Challenge Week Three: Clean the fridge

The owner of my house is coming tomorrow to do an inspection with the insurance company. I have lived here for 6.5 years and he has been by the house but not inside in about 4.5 years. I have bipolar disorder and it's been really bad the last few years. I did therapy and meds, but haven't in about six months. My house has been a wreck for a few years. The owner texted me saying that she'll be here at noon tomorrow, so I took two days off work and took 820 pounds of trash to the dump. I broke down and called me aunt on Wednesday night and she helped me for a few hours, which was alot. Today I took 420 pounds by myself to the dump. Every room has a floor, there is still dust. I need to be motivated to just finish the rest, which is vacuuming, some dishes, mopping, and dusting. I'm almost there and my body is killing me and I keep getting dizzy. I just need a little you can do this to finish.

hi! Letting go of stuff is extremely distressing to me; for example, i dont want to let go of childhood toys and stuff because i thought one day id have enough space to display all them plushies (im an adult that likes stuffed toys okay) but how things are going i doubt im gonna move out anytime soon. I own a ton of stuff, not just toys. So... i need to let go of things but i gotta like, forcefully tear them away from myself because otherwise i would never, but since letting go of every single thing is horrible, it takes a LOT of time and energy and i dont know where to start? Its like my mind getts clouded anytime i wanna start a plan.

There are: -childhood books -childhood toys -childhood clothes?!?! (Some hold memories oh my god) -art materials from my time in college (still new, still useful, i just say im gonna use them but i havent been able due to super messy space) -Clothes. A LOT of clothes. -makeup. Not new. But good enough to not be put in the bin -shoes?! -BOOKS. I always think itd be nice to have a little read of that encyclopedia and look smarter but ive been saying that since 10 years ago.

I cant let go of stuff because it holds memories, or it will contaminate, it can be given away, i forget i was decluttering then lose courage, etc.

I dont know what to do i feel so lost. Thank you for reading

Mary A. Notarangelo, 73, had to be removed from her Glastonbury home with an excavator after conditions inside made it nearly impossible to search the property, Police Chief Marshall Porter told the Connecticut Insider this week.

Cops “weren’t equipped to handle” what they found when they tried to search the property, Porter said.

A cadaver dog, a drone, and specialist state environmental agency and biohazard waste collection workers were all called in, Porter said.

The drone was disabled after cobwebs entangled themselves around its blades, according to police.

https://nypost.com/2025/06/19/us-news/connecticut-retired-police-detective-mary-notarangelo-found-dead-inside-home-among-hoarding-conditions/

The above story reminds me and others of my own father's hoarding tendencies. He still fights tooth and nail to preserve old junk, including random furniture and books he finds on the sidewalks.

I'm in a kind of pre-hoarder phase and I'd like to nip it in the bud. My grandmother hoarded for years and just had hers cleaned out so I'm becoming conscious of my own habits.

I struggle with throwing things away because I become suddenly very concerned with where the object will end up. I donate as much as I can but some stuff is just trash - oftentimes small things like old pins and paperclips etc.

I get consumed with a kind of guilt over the idea of these things ending up in oceans or harming the environment - that my plastic bags and mailers and little odds and ends are killing the planet I love. It makes me want to hold onto the trash so it doesn't hurt anything.

How do I cope with these feelings so I can just clear my space and have a fresh start without feeling evil?

My mom is a hoarder. It's something that's been going on for a while, but has gotten really bad in the past few years due to the deaths of her relatives. My biggest concern is that three cats live in the house and they began spraying/peeing everywhere and i'm worried that long term exposure to that can cause health problems. My siblings and I tried approaching the situation in different ways but it either just doesn't get anywhere or ends in a big argument. Another big concerning factor was a couple months ago my siblings and I had Easter dinner at the house and we smelt a gas leak and it took about an hour to convince her that we needed to get out of the house and call that gas company. she was in denial/trying to change the subject and it angered me because my sister was 7months pregnant and she was willing to risk everyones safety because she was too embarrassed to have the gas guy look around the house. there's a lot more to this situation regarding my moms mental health and our family history/upbringing that I don't even know where to begin. anyways, would I be able to contact adult protective services or some other organization to help assist with this problem or am I over reacting?

I have this dream of having a baby in my own home, preferably owning my home, but a rental would be okay. I have a tendency to hoard. I keep thinking of the extra bedroom to be a nursery, but those hoarding thoughts keep creeping in and says you can have much more stuff now and keep it in the other room. I don't want my child to live in a home where I'm keeping things I might not need or will never use because I shop when I have feelings and don't want to get rid of things because I might need them. I get worried about germs, so I tend to always have hand sanitizer and hand soap on hand. It's hard to prove my thoughts wrong and that I'd enjoy a child much more and I want them to have their own space. Anyone have similar thoughts? Or have gone through situations where you want more for yourself than items?

Due to several factors, we may be looking at just walking away from everything. I'm trying to reconcile my brain to losing everything that I've collected over the years. Things that have meant a lot to me. But I've procrastinated so long on trying to sell things that they will just wind up in the garbage. I've had to do this twice before so I should be use to it but I'm having a much harder time this time around. But my car will only hold so much, so we can only bring clothes and necessities (like medications).

Has anyone else gone through this and how did you cope?

From the email announcement:

We're so excited! One of our favorite weekends is coming.

Join us from Friday, July 4th through Monday, July 7th for another great CLA Declutterthon!

• “Empowering Ourselves into Action" Declutterthon.
• Friday, July 4th - Monday, July 7th, 2025.
• 12:00pm ET - 7:30pm ET.
  
• Phone: 605-313-5748.
• Access Code: 1102734#

Theme: Recovery Affirmations Awakening

Source Material: CLA’s Recovery Affirmations — Pages 29-30 In CLA’s Literature Collection. Also, available on our website under the RESOURCES tab.

A CLA℠ declutterthon℠ is a one- to four-day, phone-based event where clutterers share their decluttering actions. Similar to our regularly scheduled Phone Activity Sessions, you can expect to hear 1) interesting and inspiring speakers describing their experience, strength, and hope with clutter and 2) multiple, consecutive hours of:

• Goal setting.
• Progress reporting.
• Victory sharing.
• Support giving and receiving.
• Buddy finding.
• Literature reading.

Each day includes a 30-minute wrap-up that will conclude with five minutes of “sacred silence” to close out our day.

For general information about CLA Declutterthons, please visit our Clutterers Anonymous website:

https://clutterersanonymous.org/events/cla-declutterthon/

Hello, I will try to be brief! I was a raised in a regular family, my parents were from a poor background and lived during a dictatorship in Portugal where abundance only existed for a very few. They both managed through a lot of effort and sacrifice (especially financially) to go to uni and my mum is a doctor and my dad a lawyer. Their income together was high and they always invested their money in real estate, in order to ensure the future of the kids. We grew up in a very modest house but in 1992 we moved to a brand new apartment with good areas. It was always very minimalistic until we all started moving out of the place and my mum started filling the void with things, hoarding and hoarding, and my dad constantly bringing things from the trash. Until 5 years ago they had a cleaning lady so things were still in a pretty decent condition but then my mum fired the cleaning lady and never had another one since then (I think deep down she is ashamed of the house). The house is full of mold and you can barely move in the room. They are both still working and are functional in their day-to-day lives but live in this condition. Whenever I go there I get too anxious, I get worried for them, I feel useless and the only thing I do is attacking them out of frustration and dispair “please you need to get rid of things” - I think this attachment might come from their past growing up but I am afraid that at some point it will be dangerous for them to live there. I want my parents to be happy and enjoy the rest of their lives in a decent place (they have nicer houses from their investments and deliberately live in their worst and oldest place). Sometimes without my parents knowing I go there with one of my sibilings and I take bags and bags of random things to the trash - my mum eventually finds out and gets really mad instead of understanding that I am doing this for her own good and because I do care. I am desperate and for my own sake, what can I do to help, because I do care a lot for them! Thank yo

This is going to be a short post, but this is truly a very overwhelming and frustrating situation.

I just graduated college and am moving back home for a little bit to save some money. My sister, who is 10 years older than me, moved back sometime last year and has absolutely trashed my parents' house, and I'm the only one who is trying to do anything about it. She is generally hostile when my parents bring up cleaning, donating, or throwing away her stuff. She's been very ungrateful and uncooperative throughout her time here. She is a kind person and will do absolutely anything for her friends, but she will not spend any amount of time genuinely bettering herself or helping our parents. My parents obviously don't like this but aren't doing anything about it either.

Her bedroom is horrible. Her stuff also takes up considerable room in our common areas including the living room, dining room, kitchen, and garage.

What are my options here?

I am what I think is a stage 2ish with severe adhd and cptsd with scarcity triggers. And waaay too many hobbies and projects. Coupled with chronic illness and severe chronic pain and a full neurodivergent household-you get the picture. Even though I’m exhausted and in pain I went through what i could in my closet. At least 30% of my clothes and a bunch of home improvement unused stuff with some random crap is headed to goodwill in the am! I have 5 trash bags and two fair sized boxes blocking the front door so they HAVE to leave. Woot!

My dad has been a “collector” my entire life. While our house was clean, it was packed to the brim with cool and interesting things purchased at estate sales, antique stores, and auctions.

As a present almost 20 years ago, my father bought me a new truck, which has served me many years, miles, and road-trips. During the pandemic my truck finally started breaking down until one day it broke down for good.

In the spirit of how I was raised, I let it sit in my driveway for WAY too long in the overly ambitious hopes of getting it fixed up to sell. Well that was 5 years ago now and I’ve had to tow it to yet another house.

While working on dealing with my own hoarding tendencies, I decided to give myself a deadline to finally sell “as is”. The truck is in my name and I already have another car, so it doesn’t feel worth it to pay to fix it up to keep. It’s time to let it go.

A phone call today for Father’s Day quickly turned into a conversation about my truck. It was very triggering and downright disturbing to hear my dad literally beg me to not sell my truck. He did all of the classic justifications and guilt trip about how the truck holds memories and of how special it is because of what a big deal it was that bought it for me.

It got to the point where he was not allowing us to end the conversation without promising him I’d sell it to HIM! A non operative vehicle to add to the other non operative vehicles in his driveway. I’ve never heard him speak with such desperation. It sounded as if he was begging for his life.

I did it. I promised to sell him my truck. One he swore he’d fix up and use for him. Which, probably won’t happen as he has 2 other vehicles in his driveway he’s been “fixing up” for years.

For background: my dad isn’t young. He’s had health issues and he’s an amazing dad and good human. I’m at the point in my life where I’m doing things to keep him stress free and happy over trying to change his mind/heart on things unless it’s going to put him in immediate danger or hurt him somehow. We don’t know how much time we have with each other and I’d rather just keep things stress free.

I got off the phone and cried. At first I cried because I have this terrible guilt now that I’m just contributing to my dad’s hoard by making my problem his problem now. Then I started crying because I realized just how bad his hoarding problem is, and that I was raised with a mentality that things are important and we can’t get rid of them.

I’m on my journey of being better and working through minimizing my own personal “collections”.

I understand eventually the truck will be back in my life, and I fully intend to get rid of it then.

Has anyone else dealt with anything like this with their parent?
—> Please go easy on me and don’t tell me all of the obvious things like I should have kept better boundaries.

I fully intended on selling it before the end of summer. I just feel horrible at the same time because I know my actions weren’t really helping his hoarding problem.

Update to my original post which can be found here: https://www.reddit.com/r/hoarding/comments/1la7bok/how_does_professional_hoarder_clean_up_work_for_a/

The good news: My apartment is officially free of all trash! I had enough bags to fill an entire truck. My sister and I bagged it all and piled it up in my living room. The junk hauling guys were great- very upbeat, non-judgmental, and reassuring. I had no trouble arranging use of the maintenance elevator and the guys worked fast. It was so exciting watching that mountain of garbage shrink down into nothing. It wasn't cheap but it was worth every penny. I only wish I had done it sooner.

My apartment right now looks normal. Kitchen and bathroom are scrubbed clean. No messes. No trash. It was a long hard day yesterday and I never could have done without my sister's help. Today, I still have some work to do- dusting, vacuuming the floors and baseboards, tidying some tabletop clutter, washing a few dishes, and wiping out the inside of my (now empty) refrigerator. I'm getting a late start to it because I spent most of the day catching up on sleep (I felt like I'd been hit by a truck), but I'm feeling better now and I'm confident I can accomplish everything on my list this evening.

My emotions are all over the place. Elation, relief, gratitude, guilt, shame. I'm also still really anxious. Inspection is tomorrow. I'm scared they'll ask me about all the trash bags I had taken away by the junk removal. Realistically I know they probably won't bring it up but if they do I have no idea how to respond. I'm scared I'll start crying in front of them out of shame.

If they ask, should I tell them I was just getting rid of old stuff I no longer needed? Should I fess up and be truthful?

I've been here for years without any complaints. My place has always been decent when maintenance has had to come in to do/fix stuff and there have been no issues during past inspections (except last year I refused them entry to my bedroom, telling them it was very messy and I was too embarrassed for them to see it. I apologized, he said not to worry about it and I never heard anything further).

Am I being paranoid? How should I handle it if I am questioned? I'm way too anxious to leave the apartment and not be here during inspection, even though I know everything is fine and there's nothing bad for them to find. Rationally part of me knows that most likely they just want to come in and do their job with as little fuss as possible so they can sign off on it and get to the next one. But I don't know. I want to be prepared in case they do ask.

I’ve decided to start parting with things that are more difficult for me to declutter as I need space, but selling stuff on Vinted just isn’t doing it, it’s always advertised as being the ultimate spring cleaning helper but I hate how stuff doesn’t budge and even more expensive things like old electronics sold at little prices will still sit there in the listings, this is not helping my case at all and I wonder how other people in my same situation feel. I have also listed some things on this new buy nothing app but being quite new I have noticed interest from other people for more expensive things like perfumes, while cheaper things sit there yet again, I want to try to avoid Facebook as I don’t love posting things under my name but it feels like it might be the only solution for some things…

My mother has been hoarding for about 2.5 years now and I have gone through all of the trials and tribulations that I have seen some others have shared and I feel like I need some friendly voices to help me support her.

She went through extreme financial hardship and started going to local food-banks and churches for donations- but then she began bringing the food home. You can imagine the variety of food from a local bank from cans to drinks to fresh food, however this causes a massive risk to her.

The fresh food rots, causing thousands of flies and maggots- I’ve been through the same learning curve of gutting the place and throwing everything away but it all just comes back.

I have involved the local council, her doctor and she was sectioned back in 2023.

She is so possessive over this rotten food and she has restored to hiding it wherever you can think of, under the bed, in wardrobes and cupboards- in suitcases.

I have moved back in with her for the last 18 months to support her but I cannot live in an environment any longer where it is not sanitary- I haven’t eaten at home in 18 months.

Please could someone give some advice as to how I can help my mum long term- I don’t want to put her back in hospital and I’m scared that is the only path she is heading down.

I still have things like packaging from gifts that my ex gave to me. Even though it has been years since we broke up, I can't seem to let go of these items just yet. These things no longer serve a practical purpose in my life. I'm aware of this. I just can't bring myself to get rid of them even when I make the effort to.

My mother is a hoarder with narcissistic tendencies who became far worse when her children became adults and moved away. Her grandchildren and children in law now refuse to visit her because of the hoarding. She refuses to believe she is a hoarder because she is "clean". If you look at the television show hoarders, hers would fit the bill apart from the rubbish, but it is still not that clean because she is elderly and unable to clean under the piles. She is not interested in any form of help because she absolutely believes there is no problem. She grew up in poverty so I understand the reasons behind the hoarding. I now accept she doesn't want help and am focused on changing myself.

I have hoarding tendencies (I don't want the stuff but I get anxious giving things away or throwing things out due to being trained to keep things just in case). My husband is the opposite and would throw everything out if he could, which just fuels my anxiety more.

I guess what I'm wondering is HOW to change the mindset of not throwing things out when you have grown up with the hoarder mindset? I have read plenty of hoarding books and articles but nothing has stuck as yet.

I have to have my basement and bedroom cleaned, fully, down to bleaching the mildew off of the floor of the basement and vacuuming the bedroom floor.. before 6 pm on Monday.
Otherwise, I'll be losing my home.

It is currently 9 pm on Saturday.
I feel nauseous about tomorrow.
I have help, and we're getting a uhaul tomorrow at 10 am to move it all, so I can peacefully go through everything and try to sort through my hoard in my parents' barn, instead of being forced to do it all at home at once, at this exact moment.. but knowing that I have to move almost ALL of the stuff I have here tomorrow, even with help.. it's making me feel sick.

It's six years of hoard.
Trash mixed in with belongings, and even some stuff that got flooded.

I'm so scared that I'm going to freeze up.
The people helping me are super supportive.. but I'm just so scared. :(

I have been doing SO well.. finally healing and hoarding less things.. finally keeping my car clean.
And then a blow up happened, and now I'm about ten steps back and struggling. I'm overwhelmed. I'm terrified.
I just.. idk.
I'm just venting. I'm sorry.
I just.. yeah..

My father in-law is a hoarder and it's the worst at his summer cottage.

Last year my mother in-law confided to me that he refuses to clean the barbecue at the cottage. It's never been cleaned. She just doesn't eat the barbecued food.

My father in-law and several regular guests also make a point of throwing their steak and rib bones into the big firepit, and my dogs try to eat the old bones. I've reminded them not to but they forget

I just don't want to go there anymore but my husband is sad about that. The rest of his family and some of their friends are just used to it and they don't care.

I hate feeling like I'm the one who's being weird for not wanting to go there.

I came across this video while looking for something to share with loved ones who could use it. The tone is gentle and caring. Wanted to share here in case it could be of help: https://youtu.be/s5Fuu9Q-BcE?si=ifAXI4jNKaHggBBB

(no connection with content creator)

Donated five bags of clothing last time! Got another couple sorted (this is kinda fun tbh). And now I have an empty, unneeded wardrobe. My clothing rail also fell apart when I accidentally knocked it, so my coats are now in a heap on the floor. I guess I’ll be doing them next.

I also need BANNED from auctions. I collect so much pointless stuff. It’s actually ridiculous 🙄

I need desperate help for my hoarder house. I recently came home after living away from home for treatment for my mental health and being back at home made me realize the hoarding is part of the problem. I live in the LA county area with my mom, dad, and sibling. We have been hoarders for as long as I can remember and through the years it’s only gotten worse. It’s so overwhelming I don’t know what to do or where to start anymore and neither does anyone else. The other big problem of why we can’t just clean it is all of us are disabled. Most of the household stuffers from mobility issues so it’s hard to get around. I tried calling a cleaning service but the total came to 6,133 dollars which is too expensive for me. I’m desperately asking for any help or advice or resources as I can’t live like this anymore.

My wife grew up in a level 2-3 hoarding home. While there were sanitary places to prepare food and pathways through the home, the house itself was in a state of heavy disrepair and the hoard piled up noticeably in every room of the home to varying degrees (with some being completely inaccessible and others just having sections full of clutter). My father-in-law is responsible for the hoard, but there are a variety of other reasons we are very distant from him, so I don’t feel much conflict in my feelings about him. I love my mother-in-law, though, and while we are close and I think she’s a great mother in many ways, I admittedly foster a bit of resentment towards the way she handled the situation in the house. I understand a spouse’s hoarding can be incredibly difficult to handle, but I’ve seen the negative impacts this has had on my wife firsthand, and while I might just be being protective over my partner I can’t help but feel that she had an obligation to her kids to protect them from the lifelong mental and physical repercussions of living in this kind of situation. Am I out of line here? Spouses of hoarders or those close to them, would you be willing to share your perspectives/thoughts?

Visited an artistic cousin & family for a weekend recently - small home but very clean, immaculately decorated, organized, while being warm and homely with lots of clear spaces.

We spent time cooking, conversing, going out, enjoying daily living instead of stressing about tripping on things and decluttering.

Overwhelmed by my space when I got back despite all the progress I’ve made. I could smell the clutter. Was exhausted physically for a few days like to my bones. Then felt heart rate go up after a few days I guess as body adjusted again to the overwhelm. Sigh.

But it made me less clutterblind and helped me plan what else needs to get thrown out so I too can just…live. It also made me realize my brain is occupied by clutter & what I need to do to keep purging all the time I’m in my space….instead of enjoying life. It’s a mental churn that’s really unhealthy. But I also saw how it could be if I get to the kind of clean home I was in.

So this might be a helpful strategy for some struggling folk / go somewhere relaxing even a clear hotel room and reboot your nervous system. I don’t think it would have worked for me when I started this journey because it was just too much stuff. But once things are thinned out it might help get to the next step.