{"id":17999,"date":"2021-06-15T15:55:11","date_gmt":"2021-06-15T19:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cubesmart.com\/blog\/?p=17999"},"modified":"2023-11-02T12:46:31","modified_gmt":"2023-11-02T16:46:31","slug":"tips-to-help-spring-clean-with-a-hoarder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cubesmart.com\/blog\/your-space\/organization\/tips-to-help-spring-clean-with-a-hoarder\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips to Help Spring Clean with a Hoarder"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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How do you encourage a hoarder to declutter? We all know people who are hoarders, and in fact, many of us live with them. It can be incredibly frustrating to see someone keeping items that are completely unnecessary and rarely, if ever, used. However, hoarders are often very reluctant to get rid of anything, which makes it difficult to help them. Spring cleaning season is an ideal time to talk to the hoarders in your life and see if they would be willing to accept some hoarding clean up help. If so, these tips on how to help a hoarder can guide your interactions as you work together on some spring cleaning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Find Storage Near You!<\/a><\/strong><\/h3><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Recognize the signs of a serious hoarding disorder<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While\nhoarding may look to outsiders like someone just hasn\u2019t gotten around to\ngetting rid of items in their home, it can actually be a psychological\ndisorder. In many cases, people who are extreme hoarders are psychologically\ndiagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder. This comes out in the form of\ncompulsive hoarding, and it\u2019s not something you can just solve by going in and\ncleaning up the house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the person you would like to help has signs of a hoarding disorder, you should direct them to get psychological counseling to address that side of the problem. You can help by finding a counselor in your area who has experience with compulsive hoarding. Then when the time comes, you can offer your help with the actual hoarding clean up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be compassionate and connect with feelings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When providing hoarding help, remember that your main job is to help your friend or family member. Much of that help is going to come emotionally as you support the person to work through the piles of stuff. You need to be ready to listen with compassion, show empathy, and be sensitive to the person\u2019s feelings. If you come in with a task-oriented mentality, you will likely meet with a lot of resistance that will make it difficult to achieve real progress with spring cleaning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Determine which household items are worth keeping<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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While you may be willing to get rid of everything a hoarder has been holding onto, it\u2019s not your stuff, and you don\u2019t have the right to give it away or throw it away. Talk to your friend or family member and work out a method for answering the critical question of whether you can get rid of any given item. Agree on whether you can get rid of items without consulting your friend, or if your friend needs to be present to make each decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Things to Get Rid of While Spring Cleaning <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Some\ncommon criteria for determining what to get rid of in hoarding clean up\ninclude:<\/p>\n\n\n\n