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THE HOARDING SCALE

Appreciating how serious the issue is—or could be—means understanding where the hoarder fits on a scale from mild to totally dysfunctional. Quantifying and qualifying the problem will then help guide what actions need to be taken to aid the hoarder.

Created by the Institute for Challenging Disorganization, which is dedicated to the benefit of people affected by chronic disorganization, the Clutter Hoarding Scale is an organizational assessment tool for use by organizational professionals. It ranks hoarders from Level 1 (Brad and Ellen are the closest example discussed in this book) to Level 5 (like Margaret), depending on what’s in the house and how it’s being maintained.

To me, hoarding is as much about the individual as it is about the stuff. This scale does not take into the account the physical health of the individual or the person’s mental state. So, as shorthand for working with hoarders, I developed my own version of this scale.

The original scale that my company, Clutter Cleaner, used was a pretty subjective one and based roughly on the number of dead cats we found in a house. But after years of working with hoarders we’ve refined our own language and now incorporate not only what we discover by way of stuff but also the physical and mental status of the client. As well, the Clutter Cleaner scale takes into account the social factors of American society, in which we have a lot more leisure time, and the pressure that everyone—not just hoarders—is under to consume.

The Clutter Cleaner scale is not used by psychiatric professionals or therapists. We use it as a guideline to help understand the hoarders with whom we work and to determine how much we can realistically expect them to change.

▶ Stage 1

Brad and Ellen represent fairly typical Stage 1 hoarders. Their clutter wasn’t excessive. Their house had all doors and stairways accessible. All the members of the family were healthy, clean, and well nourished, including the dog. Brad and Ellen both participated in a few hobbies, maintained their finances, and regularly invited friends and family over. Ellen felt a little anxious about the clutter, but it didn’t affect their lives in a major way except for having to move piles around the house.

Brad and Ellen’s garage before the cleanup. Simple Stage 1 hoarding that just needed some rules for organization.

A Stage 1 hoarder usually isn’t recognizable as a hoarder. At this stage, the problem isn’t about volume; it’s more about the habits that the hoarder is developing as he or she tries to handle clutter. Early-stage hoarders have trouble parting with items and are beginning to build collections. They may be starting a shopping habit or a hobby that lends itself to acquiring things. The clutter will grow and hoarding will develop if these behaviors aren’t curbed.

For example, Brad’s computer parts could easily accumulate to the point at which they become too much to deal with. Or they could take on more emotional value than physical value, so he’d be reluctant to just toss or recycle them. Ellen risks getting behind in her general cleanup—especially things like laundry. Clothes might become unusable and she’d have to buy more—often of the same things—just to make do. And the more stuff one has to cope with the harder it is to keep the dust, dirt, cobwebs, and whatnot at bay.

Although messy, Brad and Ellen’s house had a clean kitchen and bathrooms, and everyone in the family was still able to wash and get clean clothes daily. Brad and Ellen were apologetic about the growing mess, but they were relatively happy, without a lot of anxiety about the situation. More important, they were self-aware enough to get help at an early stage.

▶ Stage 2

Coping with stuff is like filing, before the days of the “paperless office.” You leave it for a day or two, you can cope. After a week it becomes a pain but manageable. In a month or two, you are ready to give up and stuff the whole lot under your desk. After all, if you didn’t need the papers for a month or however long they sat in a pile,