A hoarder is a person who hoards things, which means that they stock and store a lot of objects. Not to be confused with a collector who might have quite a lot of elements of personal or sentimental value stored, a hoarder is basically a junk collector who, for whatever reasons, cannot seem to let stuff go. You will find magazines stacked to the rafters, old lamps and end tables, and all sorts of other stuff that this person simply cannot throw out. The thing about hoarding that’s so damaging is that the act of saving and storing items can easily dominate someone’s life, and before you know it, there’s barely even walking room in their home.
If you know a hoarder personally and would like to help, it may be time to consider garbage removal. However, this is a tricky business. After all, you’re not going to simply walk into their home with some garbage bags and start tossing stuff. Hoarders will fight you tooth and nail to keep what they believe they need. Hoarding is obsessive-compulsive, not just some habit or a type of laziness in not wanting to clean. So, if you want to help clean up a hoarder’s home, here are three solid tips that you can use to get it done.
3 Tips for Cleaning up a Hoarder’s Habitat
1: Start Incrementally
With all of the tips here and tips you might find elsewhere, the implication is that you’ve been speaking with the hoarder and convinced them that it’s time to clear out some of their clutter. We cannot recommend that you just go against someone’s will or knowledge and start throwing their stuff away. With that being said, the idea here is to start incrementally. Convince this person that it’s okay to do away with this and do away with that. Before long, they will recognize that getting rid of this stuff is not only okay but actually preferable. This process is how you ultimately get the green light to help them clean up their entire home or other property to remove all the clutter.
2: Hire Someone to Help
When it comes to garbage removal, one hang-up that a hoarder might have is that they simply do not have the time or energy to get rid of everything. This time is when professionals can undoubtedly be of assistance. If you contact a local company that specializes in the removal of garbage and knows how to clear up a hoarder’s home, they can be a massive help in getting rid of all of the junk and clutter. Hire a professional crime and trauma cleanup as well as hoarding cleanup services in Toronto who would really be able to help in these tricky situations. Once the hoarder is ready to part with their stored items, the best thing to do here is to get rid of it. The longer it stays around, the more likely it is that the hoarder will change their mind about it. So get in touch with the pros as soon as you can to remove all the junk.
3: Careful with Their Emotions
You have to be careful with a person’s emotions. Always remember that this is a compulsion for the hoarder. For whatever reason, they have an emotional attachment to the state of their home. It’s not that they’re just nasty and lazy; it’s that they have some sort of mental issue wrapped up in all of this junk that they’re hoarding. So don’t simply arrive with professionals and start throwing stuff out. The hoarder should know that this is in their own best interest, as you work along with them to let them know it’s okay that they’re clearing up this clutter. Cater to their emotions as best you can while this process is going on.
The thing about hoarding items is that things always seem to get worse. Unless someone steps in and intervenes to help the hoarder get the garbage out of their lives, things just stack and pile up. Many hoarders have literally buried themselves in junk, which can become very unsanitary and hazardous to one’s health. So if you can step in and help, you should.
