace
  • Sort through the pantry every 2-3 months to do inventory, make adjustments, and discard expired foods
  • Place labels on shelves so every member of the household can put things back where they belong

Refrigerator & Freezer

  • Always return food back to its category
    • sauces on the door
    • cheese in the drawer
    • milk on the tallest shelf
    • proteins on the lowest shelf (typically coldest area of the fridge)
  • Try to sort through the fridge & freezer every 1-2 months, before going grocery shopping
    • Check what you have and need to buy
    • Toss spoiled and expired foods
    • Reorganize so you can see everything

Living Room

Photos

  • Go through old photos every year. If you haven’t gone through photos in years, be honest with yourself and ask if they are worth keeping? Perhaps, switch photos in frames out with those in albums or boxes.

Books

  • Joy Check books every year. When did you read each book? If you haven’t most of the books in the past year or more consider other options – Kindle, Ebooks, or go to the library. (Yes, I still go to the library! It’s a wonderful way to read new releases without having to wait or store more books at home.)

Children’s toys

  • Ensure bins are categorized and accessible to encourage the little kiddos to tidy up
  • Categories can be broken down by:
    • Balls
    • Legos/Duplos
    • Trains, Trucks, Small Toys
    • Play food, Cookware
    • Stuffed Animals
    • Arts/Crafts

Dining Room

  • Sort through the dining room sideboard once a year and donate items that haven’t been used in the past 12 months
  • Refrain from using the dining table as a resting place for paper and projects
  • Place fresh flowers in a vase or another centerpiece. This visual appeal reminds family members that this is a space to gather.
  • Dust and clean the table weekly – this can help from clutter building
  • Place frequently used items in the sideboard nearby
    • Coasters, trivets, and napkins in easy to access drawers

Home Bar

  • After a party, put glasses and liquors back where they belong
  • Inventory the liquid cabinet before holiday and event shopping. Add items to your shopping list.

Home Office

Mail

  • Recycle junk mail at the mailbox
  • Have a designated place to temporary hold mail if you can’t get to it immediately
  • Sort through mail daily and as soon as you can
  • Shred sensitive mail
  • Place bills and other important documents in a pending box
  • Replace old magazines with new ones, especially if you have a subscription

Papers

  • As you receive important documents be sure to file them away in their appropriate category within a file cabinet or file folder
  • Place must-do items in a pending box, typically located on top of the desk or in a drawer
  • It’s natural for papers to be left out: don’t stress! You’re human! File papers once a week or on a regular schedule so nothing builds up.
  • When you receive notices such as wedding invitations: add it to the calendar immediately and then toss the paper.
  • Clean out files every year.
    • Tax records have to be saved for 3 years in California
    • Dispose of any unused manuals
    • Shred old bills, receipts, checks, etc.

Digital

  • Every 4 months: Go through file folders and add documents left on the desktop or other places that are not categorized
    • Ensure all documents are in useful categories
      • Projects
      • Personal
      • Travel
      • Medical
      • Financial
      • Tax
      • Important
    • Trash old and irrelevant documents
  • Every 4 months: Sort photos and delete duplicates, screenshots, junk
    • Take this opportunity to increase phone storage, sync photos to the cloud and/or computer
    • Create a photo screensaver slideshow on the computer! Change the background photo on your phone! This is a great way to enjoy your photos and relive your memories each day!

Bedroom

Clothes

  • Always put clothes back where it belongs in a closet, dresser, or drawer
  • Sort through clothing storage spaces periodically, perhaps every 6 months
    • When seasons change, replace and store clothes with the appropriate season
    • Discard or donate unworn clothes.
    • *Every item we keep and discard teaches us a lesson*
  • Designate a lazy drawer: Have a safe space to hold the pajamas currently being used or other clothes you intend to wear again. This is also a great place to hold clothes when feeling too tired to fold.
  • Designate a laundry bag for dry cleaning
  • Utilize drawer organizers and dividers if your clothes feel cluttered and disorganized regularly
  • As soon as you empty the dryer, find a peaceful place to fold clothes and take some time for yourself. This can become a relaxing ritual. Don’t forget to involve family members or to place clothes in labeled baskets within their personal spaces for them to get to.
    • Don’t have time to fold? Set clothing basket aside, near your closet as a “pending” activity.

Nightstand

  • Make it a habit to return all books inside the nightstand
  • Always put medicine in the drawers of the nightstand
  • Have in-bed hobbies? Place contents in a bin stored under the bed
  • Keep a small dish on the nightstand for hairbands, rings, or earrings

Bathroom

  • Reorganize your bathroom every 6-12 months
    • It’s normal for clutter to build up on bathroom counters. Make it a point to clean counters regularly to avoid scum and dust build up. Take this opportunity to tidy up!

Medicine

  • Check the dates of your medication every 6 months
    • Over the counter medication typically expires every 6-12 months
  • Store medicine in a cabinet or designated bin with a lid, out of reach from kids

Garage & Utility Room

  • Label all bins and shelves to ensure you always put items back. This also helps encourage family members to put things back.
  • Clean and fix equipment, tools, and recreational items every season before storing

Do you need an improved maintenance strategy?

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For more detailed guidance I recommend reading The Home Organizing Workbook.

Declutter Guide

What is the key to being able to let go and declutter, for good?

joy checking process

Visualize your Ideal lifestyle

“When you imagine your ideal lifestyle, you are actually clarifying why you want to tidy and identifying the kind of life you want to live once you have finished.”

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, Marie Kondo
  • Step 1: Visualize in detail the ideal lifestyle you dream of
  • Step 2: Identify why you want to live that lifestyle
  • Step 3: Dive into the specifics of how you want to live day by day.
  • When we skip this step it-
    • delays the whole tidying process
    • puts you at higher risk for rebound

Focus on What Sparks Joy, not what to Discard

What adds value to your life? When you touch something that brings you joy-

  • A feeling of thrill, often a full body experience
  • A pleasing design/look that makes you feel peaceful
  • An item with a high degree of functionality that makes life easier
  • A sense of rightness
  • An items thats useful in daily life

When faced with something that does not spark joy-

  • you feel heavy
  • your hands pause
  • you tilt your head slightly and frown
  • you have to think
  • you feel guilty
  • for essential items that don’t spark joy, think about the purpose

Prepare to Joy Check

Pick an easy category to start with – I recommend clothing.

Pile all items in one spot so you can see everything in that category at once. Example: pile all long, short, and sleeveless shirts that you own.

Creating a physical pile gives us that “wow” moment while also holding us accountable in the present.

Pick out your Favorite item(s)

Find one item in the pile that you love.

You know you love something because the instant you see and hold it, you feel warm and fuzzy inside. Sometimes items are less about happiness and more about practicality, usefulness, and function. Example: the blue shirt that goes with everything and is always washed regularly.

“Does it Spark Joy?”™

  • Step 1: Pick up one item at a time
  • Step 2: Hold it.
    • Ask yourself:
      • If this got stained/torn would I fix it?
      • If I lost this, would I buy it again?
      • Does this item enhance my life?
      • Do I feel like my best self with this item?
    • If you’re unsure if it Sparks Joy hug it close to your heart!
    • Gaze at it.
    • If it is clothing, please try it on!

Be Present

Be aware of how your body reacts to each item. You know you love something because that feeling is immediate. If you pause or have to think about an item – ask yourself, why?

  • Was it a gift?
  • Was it free?
  • Have I used this? Why haven’t I ever used this?
  • What was I really trying to buy in that moment?
  • Does this item contribute to my ideal lifestyle?

What if I’m Struggling?

Pick 2-3 similar items and compare them. Really feel the item in your hand and think deeply about what purpose it plays.

Be Mindful.

Have the courage to let go and stop all thoughts of “What if-?” Remember your goals and think of how each item you keep or discard contributes to your ideal lifestyle.

Try not to focus on-

  • reducing
  • efficient storage methods
  • feeling wasteful
  • giving items away

Instead focus on-

  • choosing belongings that inspire joy
  • enjoying life according to your own standards
  • appreciate how the items you discard supported you in your life
  • what role each item has in your life

Reframe Letting Go & Declutter

Every item you keep is a possession that brings you joy and/or makes life better.

Every item you discard is an opportunity to learn more about yourself and who you are today.

  • If you let go of something you’ve used until it’s broken and worn out: appreciate how its helped to enhance your life
  • If you declutter something you never used: it taught you a lesson in how you shop, that it did not have a purpose in your life
  • Think consciously about each item you discard: how will you choose to live moving forward? how you will acquire new things?

Keep items with Confidence

If you keep it then…

  • Use and appreciate it.
  • Create a forever home for every item: find it and know exactly what you have.
  • It’s natural to not put away everything all the time. No one is perfect. Make it a priority to create positive habits. Maybe you won’t put belongings back all the time, every day, but commit to putting things away.

Declutter and downsize with ease

Connect with Nicole

Please note items discussed on this post were from the Marie Kondo books and KonMari networking group. Find more resources here.