Decluttering Tips For Hoarders and pack rats to help you get rid of the clutter!
Get rid of the paralyzing clutter in your home with these simple decluttering tips for hoarders and pack rats.
The title of this article could somewhat be misleading since the term hoarding is most often associated with people who suffer from a condition known as compulsive hoarding or hoarding disorder.
A true hoarder needs professional help in order to deal with their disorder. In this article when we refer to hoarders, we are actually speaking of the habit of some people to hold onto useless or excess items or in other words to people who may often be referred to as a pack rat.
If you are a pack rat or know someone that is, then understanding why you need to hold onto so many items will help you or them to stop the behavior and declutter their home.
Reasons Why People Tend to be Pack rats
Here are some typical reasons why people tend to be pack rats.
Fear of Not Having Things they Need When they Need them
Many people who grew up having very little and having to struggle for everything they did have can result in the subconscious need for people to save things that may be used or re-purposed later.
Even if those people later become successful, the worry of doing without may still make them keep things that to other people may seem worthless or unnecessary.
This mindset can then be passed down from generation to generation. Most of us know someone who has a drawer full of rubber bands, or three or four blenders or too many knives in their kitchen drawers.
The belief that You will Have Time to Use Some things Later
If you know someone who typically hoards one type of thing, such as 20 years worth of magazines, or those clothes in their closet that they have outgrown, then it may be due to their belief that eventually things will slow down and they will have time to catch up on reading those magazines, or will lose weight and be able to wear those outfits again.
Some people keep broken items because they fully plan on using them later, but the later never comes.
Too Many Collections
Some pack rats start out finding something they like (such as a doll collection, spoons, or train sets) and then their interests change and they decide to collect something else, but they can’t bear to part with their old collections they spent so much time to amass.
There are many other reasons as well, but the three reasons above will give you some idea, why some people’s homes become clutter with items that are unnecessary, useless, or broken.
Understanding how things accumulate will help you to rid yourself of the clutter and change your behavior.
7 Simple Decluttering Tips for Hoarders and Pack Rats
Here are some useful tips for hoarders or pack rats.
#1. Start by Stopping Clutter
Decluttering your home isn’t going to do much good if you are going to continue to save or buy those items you don’t really need and have no place for.
So the first step in decluttering your home is to stop bringing in more items that will clutter up your living space.
#2. Start Small
Once your home has become filled with clutter, the thought of cleaning up the clutter can be overwhelming.
While decluttering your entire home may seem too overwhelming, you can break everything down into smaller tasks.
Decide to declutter just one room and if that still feels too overwhelming, then consider decluttering just one small area like a desk or your kitchen table.
By breaking down your decluttering efforts into small doable steps the job won’t feel so overwhelming. And once you clean one area, you feel much more successful and more able to move on to the next area.
Related: How to Declutter Your Home When You Feel Overwhelmed by the Mess
#3. Visually Track Your Progress
Take a picture before tackling a decluttering task, then take another once the task is completed.
Visually being able to see your progress will help you keep motivated and make you feel good about what you have accomplished.
#4. Start With the Areas You Can See
Even if your closet is bursting at the seams and your drawers can barely shut due to all the clutter, decluttering these hidden places won’t make you feel as though you are making much progress unless you declutter those areas you see all the time first.
Once you have decluttered the tops of your tables, stands and countertops and your floors and furniture and can see and feel the difference whenever you walk into a room, you will feel better about yourself and your living area and can then attack those hidden areas one small area at a time.
#5. Get Rid of the Obvious Trash First
Get a garbage bag and begin by throwing out what is obvious garbage first, such as last month’s grocery list, and those old to-do lists.
Most people have little problem throwing away those types of items that they never meant to collect in the first place.
Once you have thrown away the trash, you will be more willing and able to get rid of those things you’ve been saving, but don’t really need.
#6. Organize as You Go
In some cases, the clutter in your home is due more to poor organization than in actually having too many things.
If you organize as you declutter you will know what you have space for and what you don’t. It will also allow you to see if you have too many of any one thing.
#7. Get Help if You Need it
In most cases, you don’t have to go it alone. Most people have friends or family members that will come in for a couple of hours and help you work on decluttering.
Even if they only pick up trash, dust the shelves or help you organize, the help can make a big difference when the task seems too big for you to tackle alone.
Questions to Ask Yourself to Help You Declutter
Sometimes we simply don’t know what to keep and what to throw away or give away. To help you decide, here are some questions you can ask yourself whenever you are in doubt.
- Have I used this item in the last 6 months?
- Do I really need this item?
- Can the item easily be replaced should I need it later?
- Will keeping this item make my life happier, more convenient, or healthier?
- Do I have a specific place for this item?
Decluttering Tips for Hoarders – Conclusion!
Decluttering your home may take you some time and you may have to go slowly at first, but once you make up your mind to start you will be surprised how much difference it can make to your enjoyment of your home.
Do you have other decluttering tips for hoarders and pack rats?
I inherited an estate full of my late aunt’s, grandmother, grandfather along with my earliest child hood belongings. I appreciate your tips on riding the clutter, it’s really hard even though it’s not mine. I try to keep in mind, if I were to die today, I wouldn’t want this load to burden my daughter . This helps me stay on track.
Hi Nikki,
I’m happy to hear that you found the decluttering tips for hoarders helpful. I really feel you, getting rid of sentimental things can be very difficult, especially if the things are from loved ones. I remember how difficult it was for me and my siblings to let go of mom’s stuff after she passed on. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. That being said, I still kept a couple of things just to feel connected to her. Don’t worry, you will get there, just take it one day at a time.
Same with me! I’m the sentimental one in the family & with both grandparents passing, starting a (short-lived) furniture making/restore business then getting all my childhood stored memories & random furniture pieces, tools, supplies etc from my parents as they begin downsizing due to age, all within the past 3 years adding I live in my great aunts 100+ yr old bungalow with NO storage, I feel your pain & the effects of clutter, sentiments or not, is absolutely claustrophobic & life-sucking. I’ve been a shut in now for going on 4 yrs thinking I’ll just make progress one day. But I wake up to numeroud attempts lying around from the nite before & the cycle continues. No advice or system has helped; the total lack of self motivation & Family concern or assistance has compounded on my situation. I almost want to just walk out, leave town& never look back. It’s shameful.
Drowning, contact a community center, church, or high school. Churches often have groups that will help to shut ins. Also high school honor societies and other clubs will help and they even earn community service hours. Don’t wait on family for help, if they aren’t there helping now, I wouldn’t count on them. People in your community will be happy to help, you just have to reach out.
It’s good that you are going through those items. I am left with my parents house stuffed full of loved ones sentimentals. It’s extremely stressful and will be tons of work and stress to reduce this inventory.
I like to each morning to try and clean the kitchen,, sink first,if messy it makes for a happy space, smelling nice then I can pick up stuff off the counters and work over to the kitchen table. If I get that done then I have a space for cooking time, a place to create wonderful things,
It is a cycle and one must get into the habit of trying to keeping it clear and then easy to wipe and clean. A place for everything or out to the second-hand store. I get depressed easily so cleaning brings me up and happiness is having a clean home. I feel so much better after an hour a day cleaning in the mornings. I time myself and make a list for the town as I go. I save time and money, list everything.
The amount of stuff that I have accumulated over my 37 years of live is completely overwhelming. Not only for me but my 10yo too. We are BOTH extreme packrats and she and I feel like we are drowning. We come from a LONG line of packrats so my family is no help. I moved into my house 2 years ago now and I still have 2 complete storage buildings FULL of stuff that hasn’t been touched in over 2 years. You’d think that would be easy to go through and get rid of stuff but it isn’t. 🙁 When I think I have enough energy to clean out something, the task becomes too overwhelming and I quit, leaving that strode everywhere on top of the current clutter. I recently started watching Hoarders and I’ve noticed I have some of the tendencies and that scares me.
Hi Nicole,
I can understand how you feel. Just remember that you are not alone. Decluttering can be very overwhelming, especially when you have accumulated stuff over a long period of time. Try to take it one day at a time. You can start by getting rid of 5 items you don’t need every week. If you can do this consistently for about 6 months, you will be surprised at how much stuff you would have decluttered.