If your friends and family are constantly complaining that your home is messy and filled with clutter, it may be a good idea to ask yourself: “Am I a hoarder?” Don’t worry about that yet because you may only be an extremely messy individual who is just lacking the time or the organisational skills to keep everything in their home in order at all times. Still, hoarding is a serious problem that can get out of hand when it is left undiagnosed for a long time. To make sure you are not a hoarder, keep your eyes open for the following tell-tale signs of hoarding:
- Keeping things that have no value;
- You never invite anyone over;
- Some of your rooms have become unusable;
- You are addicted to sales;
- You are protective of your items;
Keeping things that have no value
Let’s say that something in your home breaks beyond repair, such as your TV, your shower head or a just a small plant pot. What do you do? Do you: A) throw the broken item away or B) keep it hoping that you may find a good use for it at some point in the future? If you have answered with “B,” you are probably a hoarder. You may think that holding on to old junk is practical but it is anything but that. A truly practical person will not keep things they cannot use right now. They will simply call their local rubbish removal company in KT4 Worcester Park, for example, and move on with their lives.
Not inviting people over
Another sign that you might be a hoarder is if you rarely or even never get around to invite someone over to your home. There are two main reasons why most hoarders do that – they are either ashamed of the mess in their house or they suffer from social anxiety. Sometimes, it can be both of these things since hoarding and social anxiety usually go hand in hand.
Unusable rooms
When hoarding goes out control, a big part of your home or even entire rooms can become unusable because they are filled with clutter. Let’s be clear – by that, we do not try to imply that a messy garage or a cluttered storage room is a sign that you are a hoarder. If you can still park your car in the garage and if you are planning to use a comprehensive garage junk removal service in London, chances are that you are not a hoarder but someone who has not had the time or the motivation to declutter that part of their house. However, if the thought of getting rid of even a small portion of the junk you keep in your home makes you feel stressed – you have a problem. Such an uncontrollable attachment to junk is a common symptom among hoarders.
Addicted to sales
Who does not like a bargain? However, if you tend to buy things in bulks that you never need and which you never use, it is quite possible that you are suffering from a hoarding disorder. So, seek help before your obsession takes a full control over your life.
