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Her daughter is still in the house, but she is a teenager and will be moving out soon. After that, unfortunately, there won’t be much incentive for Michelle to stay clean. She could easily continue to hoard and fill up the house until neighbors start to complain and city inspectors visit again.

DAISY

Miss Daisy had a remarkable recovery for an elderly Stage 5 hoarder. She had several positive factors working for her. One was her terrific support team. Another was the fact that she hadn’t been a hoarder all of her life. Daisy didn’t start hoarding until after her retirement, so she had experienced what a tidy house felt like, and she understood how to keep it that way. She appreciated order and knew that she had the tools to reach that goal and stay there.

Even though Daisy was in her eighties, she had an alert mind and good health. And her cleaning turned up a string of positives that helped encourage her. First, when her county-provided financial planner learned that Daisy had been a teacher for thirty years, he did a little research and discovered an $85,000 pension that Daisy didn’t know she had. Using that, he put together a budget that ensured Daisy would be taken care of for the rest of her life. That was a huge positive that proved to Daisy the benefits of cleaning up and organizing her life.

With Daisy’s clutter piled almost to the ceiling, the cleanup crew was afraid of what they might find under it all.

Daisy had a remarkable team of helpers who got her bedroom livable again.

Meanwhile, Daisy’s social worker located family members who were living nearby. Daisy had cut off contact with them fifteen years earlier, embarrassed by her hoarding. They thought Daisy had passed away and were thrilled to find her alive and well. Her family welcomed Daisy back into their lives unconditionally, delighted to have their mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother back.

Daisy also had her strong church community. She had volunteered there for years and had endless support and love from the large congregation. That gave her life meaning. Each day when Daisy got up, she had somewhere to go and people who needed her.

With her pension, Daisy could have lived on her own after her house was cleaned. Instead, her family kept asking her to move in with them. She finally decided to sell her house and live with one of her adult grandchildren. She is still there today, in her nineties, volunteering at her church and spending time with her great-grandchildren.

RESOURCES

By the planning stage, people usually have hundreds of questions about where to get special tools, or where to donate some items, or simply who to call for more help. As the understanding of hoarding grows, additional resources will become available and added to the resource list on our website at www.cluttercleaner.com.

Most of the resources listed here have national coverage, but always look for local solutions as well (key words to search for are included under each topic). Local companies may be able to help find nearby support for other aspects of the project.

ABOUT HOARDING

The resource section that follows features additional information about the basics of hoarding, including therapists, cleaning companies, and support groups available. To find more information, keywords to search include hoarding, squalor, OCD, saving, collecting, clutter, and organization.

Institute for Challenging Disorganization (ICD): www.challengingdisorganization.org

International Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Foundation: www.ocfoundation.org

National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO): www.napo.net

A&E’s Hoarders: www.aetv.com/hoarders

TREATMENT CENTERS

Hoarding can have multiple triggers and accompanying mental health–related issues. Following are some of the top treatment centers in the country for hoarding, anxiety, OCD, and related disorders. Most cities and many universities also have local specialists.