Go to http://www.OrganizersNow.com and get organized before summer starts.
If you are in Southern California you can find Professional Organizers at http://www.I-Deal-Lifestyle.comGet some hoarding help now before you feel hopeless and helpless. The term Hoarder is a negative term. Stating you have a hoarding challenge is a better way to say you are having trouble with hoarding. Get a room organizer to help you. You can work on Closet organization ideas to help get stuff off the floor and surfaces. This will help you have a better more organized way of living. There are so many ways to organize your life. Professional Organizers will help you.
Collecting, Acquiring and Cluttering behaviors take a toll even on people who have very little insight that their stuff is a challenge. For some the piles and piles of things mean comfort, safety or shelter (basic needs). For most family members who have a clutter bug on their hands it can mean misery, worry and aggravation. The various causes of Hoarding Behaviors can be attributed to Dementia, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, ADHD, ADD, Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder, Depression, Genetics, Learned Behavior, Anxiety, Neurological Challenges, Child Abuse etc…. It can be a combination of things that create what I call “The Hamster Affect”
Clients who are in what I call “The Hamster Affect” are constantly involved with their stuff. They find stuff, they look for stuff, they can’t find their stuff, their stuff gets broken or stolen and they are usually concentrating and worrying about stuff. They have a relationship with stuff like no other. They look through their stuff, think about it, move it around, work on organizing it but usually can’t. The fascination and focus on the stuff is obsessive and they usually wind up in a heap of exhaustion. They love and hate their stuff to death. They go round and round and round about their stuff but usually end up going nowhere. The stuff still stays in piles and makes a mess in their space.
What does the stuff really mean to a person with these Hamster like behaviors? Well, everything would have to be symbolized and looked at carefully to really tell its story.
Some Popsicle stick might mean a wonderful day the person shared with an old friend. Collectors tend to attach and personalize to their belongings….but when it all ends up in piles on the floors and surfaces, and the stuff gets broken or ruined, how valuable is it really to that person? Why aren’t they protecting their stuff?
So How Do We Protect Our Stuff? Well for starters the person would first want to identify what they truly value in life. Then they could write some goals to fulfill those values. So if you value free time think of 3 specific and behavioral ways you would create more free time. The next step would be to identify what we truly value in our spaces by symbolizing our belongings. Not just seeing objects for their literal purpose, but what it is really saying to us. Does the cracked bowl in the dining room mean “family togetherness” since it was always part of family get-togethers? Or was it literally your mothers and it is sentimental? What does the stuff make you think of and feel? Next would be to identify how objects in our space actually make us feel. It is a process to go through items in a linear and organized fashion or it just becomes STUFF CHAOS!
We can create organizer systems and create closet organization to put away valuable or sentimental objects. You can find hoarding help and you can learn how to organize your life from the Inside Out and the Outside In.
Marla Stone is an Expert at Hoarding, Collecting, Acquiring and Cluttering Challenges. She is a specialist in Home Organization, Organizing Business, Organizing People, Room Organizer, and How to Organize Your Life. She is a Professional Organizer in Orange County, Los Angeles and San Diego County and can be contacted via Skype for consultations internationally.
Marla Stone, MSW, Retired LCSW, Professional Organizer, Lifestyle Coach, Author, Public Speaker, Feng Shui and Décor Specialist at your Service www.I-Deal-Lifestyle.com
949-709-7000 Call Now For a Free Consultation and
Get Organized Now!
