The Complex Bond Between Hoarders and Their Stuff 

"Odds are, you have a human brain." *sweats nervously and looks towards closet.*

"People may feel safer attaching themselves to objects instead of people, who may hurt or abandon them. It's like the clutter gives them comfort." This line hit me like a freight train. It explains so much.

This hits home. My mom died partially because of this. My mom had multiple concussions in life. As a child and into adulthood, things were taken from her. She had a hard life. It started with a storage she had for 18 years(over $70,000 spent) Could have moved with the money. Cats and dogs in cages. Worked in a clothing store. We could no longer use the kitchen. The bathroom. I had to wash up outside. Four tvs, 3 karaoke machines, 4 microwaves, 4 refrigerators, tons of clothes. I had to drag her outside so paramedics wouldn't come inside almost every year. My mom died in the hospital. My brother got her mess. I got my mental health back when I got booted from there because I became a very angry person. I hated lying for her to everyone. It was the biggest secret I ever had. No one should have to go through that.😯😔

My mom is so anti-clutter. She gets rid of EVERYTHING. I'm not even close to a hoarder, but all the times I went to my dad's for the summer and then returned to my room to find every "treasure" had been thrown away while I was gone definitely made me want to hold on to dumb momentos as an adult.

When I was younger I had to talk myself out of feeling bad for trash. Like, I literally felt empathy for things that were single use or broken. I'm pretty sure that this emotion is what drove me to want to fix literally everything all the time, and I do. I don't let things go if I can fix them for not too much money. But thankfully I can let things go that aren't worth fixing, even though it still makes me sad sometimes.

Is there an opposite to hoarding? My mother is an intense hoarder and i turned out hating clutter so much that i can‘t stand owning anything i don‘t absolutely need.

My mother is a mild hoarder. She does throw out the trash and keeps her house clean of dirt, but she doesn't want to get rid of anything else. She was passed around between relatives and orphanages throughout her whole childhood, so she was never allowed to keep anything as her very own. Now she saves everything and can't stop buying junk that she doesn't need from the Goodwill and the Salvation Army stores. She has so many storage tubs full of junk and clothes that she's never worn and will never wear. She has never gotten over that aspect of her childhood and is terrified that she'll end up in that boat again...all alone with nothing. It doesn't matter how many times us kids promise her that we'll never let that happen, it never sinks all of the way in.

I have a grandmother who is a hoarder. I went on a trip with her to another state for a funeral. She had a home in that state and an apartment in the state we were leaving from. Both were filled with items we’d consider useless. When we stopped at her home on the road trip she began filling the car with useless, broken, and strange items. She filled every inch of the car including my seat as she wanted to bring this all to her apartment. When I reminded her that I need to be able to fit in the car or I won’t have a way home she looked at me for one split second with an absolutely frightening, and unnatural expression I’ve never seen. It was like those items were 100% more important than me getting home and she really wanted to leave me. I was absolutely unsettled. I eventually managed to make enough space to sit in the car. It was a creepy experience.

This hit me really close to home. I have hoarding problems, and I really struggle to clear things out because I feel such a strong emotional attachment to my possessions. As a child, I was very lonely and isolated, and often had to entertain myself, so my possessions gave me so much comfort, fun, and good memories.

"This is different from collecting" Oh thank god, I collect collections.

“And if you’re watching this right now, odds are, you have a human brain.” Haha jokes on you I showed this to my cat.

My mother is a pathological hoarder. Everything explained here described her to a T. The part about collecting "freebies" is her. When my sister and I see old furniture and items tossed out in front of neighbors' yards, we have to constantly keep an eye out for them to make sure the items are still there, and when they're gone, we inspect my mom's house to make sure that she didn't collect them. It's nerve-wracking. My sister is a hoarder as well, but in her case it's a collection of NEW things that she scarcely even unboxes. In both cases, it's extremely difficult to walk through their houses. If it weren't for the fact that I'm in a wheelchair, they would never leave a walking space for themselves. I'm the opposite. I need organization. That's extremely difficult when your sole caregivers are both hoarders. On many occasions, they've both left an item or two in my room that is part of their hoarding collection trying to reason out why it belongs in my room. I've had to contend with them almost to the point of arguing to remove it from my room. One thing not mentioned in this video is the fact that many hoarders also hoard animals, my mom included. She has over 20 dogs, I lost count on the birds, 18 cats, and a rabbit. Dogs are her favorite animal, so we constantly keep an eye out for any new ones. It's hard living with that and you just almost succumb to it and have to see it as "normal" or risk going stark raving MAD!

I have severe ADHD and I am always so paranoid that I’m a hoarder and this episode made me realize that if I really am one, I should get help for it now when I’m in my 20s before it gets worse in like 20 years or something. Thank you for making this!

My grandmother was an intense hoarder. When she passed, we had to go through several storage units of stuff she couldn't keep in her house. She blamed it on growing up in the Great Depression.

Very good video. I believe hoarding is (at least in part) unrecognized, unfinished, untreated grief. Something horrible went wrong in this person's life at some point (often childhood) and they've never been able to grieve it properly... it may even be so far back they don't fully know about it. Every time stress, anxiety or some other trigger comes up this unfinished grief cycle comes up: not being able to let go is a symptom.

My Dad is a hoarder, but I was amazed how much stuff he was able to part with when he moved from one house to another. In his case I think it was a matter of procrastination and distractions that kept him from sorting through things and getting rid of stuff. When the move forced him to do it, problem solved for while, until stuff starts piling up in the new house.

This was really interesting to me. As a child I had a hoarding compulsion brought on when our pet cat very suddenly had to be put down when I was about 4 - I became terrified of never seeing something again and forgetting about it (mum might have said something about ‘as long as you remember them they are still there’). So I started hanging onto erverything until I took it to its logical endpoint and began to realise that I HAD to forget some things and had to throw them away (can’t keep used toilet paper). With that realisation that I can’t keep everything I gradually was able to work back and learn to let go of more and more stuff. Now I’m pretty normal but still sentimental. Weird how I basically started asking that ‘what’s the worst thing that can happen if I throw this away’ to myself.

I took a small organization class in college and they talked a lot about hoarders. Sometimes people think it's rude to throw out certain things, like cards given to them by friends or family. Others have stuff from deceased parents they are holding on to for sentimental value but it really doesn't do them any good to have it, or they are paying to keep it in storage. Others have closets full of clothes they've never worn but keep them just in case one day they might. I'm guessing those are the less intrusive hoarding behaviors. But it can definitely get extreme.

My issues started after my narcissistic ex did his first real silent treatment. Home decor shopping filled voids. I was convinced the piles of arts & crafts supplies were necessary when I had to barricade myself in the second bedroom bc he was repeatedly throwing himself against the door screaming about how he was gonna break in & kill me; & later setting up barricades & obstacle courses in my own appartment. I stuck around trying to fix the relationship bc I believed it was my fault. I had been diagnosed bipolar & he used it against me in a variety of ways. I have since left him & am happily married to an exceedingly better man. But I still feel empty, in danger, abandoned, & like I'm betraying myself without "too much" arts & crafts around & random things piled in walkways & by the door. I'm scared to walk down the hall to dump the garbage, so my hubby does that. We're working me believing I don't need old mail & will be ok if I put things away or take them to the storage shed. Bc I need a storage shed. It's difficult for people to understand it's not laziness & making excuses. For me it's a variety of fears & identity issues. Glad my husband understands well enough. Wish others did.

I'm just going to keep this video. I might need it later.

i could give you my joke, but i may need to use it later

Ha! That's where you're wrong. I don't have a human brain, I have two. My own and Terry in this jar here.

My dad was a hoarder. He passed away only a week ago so I'm staying with my mother over the Easter break. Sorting through all his crap is gonna be tough. Especially while I'm dealing with my own hoarding impulses.

To quote from the DSM-5: "Why do people hoard? Because of things and stuff."

You are doing a great job of presenting information in a relatable, respectful way. - A former Psychiatric Nurse...

My mom is a hoarder. It seems to be a comorbidity of Borderline Personality Disorder. She has severe abandonment issues and it's really shown by her unwillingness to abandon all the crap she keeps in her house. She had a traumatic childhood due to her father and her father seemed to be quite the hoarder himself. She grew up poorish so i feel lile now that she has the money to buy all the things she wants she doesn't want to give any of it up. Even though she doesn't need 4 airfryers and 7 (literally) pressure cookers she still refuses to give up any of them. After watching this video I can see clearer how all these factors kind of made the perfect storm in her, making her a hoarder. It's truly fascinating the lengths your brain will go through to cope with severe abuse especially when it comes during childhood.

I’m a mild hoarder :/ I have a lineup of origami and small paper craft figurines on my desk and a pile of old stuffed animals I keep around for sentimental value. I keep collections of pretty candy wrappers and old unusable pencils, thinking maybe I can use them in a future art project or something, but I never do. It’s like I just have this weird personal connection to small inanimate objects. I don’t actively seek out things to hoard, but I get overly emotional and I feel this deep sense of loss whenever I’m forced to throw things out. This video was spot-on for me.

Thank you for this. I'm getting quite sick of the "let's put dysfunctional minds under a spotlight purely for your etertainment!" that's so common.

I don’t hoard but I imagine my house as a luxury vacation house and made each room “what would a hotel do?” Keeps things clean, minimal and always seem luxurious. Feels good to be at home. Be good to the roof over your head and it will be good to you. Also upgrade on things and keep up with house maintenance. The biggest investment needs to be tended to.

My grandmother was a hoarder, my father is an indistrial hoarder,(literally turned beautiful a home into a suburban junkyard with a run down house.. ) I was on my way to being a hoarder, until I met my husband. He's helped me alot with getting rid of unnecessary things. I developed my own "questions" that I use to make decisions when buying or keeping objects, and I keep adding to the question when I need to; For example - Do I really need this, when will I use/wear it, will I ACTUALLY use/wear it, is it worth hanging on to "just in case", does it bring joy into my life, is it expensive to replace? If its a no to all these (which usually it is), its either in the bin, donated, or sold.

I've witnessed a lot of homes with mild hoarding. I was living with a friend's family back when I was like 22. His mom was quite the hoarder, I'll spare the details except for a room that had things piled up the ceiling and her son decided to pawn off something from the room and he thought she would never notice but the very next day she was screaming at him about it missing. She not only noticed but was angry because she might need it. She had since moved a couple times and it doesn't seem to be an issue anymore though. She seemed to stop doing it once her kids moved out, and in and out and in and out. It's rough these days.

I don't have an emotional attachment to my clutter but I don't have the energy to remove the from my room. I refer to this as chronic disorganization.

I have a lack of motivation to organize. Once it gets to a point I can't accomplish a task is when the area gets cleaned up

I wouldn't be surprised to get diagnosed with this. I have ADHD and my room fills up with junk. However I really feel like the opposite problem exists in a lot of people. I stuggle to throw things out or "get rid of" stuff because I know how hard recycling and reusing is, and how harmful some waste can be. The people who tell me I have a problem will often throw things away and buy a new one when they need it two months later. Or they will throw away something dangerous without thinking about where it goes. People who are "normal" are sometimes very short minded, while horders think too much. So yeah, I leave old batteries in random drawers BUT at least they won't hurt anyone like they would if they leak into the ground water???? So is there a word for that problem? Am I the only one who has this issue?

Any surface in my Mom's house above floor level in her house would be covered with just a wide assortment of stuff. Her house, until recently, was pretty big with a full basement, so she was able to keep the bulk of it in the basement, out of sight. But the basement itself was packed wall to wall at one point with just absolute junk. Over 40 dried out paint cans. Dozens of shopping bags full of clothes, most brand new and unworn with 10-year-old tags. "Collectables" which were either damaged or never having worth anything in the first place. And while the living space was somewhat livable, the kitchen counter and dining room table would be covered with junk mail, and two of the bedrooms were completely full of old clothes from my dad, electronics from the 80's and 90's. Half of the food in the refrigerator was expired (very expired), often moldy or sour. And when we got a family cabin that, too, became loaded with stuff. The one issue I'll take with the video is at 5:06 it asks "do I need this now?" and "what's the worst that could happen?". In my experience, at least with my mother, this wouldn't have helped and may have made it worse. Everything had a story. Everything was valuable, or could be, or was from this person or that person. And there were always serious consequences for getting rid of them. Some poor grandchild would suffer from never having one thing or another, etc. After over a decade of working on it with her in my teens and 20's she could bear to part with about 2/3 of it, but fought me tooth and nail on the last 1/3. The one way I found that worked would be to tell her I could use it and take it home with me (where it promptly was redirected to Goodwill or the trash). Finally, she and her third husband moved to a smaller place. It took him several more years, a half dozen dumpster loads, and countless car loads of donations, to get it clean enough to move out, and she still moved a lot into a storage locker or moved over 2000 miles with her to her new home. I haven't visited her at her new place, but I have little doubt it's the same story.

Wow, thanks this really made me think about my hoarding... Right when hank was talking about having stuff taking up half the bed making it difficult to sleep was right when I went to lie down on my bed, which is covered in all sorts of junk...

I feel like I could have easily become a hoarder if I didn't catch myself earlier in life. When I was a kid, I would see screws on the ground on my way home and pick it up thinking "surely this will be useful in the future." Another time walking home, I picked up a stick and swung it around like a sword until I got home, but then I found myself extremely sad that I had to let it go; so instead, I hid it under my bed. My mom threw away a Mickey Mouse blanket when I was in 1st grade. I was so sad that I went to the apartment dumpster, jumped inside, then brought it back home (my mom was very shocked lol). Even now I struggle to let things go, but I also HATE clutter so I usually can force myself to throw things away (like a random chewed up USB that may work just in case I lose my current one). I feel like I had these symptoms because I never had my own personal stuff growing up. Never had my own room, always got hand-me-down clothes, never had my own bed. etc. etc. IF something does become *MINE,* it becomes extremely unique to me and I just have a hard time letting it go. That's probably why I obsess about being "unique" in games with my friends. I'm the guy that says "hey I picked that weapon you better not pick it too!" Or I will deliberately pick a "bad" choice just to not have the same one as my friends. Brain, weird stuff.

My mother had some hoarding tendencies, mostly centered around cosmetics, jewellery and clothes. She filled all of the clothes in the house with clothes nobody will ever wear, shoes that are no longer in usable condition, long-expired make up and cosmetics and broken cheap jewellery that will never be repaired. She cried and got rather aggressive when my father wanted to get them out so we would have some usable closest... My grandmother had the exact same thing, going as far as keeping her children's used socks and underwear[!], 30 years after said kids grew up and left the house. Perhaps that somewhat contributed to my own preference for strict minimalism.

has there been any research into connection between hoarding and economic stability? I've heard it suggested that because people can become used to having next to nothing when financially distressed, when they are under less pressure and can access more stuff, they might hoard it because "things can get worse again so i need to keep this just in case".

I'm a mild hoarder. I always hesitates to throw stuffs eventho they are useless. I always kept the wrappers or boxes of things that I bought. It's worse with academical papers since I always thought that I'll use them later eventho the semesters had long passed

You explain things very well. I'm not a hoarder by strict definition. Everything i own can be moved in three trips my Hyundai. However, i don't sort and get rid of things in a productive way. I refuse to let anyone else touch my things. And the triggers mentioned here are spot on. I parent died when I was 6, two grandparents by age 5 a step grandparent by ten. But I believe the final trigger was a mom who was a clean fanatic and as a teenager, if my drawers or closet were disorganized, she would take everything out or said closet/drawers throw the contents away saying that I clearly didn't appreciate my stuff if I kept it in such a disheveled manner. While I'm glad I know the cause of the issue, I still have a really hard time trusting anyone else with my things.

One thing that gets me is I don't know what I'm allowed to get rid of. Some of the things I have, I'm holding for other people (I've been holding them for a while) or they were gifts and I don't want to be disrespectful. My stuff isn't exactly my stuff. And some things I keep because I don't know if I'm supposed to. I once had a dispute with the cable company over my credit history; they asked for identifying mail from over 4 years prior. In that instance it paid off to keep my old statement letters. And when dealing with government agencies they always ask for detailed history, which means I probably shouldn't throw out old doctor bills, right? Stuff I'm supposed to keep piles up. Like, when, if ever, should I get rid of stuff from my childhood? How many posters and prints from artists are worth keeping, selling or throwing away? And how about proper disposal? Am I supposed to donate any of this? Is some of it supposed to be destroyed to protect my identity? Is there somebody who wants it for parts? And if that weren't enough issues to deal with: I hate selling stuff. Garage sales irk me. I hate them! Not just going to them, but hosting them. I hate negotiations entirely. I'd rather just give stuff away and be done with it; but then people will wonder if there's something wrong with my stuff. Maybe they're going to hoard it themselves, or take it just to sell it. I just don't know! But I'm aware of my problem so I try to limit what I bring in to my life. Almost everybody knows I don't want gifts. I hate party favors and decorations that I don't know what to do with or feel guilty throwing in the trash. I beg people to take presents back because I don't have a place for them. I don't want more stuff!

I wonder if one (temporary) way to help a hoarder would be to help them organize/store their stuff. For instance, putting things that can attract bugs into airtight containers or bags, or using shelves for magazines/books, filing cabinets/boxes for papers, etc. Although it just allows the hoarder more room for more stuff, it does help solve the problem of safety and hygiene (and they were going to accumulate more stuff anyway). Coming to them with respect for their stuff and compassion for their condition might help them open up and seek therapy. And since hoarders seem to have issues with bonding, going through their stuff with them (without judgement - very important) might help strengthen their bond with you and maybe reduce their compulsions a little. Or at least make them feel supported enough to face the stress of therapy. At the very least, it would help someone who has a very difficult mental illness have a slightly better life.

Hank I’m sure you’re in a place where you could quit hosting these videos and have them all done by your others, but I’m so glad you still do it

My grandpa and dad were/are hoarders and I struggle with it too, it's a good description. I'm currently struggling to let go of empty diaper boxes for Pete's sake, it's ridiculous. I will definitely hoard random trash if given the opportunity, and I have to make a conscious effort to not follow in their footsteps

I barely throw stuff away because I do not treasure the object itself but the memories that come with it. I guess that's why I'm so reluctant to throw anything away, and it also makes me afraid of throwing something and then end up regretting ever doing it afterwards :(

I feel like there may be a difference between hoarding and a separate but still potentially dangerous issue of extreme clutter problems. I think there are some people who don't mind throwing things out, they just...don't. Like, it doesn't bother them to part with an object, but they don't mind not bothering to toss it. They skip taking out trash and recyclables, and it builds up in a way that looks like hoarding, but it is psychologically different. My dad had some hoarding/OCD issues with newspapers. He couldn't throw one out without reading it, even if it was many years old. Stacks rose up to 3 or 4 feet tall. If we threatened to throw them out, he'd get extremely distressed, to the point that he wouldn't think twice about dumpster diving to retrieve his papers; and possibly try to hide them in hopes that we wouldn't toss them. We never managed to get him into therapy, but we did at least manage to get him to cancel the daily paper. Although now, he spends a little too much of the day watching cable news. I don't know how he does it. But he's retired, and I'm not going to try and change his ways. I'm just glad he's not got such a fire-hazard anymore.

My mother in law lost her parents at a young age, and despite some extended family helping out, she had to be an adult from a very young age. This was compounded by having a slightly younger sister who she defiantly worked her butt off to ensure remained young at heart. They do not have a strong sense of what home and family mean, and thus grew up knowing little stability. Her ~stuff~ is how she measures her safety and stability. It's how she stays anchored in place. She is a brick wall emotionally, as well.

lol i keep certain objects in their original box or wrapper and i keep the tags from clothing too, pieces of useless paper, plastic bags of any kind, old useless notebooks, old batteries. I used to keep empty cigarrette boxes, i had an entire *book case* of them but i did have to throw them away because they took a lot of space and i need that space. Oh god not to mention the fact that i think about and regret throwing whatever i end up throwing, thinking that i could do something with it. I might not have this thing but its pretty fucked up now that i reflect on it.

I am constantly battling with this. I get a have lots of difficulty throwing things out that are not expressly trash. It also frustrates me to no end that I have all this stuff. Thing is, my interests and hobbies are so many and varied that much of my stuff is things that it use/intend to use. The fight is draining. I've been struggling with getting rid of clothes I don't need right now.

It's also an issue of being, having a history of being, or close family history of being poor. If you don't really have money, you might really want to keep a hold of what you have, because you might need it in the future. Also, you don't really have the funds to waste on buying it again. And if a family member dies, you now have all of their stuff that you aren't going to throw away, because it used to be their stuff. You are never going to see them ever again. Yeah, most of their stuff didn't matter to them as much, and it probably isn't worth much of anything; however, it used to belong to them.

this is fascinating... i have ocd and ive always had mild problems with hoarding. but i usually dont have trouble throwing stuff away if its really disruptive or gross

My grandpa went through this in a mild form. He went through the Great Depression and he said his hoarding tendencies stemmed from that (after he passed away we found legal and formal documents dating from the 1940s and 1960s, like housing documents).

700+ games on steam. For no reason. Still have all my childhood trading cards. Keep broken electronics (because I might be able to use them for spare parts). Oh dear..

Thank you for giving this video the sensitivity that it deserves- both in title and the content of the video. You humanize those suffering from hoarding disorder in a way that (looking at the comments) people can relate with and understand. That’s tremendously important.

I'm the opposite of that, I have sudden urges to throw almost everything I own away because I'm not using those things at the moment.

I have a hard time throwing things away because I feel bad for them. Like I'm hurting a paper plate's feelings by tossing it. If a glass gets broken, I feel hurt for it that it's getting swept up. Just the other day, I was picking out the carrots from my soup because I don't eat them, but then I felt guilty that the carrots didn't get to be eaten like everything else. I don't know why I give inanimate objects human emotions, but I've been doing it my whole life.

Good one! One of the great days of my life was when I took about a dozen boxes of stuff that went back about forty years and dropped them into the cruncher. I have been travelling ever since!

This is why I love bob's Burgers, the Thanksgiving episode where Teddy is revealed to be a hoarder is so spot-on.

I know of one example of a hoarder whos main problem is just making the decision to keep or not. Course he finds it hard to make any decision. I wounder how much that comes into play for others if at all.

There seems little attention paid to the opposite, which I don't know a term for - dysfunctional minimalism? I've known a few people who discard virtually everything, acquire things, discard them, acquire them again, and so on. Things like pots and pans, furniture, things that should be long lasting.

I once talked to a hoarder and realized that certain hoarders hoard mostly useful things in order to use them in one of their projects. Subconsciously they think they can avoid death because they still have so many projects to complete.

I think it may be a situation that is made worse by nearly everything having a monetary value to other collectors. A person is afraid of tossing something that may be worth money in the long term. I suppose you could term this the "Ebay" syndrome.

A while back I met a (now homeless) hoarder whose house had burned down. To him the loss of his stuff was harder to deal with than the trauma of waking up in an already burning bed.

Well... I better accumulate trash than friends. People usually disappoint me, whilst trash never acts unexpectedly.

So, I'm not a hoarder, I just haven't cleaned in a while.

Years ago I listened to one of Hank’s brother’s books because it had a cool name and happened to be available via my library’s app. Sort of recently the RU-vid algorithm showed me a couple of their other channels but I didn’t make their connection to each other or realize he was the author, .. and now this video. All that to say, it’s weird I’ve stumbled on this 5 yr old video seemingly randomly and I think I’ll like this channel.

I have hoarding tendencies. I'm pretty sure mine come from growing up very poor. I really struggle to clean and throw things out, but it's manageable with the help of my closest friend. He helps me, and always asks before throwing something out. Yesterday he helped me clean out my pantry, which was super full of stuff I will never use. Threw out very expired or weevil infested stuff, and donated the excess. It's a very stressful thing to do, sorting and getting rid of things. But he's coming to live with me soon, so we will be able to stay even more on top of it. It's hard, though. I feel like I'm teetering on the edge of full blown hoarding some days. I feel like without the help, there would be no saving me, and I don't know how to make the feelings associated with hoarding stop. I have so much anxiety stemming from it as well

I'm recalling my early childhood when hoarding was a serious problem for me, when my attachment to my things then was deeply personal. To compare, if I disposed of my cats, my feline family that I love and adore, just dumping them off at a shelter or wherever, I could never live with myself. They're a part of me. That's somewhat how I felt about my possessions up until around age 10. Do other hoarders have this kind of attachment to their things?

My ex was a hoarder. She was a very nice, kind woman but she had a hard time throwing things out. Majority of the things she hoarded were beauty magazines, things from her childhood, clothes, and makeup. Majority of the stuff she hoarded she never used but I could never throw it out because she would get mad saying she will use them one day. It only got worse when her father passed away back in 2012. She got really depressed and kept every single item he had, even pieces of wood from when her father was a carpenter. Before we broke up I had helped her threw her hoarding by targeting her anxiety and insecurity, which I felt were the reasons why she was a hoarder. I still check on her from time to time and she's slowly learning to let things go.

a big part of why i personally struggle to throw things away is also because of anxiety over creating unnecessary waste. I grew up poor so throwing something away was really only done if there was no hope of using it anymore. And since I've gotten older and become more environmentally conscious i worry about adding to landfills or throwing something away that could be recycled. for example whenever i use one of those tubes of biscuit dough i will painstakingly peel away the foil lining on the inside just so i can recycle the cardboard

my dad is a hoarder, I try to keep him grounded and not let him keep too much though my relatives try the same and have, in the past, taken a bad approach to this by forcing his things away from him. To everyone with a family member who is a hoarder, remember that you cant force anything, suddenly throwing things away, selling, or giving away things the hoarder is hording makes them more paranoid, not less likely to horde.

So many get into this disorder started by some drastic or catastrophic loss or losses in their lives and start hanging onto stuff to keep from losing again and again and to insulate them from the world by stuff. It does not help but it usually starts with trauma and great loss.

My grandmother is a hoarder. She had a traumatic childhood and her family had to leave their home country (Latvia I think) during world war 2. And that was a really hard time for her because she had almost nothing, her family just had to sleep at churches that would be willing to house them. She’s the kindest most selfless person I’ve ever met. Her hoarding problem is quite a big deal though. I’ve only been in her actual house once (they live on the countryside and some other relatives live close to there so I never really need to go in her house) and that’s because we’re somewhat discouraged to go in there because it’s a mess. There is stuff everywhere and it was really hard to get around. It was an interesting experience though. I remember seeing a lot of trash in the kitchen and going upstairs and sitting on the corner of a bed (because, of course most of the bed was covered in stuff) and hearing a radio I couldn’t see. My mom was talking to me about it a bit later and she told me about her having a hard childhood and being very helpless and not owning much and she said that she thinks that’s why she hoards. I love her. She is so kind and so selfless, she was even talking to my mom the other day and said she didn’t want us to go to her funeral because she was afraid the flight there and back would cost too much for us. I really need to appreciate her while she’s still alive, my grandpa (her husband) has died about a year ago so I’m afraid time is starting to run out!

Stuff triggers memories. Having time-blindness and ADHD, sometimes I lose my memories in the chaos and things help connect me to here.

I feel like my aunt died because of hoarding. She had cancer and didn't pursue any treatment until she was forced when she was incompetent. It had gone on so long and progressed that she died only nine days after she was diagnosed. Years before this, she wanted to move to a retirement home, but said she had to declutter first. She was embarrassed - she had windows closed off, taped black garbage bags over her doors, a small dumpster worth of air fresheners throughout the house, she didn't invite people in, etc. It was awful, because much of the stuff she had was originally things she intended to buy for charity or family (which she did give away - so much so that finances showed she lived in poverty by trying to save others) and there were items left over from her son and husband that passed away. Cleaning out her estate was one of the most heartbreaking things. She deserved so much better - and I feel like I (and everyone) completely failed her in life.

I've always had a hard time parting with things, right from childhood onward. I was abused horribly in school, and home was my safe place. I guess I hang on to things at home because I can control them here, and I couldn't control what happened to me as a child in school.

My precious, MY PRECIOUS!

I went to visit a friend of my aunt’s in New York. He had a small but beautiful apartment a block from Lincoln Center - no money issues. His whole apartment was jammed with old square TV’s he’d picked up on the streets, newspapers stacked to the ceiling, old yoghurt containers exploding out of the cabinets. He only collected a few things but he *needed* them. We took a day and cleaned the place - not throwing anything out, just stacking it so he could move through the paths a little better. It was sad to see someone I had thought of as so fortunate - rich enough to live right next to Lincoln Center! And realizing there were other things going on. It did help me realize the difference between my reluctance to let things go and true hoarding - but it also gave me permission to throw out a lot of things I was keeping “in case.”

I AM a hoarder with collector tendencies. I am specific about what I seek out and hold onto. But i have A LOT of it, and some spaces are overrun with it currently. I can sort out trash like cups and wrappers and those never get saved. I don't save junkmail, either. But I will absolutely hold onto broken electronics and such in volume and have for most of my life at this point. What the reason is for me is i HATE throwing out old things because I can't stand the kind of stuff I've seen at stores over the past decade or so. I pick up extra so I have it for later just in case something happens to the one I'm currently using. On the flip side, its caused me to learn about repair and maintenance of these items because of my paranoia of running out. Even the stuff that others would say "isn't worth fixing", I will absolutely fix. I've learned to live with this way I am and I actually quite like it. I have a home filled with my favorite stuff, and extra with more coming all the time, and because of that I actually gift stuff to friends that I feel they'd like. And fortunately I've surrounded myself with people who are into the kind of stuff I am so its received well and they know its been cared for. The only thing better than the current set-up is one with a lot more space in a world where this stuff is still made in large quantities the way it was then. What I've realized in recent years is that in old movies a lot of the special effects that predate CGI would be accomplished by utilizing components of existing objects and components of such. I am an artist and filmmaker and that stuff is absolutely my jam so the stuff that's so far gone and irredeemably broken I've taken to utilizing in this way. I make it sound and I make it look the way I want it and if it work at all I make it work. Wouldn't ya know it people will pay a bunch of cash for something like that after I finish shooting with it so alls well that ends well I suppose....

Hoarding *dishoarder* Also, where are Muscle Hank and Chain Saw Hank?

I've gotten a lot worse over the years. It has gotten to the point where I can't keep the place clean. One thing for sure is that I have been obsessing over a custom bicycle I've been designing and building. I have been living that dream to the exclusion of most everything else. Recently, I packed up the bike parts so I can reclaim the space I need to live. I've been waiting for a call from a machine shop when they're ready to put the thing together...and waiting...and not living well. I used to deliver pizza and I saw a lot of hoarding. I remember one place that was lined with stacks of newspapers and stank of the dog's urine. I've also seen hoarding in cars. I would not want to be in a collision with 1000 lbs of newspapers stacked everywhere. There needs to be a hoarder support group that goes around cleaning up. I suspect that hoarders would sooner clean up another hoarder's place than their own. I'm not sure how this hoarding thing works, but I wonder if it stems back to violence in my childhood. My mom and my brother were the most violent. They had a twisted, sadistic synergy. I didn't want to lift a finger for those abusing me, and I remember my mom screaming about housework. Maybe that's noteworthy.

I created a hoarder scale (Based on the hurricane scale) because of my mom. She is an H2 Hoarder... she likes her knick knacks and she likes to rebuild furniture. To her credit, she does sell the furniture regularly, but my dad is a P3 Purger and gets rid of the junk faster than she can build it up. I'm about an H1 Hoarder and I'm working on losing my emotional connection with my stuff. I lean a little on the OCD side so I can see that, but i'm not bad. My better half is a crazy P4 Purger and is bringing me to minimalism quickly. As long as a Hoarder has a higher level Purger as a life partner, you can maintain a sane lifestyle.

Very useful, thank you SciShow. Just knowing about it and seeing how loads of people live with it and are okay talking about it and about how this goes on in their families, motivates me to work on my own hoarding tendencies and be at peace with my parents'. xD

okay.... flipping the coin here... why do i feel anxious when there's clutter?

I went through a hoarding spell of three years where trash and stuff accumulated in my room and completely surrounded my bed. Garbage and things were window-high, and crept onto either side of my queen-sized bed. Adding things to the piles would cause an avalanche of crap. I'm happy to be free of that now. Yes, I do have OCD. (I also have ADD, GAD, and depression.)

I enjoy watching those hoarding shows. It motivates me to tidy up my place.

A lot of them have this mindset of, "I'll use it for something eventually." But it really is just better to throw extra stuff away. If you don't have a specific container for stuff, you're basically in a tight spot. Where you either have to choose between Space, or your items.

I have bad O.C.D. and a mild hoarding habit, and I can attest that they’re definitely not the same thing because I get totally different feelings from both. The thoughts that trigger O.C.D. rituals have *nothing* to do with gauging worth or sentimental value, but those of hoarding do. Awesome video!

I wonder if it counts in video games... I am definitely a hoarder in wow, collecting everything in someone's bank until I run out of room and I finally break down and auction it all off...

I wish there was more discussion about hoarding light, because my mom and the majority of her 12 siblings were pack rats and had lots of compulsive behaviors but wouldn't necessarily have qualified for the show "hoarders ." My mom was organized about her overabundance and she was clean. She wouldn't keep garbage, although she might organize it obsessively before discarding it and that still impacted my life tremendously. She had no regard for how her crap affected the other people in the home. If there wasn't a clear table to use or a cleared off chair other than her own she didn't care. She would spend tons of energy washing and drying pop cans, an operation that made it hard to navigate the kitchen and when we complained about the pop can operation she would just get pissy. No amount on logic that the clean cans will end up with the sticky cans at the recycling center could get her to stop. She was a shopaholic. She was addicted to TV, she set up camp in the main part of the home with the TV on 24/7 eventhough she could have set up camp in a spare bedroom. And when I didn't want to ever live in her house again after college she thought I was a brat for it. Like why would I live with your crap everywhere? So many women of her generation I think had a lot of childhood neglect and lack and it caused so much mental illness as adults. My mother in law is a bit the same way, she can't part with stuff.

My dad was a hoarder... as an adult I have been - if anything - a minimalist. Ever since the recession, however and then some other life upheavals, I am struggling with getting rid of something I may need down the road (resource guarding) Especially with inflation and the state of the world. To look at my house it probably looks only slightly cluttered to most... but I see the clutter creeping in. (doesnt help that new home has no storage)

I think I have mild hoarding. I have a problem with keeping stuff I don’t necessarily need in case I need it again (I have school notes from the past few years for example). I CAN throw things out if I take the time to go through everything but it’s very stressful. Luckily it’s nothing gross like I don’t keep old food around or anything but my apartment gets messy very very quickly just with papers and other clutter piling up.

I definitely have hoarding tendencies and have to check myself about holding onto things in case I "need them later". The later need never comes and you just end up with too much stuff. I've been able to break this pattern by doing decluttering once a year and just buying less crap overall 👍

I have OCD among other things and I am also a hoarder, it didn't help that when I was younger my mother would just throw my objects away and snap at me. It wasn't until my aunt decided to intervene that my hoarding got better. She would sit down with me for hours and days, go through each item and let me make a choice of what to do with it. I hoard things from cards to boxes and even clothes. Something I've noticed personally for myself as a hoarder is that if I know that the things I have will go to donation and straight to other peoples it makes it slightly easier for me to let go of more stuff but if its going to the trash I get full blown panic attack over it and feel extremely guilty.

I did home repair for 2 hoarders. One of them owned multiple properties that he rented. One of the properties was a nice 5 room ranch house which he lived in for a while. He moved out because every room was filled with junk from floor to ceiling. He moved into his original home which was more of a warehouse than a home. It was huge and again, filled with junk. Cases of 20 year old caulking that were hard, etc. He admitted that he had lost well over one million dollars in rent because the place were not rentable. The second was a 70 year old woman who had a mobile in a park. It was almost impossible to move in there as newspapers and magazines were piled floor to ceiling. As I worked on the home she told me she owned a house but moved out because there was no room. I visited the house, it was beautiful, nice big lot, swimming pool, but the house was filled from floor to ceiling in every room, including all counter space, bath tubs, toilets, every inch of space was filled so she moved out and bought the trailer which was now also filled. Even these people's cars only had room for the driver, every other seat or empty space was filled with junk. I hate clutter and throw out stuff all the time.

I married a hoarder and moved out. I went back and things are up to the ceiling. No one can visit. I wish he would get rid of things.

My dad and stepmom are both hoarders, for different psychological reasons. Dad has an intense emotional connection to objects that others would consider "junk". He remembers who gave him things and treasures them, even if they're worn, broken and useless now. He is also in other ways, very "stuck in the past" and always has been. He is also compulsed to save money, and get as much use out of things as possible. He has some survivalist tendencies, and he cares very much about family and heritage. My stepmom's habit patterns seem a bit more "normal" and easy to hide, as her house tends to be cleaner due to constant churning of objects in the house (yes they have two separate houses, after almost 10 years of marriage they have never managed to consolidate all their stuff into one house). I can't say I understand what goes on in her brain, but I know it's compulsive too. But she likes new things rather than old, and has less problem getting rid of things. She has recently started buying and selling at consignment sales, making a very minimal amount of money for the time she puts into it. It is a convenient cover for her compulsion. They have talked about selling their houses and moving for years. I would love to see my dad enjoy some kind of future, rather than keeping himself mentally in circa 1998 when his family was intact and his dreams were briefly true. My husband and I have offered to help a million times, but sadly, my best guess is that they will die in those houses and we will be the ones cleaning out the stuff.

As a child, I watched my house burn down on live television and although we got a lot of things over time (particularly thanks to groups like the Red Cross), we lost everything. I've only just recently gotten better at throwing things away and keeping organized. As a child and teen, I had extreme difficulty throwing anything out and it was to the point where I would hide tissues and wrappers and have constant friction with my mother who was compulsively organized and threw lots of stuff out. I wouldn't say it was to the degree that it qualified as a disorder, but my life is a lot better since I've overcome that tendency.

You guys are crazy for throwing out perfectly good stuff