Hoarding is an illness in which a person has persistent difficulty getting rid of possessions, regardless of their actual value. It occurs in an estimated 2% to 6% of the population. As you can imagine, hoarding can be a problem in many ways. It can create an unsafe living environment, cause social isolation, and lead to financial troubles.
While hoarding isn’t something that can be fixed with self storage, a storage unit can be a fantastic tool to assist in hoarding cleanup and can help a hoarder transition into a healthier, sustainable living situation.
Types of Hoarding
Hoarding is a diagnosis in and of itself, but it’s also more commonly seen among people suffering from other disorders such as depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Each hoarding case is different. Not only does hoarding vary in scale, but it varies in type, as well. Experts have identified a few common types of hoarding, including the following:
- Shopping hoarders. For many people, shopping offers a quick high. The problem is that piles of used items (and bills) can launch a vicious cycle. Before long, the only positive emotions in a person’s life stem from shopping.
- Collectors. There’s nothing wrong with maintaining a collection, but collecting crosses over into hoarding when a person can no longer control his or her possessions and it begins to interfere with everyday life.
- Food hoarders. Children who grow up facing poverty or hunger can struggle with food hoarding later in life, even when food and money are plentiful.
- Information hoarders. What starts out as a quest for knowledge sometimes turns into endless stacks of books, magazines, newspapers, and journals.
- Syllogomania (trash hoarding). Objects might have no apparent value at all, yet the person cannot part with them.
- Animal hoarding. This often starts out as a desire to save or help animals but can quickly morph into animal neglect when there are simply too many pets to care for.
Hoarding Cleanup and Self Storage
Cleaning up a hoarding situation can be tricky. In many cases, large amounts of what’s being hoarded is trash or unusable (in the case of expired food, for instance). Consider renting a dumpster if it’s available to you.
However, not all items in a hoard are trash, and some items may still retain value. If the hoarder is hesitant about parting with them, using a storage unit as a temporary storage place is a great idea. With StorageMart’s flexible month-to-month leases, you can rent a unit for as long as you need without fear of being locked into a long-term contract.
Too Much Stuff? We Can Help
People who struggle with hoarding can be helped. Beyond hoarding, there are also times when a person’s only problem with clutter is that they simply do not have enough space for possessions that are truly useful and valuable.
We all know how good it feels to live in a clean and organized home (and science backs that up). Self storage allows you to have the best of both worlds: the space you need without the bigger home (and bills) that you don’t.
At StorageMart, we have clean and affordable self storage units that can be used for a variety of storage needs, including hoarding cleanup. Check out our storage unit guide, or rent a unit online today.
Updated February 13, 2020