Junk Collecting

[Western Red Cedar]

A technique better suited to extroverts would be to invite people over to force you to clean.

This can work well for introverts too. We had some family visiting DW while I was out of town this spring and our apartment never looked cleaner or better organized than right before their visit.

[sky]

7. Invite guests and prepare your home for a visit.

That is a good one, I suspect true hoarders never want anyone to see their collection of junk. There may be a psychological connection between self-isolation and hoarding.

[sky]

8. Entryway Display. Someone coming to your door will learn about you from the things that are visible from your entry door. Arrange and display things visible from the entry door in a way that reflects how you would like to be seen.

9. Telescope. If looking at the big picture of clutter seems daunting, focus on a small area and clean that area first.

[IlliniDave]

We're going through a ginormous decluttering with my dad. He has three strikes against him. One and two are that he grew up very poor, and most of his relatives were farmers who survived the depression. So anything acquired that might possibly (no matter how remote the possibility) have future value was saved, basically for the entire ~57 years he's lived in the house. The third strike is that he's just a chaotic person in the sense he has no sense of organization, the closest empty spot is where whatever is in his hands goes when he doesn't want it in his hands any more. It was driving me nuts this past spring when I was over there every day trying to rein it in. I'd clear the coffee table off so locating his pill caddie would be easy and simple. I'd go home and come back the next morning the caddie would be buried under a foot of accumulated clutter--newspapers, junk mail, phone books (he still uses them), cookbooks, sometimes dirty dishes. Simply because his 'spot' is on the couch and his arms are long enough to reach the coffee table. Fortunately the IHHC person has dealt with certified hoarders and is pretty firm with him and gradually progress is being made.

The progress is aided by his memory problems. We'll ask him, "Do you really need to keep this 25 year old jelly jar?" "Yeah, I might make jelly out of the raspberries this year, no sense paying money for new jars." (something he hasn't done for 15 years). "Okay, we'll put it out here in the other room where you can find it if you need it." Then wait 15 minutes and toss it into recycle. About 1 time in 4 he'll spot it later and pull it back out. But a 75% success rate is enough that progress is getting noticeable.

BTW, if you want to collect stuff, some that even has value, consider learning to dive. There are all kinds of underwater treasures out there waiting to be recovered (plus it cleans up lakes and streams). I just met a couple on the 4th who do that as a hobby. They're mostly interested in items of historical value, back when mining and logging were big local industries. But they remove trash in the spirit of good stewardship.

[jacob]

Or if you don't want to dive, attach a big magnet to a rope. (magnet fishing)

[Sclass]

My sympathies. I’m currently trying to clear my parents’ place. They had unstable childhoods and they got the hoarder bug. I try to be understanding while I move their “collection” out to the curb.

I put out a semi truck load on the curb for bulky item pickup day. It was exhausting moving the stuff out. We have a long driveway that goes uphill. I literally ran out of energy by the end of the day. I had to hold some back so I could drive home. I’ve made a small dent in their “collection”.

The entire time I was moving their hoard out I wondered what they were thinking. They certainly didn’t plan their endgame. I guess that’s on me.