Many people have specialised collections of items they want to take care of, display, and learn more about. Hoarding, however, is not the same as collecting. In this post, we put the spotlight on hoarding as a mental illness and how Cheap Storage in Sydney can help people overcome this condition.
Understanding Hoarding
People who hoard tend to be in denial about their tendencies, or simply don’t call themselves hoarders because they don’t understand what it means.
Put simply, hoarding involved a strong desire to hold on to personal belongings and wanting to create space for them even when no space is available. Usually, they can also come with a variety of problems such as safety hazards and loss of proper living space.
Extreme Cases of Hoarding
The Collyer Brothers
This is an incredibly tragic case that made the two brothers, Homer and Langley, famous for their bizarre compulsive hoarding tendencies. Langley was killed after accidentally triggering one of the booby traps he had triggered in their Manhattan home. He wasn’t found until weeks later, however, after his brother Homer had died first from starvation when Langley couldn’t afford to feed him anymore.
Edmund Trebus
What started off as an interest in collecting vacuum cleaners, cameras, and anything related to Elvis Presley eventually turned into a hoarding obsession that ended up overwhelming Edmund Trebus’ house.
His five-bedroom Victorian villa was filled with piles of junk, including decomposing vegetables, tree trunks, and even “For Sale” signs.
How Cheap Storage Sydney can Help Hoarders
1. Declutters your living space
Because the storage units aren’t inside your home, this means you can actually enjoy a living space that isn’t occupied by clutter.
A less messy home is also easier to organise, which can improve your quality of life and prevent poor living conditions that extreme hoarders are usually subject to.
2. Makes it easier to find what you need
While hoarding doesn’t necessarily mean you’re incapable of organising, it naturally becomes harder to locate specific items when you have too much stuff.
Having your items in a cheap storage Sydney makes it easier for you to find what you need, especially since you tend to have a better memory of the items you stored outside your home.
3. Encourages accountability
Having a storage unit doesn’t automatically eliminate the hoarding problem. But because hoarders have to pay rent for each unit, this can encourage them to let go of the junk and only hold on to their most treasured items.
4. Helps you earn money
Some people can also end up with financial problems due to their uncontrollable urge to hoard. Searching for a short term storage facility can be a great way to let go of non-essential items to sell, which can potentially turn up a decent profit.
Final thoughts
Merely having a storage unit doesn’t guarantee you won’t hoard. In fact, it may only encourage you to gather more items. In such cases, seeking mental help and emotional support is the best approach to keep the habit under control.
Renting units from cheap storage Sydney companies should be treated as a part of the solution. While it isn’t the solution by itself, it can be a crucial first step to getting your life back on track.