Tips To Avoid Hoarding During the Holidays

The holidays are a time of celebration to reconnect with family and give back to the community. In North Shore, Massachusetts, this time of the year is a beehive of activities with residents embracing the holiday spirit. Unfortunately, for those with hoarding disorder, the holidays can be a challenging period. Hoarding refers to a mental condition affecting a person’s mental, social, and physical well-being. 

Even though hoarding is not prevalent in North Shore, some residents have this condition. If you have this condition, you are certainly not alone. The urge to stockpile belongings you don’t need is felt by a sizeable number of people in North Shore, Massachusetts. Generally, the holidays are difficult for hoarders, not just because of the impact hoarding has already had on family relationships but because holidays tempt them to buy more items.

Everyone feels the urge to purchase new things around the holiday. This is because the prices of many items drop and discounts are in plenty. While everyone could be facing the temptation to acquire new things, hoarders have a very serious shopping fervor during the holidays. If you are struggling with hoarding, here are tips to avoid doing so during the holidays.

Try to Ignore Hoarding, At Least Until After the Holidays

Feelings of social isolation and depression affect a large number of hoarders. This makes the holidays a particularly bad time to battle the problem. If you have a hoarding problem, you should do your best to avoid doing it, at least for now. Trying to nag or argue about it won’t help — it might even worsen the situation. This could easily make the holidays an unbearable time for you. To deal with it, you should do everything you can to prevent junk or clutter from interfering with the family holiday plans.

You can hold family parties and get-togethers at another person’s house and avoid making hoarding a topic of discussion. Furthermore, you can hire holiday junk removal services to eliminate all the clutter you might have accumulated over the holiday season. With the holiday ushering in the New Year, it could be a perfect time to make a resolution; that you will fix your hoarding issue so that the next holiday is healthy, happy, and clutter-free. Such measures will take you a step away from toxic hoarding practices.

Avoid Perfectionism

Several observations have linked hoarding disorder with the need to reduce waste and be perfect. Most people with hoarding issues get these obsessions around the holiday period. For example, you might find yourself trying to pick the perfect gift for your loved one, hoarding gifts you find unimpressive. You could also concern yourself with wasting ribbons, gift wraps, bows, and boxes. While striving to reduce waste and achieving perfectionism are praiseworthy goals, you shouldn’t let them get into your head and rule your holiday season! You can prevent clutter by selecting your gifts carefully.

For instance, you can base your choices on your experiences with the gift recipient. You should also have faith that the recipient will appreciate your efforts even if the gift isn’t perfect. Then, on presenting the gift, use attractive boxes and the prettiest bows to wrap it. However, you get rid of all the clutter you might have collected in the name of picking the perfect gift. Hiring holiday junk removal services in North Shore will help get rid of it efficiently. This will go a long way in reducing hoarding.

Collect Experiences, Not Things

Even though you have the urge to add more clutter by acquiring new things for yourself, you should collect experiences instead. Luckily, there are many exciting and memorable things you can do during the holidays. For instance, instead of buying your loved ones material gifts that could increase clutter, you can gift them a membership to a local zoo, museum, or botanical garden. You can also gift them a subscription to a movie or music rental service. Doing the same for yourself will also help manage hoarding habits. For instance, you go to dancing or cooking classes instead of acquiring new items. This will go a long way in preventing clutter.

Focus on Meeting Your Needs Whenever You Shop

It will help significantly if you focus your urge to shop on what you truly need rather than what you want. By getting what you want rather than what you need, you accumulate clutter during the holidays. And that case, you will need holiday junk removal services to get your house back in order. You must limit such acquisitions to items you need and those you will use soon. This will enable you to acquire fewer items that you would purchase on regular occasions.

For instance, if you want to buy ten cartons of fruit drinks during the holiday, you can choose to buy only two cartoons in December. This reduces the clutter you could have created by acquiring ten cartoons of your favorite drink. Use the same approach when gift shopping for your loved one. It would help if you focused on what you need and what you will hand over as a gift. If you buy a gift, but the chances of handing it over to the recipient are slim, you just added more clutter. You should be honest with yourself and know what you need during the holidays.

Keep Your Goals in Mind

You can use your goals as motivation to help reduce acquiring more clutter and engage in decluttering. For instance, if you want your family or friends to visit your residence over the holiday, consider whether acquiring more clutter will put your home in great condition. If it is unlikely to help, you engage in decluttering and put your house in good condition. You wouldn’t want your friends or relatives to find a dirty, disorganized house with clutter all over the place. Use this as motivation to turn around your mannerisms and start decluttering. This will go a long way in preventing hoarding during the holiday season.