How to Know If I Am a Hoarder?

Are you a hoarder or collector? Every house has a few possessions that are always kept around because of the memories they hold. But when does it start turning into a problem?

Hoarding vs Collecting

People often think that hoarding and collecting is the same thing. But there is a difference between hoardings and collecting that very few people understand. Collecting is different from hoarding. When collectors show or display their belongings to people, they feel pride and joy in displaying their possessions. They keep everything organized and keep on adding in their collections. They manage their time and budget. They don’t buy anything useless. They feel satisfied while collecting.

Whereas, hoarders feel embarrassment in showing their possessions. The clutter that they collected fills up the space so much that it starts affecting their functional living. When they buy new things, they have a feeling of regret and shame. While spending the money on their possession, they lose their money which often leads to debts. The best things to do make a list of items that are not needed and then search Dade County trash pick up near me to get the junk safely removed.

How to Know If I Am a Hoarder?

Hoarding is the compulsive purchase, search, acquiring and saving of different items that hold little or no value at all. The hoarder and his/her family have to face several detrimental effects social, financial, physical and even legal.

Below are some points that describe the characteristics of someone who hoards:

1. Emotional Attachment

There is a term known as “emotional hoarding” in which individuals develop emotional ties with different inanimate objects, this emotional hoarding mostly happens due to past traumatic experiences with people. Emotional hoarding can lead the individual to start trusting objects more than people.

2. Fear of Harm

Hoarders start developing a fear that if they throw the things away, it will harm them. In this fear of harm, hoarders keep saving and collecting different possessions and make clusters in their houses. The best thing is to

3. Deprivation Hoarding

Another form of hoarding is deprivation hoarding, which means that they think that they will need these items later so they should not dispose them off.

Signs of a Compulsive Hoarder

There are certain signs of a compulsive hoarder that affects their daily life.

1. They collect items that have no value like junk mail, garbage bags or items they think they can reuse.

2. They find difficulty in throwing away the items and keep making piles.

3. They struggle very hard in organizing and arranging their possessions.

4. They find difficulty in decision making, managing everyday chores such as paying bills, cooking.

5. They become obsessively attached to items only and they find it difficult to dispose them off.

6. They don’t allow other people to borrow their items.

7. They don’t socialize with other people.

8. They may face functional impairments such as less space in home as it is too stuffed, family or marital problems due to this habit, financial difficulties because of shopping unnecessarily, and health problems.

9. They feel embarrassed while showing their possessions to other people.

10. They face severe anxiety while discarding or disposing their possessions.

There are many reasons that lead to hoarding of objects. Such as the mindset that their possessions will be useful for their future, their emotional attachment or they might don’t know the reason why they are collecting the objects. So instead of throwing them they keep it.

What to do? If any of these signs are in you, get help from a friend and start throwing out things you don’t need and then search junk haulers near me to get it removed.