Help with hoarding

I need to clean the bottom of my closest out. I doing better. I need to remodel my closet for more space. Thank you for asking.

Last weekend I clean out one shed and reorganizing and got rid of a lot of stuff I don't need anymore.

Nice! I have not been focused on decluttering or cleaning lately. I did start to organize a part of the basement I had cleaned out earlier. This will create more space that allows me to unbury more things to throw out.

I been struggling with my hoarding and again.

I just cleaned out one bag of clothes out of my closet today. I'm donating some dishes today.

i have the same issue.

I clean out one closet.

it hard because I want to keep everything.

I have the opposite problem. My mother was a hoarder, so that's probably why I throw everything out. Even things I should keep I get rid of and sometimes later regret it.

For example, I had a plastic bin full of childhood writings and artworks from school that I tossed about 15 years ago. Lots of painful memories. Essentially, tossing out artifacts from my childhood that covered my first ten years was self-loathing and self-preservation wrapped up together.

The only way to combat your hoarding Buffy01 is to address the attachment disorder you have to your life's artifacts. Our things do not define us yet our consumerist society brainwashes us to believe that our self-worth is defined by external 'things.' That isn't true at all of course. It's good to have mementos from our life -- artifacts with stories -- but its not healthy to keep every single thing.

Plus, there is the fear of letting go. What I find though is a release of negative energy when I throw things away. I feel better when I have a clean, organized home environment. Clutter triggers feelings of anxiety in me. I can't stand clutter. I hate knick-knacks too.

Now i feel like, i could get corona and die - i thought i had more time to clean up this mess! So why bother now?

unaluna, well we'll find out Wednesday (supposedly) if the Senate can agree on a stimulus package to help everyone who is at home socially isolating, out of work (temporarily or permanently). Hang in there.

Thanks, motts. My issue really is, why clean the hoard if death from corona is inevitable? Altho i feel fine and have been isolating fine. Will i get (and take) the chance to change my life, or will the virus pass and i will still be living in squalor? Its funny, i have my mothers exact same mode of messiness.

unaluna well only you can decide when the time is right for you to purge everything you've hoarded. Hoarding is such a complicated disorder. I wouldn't use the corona virus pandemic as a reason to live in squalor. I'd use it as a reason not to live in squalor. What do you think causes your need to hoard? What need does hoarding fill for you? Have you ever worked with a therapist to address your hoarding triggers? My mom would spend all of her money on clothes that she never even took the tags off, or wore. She hoarded because she was bored, lonely, and socially isolated and she rejected everyone's attempt to help her stop hoarding.

I have a hard time letting go of my things. It a fear I have

With this corona virus? I feel like I have to sanitize everything.

That true! I forgot about that!

I been trying to stay positive about the coronavirus. It making me clean more.

That sounds like my sister. Except my sister grew up losing everything.

I find the prospect of death motivating - I don't want anyone to know how messy I was!

I understand how you feel!

With the pandemic, it feels like time has slowed down. This place is still a mess, but i AM getting more organized. I dont feel as rushed.

That's fantastic, unaluna. The pandemic put me in a funny place for a bit so my house was more trashed than usual, but I am coming out of it and getting things squared away again. Probably because I am so bored that there's nothing better to do than clean

That is fantastic! I am struggling because I want to keep everything.

It makes me feel nervous to clean.

Yeah, i usually deal with anxiety by overeating. Then i fall asleep and dont clean. If i can avoid the overeating, i can move around and start sweating out the anxiety with cleaning.