Overcoming compulsive hoarding disorder is not easy, as you will have seen if you watched Oprah the past few days.
But the rewards are almost as overwhelming as the clutter, as you could also see by the reactions of all the members of the family involved.
 Peter Walsh had some really helpful comments about how to dig yourself out if you are having a hoarding or clutter problem.
- Start Small. If you do one bag of garbage and one bag to donate per day, you will have 14 bags out per week.
- Stop Inflow. Extremely important not only to help you clear it out, but to keep it that way. Replace things as you use them, not before.
- Respect the limits of your space. This goes along with stop inflow. If you don’t have room for it or can’t organize it, don’t bring it into the house.
- Ask yourself, does this help me live my BEST life.
- The biggest step is the first step.
- Focus on moving toward the things of value rather than the things that have cost so much.
- You choose the stuff or your life. A choice you need to make EVERY DAY.
- Live now. Don’t save things for the future or keep things from the past that do not serve you fully.
- Constantly think of the vision you have for the room and stick to the limits.
I made a few observations while I was watching the show. I noticed that work areas and centers where created (a tactic skillfully utilized by Mimi Tanner in one of my favourite ebooks Declutter Fast) BUT extra storage spaces where not created to house overflow. Any overflow was out. (maintaining limits)
Peter made a point of saying a home for everything and everything in it’s place. This is made possible by being sure to create a center or home for everything in the first place, another strong point of Mimi’s book.
Peter also says that the biggest step is the first step. I agree. And once you start, the feeling that you are DOING SOMETHING aleviates a lot of the negative feeling about the mess. And as you keep doing more, the rewards get bigger and you want to do more.
You can start with one room and focus on creating your new habits one step at a time. Clear for 10 minutes every day in that room. Don’t allow any new clutter into the room. Create a vision for that room. Choose the vision, every day.
I couldn’t help but notice that the lady had a spark back that was not there before after all was gone. Not only was she carrying the load in her house, she was carrying it around on her shoulders for 12 years as well. She shines at the end of the show, and I don’t mean her floors.
Much of her angst through the show was her fear of her own sanity and what was wrong with her… embarassment. Mess is an integrity issue. It shows us to be weak and out of control. That is why we try to hide it and get embarassed by it. The irony of course is that for compulsive hoarders, the mess is usually created because of the fleeting sense of control these things bring.
It comes down to three things.
Keep the vision.
Make the choice.
Every Day.
They closed the show by saying, if you don’t create the life or home you want, who will?
The bottomline is that the quality of your life is always up to you, it starts with doing something. Making the choice.
 Peter said to go for the vision that you have for your family inside of the home, sometimes that is the push that we need to do what we need to do.
As Oprah said, “Love Conquers All”.
the reward.
