5 Tips to Overcome Compulsive Hoarding

People develop hoarding tendencies for various reasons. The items could bear sentimental value to them in terms of precious memories, monetary value, or usefulness.

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A common misconception about hoarding, however, is that all items in the house are trash. That’s not true at all. Some people hoard pieces of fine china, jewelry, cash, record albums, and collectibles. These may be worth tons of money in the market today.

These items may include old newspapers, cardboard boxes, old pieces of clothing, plastic bags, shoes, old useless appliances, and dysfunctional furniture among others. That’s why you need an effective hoarding cleanup service such as Jiffy Junk to lend a hand.

The item may have belonged to a loved one who has passed on or reminds them of a fond memory like their child growing up. Some people find usefulness in everything that the rest of the world might otherwise term as junk.

Tips to Overcome Hoarding

While hoarding is a mental disorder, you can control it with the right resources and mental fortitude. It may not take a single day, but with constant dedication and support from family and friends, you can overcome impulsive hoarding too.

Identify Your Trigger

The hoarded items could bear sentimental value to them in terms of precious memories, monetary value, or usefulness. It could have belonged to a loved one who has passed on. Or remind them of a fond memory like their child growing up.

Hoarding tendencies could also stem from anxiety and past traumatic events. Such include poverty or fire outbreaks that may have deprived them of certain things.

Identifying the root cause behind your compulsive tendencies and why you are choosing to carry out a hoarding cleanup, helps ensure that you stay motivated. It keeps you focused on your goal.

Find Motivation

On average, more than half the world’s population finds it hard to remain on track when it comes to achieving goals, hoarding tendencies or not.

Achieving any goal requires dedication and continued commitment, which can be hard to maintain if nothing is spurring you on. So, before you come up with a plan to overcome your hoarding tendencies, get your inspiration.

It doesn’t have to be a grand reason like winning the best house on the block. It could be as simple as:

To be able to entertain your family and guests comfortably when they visit
To easily find things you need urgently in your living space

Having it written down, in bold, can also help keep you on track whenever you start second-guessing yourself during the hoarding cleanup.

Regularly reviewing the list will help you to stay grounded and motivated thus helping you to attain your goals. Who knows maybe you might just end up winning the best house someday.

Baby Steps

We all have days when we wake up with a sporadic burst of motivation to transform our living spaces or our lives in general for the better. While it may work short-term, it is not an ideal way to overcome compulsive hoarding because you might feel anxious and fall back to old habits as it can get overwhelming.

Setting small specific goals, however, can help keep you on track. It can be as small as clearing two or three boxes or clearing a small room like the toilet.

You can also set time-based goals like allocating time slots daily to slowly clear up the clutter in your living space. It could be 15 minutes or even an hour.

Remember not to overexert yourself and if you start feeling anxious, take a deep relaxing breath. You could also try some relaxation exercises like yoga or discover your Zen through meditation.

Ask For Help from an Objective Hoarding Cleanup Service

There is no shame in asking for help. Remember hoarding is a mental disorder and is hard to curb instantly but you can manage it over time with the help of a trained professional.

This will make the hoarding cleanup process a whole lot easier for you as they will not only help you stay motivated but also give suggestions and advice where necessary.

Hoarder cleanup agencies can also help you when it comes to decluttering your house, with your input of course so that you don’t have to do it all by yourself.

There are also some therapeutic treatments for hoarding in the market today which may include

Helping you develop better decision-making skills,
Cognitive-behavioral therapy to help you challenge irrational beliefs
Exposure therapy to address your hidden fears
Boosting your motivation to ensure you stick with your newly acquired skills

Dispose Of Things Not Used For a Year And Over

Are there old clothes sitting in your closet that you last wore over a decade ago? Or maybe chipped and broken pieces of cutlery and furniture that are unusable, but you just couldn’t let go of yet? Well, it may be time for a hoarding cleanup.

An easy way to avoid hoarding is by clearing out things you haven’t used for over a year to create space for more items.

You can consider donating your old clothes and other salvageable items to a local charity of your choice. If you can replace it, then you probably don’t need it. Out with the old, in with the new.

Conclusion

Always set small and clear goals to ensure you don’t get discouraged along the hoarding cleanup process and fall back into your comfort zone. One small step could set the chains of your life in motion.

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