I think my mum is a hoarder? Please take in mind that I’m not professionally equipped to say that she is for certain a hoarder but please read this I need advice?
She has many many clothes, shoes and bags. Its to a point that she’s almost proud of how much she owns but at the same time ashamed due to the build up of clutter her ‘collection’ is causing. This clutter is really impacting my well-being, our at home family life and possibly even our health.
There are tons of bags of clothes in my bedroom, our living-room and generally around the flat. This makes it difficult to navigate the place. Additionally, my mum has shoes strewn around the house and an entire cupboard full of shoes she never wears. She also owns A LOT of jewellery which isn’t really impacting to the clutter but is impacting her wallet. My mom spends a lot buying things that she doesn’t really need. I’ve told her about this multiple times as our financial situation isn’t great and we’re living pay check to pay check due to my mum’s spending habits she usually brushes it off and tells me I shouldn’t be worrying about it.
A lot of the things she owns don’t fit her anymore but she refuses to throw them away. When my dad tries to encourage her to throw things away she either screams at him or changes the subject.
However, I don’t want to depict my mum as a monster here. I know she’s had a harsh childhood living in the Philippines where her family didn’t have much and she had to savour everything she did have. When she moved to England as an adult, she had always bought lots of things that she probably didn’t need. Usually, she’d be able to store these things with minimal amounts of clutter. However, when I was very young, she got diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and the clutter gradually increased until it got as bad as it is today.
To be honest, i really hate this clutter (As mentioned it’s taking a toll on my mental health). I like to move around a lot, and many times I’ve tripped over bags of clothes and injured myself. I feel constricted in this house and embarrassed. The odors around the house are really strong and (although my mum tries to clean things like the dishes as much as possible) the clothe bags smell like something has passed away in them. Additionally, my parents argue often about the clutter and it breaks my heart to hear. I also feel even more ashamed as my friends ask when I’ll be able to invite them to my flat but I always have to tell them that my mum doesn’t let people come to our flat due to the state of it.
sorry for the long post but here are some images of the clutter, I wasn’t really able to take many or capture how severe it actually is (it’s definitely not as bad as some others people clutter but it is hard to live with) but i tried and you can probably get a basic idea:















