#hoarding

[miamaimania]

"Hoard (Sick Sick Sick)" (2016) ~ Walsall ⌘ A window overwhelmed by a chaotic collection of books and papers.

[grickle14]

Habits.

[pqsii119370101oqgxiak681]

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[jasontoddscrowbars]

Dick is a low key hoarder. He sees something shiny, he picks it up. It’s his inner bird nature. It’s really unexpected of him though. No one would see his struggles because he hid it so well. You go to his room? Spotless. His place in Bludhaven? Clean.

Where does he hoard it all?

One of Jason’s safe houses that Jason had forgotten about.

So when Jason was doing some ‘shady crime lord business’ and needed a place to hang low he suddenly thought of a place in the area that he was pretty sure he stopped paying the bills on. Either way he headed there.

Pleasantly, the code worked and he got in… half a foot past the door.

Junk, as far as the eye can see which wasn’t far. And it wasn’t just random things like bike parts or newspapers, no, it was their stuff. Dicks, Tim’s, Damian’s, Bruce’s, even his! Someone had been taking their things and had the gull to put it in his safe house!

Who in their right mind would do that? They obviously weren’t!

Grumbling, Jason began climbing over knee high mounds of objects. As he got into the living room he saw an organized pile forming a circle around a chair. It seemed to be pictures. Hundreds of them. And they were Tim’s old pictures he had just thrown out!

Was it their trash man?! Was the bastard stealing their trash? Was he selling it? Oh, was Jason going to give him the what for-

A foot met his gut sending him sideways into a stash of Damian ‘s old animal plushies. Jason groaned as he rose. The power of the kick, how it was done and where it landed added with the size of the small foot; he knew who it was right away.

“Dick!” He yelled.

“I am not a dick!”

Jason snapped around growling; saw his older brother in grey sweats with the band rolled half a dozen times and one of HIS old torn shirts. It even had a washed blood stain that wouldn’t come out.

“Dick!” He boomed.

Dick froze as he realized the intruder was not a thief but in fact his brother finally returning to his own place. His worse fear coming to fruition.

“Ahhh… no?”

“What,” Jason stumbled to his feet in angry frustration.

He signaled the pictures, stuffed animals, piles of clothes… his eyes landed on warped metal and snapped his head back to Dick.

“Is that my old bike?”

Dick glanced away, “no.”

“How’d you even get it up here?”

“I’m a Robin, Jason, if I couldn’t at least do that?Seriously?”

Well, true, but that wasn’t the point.

“What is all this junk? More importantly, why in my place?”

Dick twiddled his thumbs.

“I like to collect.”

“I can see that!” Jason agreed.

“Stop yelling at me!”

Jason rubbed his face in stress.

“Why my place?”

“Because no one would know.”

No one would know. Well. Jason knew now. He knew very much so because he’d just been kicked into a pile of musty stuffed animals that’d been deep into a trash can.

“Dick.”

Dick squeaked as he sensed it coming.

“No.”

“Dick.”

“You can’t!”

Jason folded his arms as Dick was desperately pleading.

“Anything but that! They won’t understand.”

“You have to get rid of everything. Now.”

Dick fell to his knees sobbing. Began to sweep up the pictures in a big hug which sort of made Jason feel a little guilty. Maybe they could keep this between them-

“No!” He wailed, “they won’t understand! They won’t get why I am throwing them away! The toys Jason! The poor toys!”

And he’s lost it. Probably seen Toy Story one too many times. Dick held a picture up of his brothers.

“My brothers. They won’t understand why I’m throwing them away. I really liked these ones a lot, so much cuter.”

Jason grit his teeth then. Yeah. He’s definitely throwing everything away.

——

“Wow,” Damian acknowledged as he watched Dick cling to Bruce, fighting him over tossing a trash bag into a bin, Tim trying to yank him back at his waist, “wouldn’t have guessed.”

Jason gave a nod. They watched Alfred come up and spray Dick with Lysol sending him running.

“You should probably go check all of your safe houses,” Jason muttered.

“On it,” Damian agreed walking away.

[so-i-did-this-thing]

Hey there! I saw in one of another post of yours that you dealt with hoarding, any tips for de-hoarding the house?

Oh boy, do I have a lot. Here's what has helped me, a hoarder who lived several years at Level 4 (squalor, utilities shut off frequently):

Always be kind to yourself. Hoarding is a disorder and for me it was triggered by accumulated trauma. It will take a while to dig out, and you will likely have to wrestle with hoarding urges all your life.

Mindset tips:

Space is more valuable than stuff. Clear pathways, room to sit & sleep, prepare food, work on crafts -- it is *valuable*

Your home is not an optimization problem for storage. Again, space and clean surfaces are necessary! Not having paralysis of choice is valuable!

Cultivate awareness of when you aquire things and devise ways to break out of a buying pattern - put the phone away, go for a walk, etc.

Make some short-term rules: nothing comes in before two things go out. Only buy things you know you will use in the next month. Etc.

Kill sunk-cost-fallacy. The real value is peace of mind, not the potential of an object.

Decluttering tips

Clean out trash, first. Just get the obvious garbage out so you have space to work in.

Get some bankers boxes or bins. Create a group for sale/donate. Put some "keep" boxes in each room.

Start with 1 room to declutter. Again - trash, first. Then, go through objects in that room, putting in the group sale/donate boxes, or directly into the "keep" box for the room that object should live in. Don't worry about *where* in the room the "keep" items go in -- they go in the box, for now.

Try to get the decluttered room to a point where you can move furniture for a deep clean. And try to avoid putting anything in this room that doesn't belong there. You are focusing on 1 room at a time to fix.

Assess your decluttered room for how it might encourage hoarding. Again, is there not enough space? Do you need to take out or rearrange furniture to encourage living/working surfaces?

Don't be in a rush to sort through any of your boxes. Focus on reclaiming space.

Go through the boxes after you've had time to decompress. Some time should have passed and you now can look at your items more neutrally.

For your possessions, ask: does this spark joy? Do I have something similar already? Why am I holding onto it? Is the potential worth the time and space to hang onto it? If it is sentimental, is there a better way to use or display it? If it is broken or a crafting item, will I really fix/use it?

Get in the habit of giving objects a permanent home. Label shelves, bins, whatever else you need to.

Maintenance tips:

Avoid buying things when you're overly emotional

Designate landing pads for items. They don't have to be in the traditional places -- if you take your shoes off in the kitchen, then buy a boot tray and put it in there. Always put your wallet in the same space. Etc.

If daily clutter overtakes surfaces in your home, consider catch-all baskets. I have some in high traffic areas, like the dining room, staircase, and living room. Go through the baskets on a regular basis to weed out junk and put items away where they live.

Be honest with how much time you have to enjoy your possessions. Will you read that many books? Wear all those clothes? Make all those crafting kits? Are you spending more time aquiring vs enjoying?

Regularly assess your belongings and see what you can let go. If you are not sure yet, put items in a box and see if you can live without for several months. Date the box, and be brutal about dealing with it in the time frame you decide upon.

Get into a chore routine. Sometimes, chores are easier if the cleaning supplies are right there. I have an upstairs vacuum and a downstairs vacuum for this very reason.

A 10 minute "reset" at the end of the day goes really far, especially if you are a crafter.

Find something more benign to collect, if you are a magpie. I collect public domain stuff in digital format, video game items, etc. I'd rather be a hoarder in Skyrim than IRL.

I also "collect" experiences now -- I am currently seeing how many different trails I can hike. Maybe you would like something like birdwatching, to sate your hoarding urges. Redirection can go a long way.

I can go more into specifics, but these are always on my mind when I think about controlling one's hoarding. I hope it helps!

[thecoffeelovingcat]

I knew chain smoker cat would love my hoarder room so I drew her in it. It’s ok to clown on me about my room.

[niccymarten]

You're in trouble~ 🐉