Strategies matter when it comes to tackling hoarding. The reality is that taking on the items accumulated by a person who has been hoarding can be a monumental (and oftentimes unpleasant) task. With this noted, on strategy you will want to utilize to tackle hoarding and eliminate hoarded items is the creation of effective sorting categories. When dealing with eliminating items and objects in a hoard, recommended sorting categories are:
- Dispose
- Donate
- Dangerous
- Pause
- Keep
The purpose of each of these hoarder property cleanup categories is discussed with you in this article. Prior to taking a deeper dive into the creation of effective sorting categories, we first address some basic issues about hoarding.
What Is Hoarding?
Misconceptions about hoarding abound. Therefore, before we get into our primary discussion regarding effective hoarding categories, we spend a moment to set the facts straight about hoarding.
There really are two levels associated with hoarding. First, a person might engage in hoarding behavior. Not wanting to sound trite, this nonetheless might accurately be called hoarding light. A person who engages in hoarding behavior does not have an actual diagnosis of hoarding disorder – which, as you will see in a moment, is something far more serious.
A person with hoarding behavior does collect things and can create quite a mess at his or her home. The amount of items collected are likely less than what is amassed by a person with actual hoarding disorder. In addition, an individual with hoarding behavior does not have the same level of intense attachment to items hoarded than does a person with hoarding disorder.
Second, a person can be diagnosed with what is now recognized as a mental health condition. This is called hoarding disorder. A person with hoarding disorder amasses things – which can even include garbage – to the point that his or her home becomes unlivable and his or her life is unmanageable. Moreover, a person with a true case of hoarding disorder is a perverse attachment to the things hoarded. That individual will experience profound anxiety and even depression with the prospect of having to part with any of the items he or she has hoarded. Addressing hoarding disorder successfully necessitates the assistance of a mental health professional.
Is There Professional Help for Hoarding?
Professional mental health assistance was referenced a moment ago. This represents one type of professional who is available to assist an individual with hoarding behavior or hoarding disorder. In this day and age there are mental health professionals who specialize in working with individuals dealing with hoarding behavior as well as men and women who are diagnosed with actual hoarding disorder.
When confronted with the prospect of undertaking hoarder property cleanup on a significant scale, another type of professional is worth considering. There are companies that specialize in hoarder property cleanup. These firms include Eco Bear, a leader in the arena of hoarder property cleanup.
Dispose
The most important hoarder property cleanup category is that of dispose. The bottom line is that when remediating a hoarding situation, the majority of items amassed will need to be thrown away or otherwise disposed of.
Donate
There may be some items contained in a hoard that have some use or value. While they should not be kept by a person with hoarding behavior or hoarding disorder, they should not be disposed of either. Therefore as part of an affective strategy to cleanup a hoarder property, you will want to have a sorting category for items that can be donated.
Dangerous
Unfortunately, a person with more progressed hoarding disorder is likely to have a particularly filthy situation in his or her house. There can even be dangerous biohazards in the residence that can come in the form of:
- Rotting food
- Human feces
- Human urine
- Animal feces
- Animal urine
- Dead animals
This type of hazardous waste needs to be disposed of following biohazard cleanup or biohazard remediation guidelines. The presence of this type of waste in a hoarder’s residence underscores the need to employ a hoarder property cleanup company like Eco Bear.
Pause
As was noted earlier in this article, in cases of hoarding disorder, a person has very significant difficulties in parting with items. As a consequence, a pause category is also appropriate. Items can be placed in that category – provided they are not dangerous – for a specifically set amount of time to permit a hoarder the ability to really consider whether such objects should be kept or eliminated.
Keep
There can be items in a hoard that might have some value and that might merit keeping. This should be a small category in nearly all cases when it comes to undertaking hoarder property cleanup.
By using these categories as part of an overall strategy to undertake hoarder property cleanup, ultimate success in the process is more likely. In addition, these are easy to understand and use sorting categories that make the entire process of restoring a home to a livable and safe condition easier.