Sarah asked 6 years ago
Last year my mum passed away, I was the sole air to her three bedroom town house in City of Westminster.
I am planning to move into her home over the next few months, I have decorators in at the moment redecorating the whole house and have ordered new furniture to furnish the place.
The problem I am having is that I have come to terms and have accepted that I am a compulsive hoarder, I am currently living in a very cluttered and hoarded three bedroom bungalow in City of Westminster.
I have been seeking professional help to help me start letting go of things that I thought were sentimental to me, I have now realised that the majority of it is junk.
My home has become so cluttered that it is almost impossible to move around, I have made a pathway amongst mountains of clutter and fear that one day the clutter will collapse and crush me.
I have decided to hire a specialist house clearance company that can come in and clear almost everything, leaving my bungalow empty.
I plan to sell the bungalow shortly after it has been cleared and move into my family home.
I no longer want to be a hoarder, I want to live a simple life and have a home that I can be proud of, it has been more than three years since I have allowed someone to visit my home.
I am looking for recommendations, has anyone used a house clearance company to clear a hoarded house before?
For the past year I have lived in my living room, I have moved my double bed and mattress in there, I cannot enter my kitchen due to mountains of rubbish blocking the doorway, because of this, I have been eating food in the living room and leaving the rubbish lying around, this shortly become mountains of rubbish covering the flooring and piled to knee height.
The hallway has been piled with rubbish almost reaching the ceiling, I have made a passage way big enough to fit one person through this, the passageway I have made leads directly to the bathroom, the three bedrooms can not be accessed and neither can the dining room or kitchen.
I would like the blanket box In the far bedroom to be kept, my record collection and record player to be kept to one side, this is in the dining room, everything else including carpets need clearing.
I am so ashamed of the way I have been living but have received so much support these past few weeks from my close friends, they were shocked when I finally revealed my problem to them but are helping me through this as much as they can.
I think once I manage to let go of everything in my home, I will be able to let go of anything in the future.
Any recommendations would be much appreciated.
Thank you, Sarah.
Sandra answered 6 years ago
Hi Sarah, Five years ago I inherited a large amount of money from a family member that passed away, from this, I began compulsively buying huge amounts of clothing, shoes, makeup, furniture, gift sets etc online.
A few years down the line I realised I had a hoarding problem when my three bedroom flat became so overly cluttered with these items and tons of other junk.
I would sit on my laptop at night continuously buying things, I would even browse through houses on estate agent websites as shoes and clothing no longer made me happy.
My friends and family would continuously tell me I had a hoarding problem and I eventually realised they were right.
Over the years I had spent over one hundred thousand pound on absolute junk, I thought these materialistic items were making me happy, instead I became lonely and depressed.
I decided to hire a house clearance company to completely clear my home, I wanted to see my belongings go to good use and made sure that the company donated most of it to charities.
As well as my home being filled with new items, I had accumulated a large amount of rubbish too, as my kitchen become so overly cluttered with brand-new appliances, bulk food and new crockery items, I could no longer get to the oven to cook, I would eat takeaway food most nights, the rubbish from this covered my carpets throughout my flat.
I was ashamed by the way I was living and was worried what my neighbors would think when they saw my home being cleared.
I hired The Cluttered House Clearance Company to carry out the clearance for me, they cleared my home discreetly using large bags to hide the rubbish, and cardboard boxes for the charity items.
The team made me feel so much better about myself, they were understanding of my situation and reassured me when I became upset.
I asked the team to clear absolutely everything including carpets leaving only a few items of furniture in place for me.
My home is a three bedroom first floor flat in City of Westminster.
It took three days to clear my whole flat, the team cleared the living room, kitchen and dining room on the first day, three whole van loads of clothing, furniture, appliances etc got donated to various charity stores in the City of Westminster area.
On the second day the team cleared two of my bedrooms and hallway, a huge amount of brand-new clothing, shoes, bags etc went to charities.
On the third day the team completed the house clearance, they cleared my main bedroom and the bathroom, they then removed all the carpets throughout my flat, they left the few items of furniture in place for me.
I was so glad that I used The Cluttered House Clearance Company to clear my home, they provided an efficient and discreet service, the team were very professional and kind to me, and I am so grateful that they managed to donate a huge amount of my belonging to charity.
A year down the line I am now living a clutter free life, I won’t buy things unless I absolutely need them, I can now have friends over and my life is much better.
I can highly recommend them to you, you can find their contact information at http://www.clutteredhouseclearance.com.
Sandra
AFTA Staff answered 5 years ago
Hiya, hopefully I can add further assistance.
We have a member that is fully licensed with the UK Environment Agency and also fully insured to undertake the clearance of hoarded and cluttered houses.
They cover all UK areas and list costs and prices on their website.
Check our members page here The Cluttered & Hoarded House Clearance Company
Hoarded house before and after pics | Hoarded house clearance how much? | Hoarded house clearance FAQs
Hope this helps Andy (AFTA Staff)