Things To Do While Decluttering A Hoarded Home
Most of the time, we have seen television shows, where the transformation of a hoarder’s home took place. When it comes to reality, those magical shifts will need a little amount of time to get decluttering of a hoarder’s home done. If a loved one at your home or any relative, who has been into the clutter collection for many years, there could be a hoarding illness happening in your family.
In the initial times, it may be started as a gathering of knick-knacks or some piles of paper. But as time passes on, it tends to get escalated to a great extent. Situations like a traumatic event such as a death or divorce, impact the level of hoarding. In such situations, if a person has a higher level of hoarding, at that time, expert’s suggestions or help is needed to get rid of it and E-Reuse is the ideal way to opt for, which has a proficient team of experts knowing how to manage decluttering at a hoarder’s home.
Understanding the hoarding disorder
In case, if your loved one has too much stuff in their homes, or a hard time throwing items, then it does not mean that he/she has a hoarding illness. Unless the collection of stuff like boxes, paper, clothes, or other things reach another level, there is nothing to think about hoarding. If you want to treat the illness of a hoarder in your special one, then firstly, realizing the signs of hoarding is a must thing.
Signs of hoarding include an ‘accumulation of useless and unusual items, rotten food, magazines, fingernails, hairs, and at times, even pets can be hoarded and avoided. Such hoarded people will usually have anxiety, fear, or depression about throwing any item away. Making the hoarded items take away from them is not possible with them. A hoarder’s home may fill the places like stairways, counters, and hallways. Of course, some rooms are not in use for a long time, such places turn out to be a cluttering place filled with piles of different items. Few of them take garages, yards, etc. as the best place to fill into the items that are not in use or worthy at all. Hoarders may want to make themselves busy in such hoarded items and not want any person to come to their homes for any of the reasons. Due to these hoarded items, space can turn out to be unhealthy and unsafe for daily activities.
If you are unable to help a hoarder by yourself, talking to a hoarding expert would be the best idea, as they are experts like E-Reuse in carrying out the removal of the useless item from a hoarder’s home with some tips and techniques.
Create an action plan
To make decluttering items and stop hoarding in your home, there may be plenty of things you can consider. It needs a proper strategy to make a decluttering reality. If you think that it will be done in just a few seconds, you are wrong here. Hoarders have many things holding emotional value to them that you may not realize, they just want to hold them forever with them, don’t want to lose control over them.
As they may be experiencing some mental issues like anxiety, depression, etc. your family member can help you in taking a few steps when it comes to making your home clean and safe. Let’s discuss some interesting tips to get clutter thrown out of your home and prevent hoarding to some extent:
- Start with cleaning first
Make simple goals your priority and start with them to clean your hallways, doorways, and walkways. You can have a word with all of your family members and discuss the risks linked to these blocked paths, like tripping hazards and fire-related situations. Try to remove the item to enhance the availability of space so that everyone can move easily. Moving further, check out other places like rooms, bathroom, kitchen, and bedroom and make sure they are safe and tidy to prevent infections due to trash, useless items present there. Discard those items that hold no sentimental value.
- Sort papers
Papers are the most important part of everyone’s home, but they become piled if not disposed of after using them. So, try to put them in bins or boxes while sorting through heaps of paper. These can be sorted into different boxes, like one box may have newspapers and old magazines to be recycled, another box may contain papers to be shredded, and the third box may include personal documents like bank statements, etc.
Don’t put yourself in a stressed situation, try to work in shifts and divide cleaning in sessions. After putting all papers in different boxes, scan them thoroughly.
- Avoid delaying donations
Donations are the best way to manage stuff and avoid becoming hoarded. It would be better to part an item rather than putting it in the corner of your home. This way, there is less probability that a hoarded person will go out and find the piece to take it back. So, make a donation box and fill it with those items that can be given to charity. Kitchen gadgets, decorations, and dishes could be taken to a thrift store as this place is good for them.
- Make a storage space
It is expected that hoarders often find worthiness in different items available in or out of their homes. So, you should get an idea of what an item might be a valuable one and then get a price check on different online shopping portals so that you can sell them in the future. Consider a storage space, where you can put them and plan them for selling.
- No more heap of clothes
Don’t get indulged in overflowing closet spaces and rooms filled with apparel. Ensure to get started with an item that has less emotional value. If there are new clothes in wardrobes but don’t fit your loved one, then it is a great idea to take them to a consignment shop. Check out closets and discuss the benefits of having clean clothes in a tidy space. Sort them and divide them into categories like shirts, pajamas, and socks. Keep well-maintained clothes to wear them. Don’t hold those clothes with rips or holes, or those which are unfit for your loved one.
Hire a hoarding expert
Simply performing cleaning tasks will not do wonders for your home. The main issue is not clutter only. Make sure you handle a loss of control or trauma that comes after cleaning a hoarded home. If needed, then you can reach out to a treatment center that has hoarding specialization. Family therapy may be helpful in these cases.
Apart from that, hiring a hoarding expert is also of greater importance. E-Reuse has a team of experts who are very well-acquainted with hoarding and how to prevent it so that hoarders can start living a normal and happy life. These experts are just a few clicks away from you, just contact them and explain the entire situation to them. They will work on your behalf to make cleaning and decluttering done easily.
Let your home breathe without hoarded items. Just hire E-Reuse now.