A major component of hoarder property cleanup is sorting through items and objects that have accumulated over time. Many individuals with hoarding disorder are natural procrastinators as well. Thus, the sorting process oftentimes gets put off and delayed time and time again. The bottom line is that a home cannot be deep cleaned and returned to a livable condition in the aftermath of hoarding until the first step of sorting and eliminating items is undertaken and completed. In order to make real progress in sorting through hoarded stuff, you need to create a schedule to guide you. There are a number of facts and factors that you need to bear in mind when it comes to creating a hoarding cleanup sorting scheduling and sticking to it.
- Schedule reasonable time intervals
- Put it on your calendar like any other appointment
- Make sure your schedule is reasonable
- Schedule break days
- Reward yourself when goals are met
- Consider help from professionals
Schedule Reasonable Time Intervals
When creating a hoarding cleanup schedule, you need to make certain that you do so using reasonable time intervals. In regard to scheduling reasonable time intervals, we really are speaking of two things:
First, we are talking about the amount of time each cleaning session will last. You definitely do not want to overdue it in this regard because doing so can render a person frustrated. A specific cleaning session might last about an hour.
Second, we are additionally speaking of the amount of time between each cleaning session. Perhaps your overall schedule permits you to do a session of about an hour daily. Even if your overall schedule might permit this daily cleaning time, you might be better served spacing it out to every other day, depending on your personal preferences and mindset.
Put it on Your Calendar Like Any Other Appointment
An effective hoarding cleanup schedule that will actually be followed is one that takes advantage of a calendar. In other words, you need to schedule each cleaning session on your calendar like you would any other appointment. By scheduling it as a true appointment on your calendar, it doesn’t become something of an afterthought that you may or may not get to on any given day.
Make Sure Your Schedule Is Reasonable
We’ve touched on schedule reasonableness a bit previously. Because of the importance of making sure that you create a truly reasonable hoarding cleanup schedule, diving into this element a bit further is important.
If you fail to create a reasonable schedule for undertaking hoarding cleanup – similar to what we discussed a moment ago – you will find yourself easily burning out. By that it is meant that if your schedule of cleaning periods and session lengths is too significant, you will lose steam and ultimately perhaps not complete the task of cleaning your property.
There is another end of the reasonableness spectrum that warrants mentioning. A reasonable hoarder property cleaning schedule is also one that is not too light. If you don’t schedule enough time to deal with cleanup, you may never finish the task. Reasonableness means striking a balance – again, in the manner previously presented in this article.
Schedule Break Days
Whether you undertake hoarder cleanup on a daily basis or once every couple of days, you will want to ensure that you have dedicated break days. Work into your schedule specific days in which you will not work on hoarding cleanup. You might want break days to be two or three consecutive days during which you will not undertake hoarding cleanup.
Reward Yourself When Goals Are Met
As you go about establishing goals and milestones for your hoarder property cleanup endeavor, consider giving yourself some kind of reward when a goal or milestone is met. Consider rewarding yourself with some sort of activity outside of your home that you historically have enjoyed but maybe had done less of because of issues surrounding hoarding in your life. Perhaps rewarding yourself with some type of item or object is not the best idea when you are working to eliminate stuff in your home.
Consider Help From Professionals
Facing the prospect of cleaning up in the wake of a hoarding situation can feel quite lonely. The reality is that when it comes to hoarding cleanup and property remediation you are not alone. There are companies in business that provide hoarder property cleanup services, chief among them being Eco Bear.
The skilled, dedicated, and tenacious team of professionals at Eco Bear has all the tools and resources necessary to assist you in safely and thoroughly undertaking hoarder property cleanup at your home. An understanding team from Eco Bear can be at your home promptly to begin the process of recreating an ideal home environment for you.