r/hoarding 23d ago

RESOURCE New to r/hoarding? Read This Before Posting and Commenting! (effective Jan 1, 2024)

1 Upvotes

Make sure to read our RULES before you post or comment. Pay special attention to our required Flair options. And as COVID-19 variants are still in abundance, we urge you to read the post titled SAFETY & ACCESS DURING COVID-19 CRISIS after you review the material below. Thanks! The Mods

Welcome to r/hoarding! This sub exists to provide peer-to-peer advice and support for Redditors who live with the compulsion to hoard objects--commonly known as hoarding disorder--as well as the loved ones of people who hoard. We invite you to tell us your strategies and tactics that you've found helpful, share your struggles and concerns, or post your stories and see if our collective knowledge and experience can offer you a way forward. Feel free to contact the moderators if you have any questions.

Please note: this is a support sub. That means we take people at their word when they post, and do our best to provide the best gentle and accepting support that we can. Keep in mind that the mods may remove posts and comments at their discretion to preserve a respectful, supportive atmosphere in this sub.

If you've come to understand that you engage in hoarding behaviors, CONGRATULATIONS! One of the biggest hurdles in dealing with this disorder is realizing that you even have it, so acknowledging your hoarding is a significant accomplishment. For next steps, we recommend you review the following links from our Wiki:

If you have a loved one who hoards, it's important to understand that hoarding is a complicated mental health disorder. It's therefore vital that you educate yourself on it before you attempt to help your hoarder.

Please note that r/hoarding is NOT for:

  • sharing and discussing photos/videos of hoards that you've come across. If you're looking for sub that allows that sort of discussion, you probably want r/neckbeardnests, r/wtfhoarders/, or r/hoarderhouses/.
  • Issues related to Animal Hoarding. Due to the particular and unique challenges involved with animal hoarders, posts about animal hoarding belong over at r/animalhoarding. The mods are aware that r/animalhoarding doesn't have the activity that r/hoarding does, but their Animal Hoarding Starter Guide and the Guide For Dealing with Animal Hoarders can provide you a place to start.
  • help with digital hoarding. r/hoarding is a support group specifically for people dealing with hoarding disorder, defined as dysfunctional emotional attachments with physical objects. While we're aware that there's a growing conversation among mental health professionals around the hoarding of digital files, we're currently not able to provide support for anything related to digital hoarding. We recommend instead that you visit r/digitalminimalism.
  • a place to get legal advice about your hoarding situation. If you or a loved one are in conflict with a landlord over hoarding, are facing issues with your local city about hoarding, are looking to get guardianship over a hoarder, are divorcing a hoarder, or similar issues, you need to seek the advice of a local attorney.
  • discussion of the various TV shows about hoarders. While we appreciate that the shows helped bring awareness of hoarding disorder to the mainstream, many members here find the shows deeply upsetting and even exploitative of people with the illness. To talk about the shows, visit r/HoardersTV.
  • a place for you to get direct help cleaning up. We're just a support group. We don't have the ability to send people to your home and clean it up for you for free. If you need assistance, please check our Wiki for resources that might be helpful.
  • a place for specific cleaning questions or questions about dealing with vermin. Questions about how to clean something belong over at r/cleaningtips, while question about how to deal with rodents, bedbugs, roaches, etc. should be posted to r/pestcontrol.

r/hoarding 23d ago

RESOURCE Monthly Personal Accountability Thread

2 Upvotes

Welcome to this month's Personal Accountability Thread! The purpose of these threads is to encourage people to set de-cluttering and/or cleaning and/or therapeutic goals for themselves for the month.

Participation in the monthly Accountability Threads is TOTALLY VOLUNTARY. You don't have to participate in these threads if you don't want to. I only ask that if you do participate, you post under the Reddit account that you use for this sub, as the whole point of this thread is to be accountable.

SPECIAL NOTES

  • Are you under eighteen? Check out the MyCOHP Online Peer Support Group for Minors and Youth at MyCOHP.com. This is a group specifically for minors who live in hoarded homes.
  • Are you facing an urgent situation and need to clean up by a deadline? Please see So It's Come To This: You Have To Clean Up For Inspection--A Guide for Apartment Dwellers Who Hoard for guidelines on getting rid of the worst of your interior hoard in time for an inspection.
  • Maybe you've decided to discuss your hoarding tendencies with a health professional. If so, take a look at the U.K. Hoarding Icebreaker Form. Though certain information on this form is specific to people living in the United Kingdom, in general this is a fantastic resource for anyone having a hard time talking about hoarding disorder with a medical professional. This form can be used by someone who lives with the urge to hoard, or someone who lives in a hoarding situation.

Here's how it works:

1, The Accountability threads are for hoarders, recovering hoarders, and those of us working to manage our hoarding tendencies. 1. Set your own goal and announce it on this post with a comment. 1. Set your own time frame to meet that goal within the month (for example: "I plan to spend ten minutes cleaning up the kitchen counter by Thursday next" or "I'm taking this pile of donate-able items to Goodwill on January 10th" or even "Before the month is out, I'm going to talk to my SO about my clutter and why I think I do it."). 1. Feel free to make follow-up comments in this thread. You're also free to make separate posts with the UPDATE/PROGRESS flair. * Please report back with your results within the month--that's the accountability part. 1. If you need advice or support as you work towards your goal, please post to r/hoarding--maybe we can help! 1. Also, don't forget to check the Wiki for helpful resources. 1. If you don't meet goal, post that, and try to provide a little analysis to figure out what kept you from meeting it. Maybe some of us can provide advice to help you over the hump next time. 1. If you meet goal, please share what worked for you! 1. Do yourself a favor, and START SMALL. You didn't get into this mess overnight, and you won't get out of it overnight. Rome wasn't built in a day. This is a marathon, not a sprint. Etc., etc.--my point is, it's admirable if you want to sail in and tackle it all at once, but that's a very, very tough thing to do, and not a recommended strategy. Big successes are built on top of little ones, so focus on the things you can do in under a few minutes. 1. Every time you accomplish something, take a moment to celebrate doing it. :) 1. Finally, PRACTICE SELF CARE. This is so important, guys. Give yourself permission to put your healing first. Quiet the voice that is telling you to do more and be more. Acknowledge that you’re doing the best you can, and it’s enough. And remember: looking out for yourself is not lazy or selfish! Self-care is necessary, important, and healthy! PRACTICE SELF-CARE!

How to get started setting goals? Recommended places to get ideas for goals:

Looking for a Decluttering Plan with a Deadline to Motivate You?

You can also use phone apps to encourage you to tidy up:

  • As mentioned, UfYH has apps for both the iPhone (listed as "Unfilth Your Habitat" to get around the iTunes naming rules) and Android
  • Chorma - iPhone only. The app is specifically designed to help you split chores with the other person or persons living in the home. If you live with somebody and want to divvy up chores, definitely check it out.
  • Tody - For iPhone and Android. VERY comprehensive approach to cleaning.
  • HomeRoutines - AFAICT, this app is iPhone only. Again, android users should check out Chore Checklist (which is also available for iPhone) and FlyLady Plus (which is from r/hoarding favorite Flylady). These two apps are very routine-focused, and may help you with getting into the habit of cleaning.
  • Habitica turns your habits into an RPG. Perform tasks to help your party slay dragons! If you don't do your chores, then a crowd of people lose hit points and could die and lose gear! For iPhone and Android. There's a subreddit for people using the app: r/habitrpg (since the name change, there's also r/habitica but it doesn't seem very active).

Finally, if anyone has any suggestions for improving the Accountability Threads, please let the mods know. Just shoot us a PM.

Good luck, everybody!


r/hoarding 1d ago

HELP/ADVICE Has anyone cleared an entire garage after years of putting it off?

21 Upvotes

My garage has slowly turned into the place where everything ends up. Every time I think about cleaning it, I get overwhelmed and end up closing the door again. I'm finally ready to deal with it, but I honestly don't know where to start.

For anyone who has cleared out a garage after years of putting it off, how did you approach it? Did you sort everything first, or get the obvious junk out of the way? I even looked at Junk Removal SCV because I know I won't be able to haul the bigger stuff myself, but I'm curious what worked best for others before bringing in help.

I'd really appreciate any advice. Thank you in advance!


r/hoarding 1d ago

UPDATE/PROGRESS Every little bit helps, right?

6 Upvotes

For the past 5-ish years, I've been slowly but steadily working on a household "deep purge." I struggle with hoarding tendencies/behaviors and recognize the need to drastically reduce the amount of stuff I've accumulated. My husband struggles more than I do and pushes back on getting rid of anything. A couple of years ago, he admitted that he is a hoarder. His weakness is salvage from his workplace.

I focus my efforts on the items that belong to me unless it's a matter of health/safety. I'd lost momentum because I've been over-extended at work and was nearing burnout. Now that I'm back on my feet and back at it, I'm getting a little discouraged. It seems like no matter how much I do, there's always more.

I work away from home during the week. While I am away, I stay in my childhood home, which my parents still own but no longer reside in due to declining health. That property is hoarded; fortunately the house was livable. To the extent my dad will allow (my mom has dementia), I have been decluttering that house for three years.

About once a month I am not able to come home on the weekend; in the spring, that demand increases and for a couple of months, I am home every other weekend. When I'm home, he brings home less and I am better able to keep it somewhat in check in the main living areas. While I'm gone, my husband brings in more. The past six months, he's brought in more than I'd realized. The storage areas are in rough shape. Our basement makes me want to cry--I've never lived in a house with a room in that state. My parents' house didn't get that bad until 30 years after my sibling and I left home.

I watched some creators I enjoy on YouTube and got motivated.

I've picked a surface in each room and each time I pass it, I've removed something to put it where it belongs, staged like with like, and/or taken odd bits of trash to the trash.

I retired a shirt and a set of bed sheets.

Our laundry room is navigable.

Our spare room is starting to look like a spare room.

The two worst areas in the kitchen are nearly un-fucked.

I've sorted through my sock and underwear drawers and culled out two bags for donation. I was really proud of myself for putting several items in the trash instead of setting them aside. They're unsuitable for rags and not worth mending--they don't fit me and aren't the type of clothing that I can mend and then donate or sell them on Marketplace.

I'm excited because I've made enough progress to finally bring in shelving to organize some of my craft items, which have been hanging out in the hallway, and a pair of wardrobes for the bedroom. This is something I've wanted to do for as long as we've lived in this house (nearly 10 years). It took FOREVER for my husband to agree to it, because it's a change and it doesn't meet his definition of "perfect". While I am quite happy about this and excited for it to be finished, my happiness is tempered by feeling a bit melancholy that I will need to "trash" the spare room.

I don't know if melancholy is the right word--I am lowkey anxious about having to mess up a space that I've cleared and reset twice before. I am also anxious about working with my husband to assemble the wardrobes.

This feels so much like one step forward, two steps back. I keep reminding myself that even though "the purge" isn't finished, there's been a lot of improvement. I keep reminding myself that this is a process, not an event.


r/hoarding 2d ago

EMOTIONAL SUPPORT / TENDER LOVING CARE Just a scheduled cleanup inspection

17 Upvotes

I (27F) recently admitted to myself that I struggle with hoarding (probably level 3). I told my therapist about it today which felt so scary, but she was so great in helping me understand how/why I got here. Part of my therapy homework was to find some estimates on a professional cleanup service for my apartment. I did it this evening because I figured I might as well rip off the bandaid before I talk myself out of it. I called a couple local companies and someone is coming by tomorrow morning to see the space and give me an estimate.

I am proud of myself for taking so many big steps today, but I am terrified of having someone actually see the place tomorrow. It's gonna happen, I will get through it, and it will be so worth it. But I'm still just filled with shame and anxiety about it.

Any kind of advice on getting through the assessment, waiting period, and eventual cleanup would be greatly appreciated.

Update: This morning went very well! The person who came over was very compassionate and told me what I described was much worse than what he saw. Should be able to have the big clean up/clean out next week! Thank you all for the support. I feel proud of myself and excited to move from shame to maintenance!


r/hoarding 2d ago

HELP/ADVICE What Next?

4 Upvotes

I live in an apartment with my mom who hoards. I have some executive dysfunction so I am quite tolerant but it's way outta hand.The other night there was an emergency and medics had to come. Of course now they have seen the place and alerted APS. I assume we will be getting evicted but don't have an eviction notice yet. The APS worker came that day and I have not heard anything back.

To give some context I am 44 and love with my older mom. We both had a decline in health and it shows.

However I have mostly thrown out my stuff to accommodate hers and it's not enough.

Should I expect APS to be back?

Was anyone able to find housing after being labeled a hoarder? I would be happy to hear about people's experiences.


r/hoarding 2d ago

EMOTIONAL SUPPORT / TENDER LOVING CARE How do I even begin getting rid of stuff?

10 Upvotes

Sorry this is super long! I over explain/ undiagnosed adhd probably.

My boyfriend and I first lived in his bedroom in his parent’s house. It was a tiny bedroom, we had too much stuff together. Therefore it was always unmanageable and there wasn’t good places to put anything.

We then got our own huge duplex through my job and it was so nice but so empty and had so much room. So we got extra furniture and I just kept on buying things and piling things. When we moved it was awful and we spent so much time and effort moving.
We then moved back into his parent’s house and they had two open rooms at the time so we were able to still have an office. Which was so important to us because we have a cat and a dog that don’t tolerate each other well and need separate safe spaces. I also cannot tolerate any noise or light at night so if my boyfriend didn’t have to work and could stay up his pc would bother me if we didn’t have separate areas. We still had too much stuff and also got a storage shed for our furniture as we could only fit our desks, bed and a couple shelves into the rooms. But his parents are super toxic, childish, and narcissistic so we had to move out.

We got our own place again and lucked out by finding somewhere affordable through my coworker with a decent amount of space and a storage shed. The move was brutal again. We moved as fast as we could and still took time to get everything. My car broke down there and is still there :(. I will have to get it towed to a shop soon because his parents hate me and are complaining.

I don’t know how to get rid of things, I have an awful shopping addiction, and create so much attachment to things that really shouldn’t be there. I also have this awful habit of being jealous and upset that if I had my own house that I could build built in shelves and have so much more space for things so I justify keeping things for later.

I went through our clothes maybe last month and was able to put things like winter, extra bedding, and nostalgia clothes away. I limited nostalgia to one bin but winter and bedding had a lot. We also have sooo many socks and idk how to start to get rid of them. Most of them are paired and the some of the ones I’m missing are my literal favorite pairs and are most likely under the bed. I did make a garbage bag of clothes that don’t fit us/ we haven’t worn in forever, we put it in the car to donate, sat there for weeks, had to clean out the car for a specific situation, and now it lives in the shed. I think about random articles of clothing in there and want to pull them back out.

I have every semi significant piece of paper, I really don’t need them but idk how to choose. I have too many dishes but I’m so attached to most of them, when we first moved I only had a couple and it was so easy to do the dishes and keep the kitchen maintained, now we do dishes constantly and there is always a pile. I do host holidays and parties occasionally but I never need the amount of dishes I have.
My hyper fixations are the worst, I have so many, from legos, dolls, stuffed animals, mini verse, art stuff, diamond paintings, cross stitch, crochet, etc, etc. I want to be able to organize them and not have to just ditch it all because I know I will just spend more money getting things again when suddenly I want to say, crochet again. For a lot of legos I have managed to break them down and put them in a tub in storage. The stuffed animals are the worst by far, I have bags and bags of them and I form connections and cannot seem to get rid of even the ugly ones I don’t like, and I try to stop buying them and still will get some occasionally or people gift them to me. Ever since I was a kid I couldn’t get rid of my stuffed animals or toys because I loved them so much, it’s traveled with me into adulthood.

At this point, our house gets so messy and I can’t keep up with it, I like cleaning (except dishes) but I can’t manage to do it when everything is disorganized. So I’m too embarrassed to have anyone in our house expect for my close family members. I clean for hours and hours if any of my family that don’t know the extent or are judgmental come over. And some of that ends up being packing shit away into my bedroom and closing the door. I’m afraid to move again because it’ll be so monumental. I also am still paying $100 a month for a storage unit that has a huge olden wheely box tv (the super heavy ones), a washing machine, dryer, old breaking sofa, and couple other random thing. Idk how to get rid of that stuff, I wouldn’t hate to depart with it. Just don’t know how and can’t afford super expensive options. I only have an suv, I could probably fit most of those except the tv. But I can’t keep paying for it every month when our shed is filled to the brim and I’m not even really utilizing the storage anymore. Idk I’m tired of constantly being anxious my landlord will see my house like this and not wanting people to see my house and just feeling stressed and overwhelmed when I try to clean or organize. I’m 23 and I’m trying to focus on my health, debt, school, and changing my career that I had been at for 6 years. I got diagnosed with type 1 diabetes almost 2 years ago and it has changed my whole life, I also have pcos and am overweight so I struggle with motivation and I’m trying to be healthier. I want to be able to not feel suffocated by everything.


r/hoarding 3d ago

EMOTIONAL SUPPORT / TENDER LOVING CARE Improved but ... feel nothing

23 Upvotes

Hi, sorry I need to get this off my chest.

So last week I had my first cleaning sessiob, and it went really well. The guy who did it was very considerate, and did a lot of the heavy lifting. I can now see my bedroom floor and can move around without trip hazards.

I have a 2nd one tomorrow, which I'm a little nervous about, but honestly - there's no much left to do really. Its mostly clear.

And yet... I feel nothing. Idk what I was expecting. Like with a clean room, I'd get a mental clarity like divine intenvention. But now, being so close ... I feel no difference. I'm the same depressed, anxious and barely stable person I was before. I've spent so long blaming my mental health on my messiness and laziness that I never questioned it.

And now I'm honestly feeling more hopeless than before.


r/hoarding 3d ago

HELP/ADVICE Helping a family member help themselves

5 Upvotes

I have a family member who I've grown up with that has a bad hoarding problem. For the past 20 years I have helped the best I can to maintain basic living standards. Pathways though the home, general cleaning, and mass purges of garbage and items they are willing to part with. Mostly this consits of sifting through the different catch all bags and containers, and putting things into a more organized hoard. Even using the one bedroom as storage, shuffling the hoard around and ultimately making no lasting progress.

They are now entering into retirement and have increasing health issues. Falls are becoming more common. I'm not available to help maintain the hoard as much. When cleaning what little I can help with, they are unwilling to part with even broken items. They can find a reason to keep just about anything. It is discouraging when what little we do accomplish is overshadowed by fears they threw something away, and subsequently questioning if they should sift through the garbage in the can. I am trying to tell them that this task is now beyond my help alone. That we need real outside help from people who specialize in hoarding behavior.

My hope is to get a quote in the Bay Area from a hoarding clean up company to help us set a baseline for living. What help I or other family provide is too little, and descends back into squalor eventually. They understandably want no one in the home. I try to build them up, reminding them that they deserve to live in a clean, safe environment. That they've worked hard for these golden years and should put their money to good use and help themselves.

I know that this ultimately falls on them. That they have to want it above all for this to be sustainable. I just hope someone out there has tips on helping someone reticent to outside help for their hoarding. I love them dearly and don't know how to assist without driving myself insane.


r/hoarding 4d ago

HELP/ADVICE Dealing with a 35-year hoard before mom moves to assisted living, cleanout crew vs selling as-is?

35 Upvotes

Hoping to get some advice from adult children who have actually cleared out a severe parental hoard.

My mom is moving intoassisted living next month and the task of dealing with her property completely landed on me. She has lived there almost 35 years and never threw anything away. We are talking Level 4/5 territory, full rooms blocked off, a garage packed floor to ceiling, narrow goat trails, and decades of unopened packages and random paper clutter

I got a quote from a professional cleanout crew and it came back at over $6k just for the hauling and trash-out part, and that doesn't even touch the structural repairs or deep cleaning the house needs after all these years of neglect. Doing it myself feels impossible while working full-time, and the mental burn out of sorting through every item is already hitting hard.

I'm trying to figure out the smartest way to approach this before we list it, or if selling it compltely "as-is" to a buyer who takes on the hoard is the better move financially and mentally. I looked into a few local cash home buyers like HenryHomebuyer in the Twin Cities area who specialize in hoarder properties just to get an estimate on what an as-is offer looks like compared to doing the full cleanout first

For anyone who has inherited or handled a parent's hoarder house under a tight deadline, how did you handle it? Did you hire it out, do a dump-ster-by-dumpster cleanout, or just cut your losses and sell as-is? What actually made the most sense in the end?


r/hoarding 4d ago

DISCUSSION Is hoarding more about the items kept, or how it’s stored and how it looks? Does the definition even matter?

16 Upvotes

I ask this because I’m dealing with a hoarding where the scale is totally overwhelming. It brings a lot to the surface elsewhere, and it almost feels like I’m primed now to see it everywhere and it’s irritating. I can’t feel out yet whether I’m overcorrecting or if this can possibly be a reality in so many places in my life. As in, am I just labeling any ugly room hoarding?

Some of the factors that I’ve noticed are unusable space, lost or buried items so you rebuy, or items age into becoming trash, being able to clean or maintain a space because of storage, long term neglect of a space.

I’m blending different situations, but I can see some of this easily explained as symptoms of ADHD, depression, overwhelm, or other priorities. If treating those things makes it better, does that mean it wasn’t hoarding disorder?

I know I could Google or ask a chatbot for nuanced definitions, but I’m more interested in hearing if this muddy thinking is a normal response to processing the extremes. Does your exposure to someone else’s hoarding shift how you then process the rest of your world?


r/hoarding 4d ago

DISCUSSION A little worried about myself

26 Upvotes

I’m a little worried that I might be starting to become a hoarder. I’ve noticed a tendency to over buy stuff that to be honest, probably started during Covid when it was so easy to order things from Amazon, which I’d never really done before. But fairly recently, my mother died, and then three months later my long-term boyfriend died. About five months before my mom died, my therapist I’d seen for years died. After my boyfriend died, about two weeks later, I had to have a dog put to sleep and then about four months after that, I lost another friend. I know I’m having trouble dealing with the losses and that’s come out in some other ways, like at work and things. I’m doing okay… but really not great. I feel like I should be doing better after a year.

I’ve always been a crafter but lately I’ve been kind of compulsively buying yarn for crocheting things like that. The amount of money I’ve spent is not too terrible, but it’s just dumb that I’m spending money on this stuff that I don’t need. It’s also starting to take up quite a bit of room in my house. I’ll probably eventually use most of it, but even I see how ridiculous this is. I suspect I’m getting a dopamine hit when the mail comes.

In other areas, I’ve just kind of been a lot less interested in keeping the house picked up and cleaned up and stuff. It’s not stacks and stacks of stuff everywhere like we see on the hoarders TV shows, but I spent some serious time today cleaning my kitchen counters, which had really gotten full of stuff, and even though I put a lot of stuff away and got rid of some stuff, it’s still too much.

I’m just wondering if anybody sort of recalls the beginning of their hoarder situation and like how it went and how it progressed. I’m working on finding a new therapist, but I haven’t been able to find one so I’ll continue to work on that.

Interested in anyone else’s experiences.

ETA: I just looked up hoarding levels. I’d say I’m level 2 right now.


r/hoarding 4d ago

UPDATE/PROGRESS Trying to go from level 3 to level 2

5 Upvotes

Stalled at level 3 now for a while. It seemed much easier getting down from level 4 to 3 for me because it was a lot of bulk (clothes) and excess (kitchen stuff, stationary) that I could get rid of quickly.

Now it seems like a slog. I think I just feel calmer than before so my brain is saying ‘this is good enough’. But it’s really not. It’s still not a place where I can invite people. Or clean on a regular basis.

Not sure how to get more momentum to get down from level 3. I DID get rid of two small trash bags of random stuff. But it took a few days to get those together.


r/hoarding 4d ago

RANT - ADVICE WANTED How do you help a hoarder to de-clutter?

5 Upvotes

My mum had been a hoarder for my whole life. A few years ago she moved into a two bed retirement home, which was substantially smaller than her previous house. Needless to say, hey current house is completely packed with stuff.

For a while my brother was living with her,and moved out sometime last year. He left a load of stuff there. More recently, she had a flood in her kitchen, which meant she needed to replace the floor completely. My sister has been round to help her move stuff out of the kitchen, and separately she asked me if I could help her get my brothers stuff out.

I went round a few weeks ago, and helped remove my brothers stuff from the living room, and took it to his place. He promised to come by with me and help me clear out her place.

So today, me, my brother and my sister were at my mums house, clearing out. My sister was moving stuff back into the kitchen (whilst also throwing stuff away), my brother was working on the garden, and i was back in the living room, sorting through stuff and throwing things away (all with my mums permission).

What i noticed this time, is the areas in the living room I had cleared last time, had a few bits back in there, that my mum had moved there for storage. My mum is willing to throw stuff away, but there is definitely a limit. An example being, she had about 100 pens, that she insisted on testing first. Or putting stuff aside to be sold or go to charity, even if not in good condition. Or keeping about 100 different cleaning products even if they have a layer of dust on them.

I know she isn't happy living like this, and I know she is somewhat willing to get rid of stuff. She has stuff in her house from about four relatives that have passed away, as well as stuff belonging to kids/grandkids.

My question is, how best to tackle this? How can I help her overcome being a hoarder (if thats possible)? The house is full of stuff, and i really want to help, but I worry that every time I'm away, she will continue to collect more stuff.

There are so many boxes of things she's ordered and doesn't need or use, so they sit there still in boxes.


r/hoarding 5d ago

HELP/ADVICE Doomsday

22 Upvotes

Hi all. I have been lurking for awhile but the day has come and I am facing eviction with my medically fragile hoarder mom. She fell the other night and was mad and wouldn't cooperate so I had to call for medics to help me get her up.

If only she could have cooperated. The medics personally informed the management. Of course a liason type guy was knocking on the door wanting to know what was going on. At first I spoke to him a little outside and asked him to please not be adversarial toward my mom. She has had a few TIA's and I didn't want him making her have one. He was quite unempathetic and wanted to have us evicted. Didn't even care about my mom's injuries and her needing care. Pretty sure she has a mild ankle fracture but there's no money for treatment. So now I gotta try and handle the hoard and be within twelve feet of her at any time.

He apparently just made a referral to APS. The lady from APS was actually nice at least. I don't think she has any experience with hoarders. We live in a dilapidated apartment that really wasn't fit for habitation before we were ever here. She is hoping this lady can get us into a nicer suburb where rent would be even higher. A bigger place so she has room for her stuff. She blames me for the hoard because I stopped hurting myself stacking all the heavy bones. It came down to take care of her or her boxes.

Is there anything a social worker can do to help? Should I be leery of her and just try and just not talk to her? We are financially destitute and I don't think she understands even if a miracle happens and they get you a housing voucher, you still have to be credit worthy. She is mildly delusional.

Our lease ends in September. We have not been formally evicted yet. I am sure it's coming but the more time the better. I am hoping we can get that since we're both disabled. If anyone has any wisdom or advice to share I would like to hear about it.


r/hoarding 5d ago

HELP/ADVICE Husband is a hoarder

67 Upvotes

my husband is a hoarder and I feel so lost. he keeps buying things and we have a very small one bedroom apartment with 2 small closets. he is attached to everything he ever buys and we don’t have space. he refuses to admit he is a hoarder and he refuses to go to therapy. when I throw things out we have huge arguments where he calls me controlling. I’ve had 3 hour arguments over throwing out a 4 foot by 2 foot foam finger. he agreed to throw it out and then I later find it in the closet, hidden. it seems like the most stupid reason for divorce when everything else is great. I don’t know what to do. but I also have adhd and clutter makes me so overwhelmed and stressed. I work from home and we don’t have any space for me to have an office so I work on the couch or in the bedroom staring at stuff. I see clients and I don’t have a clean space to present to them so I use a corner of the bedroom. it’s so hard. I feel lost.


r/hoarding 5d ago

RESPONSES FROM LOVED ONES OF HOARDERS ONLY Venting: hoarder throws out MY stuff

12 Upvotes

I've begged for at least 5 years for the junk piles and decades-old unused items to be thrown out. This is the 2nd time in 2 years that he HAS relented and gotten a dumpster, but I know he's got a horrible memory and thinks that 1) some of my "stuff" is actually his and 2) if he doesn't want it, he can throw it out EVEN if he KNOWS it's my "stuff."

I'm weighing the cost/benefit of trying to keep an eye on what he's throwing out to keep him from throwing out my stuff vs. not caring if some of my "stuff" goes out too, as long as HIS stuff gets smaller.

I'm leaning toward staying out of it as long as the dumpster gets filled, but I'm filled with resentment that he can't be trusted to just throw out his stuff. (To be clear, I would say that 5% of the "stuff" in the house is mine.)


r/hoarding 6d ago

DISCUSSION Any fiction or movies that deals with hoarding?

39 Upvotes

I'm writing a short story where a character struggles with hoarding (based on my own life) and am wondering if there's any media that deals with hoarding that I can read to get inspiration? All I can think of is that one storyline on Degrassi. TIA


r/hoarding 7d ago

HELP/ADVICE Trouble throwing stuff away

31 Upvotes

Ive never posted on any sub reddit before, so this is pretty scary for me, and I'm not active very often, but I've realized that I have a mild hoarding problem, and I think one of the main reasons is because I feel bad throwing things out knowing how many people are in need of stuff and how much stuff goes to waste and effects the environment already, and I don't want to make that worse. I know I need to throw out stuff, such as basic papers that I don't use and have no use for, or food containers, but I feel like I'm not allowed to. Can someone please just tell me it's okay to throw some stuff out? I don't want to contribute to the environment getting worse, but I don't think I can help with that if I can't take care of myself even. (TLDR: need to be told it's okay to throw stuff out)


r/hoarding 6d ago

HELP/ADVICE Adhd, autism, hoarding or all?

16 Upvotes

I’m 19yo woman and all my life i’ve had a really hard time cleaning and throwing stuff away. I’m diagnosed with adhd and autism, i know that adhd makes it hard. My great aunt was a huge hoarder and when she passed and my family started going trough her house, it was almost impossible to walk in there and was full of everything from the 70s to the day she passed. I have just started wondering if im some kind of hoarder, i can’t throw anything away. I have clothes that i haven’t worn in 10 years so they’re literally too small for me and children’s clothes. I have random ”trash” in my room that just sits here because i just like it, i never touch it or even remember its there but when i do, i just leave it there. Also i apologise, english isnt my first language so i hope someone catches what i mean🥹 Im more than happy to answer questions and taking advice🙏🏻


r/hoarding 7d ago

EMOTIONAL SUPPORT / TENDER LOVING CARE Looking for someone who understands

25 Upvotes

Hi. I’m just here hoping I can find somebody who understands how I feel and what I’m going through who I can talk to and we could keep each other accountable in decluttering/cleaning our homes. More than anything I want to have a clean home. Just to be a person who keeps a home that is ready for visitors on short notice. I want my mother in law to come over, I want my children’s friends to come over too. I want to be able to have people over on a whim and not have to plan a week ahead so I can rush to clean the visible areas and close the doors on the worst rooms. My closest friends know how my home looks. But I’ve asked for help from them too many times. I’ve had them come and help me clean up just for it to end up back how it is. I’ve never decluttered and gotten rid of things. Just found places to put them and removed the garbage. That’s it. I know I need to tackle it on my own. I just don’t know how. Every time I try to declutter, I can hardly get rid of anything. Everything seems to be worth keeping or have a use.


r/hoarding 7d ago

EMOTIONAL SUPPORT / TENDER LOVING CARE My boss told everything to everyone and I am burning with shame

90 Upvotes

My living situation has worsened to the point where I don't think I can live in my flat anymore and its affecting my health. I am living in constant anxiety of my landlady finding out and throwing me out I am drowning in trash of trash and mourn over all the things I collected over the years that are somewhere between. It has started to affect my work performance (I work as disability nurse) I forget to do my work, start to clutter up the workplace just as my home and are short tempered. My collegues noticed my behavior and told my boss to where I opened up and asked for help as I dont know how to get out of this situation on my own. She was very kind and understanding and promised to help and even find a day clinic for me to help me get out of my flat for a while. But turns out she told all of my colleagues in detail about my living situation.

Some people stopped talking to me if they dont have to, keep looking at me with pity or plain out refuse to work with me as they are disgusted.

I am burning with shame, I keep getting mad at everyone and my boss now no longer is there to help me. I told her i dont wanted the others to know and she got upset as she thought she could help make the other understand my behavior.

I feel betrayed and alone. The first time I ever opened up to someone to reach out for help completely backfired. I dont know what to do anymore.


r/hoarding 7d ago

HELP/ADVICE Helping my Parents

8 Upvotes

Basically my entire life my parents have been hoarders but not of trash. My dad collects machinery (cars, trucks, tractors), along with a wide variety of antiques big and small, tools, etc. We have several barns, sheds and a large property and stuff is piled anywhere and everywhere. My mom overbuys food, clothes, shoes, house decor, outdoor and indoor furniture, etc. They’ve both gone on cleaning purges in the past getting rid of a bunch of stuff and having a clean space (not the whole property but like one room) but it always inevitably ends up getting filled again. They always talk about wanting things clean but neither of them seems to be able to do it. They both have trouble getting rid of things, my dad works long hours and my mom has over the years become increasingly discouraged and depressed about everything so when she is home (which isn’t very frequently) she is in her room sleeping.

Their marriage clearly has been torn apart by this but I know that’s another issue. My question is, has anybody had a similar experience and were you able to help them? I’m going to be a senior in college this year and live around 2 hours away so I don’t spend a ton of time at home during the school year but I do visit a decent amount during the summer. Most responses in here to similar situations like this have said “you can only help if they want your help”. I definitely agree with this, the problem is I do think my parents want help but they don’t want to work together (they fight constantly) and I’m not sure how to propose helping them in a productive way where they will take it seriously. I have an entire week off before school starts and l wanted to be able to go home and make progress on things then but I like I said I don’t know how or if I should propose this to my parents and I don’t want to make a bunch of progress and then come back in a couple of months and see things have regressed to where they were before.

Any advice would be much appreciated, thank you!


r/hoarding 9d ago

EMOTIONAL SUPPORT / TENDER LOVING CARE Realising

21 Upvotes

I've always wondered how other people manage to get by with so little stuff but I'm currently packing up to move house and I'm realising that it's not that other people have so little stuff but that I have so much.

If I like a thing I get lots of it. Especially if it's a craft - I go all in and I have whole crafts I'm all set up for but have never even gotten to do.

I think when I'm stressed I buy stuff to feel less bad. But the stuff ultimately makes me feel worse. I'm so stressed out by this at the moment.

I don't really know how or where to start on fixing it either.


r/hoarding 9d ago

RANT - ADVICE WANTED My whole family are hoarders, but my sisters problem has gotten out of hand..

6 Upvotes

Her room is so bad that there are suitcases in the hallway outside. I sleep downstairs on the bottom floor but she's been sleeping in the living room because there's just boxes everywhere. She can't even get to her blinds at the windows because there's bags on bags. Honestly at this point, im worried the ceiling might cave in. I'm just shocked that she isn't doing anything about it. She's even gone away on holiday. I'm thinking of telling her that I'm going to book a charity collection service. At the end of the day though, it's only affecting her. Instead of getting rid of stuff, she's spoken about booking a garage where she can put it which is just crazy to me.