Hi,

I'm so glad to find this board. Hoarding is not only an issue for me, but for my entire family. I guess I was really in denial about it. I even bought a big house so I could store my "stuff." I have multiple hobbies and thought it would be great to have rooms to devote to them. Instead, it became a nightmare. I stuffed one small room to the point where I couldn't even use it.

To say I am close to family is an understatement. I live on the same street as them. They started using my huge garage and basement to store things in! I have all sorts of broken crap in there from old refrigerators to old furniture.

I decided to clean everything out when I realized that most of my stuff is not even mine. My mother gives me all her clothes, my sister brings kids' toys to store at my house, and my brother uses my garage for his business. So I started cleaning and doing really well! I donated 20 bags of clothes and started going through my huge library. I was starting to get really good about letting things go, but now my family is resisting. For example, I have a bunch of broken vacuum cleaners that my mom buys on HSN. I put them in the garbage. My brother took them and then snuck them BACK into my garage later. I feel like I am going insane. I need his help to get rid of some of the bigger things. I've had back surgery and really should not be moving anything heavy. I had to accept that fact that we all need help. I feel like I am in good shape because I want to discard all of this clutter. However, how can I get rid of things when my family is sabotaging me? Thanks for reading. I'm excited to finally be on the right path.