If you're visiting this blog for the first time, welcome! Please check out the archives for what you might be looking for. I spent years decluttering all kinds of things from multiple late relatives, two who grew up during The Great Depression. Post topics range from green decluttering to forgiveness to grief to facing your own clutter. At one point, I hired a professional organizer to help with a garage full of my relatives' things plus some other rooms full of their boxes I inherited. (It was worth having help--her brain worked in a way mine just didn't.) I've tried a lot of things and hope you'll find something helpful here. Some people come here from the Children of Hoarders site, which looks like it has an amazing wealth of information.
These days, I am mostly in the mode of dealing with my own items and trying to find sustainable routines to keep my own things from becoming disorganized. I still have some weird items hanging around, waiting for me to deal with them, like an antique family farm scythe (pretty sure it's from a grandparent's childhood farm) that I guess can go to Goodwill if not to some happy recipient at a family reunion. I have a collectible Edgar Rice Burroughs book (SO not feminist) that I mean to sell for maybe $10, yet I keep putting it off. I will need to let Half Price Books give me a piddly bid and just be done with the task hanging over my head.
As far as resources, I've been enjoying some videos and podcasts by Dana K. White at A Slob Comes Clean. The way her mind works makes sense to me, and she shows cluttered areas that look familiar.
Last night I heard a great 2016 interview on the Psychology in Seattle podcast with an expert on hoarding, Dr. Jennifer Sampson. She had some great insights about why the hoarding TV show's processes usually don't work long term; she also provided a lot of information that I hadn't already heard, and she seemed to have a lot of compassion for those who suffer from this disorder. I loved her and host Dr. Kirk Honda talking about her wanting to hold on to good boxes and packaging--I get it!
Hearing her interview reminded me that I needed to put up a welcome post for anyone stopping by my blog for the first time. One of the most powerful things she said was that hoarding disorder is much like an addiction--people are in recovery long term. I hope you are finding lots of help and support if you are on the journey, whether you had/have relatives facing this disorder and/or struggle with it yourself. As Dr. Sampson pointed out, more people than we realize have too much stuff, and it affects our lives in ongoing and sometimes major ways.
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