Archive for Accumulation

tablet showing an empty email inbox

How to Organize Your Out of Control Email Inbox

Posted by Carolyn on
 January 31, 2025
  ·  2 Comments

tablet showing an empty email inbox

Is your email inbox out of control? Are you trying to stay organized and feeling overwhelmed when the next batch of email arrives? There is no doubt that staying on top of inbox digital clutter is a challenge with the ease that email can be sent and received.  As Brendon Burchard reminds us in The Charge your email inbox is NOT your To Do list. In fact, your email inbox is usually someone else’s to do list and if you have receive their email their to do is done and they think your’s is just begun.

Here is a strategy to organize your email inbox on an ongoing basis as well as getting on top of the out of control inbox.

Control the Email When it Arrives 

As a professional organizer I am frequently asked how I recommend people stay on top of their email.  There are a variety of strategies to organize and email inbox, and manage the email when you first open it. 

  1. Use folders to file by topic or person – there is no right answer it depends on how you think. I think by time frame so I use sender and time for my folders
  2. Flag action items right away. If you can accomplish the action in under 15 minutes then take the time to do it. If it needs to be scheduled into your calendar, right it down and flag the emailing action items for example. 

desk owner is trying to get things done, pink notebook, pink flowers on white desk,When the Email Inbox is Out of Control

When it comes to the emails that have been left in your Inbox too long here is a process I call the 10 percent solution.

  1. Pick a time of day to commit 10 minutes to email management.  Stick to this commitment until that Inbox is under control.
  2. Change the sorting order of the Inbox.  If you normally sort by date, try sorting by sender or subject.  This has the impact of immediately changing the context of the emails.  With a different context sorting is easier.
  3. Check the total number of emails and then identify what 10% would be.  This is your target; the number of emails you are going to file or delete in your designated 10 minutes.  For example, if you have 1000 emails sitting in your Inbox, try and remove 100 at the first sitting.
  4. Quickly scroll through the list and try and delete as many as possible i.e. the easy ones you know are no longer needed.  If you get stuck or bogged down, switch the sort again and keep going.  Try sorting by email topic.  This will sometimes allow you to delete the backlog of emails on one particularly topic and then the last one, with all the accompanying conversation, will be the email to file.You will be surprised how easy it is to remove 100 emails when you have changed the context.

Practice these strategies regularly to organize your email inbox and keep it organized.

Business Organizing Declutter Office Organizing Organizing Strategies Strategy
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woman with grey hair at head of dinner table with family

Siblings Help a Parent Downsize

Posted by Carolyn on
 August 21, 2024
  ·  No Comments

When siblings help a parent downsize, all kinds of interesting things happen. Mostly often, family dynamics come to play and life can get complicated. However, its doesn’t need to be difficult.

The Parent Downsize Backstorywoman with grey hair drinking tea and taking to younger woman as if talking about downsizing

Both my significant other (SO) and I have had parents downsize in the past 10-12 years. My own father passed away four years ago and my siblings and I resolved that estate together. My mother-in-law (MIL) has recently given up housekeeping and moved into an assisted living, retirement environment. While she left the family home over 11 years ago, there was much to pare down from her apartment. Since my SO is one of 6 siblings, there was lots of discussion over the paring down.

How do Siblings Help a Parent Downsize?

Is there a perfect or best way for sibling to help a parent downsize? The simple answer to this is “no, there isn’t”.

There are, however, several good ways. Typically the challenges arise around location of the siblings relative to the downsize location, the number of siblings and decision-making strategies and the fairness of dispersing objects. Where there are many siblings, inevitably at least two want the same picture over the mantel. Another scenario is that one or more siblings want nothing – along with nothing to do with the project. Then others – or usually one other – is left carrying the full load of supporting the parent(s).

Professional organizers see these issues so often is it commonplace. While each family feels like its issues are unique, most of the projects have some very common themes. Here are some ideas to help you through the process.

Who Runs the Show?woman in blue shirt making a phone call as if talking to parent about downsizing

Ideally, one sibling will take lead. This may be the first point of conflict; which sibling will that be? The one that’s closest or has the time tend to be the winners.

Alternative, if several sibling want leadership roles, divide up the downsize into sections. Siblings take responsibility for the section about which they are most passionate. One might be concerned about family photos. Another might be concerned about jewelry and a third about books or dishes. Still another might have strong feelings about the movers, packers or using a professional organizer to assist.

When one or more siblings are geographically located away from the downsize.

The challenge here is to keep everyone informed. Regular checkins using FaceTime, Zoom, WhatApp chat, audio or video all help. if you are sending pictures, do them by category and in small groups. Use the edit function in your photo app on your phone to have the distant sibling identify those items they are interested in or have questions about. The great thing about photos is they can also be grouped by Albums so each siblings interest can be slotted into a separate album.

Who Get’s What?family members gather around laptop for meeting to discuss helping parent downsize

Whether resolving an estate resolution or a helping a parent downsize, how do families decide who get’s to keep what? There are inevitably items that are being shed by the parents or in the estate. That is the definition of downsize. Finding a reasonable way to distribute is challenging at best. Here are a few strategies to try:

  1. The parent has previously decided and the decision is imbedded in a will or list or items have already, previously been marked. This is the easiest. Tip: remember that once an item has been “gifted” it is there to do with as they wish, included shedding themselves. The general rule of thumb is “if you don’t want what Mom has given you, please let the siblings know so that if someone else wants it they can have it.” This sometimes lead to “swapping” which often works well.
  2. The items to be shed are given an overall financial value (fictitious or real. This strategy works best when it is close to the real value). Each sibling is given fictitious funds, a percentage of the total based on the number of siblings. If the items being reallocated equal $1,000 and there are four siblings, each sibling is allocated $2500. Finally each person identifies the items they would like to have equalling their $2500. Where there is competition, try swapping. Last resort there is always a game of “rock, paper scissors”.
  3. None of the items are valued. Instead, distribution is done on the basis of emotional attachment. Each sibling identifies those items in which they are interested ranked 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc. Swapping and trading is done only where there is competition for the same item at the same rank.

Last Items

After siblings have been allocated their pieces, offer the rest to friends or family. These individuals are far more likely to be emotionally related to the items than anyone on the open market. What is left can be sold at auction (live or online), sold in the open market (Craigslist, Kijiji, Facebook Marketplace) donated to charity, offered to the up-cycle market or – last resort – discarded to recycle or landfill.

I have seen all strategies 1 – 3 used in several families over the years. In my experience, the most successful are 1 and 3. The second strategy works, but is problematic as siblings compete for dollars.

Siblings who want to help a parent downsize are often met with frustration and lots of work. In my experience, however, they are also met with tremendous gratitude on the part of their parent(s).

If this is your next project, good luck and let me know how it goes.

Downsizing Move Organizing Organizing Strategies
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jumbled collection of many dishes on table

Backlog vs Day-to-Day: What’s the declutter difference?

Posted by Carolyn on
 July 17, 2024
  ·  No Comments

Jumbled collection of dishes waiting to be decluttered.Many people don’t realize there is a declutter difference between backlog and day to day. Not all clutter is created equally. This will help.

The Declutter Dilemma

Touch it once. Deal with it now. Don’t put it down put it away.

These are all great organizing principles. EXCEPT they only apply to day-to-day decluttering.

If you are dealing with a backlog these strategies will have you frustrated, overwhelmed and a victim of decision fatigue in no time. UGH!

There is a declutter difference between the two type of organizing. One, clearing a backlog, is all about managing large amounts of material as quickly. On the other hand, managing paper, clothes, dishes or documents on a day-to-day basis is quite a separate process.

Here are some strategies that will help you manage the declutter difference and get your space organized to feel calmer and back in control.

Declutter the Backlogwhite coffee mug with "begin" sitting on wood grain table. Sometimes just beginning is hard with a backlog to declutter.

You have a large amount of material to be reviewed, sorted, purged and then organized. Welcome to the backlog. Perhaps you are preparing for a house or condo sale, or maybe a move. Or, you simply have decided you need more space and less stuff so it’s time to take action.

  1. Key Decision: The key decision for backlog is Discard or Keep. Make this decision as quickly as possible. Simply decide what is shed vs what is keep.
  2. Make it Easy: If it’s paper you are sorting, have a recycling and shredding bag or box right beside you. Anything to keep is divided into FILE or ACTION.
  3. Next Steps: Once this first sort has been done, you will likely find only 10-25% of the original pile is actually left with ACTION to be taken. Take out the recycling. Set up your shredder or find a local shredding company and pick a time to get the shredding out of the house.
  4. Last Step: Take the necessary action and then FIND A HOME for the items to be kept. If you are moving, that might mean packing. Having decluttered already, you will be packing and moving much less.

Managing  Day-to-DayDesktop with keyboard, book, magazine and a sign that says To Do. If your day-to-day decluttering has to do's of less than 15 minutes, try and do them right away.

The decluttering difference with day-to-day organizing is to make sure the backlog never happens. The trick is to avoid an accumulation of belongings or paper, so that you don’t have to take the time or energy to ever clear the backlog.

  1. Key Decision: The key decision for day-to-day organizing is “What action needs to be taken?”
  2. Make it Easy: If the action to be taken requires less than 15 minutes, try and do it right away. Although this is not always possible, getting into the “do it now” attitude for those quick tasks will keep the clutter at bay. This is where “touch it once” makes sense.
  3. Next Steps: Once the action is taken, the following question is “Where does this need to live?”. Every item needs to have a home where it can be easily stored and retrieved.  Remember, however, once the action is taken, where it needs to live might be the recycling, shredding or garbage.
  4. Last Steps: Put the item in its home. This is where “don’t put it down, put it away” comes in.  You are done.

There is a decluttering difference between clearing a backlog versus maintaining a clutter free home or office on a day-to-day basis. Not all clutter is created equal. A different strategy is needed whether you are clearing the backlog to downsize or managing today’s mail. Have fun and keep going.

 

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faded and yellowed black and white photographs in photo album.

Organizing Family History

Posted by Carolyn on
 May 10, 2023
  ·  2 Comments

The Challenge of Organizing Family Historyfaded and yellowed black and white photographs in photo album.

Like many people, organizing family history is proving to be a challenge. My father recently passed way and my sister and I are now sorting through generations of material. There are photographs, 8 mm film, VHS tapes and documents galore.   We are attempting to identify people and are struggling with how to preserve information. We fret over loosing something that we didn’t know was relevant and we wonder what we might have missed that would honour our ancestors. Meanwhile we are challenged to empty a storage unit that none of us want to pay for anymore.

Sound familiar? Is organizing the family history a challenge in your family?

Organizing Family History – The Bookold book with feather pen and old coin money on top

My great grandfather is affectionately known in our family as JY.  It stands for John Young Caldwell although we never call him that. Once upon a time, JY and his brothers determined that there was evidence of a family fortune in far away lands.  They made an attempt to find the fortune.  The brothers conducted meetings, kept minutes, contributed funds, hired lawyers in Ireland and waited for the results.  Their activities were beautifully documented in a black, hard cover note book ~ the Book ~ with elegant cursive penmanship.  The Book also documented  all the family members that were involved.

The Book, surfaced many decades ago and came into my hands for safe keeping.  I kept track of it at my parents’ home for years.  When I had my own home it was given a special place. Then my father sold the family farm and the family house. There was a storage unit involved. Shortly after I moved. When we unpacked I realized I couldn’t find JY’s Book. I was devastated that the Book may have been lost and all the beautiful and important history it contained.

Organizing Family History – Establish Guidelines

When my sister and I realized the magnitude of the task we faced, we realized we were going to have to make key decisions along the way. We created some guidelines to help establish our priorities and help with repetitive decisions.  Your priorities may be different than ours and therefore your guidelines could look quite different. Here are the ones we are using.

  1. End Goal: have as much material as possible scanned, digitized and converted into a book that can be given to family members.
  2. Discard photographs of landscapes that don’t appear to be significant.
  3. Focus on people and their accomplishments and only places as they are relevant. An example might be to locate where a family was living in order to track their immigration to Canada (where we live) or migration across Canada.
  4. Scan as many documents as possible. Almost all documents had already been removed from frames.   Digitized documents (and photos) can also be uploaded into the Ancestry.ca platform as well as online book creation platforms.
  5. Store family archival material all in one place. My sister and I have both created boxes to store things in our homes so that when items are found or sorted, they can immediately be relocated to this home. Having a home for items helps to prevent them from becoming clutter and makes them easier to find. This strategy also follows the basic organizing principle to keep like items together.

Organizing Family History – The Photographspile of black and white photographs in no apparent order

The Book did eventually show up as my sister and I fastidiously worked through clearing the storage unit. By now, life and family history had moved online and I had enlisted my ancestry.ca account to help with preserving information.

The family had kept dozens of photos in frames. We made the decision to scan the photos and discard the originals unless any family member wanted them. Scanning with our home based printer/scanners, in the frames, proved almost impossible for the larger photos. We identified that Staples, a North American office and computer supply company, had the facilities to scan oversized photos and documents. We still have outstanding questions such as cost, time and whether the photos have to be removed from the frames and if they could be damaged in the process.

Then there are the photo albums. We sorted older photos and took out landscapes that couldn’t be identified or weren’t interesting. We decided that we were interested in people more than places. Also, we will sort by date.  Some people prefer to sort by person, subject or location. Most important is how to preserve the relevance of the photo to your family. For us, chronologically made sense. Still, some photos were in albums and may be damaged if they were removed. And finally, we found negatives of photos for which we haven’t found positives. A quick review proved the subject was worth keeping.  A call to a specialty shop Digital Treasures confirmed they could likely print.

Organizing Family History –  Managing the Volume

Organizing is about making timely decisions and developing habits that avoid clutter and unnecessary accumulation.  As we wade through boxes and bins, the volume of material is almost overwhelming. In fact, the biggest challenge my sister and I are facing is how to manage the volume of material in a way that future generations can enjoy it without having to store it.

Organizing family history is a real challenge. It can be fun but it can also be overwhelming and daunting. Having some guidelines to start can help with decision making along the way.

 

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Are you managing Chronic Disorganization?

Posted by Carolyn on
 April 18, 2023
  ·  No Comments

 What is Chronic Disorganization?books

You many be managing chronic disorganization if you have been disorganized for awhile, tried to fix things and failed and are frustrated you can’t get stuff done in your life. While the term is not a medical diagnosis, it is a very real experience that many people are trying to manage.

Someone who is chronically disorganized has three defining features as identified by Judith Kolberg in Conquering Chronic Disorganization:

  1. They have been disorganized all or most of their adult life;
  2. Being disorganized negatively effects their quality of life in some way everyday; and
  3. Previous attempts to be organized have not been successful.

A significant amount of knowledge and understanding about chronic disorganization has been gained since Judith Kolberg first identified the concept in the early 1990′. The Institute for Challenging Disorganization (ICD) was established later that same decade. It’s mission is specifically to “provide education, research and strategies to benefit people affected by chronic disorganization, and the professionals who work with them.”

Why Am I Chronically Disorganized?

There are many factors associated with chronic disorganization.  This  fact sheet from ICD provides a comprehensive chart of all factors. The most common factor associated with my clients’ inability to get and stay organized is a brain based condition, usually Attention Deficit (Hyperactivity) Disorder.  Most of my clients do not exhibit hyperactivity but do struggle to maintain the correct level of focus for the task at hand. Another common reason is my clients have simply never learned.  Organization may not have been a priority for their parents.  As a result, they have never learned how to organize and don’t have any intuitive skill or talent. In addition, they tend to acquire easily and shed with difficulty.

Is Chronic Disorganization the same as Hoarding?

The simple answer is No, it is not.  Hoarding disorder is a mental health diagnosis.  Individuals with hoarding disorder are a subset of the larger population of individuals managing chronic disorganization. 

What Works?

People managing chronic disorganization do not respond to conventional organizing practices and strategies.  I frequently hear from clients that they have tried all the tricks and tips and still can’t make them work. These individuals think, learn and organize in ways that are unconventional or just more creative.  Their brains don’t think in a typical logical, linear fashion. The solution is to use more creative, innovative organizing solutions that work specifically for the chronically disorganized individual.

Where can I get Help?

purple, orange and green boxes. Institute of challenging disorganization logo.

If this sounds familiar, either to you or someone you know, reach out for help.  ICD has a professional organizer directory which can help you find someone in your area. It is important to work with someone trained in supporting chronic disorganization to ward off further frustration. Some professional organizers such as myself have made a commitment to this area of organizing by achieving the Certified Professional Organizer in Chronic Disorganization credential.  And since I work almost exclusively virtually, I work with clients all over the world.

There is hope.  There is help.  You don’t have to live and work this way.

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Spring Organizing

Posted by Carolyn on
 April 12, 2023
  ·  No Comments

Time for Spring Organizingmany colourful tulips bunched together in a bouquet

The tulips or budding, the birds are singing, the snow has melted and spring has arrived.  Here’s to warm weather and bright colourful flowers and a chance for some spring organizing.

Cleaning vs. Organizing

Many people welcome spring with a fresh and vigorous intention to spring clean their home.  How about some spring organizing instead? Cleaning is for getting rid of dirt. Organizing is about managing space, time and stuff so that you can find what you want, when you want and use it to enjoy your life.

Here are 5 tips to help you get started with a spring organizing project and guarantee success.

1. Pick one small area to tackle on at a time

Also limit the time you commit to a spring organizing project. Unless you have help and a whole weekend, start with an hour or two. Organizing requires decision making and decision fatigue can hijack a project.  Start all to avoid feelings of overwhelm.  If you end up interrupted, you won’t have a big project left unfinished. Try a drawer, closet, cupboard and maybe one or two of those boxes in the corner of your basement.

dishes

2. Focus on reducing volume

Getting rid of things that we don’t need, like, want or use is a good goal for spring organizing. Shedding doesn’t have to mean throwing into the garbage. Shedding it about giving items a life beyond your front door.  Worn towels and other linen can go to an animal shelter. Books can be donated to a Little Free Library. Clothes can be sold or donated to charity. By decreasing volume, you will have less items to manage and more free space in which to live.

3. Give items a home

Everything you own needs a home. A common complaint I hear from clients is that their belongings don’t have a home. As a result, they never put them away. Items used frequently and consistently need a home that is easy for you to both take the item out and put it back in.  We call that storage and retrieval. Items are more likely to end up back in their homes when storage and retrieval are easy. Items that are used seasonally or only occasionally can be stored in less accessible locations.

4. Take away, right away

Take shed items out of your home as quickly as possible. You will see the impact of your hard work and tough decisions. Less items means you can enjoy the clear space. A stack of donations and recycling at the front or back door can be discouraging. It can also tempt you to second guess your decisions. Take those items away, right away.

5. Have fun and reward yourself

Organizing takes emotional and physical energy. Make it fun to make it easier. Play your favourite music. Invite a friend who might like some of the clothes you are shedding. Involve the children and make a game out of sorting old toys.

Spring organizing will also be more successful if you have decided on a reward for yourself when you are finished.  This is a great self-coaching technique for reinforcing the value of your work. It also makes the organizing work seem less onerous which means you are more likely to do it again. Maybe some fresh flowers for a table? Take yourself out to a movie? Arrange to meet a friend for an expensive and fun coffee? An ice cream for you and the kids? You get the picture.

Spring is a time of renewal and fresh starts. It is a great time for spring organizing to make space, out with the old, unused or unneeded. Good luck and remember to have fun.

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organizing the living room

4 Steps to Organize the Living Room and Reclaim Some Adult Space

Posted by Carolyn on
 May 15, 2018

Wish you could organize the living room for adult space?

organize the living

Boxes and ottomans are great toy hiding spots that children can easily access.

Are you looking to organize the living room and reclaim  a little of the adult space  again?  Have you stepped on Barbie’s shoes one too many times and wish you could organize the living room into a adult rest and relax space for just one evening?

Reclaiming adult space is a common theme for many parents.  No matter how much they love their children, at there comes a time when many parents crave a lego-free zone, even for just a short period.

Organizing the living room by banning Barbie, her shoes and the lego altogether may not be possible, or even desirable, for your family and home.  The living room frequently serves as a multi-purpose space.  In the absence of a large recreation or family room, the living room is sometimes adult relax space, Barbie’s house and lego creation central all at the same time.

Here are 4 steps that you can use to organize the living room to help keep Barbie, the lego and any other toys in check so that when needed, the living room can be the rest and refresh space the adults in your household are looking for.

Step 1 – Identify Easily Accessible Storage Space

Look around and study where you might find storage for toys and other children’s items in the living room.  Storage space, which children can access, doesn’t have to be complicated.  Look for space under tables, a shelf on a book shelf, a shelf in an entertainment unit, storage in an ottoman.

organizing the living room

Here is an example of re-purposing a bureau in the living as a table. The drawers make for great toy storage.

Step 2 – Contain the Chaos

Gather up the toys and see what can be parked where.  Identify a new home for the items.  Larger items can go under tables.  Smaller items can be stowed in containers on shelves, under the coffee table or on a book shelf.

Step 3 – Source out Storage Containers Complimentary to your Living Room Decor

Sure, toy storage can be bright and cheerful and kid friendly.  It can also be adult and decor friendly.  While lego may need to be stored in some form of sorting container, the finished products can be displayed with pride on the bookshelves an entertainment unit.  Consider using a glass coffee table with a shelf and the finished lego items become decorations themselves.

Step 4 – Build tidy up time into play time

organize the living room.

Open containers that match the colour scheme of this living room make for perfect toy storage on the bottom of the book shel

Once each item has a home, and the home has been put into place, the next step is to teach the children to use those containers and return their toys, books and lego to their homes.  In my experience, children understand that they go home after playtime so the toys and books also need to go home after play time.  When we teach them that the toys need to go home to after playtime, clean up is done by the kids, not the adults.

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Letters to Clutter

Letters to Clutter: Tell it how you Really Feel!

Posted by Carolyn on
 February 5, 2017
  ·  2 Comments

The Clutter LettersSend me your letters to clutter.  Does this sound like you?

You’re standing in front of your desk, staring at the stacks of paper, frustrated and overwhelmed.  “Why are you still here?  Why can’t you find a file to climb into and make yourself available when I need you?  Somewhere in there is the invoice I’m trying to get paid for – how will I ever get paid if I can’t even find the invoice?”

You open the closet door and glare at the contents.  “I hate you and I love you.  Ugh, how am I ever supposed to make this closet work when a bunch of you don’t fit, some of you I don’t even like and I don’t even know what’s at the back?!”

Your youngster is finally in bed and hopefully soon asleep.  You return to the family room and flop into the chair realizing you can’t even walk on the floor any longer because of the piles and piles of toys.  “Just put yourselves away, why don’t you! [bctt tweet=”Can’t you find a nice basket or box and do the Mary Poppins thing – jumping right into them?” username=”@wellrich”]  And while you are at it, sort yourselves out and take the toys that no one has played with for the past 6 months to the donation centre.  I’m going to bed.”

If you’ve ever talked to your clutter, or think you might like to say something to it, I’d like to hear from you.  Consider writing a letter or letters to clutter and tell it how you really feel.

Why Letters to Clutter?

You letter or letters to clutter will be considered for inclusion in a project being published later this year.  Your letter doesn’t need to be long, 200 – 400 words is perfect although longer or shorter is also welcome.  Start your letter off with “Dear ________ (item or items of clutter i.e. Paper, Baby Clothes, Garden Tools), What am I going to do with you?” and tell the clutter what you are really thinking.

Types of Clutter

Your clutter might include one of the following items or you might have your own version of clutter.:

  • Costume jewelry
  • Inherited jewelry
  • Inherited dishes, flatware, glass/crystal
  • Paper
  • Sports equipment
  • Particular sports equipment e.g. A bag of balls, an old croquet set, a bag of hockey equipment
  • Clothes that don’t fit
  • Clothes that aren’t liked
  • Clothes in general
  • Childhood books
  • Memorabilia
  • Photographs
  • Someone else’s items e.g. a spouse’s sports gear, clothes or other items
  • Tools
  • Leftover renovation material e.g. tiles, paint, fabric
  • Craft goods

How and Where to Send you Letters to Clutter

Identify yourself only by your initials and your town of residence.  Individuals will not be identified in their submissions and any particular identifying information will be removed.

Send letters to me, Carolyn Caldwell at [email protected].

Looking forward to receiving your letter or letters to clutter and seeing what you have to say to those trinkets collecting dust on the shelf.

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Time and hoarding behaviour are linked. Professional Organizers can help you manage too much stuff.

Time and Hoarding Behaviour

Posted by Carolyn on
 September 8, 2015
  ·  3 Comments

Time and hoarding behaviour are linked. Professional Organizers can help you manage too much stuff.There is an important and strong link between time and hoarding behaviour.

While sorting, sifting and moving a client’s boxes today, I had occasion to notice the amount of time we were spending moving – sorting – moving  – sorting and moving again.  This particular client has been suffering from hoarding behavior, a mental disorder included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders  fifth edition (DSM V).

What is Hoarding Behaviour?

Hoarding behaviour is characterized by:

  1. An urge to accumulate possessions;
  2. Feelings of anxiety when possessions get thrown away;
  3. Accumulations of items that may or may not have real-world value, (others may consider them garbage or junk):
  4. Enough accumulation of clutter that use of space is limited or prevented;
  5. Disruption if significant and important aspects of one’s life such as work, family life, social interaction and a direct result of the hoarding behaviors.

How to Time and Hoarding Behaviour Connect?

Having a lot of possessions means taking alot of time to look after those possessions.  The more stuff one has, the more time, energy and money one will spend looking after that stuff. In the case of a hoarding situation, some items are constantly being moved from one place to another and back again as they impede the use of everyday required space.  Frequently, every task in the home of an individual with hoarding behavior takes a long time while the tools are located, items are moved to clear space or even just moved out of the way.

In the care of today’s client, she realized that the stuff was preventing her from doing the things that she loved like tending the garden and playing music.  We have slowly but surely sorted and sorted out of the house items that are no longer current, useful or have a role in her current life.  She works hard to resist the urge to bring items back into her home to fill the space.  She is learning to enjoy having clear space to sit and enjoy her home.  it has been a struggle to overcome those urges but she is gradually making progress.  She can now walk freely from one end of her home to the other in a fraction of the time it used to take.  She can find certain things commonplace in an office and use the garden door to access the garden.  With the additional time, she can now tend to the garden.

We have much more sorting to do.  Eventually however, the client will have in her home those items that she needs, that contribute in a significant and meaningful way to her life.  It will take her less and less time to manage her belongings as we whittle down to the essential and beloved.  That leaves more time for the garden, the flute, the dogs and the knitting.  The flute has a home and is easy to find.  The dogs have space to run around the house.  The knitting has a home and the wool is being whittled down to just the very favorite skeins.

This client will never have the magazine perfect home.  She will however, experience less and less anxiety as she tries to manage the urge to accumulate items.  She is gradually getting used to the open spaces; as are the dogs.  Not only the spaces feel like they need to be filled, but without as much stuff, her habits using time also will change.  She is learning to take time to enjoy activities that don’t include moving alot of stuff around or moving around alot of stuff.

 

Slowly but surely.

Organizing Challenges
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Children’s Behaviour when parents exhibit Hoarding Behaviour

Posted by Carolyn on
 September 10, 2014
  ·  No Comments

A friend and colleague recently contacted me regarding behaviour she had seen in one of her contacts.  She poses an interesting question and I thought you all might be interested.

VB writes: Is Hoarding in the genes? Have you ever seen young children hoard? In a family I recently worked with, one of the children cried and was very upset when his Dad sent a couple of pieces of furniture to the curb hoping someone would pick up for free.! (The aunt is a “collector” and another aunt shows evidence of hoarding behaviour.) Dad is worried about his child. He understands not wanting to part with toys, but furniture? Any thoughts or advice for this situation?”

Here is my response: Although there is much work currently being done with children of those with hoarding behaviour,  I am not aware of any definitive research on the genetic link for hoarding behaviour. We do know, however, that individuals with chronic disorganization, of which hoarding behaviour is a subset, personify objects and have unusually high emotional attachment to objects. These charact traits I see in the children of my clients all the time.

In the absence of a psyche degree, we as organizers ought not to be trying to remove or change those traits but there are tried and true techniques for managing them so the impact of the traits is not harmful. My fear is that this child has now been emotionally impacted – which he/she will remember long after the furniture is gone – and carry forward to other objects preventing him/her from healthy separation in the future.

Try this:
1. Let the child “say good-bye” to the furniture just like they would a friend.
2. Take a picture as part of the goodbye process and create an agreement on how long the picture hangs around.
3. Help the child understand the furniture needs a new home that can use it better. It will have new life with its new family.
4. Help the child understand objects have a natural life cycle with us. We need/ desire, they come, we use/love/use up, they leave (donation/ sale/recycle/garbage), they have a new life.

I’d be interested in hearing from others on similar experiences to VB.

Organizing Challenges
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