I recently read an online Psychology Today article on hoarding that some of you may find of interest.  The article entitled, “Everyday Junk: The Clean Sweep” explains that “we use the prefrontal cortex, a brain region involved in decision-making, information processing and behavioral organization, to determine just what ‘supplies’ are worth hoarding.  In a small percentage of cases, hoarding may be the result of damage, such as a stroke, to the prefrontal cortex.

For most, however, hoarding is the reflection of anxiety, sometimes raised to the Nth degree of obsession and compulsion.  In such instances, it vastly pathologically, overcapitalizes on the virtue of saving.”

Please visit the online article for their detailed list (complete with explanations) for keeping your home clutter free.  The high-level list is as follows:

• Let go of nastalgia
• Share the wealth
• Uncover the real problem
• Adopt the in-out rule
• Avoid the “I will fix it someday” trap
• Avoid the “I will use it someday” trap
• Streamline your space
• Make a priority list

Flickr image by net_efekt

In the fall of 2006, when my Mother moved from her home into assisted living, I was faced with the monumental task of finding a home for 70+ years worth of her belongings. Both of my parents were incredibly sentimental people.  They were well traveled and collected souvenirs on most vacations.  They were frugal so they didn’t believe in throwing much away.  On top of that, they found it very difficult to sort through my grandparents’ belongings when they passed away – -so they stored those possessions in their home rather than finding new homes for them.

In this Sunday’s Detroit Free Press, I learned that I am not alone.  Many, many grown children are faced with this overwhelming task.  In an article entitled, “Sorting Parents’ Belongings is Often a Bittersweet Task” a Detroit Free Press staff writer named Cassandra Spratling writes about the emotional and physical struggles associated with purging the belongings of loved ones.

She encourages adult children to help their parents purge items while they are still well to do so.  She also encourages the seniors to bequeath cherished belongings to loved ones when they are still able to do so.

I really encourage those of you with aging parents, to read Spratling’s article online.

Flickr by Random McRandomhead

In an earlier post (“Fall Prevention” posted by lmcgowan on January 14, 2009), I provided readers with an overview of the many risk factors associated with falls in the elderly and a list of things they can do to prevent such falls.  As we learned in that post, clutter can be a real concern.  According to ReadersDigest.com, clutter “places hoarders and their families, especially the elderly, at high risk for injuring themselves in a fall.”  

The Reader’s Digest online article also stresses that  ”dust, mildew, mold and rodent droppings commonly found in extreme clutter can irritate allergies or lead to headaches or respiratory problems like asthma for hoarders and their families. In some cases, home maintenance suffers, so individuals may endure freezing winters without heat and sweltering summers with no air conditioning.”  There have even been extreme situations in which “hoarding endangers not only the residents but also neighbors and firefighters, who face greater risk of injury and death when battling clutter-fed flames.  It can become a financial threat to communities as well.  Making a hoarder’s home safe and habitable can be staggeringly expensive, and hoards can’t always pick up that tab.”

A recent article on Martha Stewart’s website explains that:

• - “1.4 million Americans suffer from chronic hoarding & clutter.”
• - “People burn 55 minutes a day looking for things.” and
• - “80 percent of what we own we never use.”

She provides her site visitors with some excellent ways to eliminate and handle clutter in their homes.