Hoarding is the inability to discard or part with possessions due to a perceived need to save them. It can result from distorted thinking, personality disorders, or mental illness. Hoarders may feel the items they keep are essential in the future, need to access them, or think that they have no right to part with them.
Hoarders don’t just take the extra minute to throw something away. They take the additional days, weeks, and sometimes even years. They are also unable to recognise their inability to survive without the item, despite it being a worthless item.
Moreover, hoarding affects people of all ages, races, and ethnic groups. It isn’t just messy. It’s unhealthy and a sign of an underlying issue. It does affect, not only the hoarder, but also their family, pets, and others in their environment.
So, to understand better how hoarding affects us, continue to read this article.
The Unfavorable Effects of Hoarding
1. Pest Infestation
If you are a hoarder your house is constantly filled with rubbish and other stuff. All of this stuff might attract pests and even rats inside your home. Pests are not only hard to get rid of, but they are also dangerous since they are possible to spread diseases.
So, it is not just about how messy your house is. It is also about your health and the people around you.
2. Fire Hazard
If you let your house be too messy, you also open yourself up to many fire hazards. All of that hoarded rubbish is combustible and can easily catch fire. There can also be broken appliances and wires that can spark a fire in a hoarded house.
For an instance, piled up items, rubbish and old newspapers may cause fire hazards in your house. This may cause severe damage to your home and even the death of you and everyone in your family.
3. Poor Air Quality
Thanks to the dust and mould found in hoarded houses, breathing in a crowded place can be challenging.
When the hoarded items are piled up and stacked up, there is less air. This causes poor air quality in the house. Therefore, the air inside the house is full of dust and mould. This may cause allergies and other respiratory problems.
4. Carpet Becomes Dirty
Carpet is an integral part of your house, and it is meant to enhance the house’s look. However, carpet in a messy house will also become dirty or destroyed.
The items you will find in a hoarded house include dust, dirt, and grime that are very hard to clean. Cleaning it might cost you a lot to fix if you are unsure how to do it yourself.
5. Food Contamination
If you are a hoarder and usually let your rubbish pile up in your house, you will notice that the food in your cabinets will be contaminated.
They are exposed to the dust and dirt, all found on the floor in a hoarded house. So, when you eat the food, you are also eating the unsafe elements. This is dangerous for your overall health.
6. Overcrowding
If you are a hoarder, your house is always filled with stuff. These things are often placed in every corner of the house, which may lead to severe overcrowding. This is not only uncomfortable but also dangerous.
If you live in a crowded house, you and your family may be unable to move around and do daily tasks. You may also get to the room where the fire exits are.
How to Deal With Hoarding
1. Understand The Problem
As mentioned earlier, hoarding is not just messy but is also unhealthy. So, if you want to get rid of hoarding in your house, the first thing you have to do is to evaluate the situation. It involves looking at your stuff and how it affects your entire family.
Are there certain items that you are unable to throw away? Is your house filled with items that you no longer use? Is your room full of things you don’t need anymore?
Understanding the problem will help you deal with it effectively.
2. Make Organised Plans
Now that you have taken a look at your stuff, it is time to create an organised plan. You should not just make a plan but also put it into action. The program that you are creating should take into consideration of your family and the situation you face.
3. Remove The Clutter
Once you have created a plan, you can begin to remove the clutter around your house. Do this by sorting out the stuff and categorising them into different boxes. If you have too much stuff, you can ask for help from friends and family to help with the organisation.
Don’t forget to set up boxes to get rid of all your extra stuff.
4. Hire A Skip For Disposal
Once you have organised the excess items in your house, you can get rid of them more efficiently and safely by hiring a skip. This is a perfect way to dispose of things you don’t need.
Different sizes are available, so you don’t have to worry that you won’t be able to fit all of your stuff into the skip.
Conclusion
As you can see, hoarding can be a big problem for anyone. It may cause severe health conditions for you. However, with a simple process, you can get your house back to normal by getting rid of the clutter around your home.
You can hire a skip for a lower price and get all of your stuff out of the house to make room for other items. Hoarding can be a big problem, but you can deal with it with the right tools and approach.
Enviro Skip Hire is here for you if you need to hire a skip! We are a family run skip hire and the aggregate company servicing Staffordshire.
All waste collected is first taken to one of our two fully licensed recycling facilities to be sorted into recyclables and non-recyclables. Check out our wide range of skip sizes now!
