What causes clutter/ hoarding and how can we get rid of these items?

I specialiize in senior real estate communities . I  host open houses and get to chat with seniors. Many seniors who attend say they want to move but need time to get rid of things they have accumulated over the years.

I recently read an article in SRES professional and it mentions a web site www.challengingdisorganization.org. This is a non profit organization and it offers a freee five level hoarding assessment tool . Downlaod copies at their web site.

It mentions five categories of items that we hoard. I am sure most of us have atleast one of these .

1. Papers, newspapers, and mail. The best thing to do is to sort out the mail every day and throw away junk mail immediately. We should recycle newspaper . ,

 

2. We save used containers, cans ,  gift boxes  and plastic bags for reuse. There are some people who have boxes full of these items. You should recycle plastic bags every week and use for grocery and trash bags and not save too many. You may not need every plastic container that you come across.

 

3.Books,records,tapes, old magazines. Most people who move have boxes and boxes of books that they may not even remember having. Donate books to the local library. Our library does not accept old magazines. You may have to take them to a senior center but please ask them first. We have LP records but our record player does not work or we may have cassettes but tape recorder does not work.

 

4.Clothing. We often have clothes with price tag on. We may have purchased because it was a good deal and it may not fit us. We may have nice clotehs that are a size or two small for us and we hope we can lose weight. There may clotehs that are out of style and we hope they will be useful some day.

You can have a garage sale, or donate  the clothes to charity or give them to friends or family who can use them if it fits them and it is in good condition. Please make sure they do not feel insulted before you give .

5.Items stored for others. Most of the seniors have items that they are storing for their adult children who have moved . Children usually store things at their parents' home because they may not have room in their apartment but after some time they forget what they have stored. I was talking to a lady who had stuff in the basement and each of the kids said it was the other person's stuff.

 

 

 

 

When you read about events please check the year for the event as some people find information a year later and think it is for that year. . The posts remain online even after the event.

Gita Bantwal is a Realtor with RE/MAX Centre Realtors in Bucks County, a Northern suburb of Philadelphia. You can view 1000s of listings on her web site www.GitaBantwal.com

 

She can be reached at 215-343-8200x124 or direct 215-275-8491 or via email gita01@aol.com

If you would like a FREE MARKET EVALUATION OF YOUR HOME IN PHILADELPHIA, BUCKS or MONTGOMERY COUNTY call me at 2152758491

 Gita specializes in Active adult communities and is a Seniors Real Estate Specialist. She holds the ABR designation (Accredited Buyers Representative) and specializes in selling to first time buyers as well as move up buyers.Gita also hold the CRS designation , Certified Residential Specialist and the CDPE designation as well. Information about real estate market is deemed to be correct but is subject to errors and omissions and should be verified independently.. Opinion expressed by me or others  in my post and comments is not to be construed to be  legal advice.I am licensed in Pa. Check real estate laws in your state as they may be different than in Pa.

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