Types Of Hoarding
Sep 23, 2016
We never intend to let things get out of control. It starts
with just one pile, I’ll sort it out later. Just one side of the garage, I
never park there anyway. That one drawer that is too stuffed to close, I could
probably get rid of some of those shirts.
Hoarding is not marked by laziness or craziness. Hoarding is
the excessive acquiring of possessions with the inability to discard possessions.
It’s that mental switch when your collection goes from part of your life to
your whole life.
People hoard for many different reason and can hoard many
different types of materials. Here are a few categories of Hoard we clean day
in and day out at ServiceMaster:
- Animal Hoarding: Animals give nonstop affection no matter how messy the house is, this easy love can be as addicting as the compulsion to collect
- Information Hoarding: These are the books, newspapers and paper scrapped stacked floor to ceiling, just in case they need to access that information
- Shopaholic: Doesn’t matter what it is, if there is a deal it’s impossible to resist. Many of the items and packages remained unopened, stacked in the clutter
- Do-It-Yourelf-er: You never know when you can reuse an old nail or screw or piece of wood. That’s why our Do- it-Yourselfer has trouble letting go of these useful tools
- Memory Keeper: Tubs of photos, stacks of scrapbooks. Many hoarders are dealing with loneliness and past traumas. Memories may feel like the only escape to better times.
- Food collector: This type of hoarding is linked with Great Depression babies who went without food. This is one of the toughest hoarding categories to break because of the survival instincts.
No matter what they may be collecting, it’s never about the
stuff. There is always a reason. The goal is to never loose your temper, always
use the utmost compassion. At ServiceMaster, our goal is to empower the
homeowner to make healthy lifestyle decisions to choose a better life.
