The Top Three Reasons to Hoard

I attended a talk the other day and the speaker mentioned that there ARE some good reasons to hoard. It made me think a bit, even though it made me cringe. When I hear the word "hoard" I think of my clients who have so much stuff in their homes that they can no longer function. They can't sleep in their beds. They can't cook in their kitchens and they can't sit on their couch. Or take a shower or bath.

The meaning of the word might have changed, but I do tend to think we the word has always meant, "keeping too much."

But here are my top three times when it's OK to "hoard."

1. You are a squirrel (scrub jay, marmot, pika, rat, etc.) and you need to store food for the winter in order to survive. Even if there is "extra" when spring comes, at least it has padded your lair and insulated it.

2. You live in California (earthquakes), the midwest (tornadoes), a river delta (flooding) or the East (hurricanes and snow storms) and you have created an emergency preparedness kit so you have a better chance of surviving one of these disasters.

The next group I do tend to think of as a little "crazy" but I do harbor a little envy at the same time...

3. You are a "Dooms-dayer" that believes something is coming (an apocalypse, Commies, hippies or Democrats/Republicans) that will change the face of the earth forever and you will need supplies for 6 months or longer and the ability to be self-sufficient after that.

Group 1 is acting on instinct. Something tells them to gather food in order to live.

Groups 2 and 3 might be acting on either real or imagined future scenarios, but both are acting in an organized fashion and are doing what they can get to make sure they can get to their supplies and make use of them when they will need them.

Someone who is keeping things "for the future" or "when I might need them" and is not organized about it, is fooling him/herself into thinking they are just being prepared or frugal.

If you have so much stuff in your home that you can no longer do some basic things (mentioned above--sleep in your bed, sit on your couch, cook in your kitchen, use your bath or shower) because of the things that are piled on your bed, laying on your couch, "stored" in your kitchen or in your stove or piled in your tub or shower, then you have a problem called hoarding.

It may also be preventing you from seeing your family, or your own family from having friends over. It may have ruined a relationship. And it can kill you. (It can prevent emergency personnel from reaching you and even kill you directly if a pile falls on you or trips you up.)

If you are living like this, or know someone who is, please, please, let someone else know. Start seeing a therapist or counselor. Reach out to a friend.

There might be a "Hoarding Task Force" or alliance of some kind in your county or city.

Here are a few resources to start with.

A local mental health agency.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, try:
San Francisco Mental Health Association Institute on Hoarding and Cluttering, http://mha-sf.org/programs/ichc.cfm

National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization, www.nsgcd.org
They provide free Fact Sheets as well as a referral service to help you find a professional organizer trained in helping clients with hoarding issues.

National Association of Professional Organizers, www.napo.net
You can find an organizer in your area. Just be sure s/he lists severe clutter or hoarding as a specialty.

I Care Village, www.icarevillage.com
A new comprehensive online resource for caregivers of the elderly. A section on hoarding is included.

Children of Hoarders website
Comprehensive website with links to local resources, legal advice, therapists in your part of the country. Personal stories, pictures, videos. Not for the faint of heart–but you will realize you are not alone!  http://www.childrenofhoarders.com


OCD Foundation (Hoarding Center)
This site is co-edited by Drs. Randy Frost and Gail Skeketee, authors (with David Tolin) of Buried in Treasures (see below). They are on the front line of research into hoarding behaviors.  http://www.ocfoundation.info/hoarding/


Books

Buried in Treasures: Help for Compulsive Acquiring, Saving and Hoarding, by David Tolin, Randy Frost and Gail Steketee.

Digging Out: Helping Your Loved One Manage Clutter, Hoarding, and Compulsive Acquiring, by Michael Tompkins and Tamara Hartl.

25 Creative Uses for Coffee Filters

I pilfered this from the Stacks and Stacks Facebook update, but it was so great I had to pass it on. I already tried two of them today! And I added one--used one for the veggie cuttings that I put in the compost bin. (I use un-bleached filters.)

1. Cover bowls or dishes when cooking in the microwave. Coffee filters make excellent covers.
2. Clean windows, mirrors, and chrome… Coffee filters are lint-free so they'll leave windows sparkling.
3. Protect China by separating your good dishes with a coffee filter between each dish.
4. Filter broken cork from wine. If you break the cork when opening a wine bottle, filter the wine through a coffee filter.
5. Protect a cast-iron skillet. Place a coffee filter in the skillet to absorb moisture and prevent rust.
6. Apply shoe polish. Ball up a lint-free coffee filter.
7. Recycle frying oil. After frying, strain oil through a sieve lined with a coffee filter.
8. Weigh chopped foods. Place chopped ingredients in a coffee filter on a kitchen scale.
9. Hold tacos. Coffee filters make convenient wrappers for messy foods.
10. Stop the soil from leaking out of a plant pot. Line a plant pot with a coffee filter to prevent the soil from going through the drainage holes.
11. Prevent a Popsicle from dripping. Poke one or two holes as needed in a coffee filter.
12. Do you think we used expensive strips to wax eyebrows? Use strips of coffee filters..
13. Put a few in a plate and put your fried bacon, French fries, chicken fingers, etc on them. It soaks out all the grease.
14. Keep in the bathroom. They make great "razor nick fixers."
15. As a sewing backing. Use a filter as an easy-to-tear backing for embroidering or appliqueing soft fabrics.
16. Put baking soda into a coffee filter and insert into shoes or a closet to absorb or prevent odors..
17. Use them to strain soup stock and to tie fresh herbs in to put in soups and stews.
18. Use a coffee filter to prevent spilling when you add fluids to your car.
19. Use them as a spoon rest while cooking and clean up small counter spills.
20. Can use to hold dry ingredients when baking or when cutting a piece of fruit or veggies.. Saves on having extra bowls to wash.
21. Use them to wrap Christmas ornaments for storage.
22. Use them to remove fingernail polish when out of cotton balls.
23. Use them to sprout seeds. Simply dampen the coffee filter, place seeds inside, fold it and place it into a plastic baggie until they sprout.
24. Use coffee filters as blotting paper for pressed flowers. Place the flowers between two coffee filters and put the coffee filters in phone book..
25. Use as a disposable "snack bowl" for popcorn, chips, etc.

My Clean Fridge Blog

I'd like to announce the birth of a new blog...My Clean Fridge!

http://mycleanfridge.blogspot.com

I've decided that this whole "take a picture of your clean fridge" idea is pretty fun and would like to invite my readers over to this blog dedicated to clean fridges, clean pantries, clean whatever!

You are welcome to e-mail me pictures of your fridge (or whatever area you'd like to keep clean) on a monthly basis, as incentive for YOU to keep YOUR area clean! Feel free to send me the "Before" and "Afters" or just the "Afters" if you like. I will post your story and your photos on the blog as I get them.

My next project (bigger than my fridge) is my pantry....I might be brave enough to even post a "Before" shot and let you see the results as I go. I'm afraid it will take a whole day or several shorter sessions.

See you in the crisper!

Margaret Pearson Pinkham

Fridge 1/1/10

Here it is as promised. The interior of my fridge on January 1!

Knowing I would be taking this pic really kept me pretty honest about throwing things out (or using them) on an ongoing basis. I really only threw out a couple things right before I took the photo.

Welcome to my blog!

Until my full-service website is up, this blog will be serving as the best source of information about me and my services. Please check back frequently, leave comments or questions and let me know what you think.

Let me introduce myself
I am a professional organizing consultant and coach based in Sonoma County, California (about an hour north of San Francisco). I specialize in helping clients who tend to have more serious or long-standing issues with organizing, which can manifest as a lot of clutter, time-management problems or even compulsive hoarding.

My clients also often face "brain-based challenges" which run the gamut from ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury), depression, bipolar issues or other health issues. We work together to design systems that will function with each client's unique brain.

My extensive training through the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization (NSGCD) has helped me to understand these and many other issues that clients might face. I am not a therapist, nor do I attempt to help clients with these issues directly, but I do help design organizing strategies that can take into account these and other issues that often contribute to the clutter or organizing problems.

I earned my "CPO-CD®" (Certified Professional Organizer in Chronic Disorganization) in 2007 through an 18-month mentored and peer-reviewed study offered by the NSGCD. It's a new and exciting field of study and we are quite the elite bunch right now! I am the only organizer in the North Bay to have this designation, and one of only 60 or so in the nation. Click here to see a list of other organizers near you who specialize in chronic disorganization and are graduates of this program or have earned lower level certificates.

I've also recently (2009 and 2010) earned my Level V (Program Coach) and Level V (Master Trainer) desiginations through the NSGCD.

I look forward to hearing from my readers and am happy to answer questions about my services or about organizing in general.

Sincerely,

Margaret Pearson Pinkham, CPO-CD®
(707) 823-3479
margaret@organizeinharmony.com