Hoarding…Confessions of a Hoarder With OCD…How You Can Hoard Neatly and be Organized Too!

When it comes to hoarding, most people “collect” things they don’t really need. They save newspapers, magazines, and other stuff most people throw out. Many hoarders feel the need to acquire more, and more, and more. Hoarders don’t always understand their actions. Hoarding can be part of a mental illness, brought on by trauma, PTSD, or other tragic life event.

When one normally thinks of a hoarder, images come up in their mind that are brought about from the show Hoarders. They think piles of filthy mess, in house you can barely walk in. While this is the norm for most hoarders, those of us who have OCD, and also hoard aren’t always that way.
Walk into my home, and you’d never know I was a hoarder. My OCD won’t allow it.

For those of us who have the cleaning part of OCD, and the impulse to hoard, hoarding takes on a whole new meaning. I tend to hoard antiques, fabric, candles, and various other items. When I hoard, they have to be neat, and tidy. If I have too much fabric, I will buy another antique bureau to put it in. It can’t just be in piles around the room. I know what you are thinking. I have all these bureaus and other furniture stacked to the hilt in my house. Nope. Sorry. Not going to happen. I can’t stand the furniture-furniture-furniture scenario in any room. My home looks like any other tidy home.

I don’t know when my “cleaning” OCD started. OCD has many symptoms, mine just tends to manifest itself in cleaning and organizing. My things must be tidy and organized. I can’t stand clutter or chaos, or I get anxious.

Thinking back, I know I use to organize all the time as a teen, but never really thought about having OCD. I just liked to clean my drawers and organize my room alot. At that time, I never even heard of the term OCD. Honestly, I never heard of it until just a few years ago.

In my 20’s I was the housewife, with a perfectly clean house. I had a daily ritual, which my then two year old helped with. I never thought of it as OCD. I thought I was keep a clean house for my husband. Guess what generation raised me.

If someone was to walk into my home, you would never know I was a hoarder. Everything is neatly tucked away. Items are in drawers, in closets, under beds, and in trunks. Things in closets are in boxes, neatly marked with contents. Fabric on shelves is neatly folded. Things under beds are put in boxes, and labeled of course.

I’m not trying to hide my hoarding. On the contrary, I will gladly discuss my strange fascination with buying way to much fabric, or buying just “one more chair”. I just can’t stand messes.

At least the next time you think of hoarders, you’ll have a slightly different view on the subject.