Posted by Jenna S. on November 24, 2001, at 19:03:08
In reply to Hoarding..., posted by fi on November 22, 2001, at 8:08:58
Fi
> Has anyone else any ideas on how to deal with this?
There is a great newsgroup on this topic called alt.recovery.clutter. And one of the best books on the subject is Organizing from the Inside Out, by Julie Morgenstern. I have it and it has helped me. My hoarding sounds similar to yours, it's not a great deal and lots of people are far bigger packrats than me, but it is still a problem, and a problem which grows (literally) over time!
Julie Morgenstern identifies various psychological issues which can be behind why people hoard. Keeping things for sentimental reasons is one of them, and one possible solution to this is to take a photo of the item to remind you of it. There are loads of other tips and ideas. Also lots of websites, and you can learn a lot from the newsgroup. I don't post there but I have been reading for a long time. They have a great acronym for what you describe above with your visitor scenario - CHAOS - can't have anyone over syndrome :-)
Hope this helps :-)
Jenna
poster:Jenna S.
thread:14179
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20011117/msgs/14262.html