How to stop hoarding – Simple Tips

Hoarding is dangerous. It has ruined many lives. People who hoard objects are not aware of their condition. They believe every object they collect could be useful to them in the future. Therefore they keep collecting objects and are unable to get rid of them.

If you are a hoarder and wish to stop hoarding here are some tips which will help you.

Start Small – Take out the trash at home, by starting small you can avoid the anxiety of throwing away all unwanted objects at once.  The advantage of taking a starting small is that you will not have any regrets.

Work your way through the kitchen sink – If you have dishes unwashed for a long period of time start by cleaning them. This would help you get rid the harmful bacteria.

Decide, Decide! - Do you really need it?  Make a decision on what to keep. This you help you get organized and reduce the clutter.

Clean you’re the cupboards – Organize the items in your cupboard and remove the unwanted items. Prioritising your items will help you decide want is most needed.

Finish want you started: If you are cleaning one part of your room like your cupboard or drawer finish that completely and only then move to the next. Keep a box ready to move all the unwanted items.

Ask yourself questions – What does this mean to me? Am I holding onto it because someone gave it to me? How long have I had it for? Is this of any use or is it there because I can’t get rid of it? These are questions that will help you decide what exactly needs to be thrown out.

Contact Bio Cleanse Services - Bio-Cleanse offers one-on-one personal assistance to organise and sift through the hoarded matter. If you’re a victim of animal hoarding or hoarding of paperwork we can provide you with assistance to help you live in a clean healthy home.

Call Bio Cleanse Services for hoarding Clean-up estimate at  0412 547 547 and make your home a clean place to live in. 

Are you a hoarder?

Simone says that she’s always been having trouble

throwing away things. Anxiety strikes her when she is 

attempting to discard any item. This is a classic example of a hoarder. Hoarding is defined as having persistent difficulty in discarding or parting with possessions, regardless of their 

actual value. The behavior of a hoarder effects all those

 associated with the hoarder.

What are the common symptoms of a hoarder?

• Severe anxiety when it comes to throwing away any item

• Constant suspicion of other people touching your items or that someone will throw them out.

• Hoarders cannot throw away possessions.

• Have an assumption that the item will be useful someday.

• The home of a hoarder has the furniture gradually moved to the middle of a room with useless objects around it.

• There is no organization to the clutter. Items are stacked precariously at random or even tossed inside the room.

• Keeping items of no value like magazines, newspapers, or catalogs.

• The home of the hoarder becomes unsanitary.

Homes inhabited by hoarders could be dangerous, unhealthy, or both. We at Bio Cleanse Services offer hoarders a complete clean-up service. To know more about our cleaning services, visit us at http://www.bio-cleanse.com.au/

Hoarding and its types

When a person refuses to give up on things and keeps on accumulating them, he is said to be a hoarder. The things might not be of any use to him but he still buys and stores them or refuses to throw stuff away that she or he should have. In the initial days, accumulating things might seem to be done occasionally. But over time, it becomes a compulsion and the hoarder cannot go on without piling things up.

There are many kinds of hoarders around the world. We present to you a few of them here, in this blog post.

Rubbish Hoarders

Right from chocolate wrappers to cartons, Rubbish Hoarders are known to hoard almost anything and everything. The houses of these kind of hoarders are nothing less than a rubbish bin. It is not only unclean and disgusting but also serves as a home to many insects and a breeding ground for diseases. Studies have found that these people go through other’s rubbish in hope of finding something that they would love to hoard. 

Shopping Hoarders 

A certain kind of shopaholics belong to this category of hoarders. Shopping Hoarders are those people who buy things from all the shops they visit. They do not think before buying stuff. They are not bothered whether they would be using the things they bought in the first place. The only thing they know is that they want to buy it. These people often end up with a lot of unused items (mostly with their price tags still on). 

Food Hoarders

People hoarding food - Is it true? Yes! There are people who hoard food. These are people who feel that they will run out on food if they do not save it. This results in buying and more buying of food stuff and stuffing it in shelves and refrigerators. The food will, no doubt, be spoiled over time and could be a medium to attract germs and diseases.

Animal Hoarders

Animal Hoarders are those pet lovers who outgrow their love for animals in such a way that they want all for themselves. You will find quite a number of pets at their homes. These pets won’t be properly taken care of. Trips to the vet, proper grooming, feeding, taking them out for walks etc. will suffer for there are many who need the attention. To conclude, there will be diseases and a very unhygienic environment.

Paper Hoarders

When a person is not able to give up any piece of paper, he is termed as a paper hoarder. When a person keeps the magazine for himself for want of just one page, he is termed a paper hoarder. Magazines, newspapers, comics, invoices, books, novels, reports – anything made out of paper is treasured by these people. Paper Hoarders live in a very risky ambience. They might end up burning the whole place down, in case of fire.

Are you one of these? Do you know anyone who shows such symptoms? Do you want professional hoarding clean-up services? Consult us – Bio Cleanse Pty Ltd. We provide all kinds of Hoarding clean-up Services.

Squatters Clean-up? Consult Bio Cleanse!

Maggie was doing really well at her job. It was her hard work and dedication that led to her promotion and move to a new city. She had recently bought the apartment she lived in and did not want to sell it. She locked the house and set off on her new career path. An exciting job and a new life awaited her.

Few months into her job, Maggie received a phone call from her friend.

Susie (Friend): Hey Maggie! Why didn’t you tell me that you’re back in town? We could meet up!

Maggie: Susie dear, I am not. I am pretty sure you’re mistaken. You must have seen someone who resembles me.

Susie: I haven’t seen you. I happened to visit your colony. The lights of your apartment were on. I also noticed movement of some figures.

Maggie: Are you sure it was my apartment?

Susie: Yes.

Maggie: Okay. Susie, I’ll have to call you back.

Maggie called up her neighbour to confirm whether there was any truth in what Susie said. To her surprise, her neighbour also said the same thing. Maggie grew worried. She was certain that something was wrong. She had to find it out.

Maggie booked tickets to her town and arrived the next day. She stayed at her neighbour’s place. She realised that what Susie was saying was completely true. There was indeed someone who was staying in her apartment. She called up the cops and with them by her side; they barged into her apartment. There were a group of teenagers who were residing in her apartment. The cops arrested them.

The squatters had made a mess of Maggie’s apartment. Every single step Maggie took landed her in rubbish. She had to get the cleaning done. The conditions in which the squatters lived were inhabitable.

Are you a Maggie from this story? Are you in search of professional squatter cleaners? We, Bio Cleanse Services, have undertaken such assignments. Our trained professionals will clean your place and ensure that all kinds of dirt and bio-hazards are completely removed. 

Visit our website: http://www.bio-cleanse.com.au/ for additional details.

20 Common Thoughts Inside a Hoarder’s Mind

Hoarding is not a mere accumulation of useless junk. 

It involves many thought processes with the decision to discard. These thought processes impinge on the hoarder’s decision-making process which ultimately results in the item not being discarded. 

Following are some common thoughts what a hoarder is likely to think.

1. “I’ll throw this away later…”
2. “I might need this at a future time…”
3. “I do not know where to store this. It doesn’t belong anywhere.”
4. “I have a feeling that I will clean up soon and that is when I will need some items I have collected.”
5. “This item might be valuable in the future and if I discard it, I will be at a loss.”
6. “I need to prepare myself for the next Great Depression!”
7. “These things offer me a sense of comfort. I am inaccessible to anyone. No one would dare come close to the pile, leave alone me. Hence I am protected.”
8. “These items are actually gifts from someone close. How can I even think of discarding them?”
9. “This reminds me of my lost loved one…it is perhaps the last piece of interaction I have between us two”
10. “My loved one, whom I lost years ago, liked these items. I believe s/he will come someday to collect it.”
11. “I collect these things so that I can possibly gift them to someone later.”
12. “I might be financially deprived to afford these items. Hence, I need to save them, even if they are small things like wrapping paper or ribbons.”
13. “I need to keep this item so that I remember something which I am likely to forget at a future date.”
14. “I feel relieved when I discard my stuff. However, once it’s done, I feel suddenly exposed. They are my safety pile.”
15. “Survival is about being prepared. Hence, I need to collect these items. I need to rely on myself and not on anybody”
16. “People can walk out of your lives. Things don’t.”
17. “Discarding these items makes me feel guilty about discarding it. Like it’s a criminal thing to do.”
18. “Right now, I do not have the time at my disposal to sort through these things. I will keep them here, so I can go through them, another day.”
19. “It gives me an excuse to get out of social obligation. I can always say I can’t go to a party because I have so much cleaning to do.”
20. “I believe in recycle and reuse.”

Contact Bio-Cleanse for Hoarding Cleanup and Management Services. 

Visit www.biocleanse.com.au for more information.

OHIO Rule for Compulsive Hoarding

Of recent, hoarding behavior has come into public purview and is almost being reconsidered as a psychological condition on its own, rather than being grouped with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).

Hoarding is a condition when the patient is unable to discard items such as belongings, newspapers, journals and even trash leading to clutter. This leads to acquiring of seemingly useless items which are difficult to sort and organise. There are probabilities that a hoarder has undergone some trauma in his/her life or is suffering from social isolation. 

A lot of psychological and organisational programs are being targeted at hoarders relinquishing by their unusual behaviour. One approach which is usually considered is the OHIO approach: an abbreviation for “Only Handle It Once.” It goes by the philosophy that if one picks something; one must make the decision then and there, to either retain it or discard it, thus avoid piling it. This can rather be an influential approach as it influences the decision making process of a hoarder and eggs him/her to avoid piling up. 

However, the OHIO rule might not be feasible in all cases. In some cases, it might even have a backfiring effect: the hoarder might come to a halt in their decluttering efforts, deciding whether to really discard an item or not. Some items just cannot be discarded by a hoarder due to a psychological connection with it, such as an heirloom or gift.

In the above scenario, there are some alternatives which can be considered, rather than going OHIO. Compartmentalise the items which one is unsure of discarding in order to think of it at a later point of time. Create another section where one will be chucking the items but will be reconsidering them one last time before chucking. The third compartment should be stuff that you are sure of chucking (discard them, there and there). If you keep mobilising these items by compartmentalising them, one is likely to move along the discarding process rather than remain stagnant and cluttering all over again. Hence, mobilisation is the key.

- Bio Cleanse Pty Ltd.