The Secret Lives of Hoarders_ True Stories of Tackling Extreme Clutter - Matt Paxton [62]
▶ Donating
Hoarders often have an easier time parting with items when they know they will go to good use. Brad and Ellen donated their boxed and canned food to a local food bank. Household items can go to whatever donation sites the hoarder cares about and wants to support. Charities and churches may decline certain items, so be prepared with alternatives.
For useful household items, we usually recommend a local battered women’s shelter because they help people who are truly in immediate need. Families often arrive there empty-handed and can use bedding, clothing, toiletries, and small appliances. Larger donation sites, like Goodwill, often sell the bulk of their items to third world countries.
An organization such as the Salvation Army will often pick up donations quickly. People feel good about helping other people, and hoarders are no different. They are often motivated to give something away if they have an emotional connection with the charity, and it’s reassuring to know that their things will be well used.
Some hoarders hang on to family mementos, intending to pass them to future generations. Here, the hoarder needs to prove that the family member actually wants the item. Does the hoarder’s niece really want her aunt’s costume jewelry? This is another opportunity for a hoarder reality check. If the family member doesn’t care, then there is no reason to save the item.
I see a lot of hoarders saving soda bottle tops because they’ve read somewhere that a child in the hospital needs them to raise money for some type of surgery or organ transplant. I don’t know if the story is an urban legend or not, but I do know that many hoarders have been saving these bottle tops for years, by which point, little Timmy is either a dad with his own kids or has passed on. Either way, Timmy doesn’t need those bottle tops anymore.
▶ Selling
Nika was a clothes hoarder extraordinaire, and a lot of her items had never been worn. She had ordered most of the clothes from a television shopping channel, and a lot of things were still in the original packaging. Nika was convinced that she was going to make a fortune selling her clothing. In Nika’s mind, the clothing was worth what she paid for it. She expected to earn all that back.
Unfortunately, that’s rare. Most hoarders are convinced their collections are valuable, but usually what they have just isn’t collectible. Even if there is a market for the items, the price isn’t anywhere near what the hoarder paid, and often the value is so low that it’s not even worth the trouble to sell the stuff.
Nika thought she could sell her clothing in a consignment store. But the first store she visited rejected more than half of what she brought in (too out-of-style, or the label wasn’t impressive enough), and for the rest they offered Nika pennies on the dollar. She eventually took what was offered and donated the rest of the clothes.
Some collectibles and antiques have real value, but there’s almost always a huge difference between what the hoarder paid (or thinks something is worth) and what someone else is willing to pay. The reality is that any item is only worth what someone will pay for it.
If the items are useful, consider a yard sale or an auction house. These options work particularly well for shopping hoarders, who often have a big collection of new items still in the boxes. An auction house will only get a small percentage of the new price of the item, but it’s better than nothing.
I often hear hoarders tell me that they are going to sell an item on eBay. I ask if they have ever sold an item online, and most of them acknowledge that they do not even have a working computer. The truth is that they know they have blown a lot of money on their collection and they are hoping to get some back. If money is not an issue,