The Typical Hoarder House Contents
Hoarding is a form of compulsive behaviour where people will collect (or refuse to throw away) all manner of strange items that most other people would consider to be rubbish.
Common items that tend to be hoarded include:
- Newspapers
- Magazines
- Empty (or partially empty) bottles
- Food packaging
- Clothes
- Junk Mail
- Books
- Bags of waste
- But it could be literally anything at all.
What causes people to hoard all kinds of items in their homes?
For some reason, some people seem to become almost emotionally attached to these items and don’t want to dispose of them in case they need them later, even though they will often never touch them again.
Compulsive hoarding is a disorder where a person has difficulties disposing of these items, even when have no further use, like in the image above, which was taken in a hoarded house clearance we did.
The room you can see in the image was literally piled high with bags of rubbish, and even empty and half empty bottles of drinks that had probably been there for a very long time.
This inability to dispose of old items can lead to a very cluttered property, sometimes with pathways being left between huge piles of items that can fill every room in the house.
In some cases even the bedroom is full, with the bed being the only surface that isn’t covered in all kinds of collected bits and pieces.
What Problems Can Compulsive Hoarding Cause?
Apart from the clutter, mess, and disorganisation, compulsive hoarding can lead to structural and other issues with the property, and cause health issues for the occupant.
On top of that are safety concerns, there are trip and injury hazards, fire risks, and exits can be blocked meaning in an emergency it would be difficult for the home owner to get out, or emergency services to get in.
Hoarding also means there is little space in the home, with some rooms being completely inaccessible and unusable.
Why do people hoard?
There is no set reason why people hoard items, as with any other form of disorder, the reasons leading to it can be complex and different for every person.
Having said that, hoarders will often say that they don’t want to throw things away that might have a use later, no matter how remote a likelihood that will be.
They may possibly have a problem in identifying which items still have a use or value, so they want to hold onto them, often if they throw items away they feel a sense of guilt and loss afterwards.
Sometimes the person might want to keep newspapers for example to keep important news stories that they might want to refer to again later, or they might keep them planning to read them all later.
It can be very difficult for people suffering from any disorder to see what they are doing and to understand why, so that they can change their behaviour.
Most people will make little headway without therapy or professional help.
At Keke we provide hoarder house clearance services. We have a lot of experience in dealing with hoarded houses and always deal with such a clearance with discretion, respect, compassion, patience and care.
