Does your home look completely out of control? Is your living room filled with things that others may classify as useless junk? Did you know obsessive hoarding is classified as a compulsive disorder? More importantly, do you want to organise your house but don’t know how to overcome hoarding? If so, this blog is meant just for you.
Most of the times, people who can’t bear to toss away the clutter, don’t realize that they might have a serious problem. Although you may not be a compulsive hoarder, if you have a tendency to collect things that you don’t have any real use for and your place looks like a mess all the time, it’s about time you learn how to stop hoarding and change your life.
Tips on How to Overcome Hoarding and Organise Your Home
Simply said, a cluttered house can never look organised. Therefore, if you want to learn how to overcome hoarding, take a look at these simple yet effective tips.
- Get rid of the clutter as soon as you see it
- Throw away things you haven’t used in a year
- Handle objects only once
- Think twice before buying or collecting anything
- Keep a few mementoes and give away the rest
- Create a decluttering plan
Needless to say, it’s not easy to convince a hoarder to get rid of stuff. However, if you want to finally declutter and organise your home, here’s a detailed guide on how to go about it.
Get Rid of the Clutter As Soon As You See It
People with a tendency to hoard tend to attach sentimental value to everything – even if they acquired it in the recent past.
The first step in this guide on how to overcome hoarding and organise your house is to clear the clutter as soon as you spot it. Whenever you see things that should be thrown away, such as old newspapers and empty bottles, put them in the trash can without a second thought. The same goes with items that are broken or are beyond repair.
The key to overcoming hoarding is not to give yourself the time to overthink. Otherwise, you might end up re-evaluating your decision and let that item stay in your home.
Similarly, if you see something that’s out of place, move it to wherever it belongs right then instead of putting it off for later.
Throw Away Things You Haven’t Used In a Year
This is perhaps the most important rule of decluttering your home.
If you want to know how to help a hoarder get rid of things, tell them to throw away the items they haven’t used in the past year and won’t be using in the next six months either. If something checks both of those boxes, you need to immediately part ways with it. However, depending on its condition and whether it might be of use to someone else, you can always donate those items or put them up for sale.
Moreover, if you come across something you haven’t used in a while but are unable to throw away because it is expensive or holds sentimental value, like a family heirloom, you can put it in the storage. If your house doesn’t have a separate store room, take a cardboard box, label it ‘For Storage’ and put it under your bed. Just make sure you don’t abuse this box while organising your home.
Handle Objects Only Once
Don’t delay your actions if you want to learn how to overcome hoarding.
Also known as OHIO rule, which stands for ‘Only Handle It Once,’ this tip on how to stop hoarding is mostly applicable to things such as mail and newspapers. Basically, it means you should read your mail as soon as you receive it and then either respond or throw it away immediately. This will ensure you don’t have old promotional material and junk mail lying about your home. Ultimately, this will help you cut down on paper clutter and organise your house.
The same goes for utility bills. Make sure to pay them off as soon as possible so that they don’t get lost in rest of the clutter and pass their deadline unnoticed.
Think Twice Before Buying or Collecting Anything
Don’t allow just anything to enter your house. If you come across something that you really like, ask yourself if you have any practical use for it. In case it’s a decorative item, try to figure out if it will add value to your home décor in any way. If you can’t come up with a solid answer, refrain from purchasing or collecting it.
Another thing you can do is wait a few days before making any decisions – especially if the item is expensive or cannot be returned.
Furthermore, if you do end up buying something you know you won’t be using, toss away another item you own to make room for it. This will help with the build-up of things such as clothes, shoes and cooking utensil among other things.
If your kitchen counters are filled with unusable clutter, here’s a detailed guide on how to organise a messy kitchen.
Keep A Few Mementos and Give Away the Rest
It may not be easy to organise a hoarder’s house, but it is certainly doable.
A great tip to overcome hoarding is to scale down your collection. You can keep only one or two items and discard the rest. For instance, if you have accumulated a large collection of old magazines, just keep two of them as a keepsake and toss away the others.
Similarly, if you have all of your child’s school report cards or artwork displayed on the fridge, just choose one or two of the ones you cherish the most and either put the rest in storage and recycle them. This will also help you declutter your home.
Once you are done tossing away unnecessary possessions, make sure to take some time out and follow this checklist to thoroughly deep clean your home.
Create a Decluttering Plan
Thanks to our hectic schedules, most of us barely find enough time to do minor house chores on a daily basis. Since taking out half an hour to declutter your home every day can be almost impossible for some, you can tackle this task over the weekend.
To start things off, you need to make a timetable and allot a certain amount of time to decluttering each room. It’s even better if you set an alarm to keep you on track. You can also get your family involved in extra help. However, it’s really important not to get distracted in the middle of the task, or all of your efforts might go to waste.
For more tips and hacks to make this seemingly daunting task easier for you, check out our comprehensive guide on how to declutter your home in a weekend or less.
Remember, you can also ask your friends and family members for help as it can be hard to overcome the hoarding disorder all by yourself. There are also a lot of online support groups for people suffering from chronic hoarding that might be helpful.
To find out more about how to organise your home and upgrade your décor, stay tuned to Zameen Blog – the best lifestyle blog in Pakistan.
