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5 Decluttering Tips for Hoarders

August 5, 2021

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Hello, I'm Jen
As a Certified Professional Organizer in Chronic Disorganization® (CPO-CD®), I am uniquely qualified with the knowledge and experience to help you with ADHD issues, hoarding, chronic disorganization, and aging. 


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If you believe you could be developing a hoarding issue, consider why and how you’ve accumulated so many things, and what function it serves. Is all of your stuff making you happy, or are you starting to understand that your house is nothing more than a storage facility for worthless items? Is there another thing or possession that serves the same function? What role does this artwork play in your happiness? Consider looking at your room through the eyes of a loving friend. Would you be concerned about your own safety? Or do you believe that everything in your house has a certain purpose? The greatest method to prevent hoarding is to continuously examine and monitor the behavior you see in yourself or in your family or friends. Assess the risk of hoarding becoming out of control – we may all end up collecting beloved keepsakes from our childhoods or major successes – but when the degree of value fades and inanimate objects pile up, the inclination to be hard may be taking over. You must be critically engaged in the acts you conduct in order to halt or prevent hoarding behavior. Let’s have a look at some simple and efficient strategies to combat hoarding:

Tip #1: Address the Root Causes

It’s not the clutter that’s the issue; it’s generally an underlying issue with a sense of loss of control or trauma. Cleaning a house won’t solve a hoarding problem. Many persons with hoarding disorder also have additional mental illnesses, such as depression, anxiety disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or alcoholism. Some people with hoarding disorder will realize and admit that they have a problem with acquiring things, while others will not. Many persons with hoarding disorder exhibit related issues such as indecisiveness, perfectionism, procrastination, disorganization, and distractibility in addition to the fundamental traits of difficulty discarding, excessive saving, and clutter. These characteristics can have a significant impact on how well they operate and how severe their issues are.

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Tip #2: Don’t Put It Off

“The sooner, the better” when it comes to decluttering. We want to quickly remove and donate goods so that it’s less likely that someone will go out of their way to discover the item and bring it back into the house. If you spend an afternoon tidying a room and fill a donation box, donate the box as soon as the session is finished. The usable goods may be taken to a thrift store and given a decent home, while the remainder can be thrown away. Goodwill is always a fantastic place to donate.

Tip #3: Declutter By Area

Looking at just one freshly decluttered room may motivate you to declutter the rest of your house as well.
Keep the momentum continuing by decluttering deeply in tiny places rather than cleaning a bit at a time throughout your home—because you’ll wind up with a full bag of donations but no distinct happily decluttered location to point to if you do the latter. For example, you could opt to completely clear the rubbish drawer or a certain kitchen cabinet.

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Tip #4: Start Small

If you or a loved one is a hoarder seeking assistance, starting small is one of the most effective ways to begin the healing process. Taking over someone’s home and tossing out all of their belongings may be just as harmful as the disorder’s symptoms. A cautious and steady approach, similar to other kinds of mental illness, can be quite useful in the process of reversing the desire to hoard. Begin by making trash and recycling collection a habit. This is advantageous because it permits hoarders and their support groups to dispose of even more garbage over time.
The following stages may involve determining how to approach each area in the house from a garbage perspective – for most hoarders, going one room at a time is a comfortable way to begin the decluttering process. Make a cleaning kit that you may use in different areas of the house.

Tip #5: Hire a Professional Organizer

The amount of items in the home might be overpowering if the hoarding problem has been there for a long time. Having a professional assist relieves any stress and makes the process go more smoothly. Working with a professional is considerably more comfortable for many people.In addition to hiring a professional organizer, if the house is in bad shape, it may be dangerous to attempt to clean it yourself; instead, use a professional cleaning service or garbage removal business.

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Where do I find a Professional Organizer?

I can assist you if you are seeking for a CPO-CD® (Certified Professional Organizer in Chronic Disorganization®) in the East Bay Area of California. I do more than assist individuals arrange their stuff as a CPO-CD®. I concentrate on my customers to learn about their stories and to assist them in improving their life as a whole. Using the SHiFT method, we work together to bring greater balance and structure to all parts of their life. If you are not local, I also provide virtual services so that we may collaborate from anywhere on the planet.

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  1. […] Whether you’re overwhelmed by paper clutter or trying to figure out how to organize years of paperwork, the first step to getting started is the same — declutter. […]

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